HIV infection/AIDS”, posed a terrible threat to humankind. The panic

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media / MEDIA
kadri filmidan "nu moklav jafaras"
Scene from To Kill a Mockingbird movie
da gaiar-gamoiaro. Tu es fokusi aiTvise, maSin Zalian
gagiadvildeba Sengan gansxvavebul adamianebTan
urTierToba...~
`ici ra aris kompromisi? es aris, roca adamianebi
erTmaneTs uTmoben da am gziT SeTanxmdebian.~
`arasodes moixsenio Savkanianebi `zangebad~!
`TeTrkanianma qalma Savkanian mamakacs akoca, acduna
igi da amiT moraluri kanoni daarRvia. misma
survilma kanonze gaimrjva, axla ki _ misi sircxvilis
mowme, tom teilori, unda moiSoros. mas
sazogadoebac eTanxmeba, radgan Cveni azriT xom
yvela Savkaniani matyuara da uzneoa. magram Cven
aseve yvelas mogvexseneba, rom mxolod zogierTi
Savkaniania matyuara da uzneo. magram es msjeloba
xom ara mxolod erT rasaze, aramed yvela adamianze
Tanabrad vrceldeba?! aba romel Cvengans ar
ucruia da ar moqceula uRirsad?!...”
`adamianma, romelsac bavSvebi `saSinelebas~ veZaxdiT,
me da jimis sicocxle gvaCuqa... yvela adamiani
kargia, Tu is bolos da bolos gaicani...~
iseTi aRfrTovanebuli viyavi, rom Temos davumegobrdi.
Tvali sul misi ezosken meWira. me
`Ramura~ var da radgan maTi sxveni mTeli Rame ganaTebuli
iyo, vifiqre _ namdvilad axal moTxrobebs
wers-meTqi, magram gamawbila: iq ubralod
Suqs ar vaqrobTo. ucnaurad ki gawiTlda da Tavi
mkveTri moZraobiT gverdze miabruna.
erT TveSi Temos ezo xalxiT gaivso. mezoblebma
Tqves _ `magistras~ deda, keke, gardaicvalao. saxtad
davrCi! maTTan mesame adamiani arasdros daminaxavs.
dakrZalvaze uamravi xanazmuli qali movida. aRmoCnda,
rom keke rusulis maswavlebeli iyo, respublikis
damsaxurebuli pedagogi.
sapanaSvido miTqma-moTqmaSi isic gavarkvie,
rom ganaTebuli sxvenis binadari swored is iyo:
sicocxlis bolo wuTamde Sromisunariani, bevrs
kiTxulobda da SviliSvilisTvis moTxrobebs qarTulad
Targmnidao. roca ukanasknel gzaze acilebdnen,
Tvali cxedrisken gameqca da Cemi gadarCenili
moxuci Sevicani.
ra didi Wkua undoda imis mixvedras, rom mezobeli
biWis mier TavisadgasaRebuli moTxroba “sxvenis
Citma” dawera. xolo, roca 1986 wels, harper
lis `nu moklav jafaras~ qarTulad wavikiTxe,
mivxvdi saqmis namdvil arss: keke bebiam es novela
rusulidan, improvizirebulad Targmna.
kidev erTxel gavbrazdi moxuci qalis gamo,
romlis gonierebas da niWs namdvilad unda vu-
the only witness to her shame, Tom Tailor. The public
agrees with her, because they see all black people as
liars and immoral. But this applies not only to one
race, but to all of humanity equally?! Who among us
hasn’t lied or behaved wrongly?!”
“A man whom we kids had been calling a ‘monster’,
saved the lives of me and Jimmy… All people are
good if you really get to know them…”
I was so impressed that I became friends with
Temo. I would constantly look over to his yard. I was
a bit of a night owl, and when I looked over and saw
his attic lit up at night, I would think to myself: “I bet
he’s writing a story right now.” But when I asked him
about it, he disappointed: we just leave the light
on up there. He blushed in an odd way and sharply
turned his head to the side.
One month later, Temo’s yard was full of people.
The neighbours said that “master’s” mother, Keke,
had passed away. I was flabbergasted! I had never
seen another person with Temo and his uncle.
There were countless old women at the funeral.
I learned that Keke had been a Russian teacher, a
holder of the title “Meritorious Pedagogue of the Republic”.
From the funeral gossip, I also learned that it was
her who had been living in the attic: until the very
end, she was able and continued to read and translate
stories into Georgian for her grandchild. When
they took away the coffin, I took a peak at the body
and saw that it was the woman I’d helped get up off
the street.
It wasn’t hard to realize at that point that the story
the neighbour boy had claimed was his own had in
fact been written by the “attic bird”. But later, in 1986,
when I finally read Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”
in Georgian, I realized that what I had read back
then was Grandma Keke’s own improvised translation
of the book from Russian.
Once again, I got mad because of that old woman,
whose intelligence and talent I have to thank for
sharing with me the ideas contained in that immortal
tome: don’t oppress those who are weaker than you
or different from you. Don’t kill the mockingbird, a
bird which does not bother crops and doesn’t steal
grain from farmers; it just delights us with its song
and flies about freely!
I quickly searched for my notebook. I was reading
Harper Lee’s ideas for the umpteenth time and
I felt my heart weighed down by an indeterminate