Magyar News, 1993. szeptember-1994. augusztus (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1994-03-01 / 7. szám
FROM A JOURNAL OF A JOURNALIST by Susan Jancso I went to Europe in the month of Christmas, and I came back filled with the holiday spirit, the memory of the bright Christmas decorations in the streets of Budapest and Copenhagen, the pealing of church bells at noontime, of snow ant ice outside, and warmth and love inside the rooms of friendly houses. I brought back the joy of reunion with old friends, of seeing my homeland, with all the changes it has undergone in the past three years, since I’ve last been there, so that it is barely recognizable. I was deeply touched when I saw all the friends and relatives who came to the airport to welcome me. I still remember the exhilaration of the first sight of the snowy hillside -I stayed in an apartment high up in the Buda Hills, in a steep side street of Törökvész út - the first lungful of clean, cold I air, the crackling of fresh snow underfoot, the hush of the winter I countryside. This was the first ‘ time I ventured to take the journey in winter, and at that moment, I thought it was well worth it. As soon as I got settled in the apartment, I started to make plans to see as many old friends as it was physically possible in a short week, two days of which were taken up entirely by the business meetings that justified the trip. I managed to spend a few undisturbed hours with the first few people on my list, but later there was someone scheduled for every hour of the day. Since it was Sunday, I decided to see a former colleague from the airlines, whose son is studying theology and has lunch with her mother.every Sunday. His decision to become a priest gave us the first inkling five years ago that something was changing in Hungary. We had a meaningful conversation and a dish of soy beans - they converted to vegetarianism and not only for health reasons, but for solidarity with the animals. Such concerns have surfaced only recently in Hungary. When I met the staff of the newspaper we had negotiations with, they tried to engage my help to save a baby tiger who was becoming dangerous to his environment (in a family home). No zoo wants him but, for a mere 30 thousand dollars, he could be transported to California and saved, if only we could raise the money. Is there anyone out there who wants a baby tiger? Humane Society, anyone? As for me, I was trying to help people instead. Like my friend who moved back to Hungary seven years ago with her two sons, because she didn’t want them to grow up watching “Mister T” on TV. I wonder how she likes the open pornography in the underground Metro stations and at the tobacco stores, and the dirty language prevailing everywhere, from the stage to the everyday conversations of even educated people. My friend has no job, and her mother goes in and out of hospitals with broken bones due to osteoporosis. She spends her day cooking and taking turns with other family members to deliver meals and sit at the bedside of her mother. Her only joy is to go to the opera, but her persistent cough prevents her from doing so, even if she could scrape together the price of the ticket. My next friend has no financial problems. She lives abroad, and she flew home for one day to see me. We had visited each other several times over the years in our adoptive countries. We had been really-really best friends and shared many secrets. My first shock came when I caught sight of her. She didn’t come at the appointed hour, and I went downstairs to see if the gate wasn’t locked. People are very much afraid of burglars in Hungary these days, and they use the most sophisticated locks on their doors to keep them away. My host has three different safety locks, to be kept locked at all times whether you are in or out of the house - one of them a double steel rod the full width of the door - but I hear the burglars meet the challenge by cutting up the whole door with electric saws, steel rods and all. The gate wasn’t locked, but my friend was just standing there mesmerized, unable to move, shaking as a leaf. When I finally managed to persuade her to speak, she told me that there was a dog blocking her way. A big black dog angrily baring his teeth at her... My God, we used to feed stray dogs together on our trips, she adopted at least two and kept them in their city apartment - I thought she could speak their language fluently! She took a full hour to calm down, and I suddenly had the feeling that this was not the person I knew. She took off her coat and I saw that, under the expensive dress and the famous-name belt, she was thin as a rod. She used to have such beautiful, feminine curves! But she did this to herself on purpose, and was proud of it. In a few minutes I found out that she went back to smoking, and in the course of the night she proceeded to smoke a full pack of cigarettes while we talked. I kept opening balcony door, afraid that my hosts would come in the morning and be horrified by the smell. We sat there shivering. As a final touch, she seemed to recognize herself in one of my writings, and made me promise never to publish it. There goes an old friendship, and there goes my book, which I was just about to take to the printers... I met some new or recently made friends, and they really came through for me. I had a chance to meet Kata Csongrádi’s husband, the famous songwriter of my youth István S. Nagy, and I found him to be a real treasure. I admired their golden records - one of them sold 5 million copies !-and a letter from the Pope expressing appreciation for the song, “Bless Me My Lordl” Through them, I also met Margit Gáspár, the prolific writer and theater director, whose book, The Black Emperor, was one of my first full-length translations. The frail, elderly lady is not in the best of health, but she is just as brilliant as ever, and getting to know her was one of the highlights of my trip. So what are my impressions of Budapest? The city as I knew it is gone, and its new face is not entirely formed. Historic street names are being reinstated; every street and square has at least two names, and if you grew up during the communist regime, you have serious trouble finding your destinations. Public transportation is still good, and the open system makes it incredibly fast. You don’t have to show your ticket upon entering, but if the ticket-inspector finds you without one, you pay a substantial fine. People are wary, they watch their purses and their pockets. I hear that pickpockets have reached unprecedented levels of skill. There are lots of nouveauriche who made incredible fortunes over the past few years; there are well-dressed and career people at parties and public events; and there is an ever increasing percentage of the population living below the poverty level. People of different social status and political orientation agree that Népszabadság (the former communist party paper) is the best daily publication, although it may be simply a matter of money, which they managed to carry over from the old days. And now, with József Antall’s death, now that the stabilizing force of his calm, dedicated statesmanship is gone, it may just happen that next year’s elections will favor the liberal left, for the lot of the average Hungarian can hardly get worse than it has become during the country’ s first faltering steps towards democracy. (Amerikai Magyar Hírlap) Page 7
