Sergei Muchiryaev, about a rupture between generations
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Sergei reminisces that in his youth there were many artists and writers around who remembered the old way of life. Since young people were not supposed to pester the elders with questions, the young did not learn much. On top of that, the elders, who had spent hard times in prisons, were reluctant to talk about their experiences with younger people. In Siberia Sergei lived in a small village in the middle of nowhere. His mother was young and not very knowledgeable of Kalmyk customs. Sergei had no access to Kalmyk books, newspapers or other source of information to improve himself. For these reasons, Sergei, like many people of his generation, did not learn much about Kalmyk culture. The Derbets and Buzavas had more older people among them, which helped these groups to perpetuate to a certain degree a generational link and knowledge transfer. Among the Torghuts, in contrast, there were less old people who survived the repressions and Revolution. A part of the Torghut territory was annexed to Astrakhan, hence the Torghuts had to leave their ancestral land, which had a negative influence on their overall culture.