Catch me if you can: From the other side of the Earth – 2 -

Vaհe H Apelian

A few days ago, a friend on Facebook, asked me about a not so pleasant comment made regarding a passage from Nikol Pashinyan’s book. She wandered if that is true. I do not remember the passage but I know that selected passages from his book, The Other Side of the Earth, were also quoted by reporters meeting the prime minister, not in commendation of the author, that is to say the PM Nikol Pashinyan, but for condemnation for having scribed it. 

“The Other Side of the Earth” is a fiction. The protagonist, who was an active participant in March 1, 2008 popular demonstration, found himself a wanted man by the authorities. To flee persecution, he embarked on what turned out to be an improbable journey that began in the dead of the night on March 2 and lasted through the book’s 383 pages.

“The Other Side of the Earth” was published in installments in the Armenian Times (Haykakan Zhamanak) from May to December 2008, for daring and taunting the authorities who were looking for him. The writings were collected and were published as a book in 2018.  It was reported that the book became a best seller that was translated at least into English, Russian.

The book is thought provoking. It is not just about the author embarking on a journey and having shallow experiences with all sort of characters, some of whom unsavory, and writing about them.

The journeyman fleeing argued that he was not leaving his friends behind.“But voluntarily going to prison is basically giving up, and giving up is not possible. It is necessary to fight back. It is necessary to win. I will not hide, here is my traveling route, catch me if you can”, he wrote. Not only, he argued, he was not leaving his friends behind, but he was heading back home to Armenia, but from the other side of the earth, having circled it.

He wrote:

“The ship was taking me away from Armenia, but it wasn’t an escape. I was leaving Armenia, but it was heading to Armenia. Isn’t the earth round, and if you continue your journey relentlessly, you will reach the same place that is dear and true to you? Moving forward, returning to the point where your dream was born. I am happy that I am crossing this road. But will I manage to reach my destination, to return to Armenia; to return from the other side of the earth.” (page 14) 

I doubt that even a handful from the Armenian Diaspora has read the book. I say Diaspora as the entity the survivors of the genocide came about for themselves and their descendants. Among reasons for having not read the book, there also are orthographic reasons. We are a nation with two distinct orthographies.  One is at peril, the other cares less. But that is altogether another matter.

Link: Catch me if you can: Catch: From the Other Sid of the Earth - 1 -: https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2026/07/catch-me-if-you-can-1.html