Nikolai Khatuev, about my birth and name

Abstract

Nikolai says the following: I was born in 1953 on the farm Primovtsy in Rubtsovskiy rayon, Altai krai. My umbilical cord was cut with a kitchen knife. When the knife became useless and worn-out, my father tossed it into a fire. I wrote about this in my poem called ‘The Knife’. My life began with that knife. I also wrote a poem about how my name was chosen. During the first year of my life I did not have a name. My parents gave me several names, but none suited me. At that time my father worked as an aide to a blacksmith, named Nikolai, who was a German deported from the Volga. I was finally named after him.