Alexandr talks about his childhood, exile, and life in post-exile Kalmykia:I was born in the village of Mitrofanovo in the Mozdok District in North Ossetia. We are Tersk Kalmyks. My father worked in a horse farm, my mother in a kindergarten. When I was a boy, one day soldiers arrived at our village, clad in white sheepskin coats. My grandmother, my sister and I were at home then. My mother came to us running when were we being loaded onto the trucks for deportation. It was not only Kalmyks that were deported but the local Caucasians as well. After a long journey on a track, we were put into cattle carriages to be sent to Siberia. When we arrived at the destination, the chairman of a local collective farm came to collect us. Thinking that we were cannibals, the locals were afraid of us. On the farm I looked after cattle. I served in the army in Moscow. In May 1958 I was granted a 10-day leave to spend at home. On my way home I learnt from my friends in Omsk that Kalmyks had been returning to Kalmykia. Soon we followed the rest to Kalmykia. In Kalmykia we lived in Bashanta when it still was part of Rostov oblast. I worked as a shepherd and animal technician. I also milked cows and worked at a chicken farm.