Tseveenjav
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990096
Name: Tseveenjav
Parent's name: Horoljav
Ovog: Harchin
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1936
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: elementary
Notes on education:
Work: driver, accountant, retired
Belief: none
Born in: Manlai sum, Ömnögovi aimag
Lives in: Manlai sum (or part of UB), Ömnögovi aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
work
family
education / cultural production
childhood
travel
military
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
adoption
army
collectivization
Tsaagan Sar
childhood
To read a full interview with Tseveenjav please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 080818A with Tseveenjav
Tseveenjav was brought up by his adoptive parents in the country side. His adoptive father was the darga of a bag. Tseveenjav did not go to school, but spent his childhood and adolescent years herding his family’s livestock. He was taught how to read and write by a former lama. From 1957 to 1960 he served in the army in Hövsgöl aimag. Upon his return from the military service he worked as an activist in a workers’ union. After that he was an accountant for nine years before going to a driving school. Afterwards he worked as a driver. He retired at the age of fifty-six.
Tseveenjav discusses a variety of topics: his childhood, the collectivisation, his army years, how people celebrated Tsaagan Sar in his childhood, when he first came to Ulaanbaatar, and what was it like working as a driver. He tells that in his childhood flour was very rare, and that the main staple was meat and milk products. During the Tsaagan Sar preparations, people went to lengthy efforts to get flour to make cakes. He also tells that ever since he saw a car in his childhood he always dreamt of becoming a driver. An important part of his interview is dedicated to Hövsgöl, where he served in the army. He compares gobi with the hangai region. He tells that as a man from the Gobi he never got used to eating fish in Hövsgöl.
According to him, in the socialist period dargas knew how to give orders and similarly workers knew how to fulfil. Thanks to this, people could build and create. In contract, today people are interested in faking and cheating.
