Cuckoo clock

By Nil DENÏZ, Ajans Bg

When I was little I used to go visiting my grandparents. I liked to be with my relatives and play games with my cousins.  But one of the things that made me happy was the cuckoo clock of my grandmother. It struck the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo’s call and had a mechanical cuckoo that emerged with each note. The small doors of the clock opened and the cuckoo showed. The games and the laughter stopped momentarily. I looked forward to see it again and again. In those days no one has computers, I pads or mobile phones. We invented the games ourselves. We made houses and cars from carton boxes, bells from caps and clothes from socks for the dolls. Everything looked so simply and carefree.  But today, when I think for those days I remember my relatives’ expressions and face the things which didn’t notice then. These people were frightened, harassed and hungry.  It's been a long time I grew up, some of my relatives died and other ones are abroad.

What has changed since then?

Today every one of us already has a mobile phone or a computer, but the children don’t have real friends. They don’t know their relatives and some of them even their parents. More men are forced to go abroad while their wives are pregnant to ensure food. The life is difficult and there is no work in Bulgaria. Babies are born, grow and complete their education but the fathers still can not return. What politicians do in the meantime? They only make promises. During the election campaign every politician says that the life in Bulgaria will change. But after the elections, everything continues as usual. The young people continue to flee abroad, the families fall apart and adults are doomed to loneliness and hunger. It hurts when children whose parents are abroad share with me that they don’t miss their mothers or fathers because they have never lived together. For them the parent who is abroad means the person sending presents and money. When I sit to talk with adults I am afraid to ask them about their children. Because with tears in their eyes they answer : Yes . Sometimes phone us and add they have to be abroad to feed their family, to save themselves and never to be doomed to starvation. Somehow we adults will deal with the difficult life. It hurts when I look them and say myself. 30 years ago people were poor and hungry. Today, in 2014 we live in a democratic state, which is a member of the European Union people are poor and hungry again. Memories brought me back to my childhood. I miss the cuckoo clock, the guests and the games in Granny's house. Then we were poor but we had families. Today, every second baby is born fatherless and contribution to this has all Bulgarian politicians.