Vinh - some random thoughts

(Baonghean) -I have been in Vinh for nearly 30 years, many times I sat reading newspaper pages about Vinh, absentmindedly in front of the keyboard. In my memory, there are many beautiful memories of Vinh in the past, but Vinh now does not exist, does not exist anymore. Sometimes in the middle of the night, when I recall, my heart feels empty, lacking, whispering without words: Vinh, is it possible...

The first time I came to Vinh was in the late 80s. Back then, when I went from my hometown to Vinh, I had to squeeze all day on trucks and vans. When I took the train, I had to wait, sometimes I stayed up all night waiting for the train to arrive, I was friends with bedbugs biting me on the train station seats, I was so dizzy I couldn’t sleep, the bedbugs even followed me on the train throughout the journey. Now, thinking back to the means of transport to Vinh in the late 80s, I always felt goosebumps, itchy and tickled, with the feeling as if... bedbugs were biting me.

The electric poles in Vinh at that time were made of wood covered with black tar, the inner city roads were paved with asphalt, with many potholes and bumps. The sound of horse-drawn carriages creaked sadly with each step. Although I know that now there are buses that have replaced the “function and role” of horse-drawn carriages, why do I still remember and still wish for a horse-drawn carriage ride for me to look back on? Women and children in the past sold green tea along the street, calling out so steadily that I felt sleepy. The cries of candy, candy bars, ice cream… diluted the dull, desolate atmosphere of a working day. There were as many people riding bicycles as there are motorbikes today. A small room on the low street with the sign “People’s Bookstore” became a… bookstore. In the past, every sign had the word “people” at the end. Now, Vinh City no longer has such a sign. There are very few places that produce goods in Vinh, most of them are intermediary traders, there are countless food and beverage stalls, of all kinds and styles…

In the past, every time I went to the city, I always went straight to Vinh market to buy something, so that when I returned home, I could show everyone that I had been to Vinh. But after one or two times, I went to the market and then I was so scared that I ran away. Because there was a time when Vinh market was famous for its sky-high prices. For example, a shirt with the right price was only fifty thousand dong, but it could be priced up to three hundred thousand dong. The naive country people only dared to pay two hundred thousand dong, or if they were very "brave", they would pay at least one hundred and fifty thousand dong. That was enough profit for a trader at the "flea market" to get through a day of trading. Some country people, after bargaining, realized they had made a mistake and left without taking anything, so the saleswoman grabbed their hair, pushed their face down into the goods, and caught them. The attitude of trading at Vinh market at that time was terrifying.

Good news travels far, bad news also travels far, Vinh market gradually becomes deserted, the traders just sit and yawn, and gradually realize that the lack of customers in Vinh market is their fault, not anyone else's. Consumers are "afraid" of Vinh, only focusing on buying and selling in shops, small markets, district markets and in other regions. In the early years of the opening period, the attitude of traders in Vinh market has changed, that is the way of cultural business behavior between people. After all, the pace of life develops rapidly like a storm, the period of industrialization, modernization, the period of electronics, if the business attitude does not change, then the only thing is "live or die"?

I have a friend who has been away from home for thirty years, living in the North, and at the end of his life, he moved back to his hometown for work, surprised by the changes. The roads are wide and clean, all kinds of fruits: oranges, lemons, mangoes, guavas, bananas... are available all year round, most of which are grown by Nghe people all over the province and brought to Vinh for consumption. In the summer, many tourists come to Vinh, to Uncle Ho's hometown, and the way the tourism industry conducts business has also changed.

Let me mention a little more about Vinh, and there are many things to mention about Vinh, but I just want to talk about the relationship between people. About the exchange between people outside the province, especially people in the same cultural profession. From the South, from the North, people who come to Vinh often stop at Vinh, it's so much fun, I still remember the names of those people, those friends, those colleagues, who are still living in the Capital and elsewhere, still come back to Vinh and stop at Vinh.

Vinh now is much better than before, but there is something that is not as good as Vinh in the past, what is it? Is it all just a feeling? I always remember one cold rainy morning, a thin, frail woman from the midlands of Nghe An came to me just to read a... poem, so touching. Especially since she was a veteran of Truong Son, named Nguyen Thi Thin, on her way back to Vinh. Who dares to say Vinh has gone into the past? There are still people looking for Vinh to share memories with Vinh! She said, Vinh has changed a lot, looking for a home forever, but if you keep looking, you will meet the person you need to meet to share memories with her of the years in Truong Son...

Dam Quynh Ngoc