Weekly magazine “Argumenty I Fakty” No. 22. Grandfather-hydromet? How to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts 02/06/2021
That he became a Hero of labor, Alexander Bondarenko I learned it at work. I was surprised, moved, and started my harvester again: the next days were going to be rainy, so I had to hurry.
We arrived in Krasnaya Polyana (a village in the Peschanokopsky district) in the rain. Alexander Dmitrievich was waiting at the gate: he parked the car, ordered in a masterly way where to go, where to sit down. He speaks briefly and sternly, which is probably why his brigade was in good order, and there was always enough fuel, and the equipment was repaired on time. Drunkenness here is still not tolerates, and & nbsp;himself if overturns a glass, then only on & nbsp; holidays. Although where are those holidays, if with great difficulty I remembered that for 49 years of experience in & nbsp; vacation I was only a few times: in sanatoriums for health and with children on the sea.
I have no interest in a vacation: I didn’t know what to do there. And there is always a lot of work at home, says Alexander Dmitrievich.
Where I was born, I came in handy there
Little is said about Bondarenko’s family: his mother and father were not married, so his father was replaced by his grandfather, a front-line soldier, a disabled war veteran. Times were difficult (Bondarenko was born in 1951), they did not fatten: borscht on lard, darned trousers, from the most delicious treats in the world-candy pads. But so it was with everyone.
I loved movies. But there were no 5 kopecks for a movie in the club. You steal four eggs from your grandmother, take them to the edge of the village, where one of them took them, and now you have enough money for a ticket. I loved the “Quiet Don” and the “Raised virgin land” about the war… And then it turned out so in my life that I myself visited this virgin land. In the Turgay region, in 1980, they threshed 12 quintals of grain. Where to put that grain, did not know…
After school, Bondarenko served in the army and saw no other way but to return to his native village. I knew, of course, that someone was entering institutes and colleges, I tried to become a zoo technician myself, but I was pushed around for a week in the city and ran away home.
He worked on a tractor and a combine harvester, built a house, got married and lived exactly like the positive characters in the films on which he grew up.
I had an understanding that work makes a person human. That it is necessary to work not for money, but for the good of the country. That’s what they used to teach us. Back in school, the teacher singled me out and appointed me the foreman of the student team. I was thinking: “Me? For what?» & ndash; recalls Bondarenko.That was the first time I left our village for Rostov. Student foremen came from all over the country to attend the rally. And I’m among them, kind of like the state had hope for me, too.
& nbsp; But you have a trip to Bulgaria here in the photo album
Oh, so it’s later. We then went as a delegation to the Day of the Liberation of Bulgaria. I was already a foreman.
& ndash; Did you like their life?
Life is like life. On a combine harvester there with the girls passed. On our, Rostselmashevsky & ndash; it was a pride. And & nbsp; so & ndash; nothing like that. Everyone then only ran for books. I didn’t have much money, but I also bought books. There’s a & nbsp; mail nearby & nbsp; & ndash; sent. My wife received my parcel, dragged it home and wondered: what’s there? I did not guess & nbsp; & ndash; we laughed for a long time afterwards. But the books came in handy. And we did not collect crystals, carpets, too, we never had such an interest.
Bondarenko’s children are also all hardworking. Photo: From the personal archive
Million in a bag
This trip abroad was the first and last. A here on & nbsp;the former Union Bondarenko traveled: helped their advanced link lagging regions in cleaning. While her husband was harvesting someone else’s crop, Nina was raising her own three children, a vegetable garden, and a farm. Yes, and work & nbsp; Nina Ivanovna was a milkmaid in the samethe collective farm. At 4 a.m., get up and go to bed after dark. And if the husband is at home, then set his dinner for him, and boil some water. This is now the baths appeared in the villages, and earlier will come after midnight, dirty, dust on the teeth creaks. He will wash in the basin, fall down, and with the first roosters again on the cleaning: the plan is burning, the country is waiting for bread.
On & nbsp;my questions: how is it to work in 40-degree heat, when the combine’s cabin has only a fan made of tin cans, and the fine husk with dust clogs the nostrils, Bondarenko just chuckles. Nina Ivanovna is responsible for him: they say that he is such a natural person who is obsessed with work, if he does not do it, he will not calm down. From hereand & nbsp; over-fulfillment of the plan, and & nbsp; awards: in & nbsp; 1981-m & ndash; Order of Labor Glory of the III degree, in & nbsp;1991-m & ndash; Labor Glory of the II degree, in & nbsp; 2006.the title of honorary worker of the agro-industrial complex of the Rostov region, in 2013 he was awarded the Order for Services to the Fatherland of the IV degree. And in 2021, the title of Hero of Labor of Russia.
This award has not yet been presented to Bondarenko, and all the other insignia are on the jacket that Alexander Dmitrievich wears on very special occasions. And when asked why he was given these awards, he shrugs. It’s nice to be noted. That’s all.
A rumor went around the village that I was given a million rubles after the Hero and a two-room apartment in Rostov, laughs.
Was it really given?
So I say the same & ndash; rumor! Millions are given in & laquo;Who wants to become a millionaire?». My wife and I watched it recently, and the question was: what is a windbreaker? Among the answers were a cap, something else. And I remember from my childhood that the windbreaker is a trailed mower. That’s my million gone, winks.
Your wife is better
Our conversation is thick. But when it comes to comparing old technology and new technology, it gets lively. A new technique for him, a tractor driver, a combine harvester, a machine operator, is akin to a resort. The cabin is clean, cool, and pleasant. If earlier on the DT-75 tractor with a 4-meter cultivator, he could process 25 hectares in a day, and if he plowed, then 40, now with an 11-meter cultivator and a powerful new-generation equipment, all 200 hectares.
Which equipment is better than ours or Belarusian?
For everyone, their own wife is better. And I didn’t work on the imported one. As I sat down on the “Rostselmashev” Across 530, so I do not get off it. Previously, if the field broke down, it was necessary to sort out the entire tractor itself. Now one call –and & nbsp; the service is already on its way.
So you like everything about today’s life?
Well, maybe not all of them. There are few people in the village. Previously, there were 2.2 thousand only working, and now there are only 3 thousand residents. There are not enough young people, they do not want to work on the land, there is no one to teach. I have also brought my sons into the business. Maybe they were offended earlier that I didn’t finish something, that they already worked with me at school age, but now they are nothing: the senior agronomist, the junior mechanic, don’t worry. Granddaughter also in & nbsp; tractor drivers marks & ndash; a little more, and & nbsp;as soon as he arrives, immediately to the tractor. Also hope.
Bondarenko’s labor exploits were noted more than once. Photo: From the personal archive
In the 1990s, your Kirov collective farm became a joint-stock company. Many have gone to the farmers. Why did you stay?
I have always had a job under any government. Our guys, who were electricians, were left without work, so they went to the farmers. When it all started in the 1990s, we didn’t realize that capitalism was coming. Well, they gave us land of 7.3 hectares. And what should we do with it? Someone sold for a penny, someone handed over. All this is from another life. Now we are retired, no longerbefore that. But I’m working. And in the season, if you take a responsible approach to the case, you can earn up to 70 thousand rubles. It seems like a lot, but it’s in the season. In winter, the money goes away. But we are old people, what do we need? I even eat like a city man, and Alexander Dmitrievich looks reproachfully at my half-empty plate.& nbsp; & ndash; Used to have dinner, as it should be.
* * *
There is, & laquo;as an urban», it has become from age and & nbsp;because of occupational diseases. Stones in the kidneys (with an attack taken directly from the field), pricked and returned there; 10 years ago already at home the heart went thought a heart attack, but managed a pre-infarction condition. Now he jokes that he has a hobby: taking pills and tracking how he feels. At the same time, it works. In November, Bondarenko will be 70 years old.
– You, I see, have a computer and the Internet. What are you reading, watching?
I correspond with my classmates. When I was awarded the Hero, everyone congratulated me. Many of them have moved away and live all over Russia. There are only a few people left in our village. And I stayed, because when my wife and I met, I immediately said: I’m not going anywhere from here, not even to the next street. So we live.