I’ve traveled a lot in my life, but after I’ve met Stepan Nalbandyan, travelling is divided into two categories for me: travelling and travelling with Stepan – a real adventure seeker.
“Don’t Touch My Trchkan…”
Waterfall Trchkan was in danger. I went there with a group of young people to see the problem myself. I knew that Stepan is near Chichkhanavank church on business. On the way back I called him and said that we wanted to meet him and know his opinion about that problem. Stepan came with several guys. They all seemed disturbed about this situation, but everyone kept silent. Only Stepan was talking. Everyone knew that Stepan would represent the issue best of all. I liked his speech not for scientific terminology and facts he was representing, but for his short and clear speech. He said, “There are some specialists that write that hydropower stations support the economy and so on…Ok, man, leave my Trchkan alone, build your hydropower station in another place, just don’t touch my waterfall”.
Trchkan Gave Me a Friend Like Stepan
Our first journey was on business. When I say “on business”, I mean that we were travelling not for pleasure. We went to make explorations on the territory of Trchkan Waterfall. At that time we didn’t know each other very well, but for some reason, I trusted him. I remember, when the result of our steps wasn’t clear, Stepan called me and gave a book about waterfalls, so I could better understand the problem. Then he advised me not to get disappointed. He told me that nothing was solved immediately, that this problem might take years, but would certainly be solved. In the end we won the fight for Trchkan. I don’t want to speak about that; the result is just the waterfall that we have today. I want to tell about what I have obtained. Trchkan gave me a gift: a friend like Stepan. We have a big difference in age, but I’ve never felt that difference. Stepan is young at heart.
I am always wondering how he manages to be so patient, to explain the same thing many times, to tell and to teach again and again. It seems that tiredness is not for him. He is cheerful all day long and spreads his energy to everyone, and only when he goes to sleep can you sometimes hear from him, “I’ve got tired somehow today..” , and then he falls asleep immediately. He uses the phrase “I am tired” only once a day, when he goes to sleep. In the morning, after a cup of coffee he is again cheerful.
I’ve Never Met a Person Who Knows Armenia So Well
To travel with Stepan is like reading an encyclopedia. During my 30 years I’ve met a lot of travelers who know their motherland, and alpinists with big experience, but I’ve never met a person who knows Armenia as well as Stepan. He knows every tree, every bush in the country. He knows everything, from cultural-historical monuments to mountains, rocks and even mosquitoes living there. Every day you learn something new from him. He showed me another Artsakh (Karabakh), another Syunik, Lori and so on. He knows Armenian villages, because he has been there himself or has read about it. In most places he has lived, has worked and created. As he is an architect-restorer, he gave a new life to many cultural monuments. Sometimes we enter a village, and everyone greets us with smiles on their faces. When the chairman of the village hears that Stepan is in the village, he invites him to have dinner with him around the table. Stepan, however, prefers to dine in the field. He always says, “We are people of nature, let’s sit on the grass and enjoy the nature”.
You Will Never Get Bored With Stepan
Yes, definitely, to travel with Stepan is a real pleasure. His car is always full of hiking equipments. Always and everywhere he will find what you need, everything for coffee and treatment for a bee sting. Stepan makes the most of every moment in his life (as every adventure seeker). You will never get bored with him. While driving, he usually drives through the forest. He always knows another way, in which you see a different world. You may pass the same way hundreds of times and never notice it, but that will not happen with Stepan. He knows all the ways passing through rocks, forests and hiking tracks, which lead to a certain village. Very often he turns from the main road to have a cup of tea near a spring and then he continues driving on another way. I just can’t imagine how he remembers so many places.
Sometimes we speak about something, discuss something, and then, when you have already forgotten about it, he calls and says, “Hey, I’ve found the book we were talking about, come and take it”.
Meeting Stepan is a real gift for me from Trchkan. Without Trchkan and Stepan, something in my life would be incomplete.
Article by Tigran Shahbazyan
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