The CAT SHOW! Kyrgyzstan 1-USA 0

The idea of going to a cat show, anywhere in the world, is, to me, both exhilarating and hilarious.  Exhilarating because I love cats and hilarious because, well, come on, it's a pageant...for cats.  There are several cat shows held each year in Bishkek and we attended the September 14th one at the Russian Theater.  This is what the exterior of the Theater looks like, it is in the same park as that swank restaurant we like to go to - in fact, that restaurant was right behind me as I took this photo.

Entrance fee was 150 soms per person, or $3.  My son was free, so we dropped $6 to get these awesome tickets.

The show itself was in the lobby of the theater.  The lobby was dimly lit and I left the flash off in deference to the felines

The lobby, in addition to containing cats, had a lot of impressive portraits of impressive people and paintings of various impressive scenes and battles.  Did I mention that it was impressive?  I found none of these impressive paintings easy to identify, although, if I had to guess, most of the battle scenes were from Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia

At the show, some cats were just kittens

Some cats were grumpy and had curtains

Some cats won serious medals

Some cats were super playful Bengal kittens

Some cats were royalty

Some cats were chillaxing

But seriously, the cat show was a wonderful diversion for a Saturday morning and my son got to pet an animal for the first time since leaving the US.  Or at least, the first time in my presence, I have no idea if he's been taking illicit pony rides in the park or hanging with street dogs.  We also got to see our two favorite breeds - the realization that I have favorite breeds of cats is interesting...

Himalayan Persian (a paradox?)

And of course, Maine Coons

We also some some cat judging before we left.  This seemed to involve waving a cat toy in front of the cat to gauge their reaction...it's unclear what the winning reaction was though...

To be all serious for a moment - sociologicalyl, the cat show was very interesting.  As you are all aware, Bishkek was, until Kyrgyz independence in 1991, a city that had a majority European population.  Or rather, most of its population was ethnically Ukranian or Russian, rather than Kyrgyz.  There were a lot of reasons for this, which only interest historians like myself.  But after independence, most Ukranians and many Russians left, making Bishkek a majority Kyrgyz city.  I would say it is probably 70% Kyrgyz right now, but that's just my subjective opinion...wikipedia says it's 90% Kyrgyz. Usually, in Bishkek, you see a mix of people in the downtown area and there is no visible segregation between them, at least in public.  I have seen dating couples of Russian and Kyrgyz and many groups of friends that are mixed as well, so there seems to be little or no tension in society between the groups...but I could just be missing it.  Anecdotally, I have been told that Kyrgyz chauvinism is on the rise, meaning, that in order to have any political aspirations here, you must be Kyrgyz, but this is only what I've heard, not what I've seen.

The cat show was almost entirely run and attended by ethnic Russians, not Kyrgyz.  I asked my students about that and they dismissed it, saying that only European people keep animals as pets.  I don't think its that simple, but I do think it is important for Kyrgyz society to consider why something like a cat show was such a de facto segregated space.  As a historian, I am aware that the process of nation formation frequently involves a nation losing its minorities and becoming more homogeneous, a process that is clearly underway or nearly complete here.  As the Russian population dwindles here, will cat shows vanish?  My guess is that they will.

To return to my usual tone of good times and absurdities, no cat show would be complete without someone dressed like a cat, or at least in a cat-like outfit

Take this as an inspiration...go out into the world and when the world waves toys in front of you, make sure you win some awards

Also, if you want to read more about Bishkekistani cat shows, Ivory Pomegranate has a post about them too.  Her pictures are better than mine.  Click here to read it...