Essay 4. ditto

Mkheidze Dmitriy – a handsome Georgian, though a blond with blue eyes. He used to keep saying that the true Imeretines (a region in Georgia with its center in Kutaisi) are fair-haired and with blue eyes, and that Mkheidze is a time-honored princely family name. I should say that Ditto was a true prince: he was generous, sympathetic, kind and loyal in friendship. We made friends with Ditto as well and even shared a room in the first year. So Dimka (as I used to call him) started teaching me Georgian from the very first days of our meetin. I was happy to study and was a diligent student. We practiced everywhere: on buses and during rides on a tram. As for Dimka’s Russian, he spoke Russian with a very heavy accent at the beginning.

From the student album

One day during one of our rides Dimka and I as usual were practicing in pronunciation of Georgian words ignoring people around us. Suddenly one of the girls who were sitting next to us addressed  Ditto and started loudly reprimanding him that he, a Russian guy, was: “burring the language”, “imitating a Georgian”, that he should be ashamed of this. What was the most important, she held me up as an example, saying: “Here is a Georgian (me – a Georgian!!!), but he speaks Russian well, without any accent, and this should be respected.” I was silent. Though Dimka was not a pretty sight, his self-control failed him! He took out his passport, the good thing was that it turned out to be with him, and was shoving it to the girl’s face as if saying: “I am the Georgian!” And was repeating with the same heavy accent: “Olleg, tell her, Olleg, tell her…”


Now Mkheidze Dimitriy Dimitrievitch is a highly respected man. He lives in Kutaisi and works as a chief otolaryngologist of Imereti.