It appears that intellectual and cultural regress has affected every aspect of our life including the art and entertainment. Therefore it is logical to imagine what would be the modern Cinderella story

1. BY KAKAJAN HAYTLYYEV

2. PAGE 1
When I was young, it was a time when
dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures were alive.
No, actually I was young way later when they all
died.
Anyway, there was a time when a person could
only be called a “Star” when he or she has
demonstrated the real talent. We could tell who is
singing this song for the first chords of music. These
people have demonstrated clearly what true talent
means. Even today all these songs did not lose their
charm and relevance. The same I would say about
actors, writers, movie directors, etc.
Today things are quite different. They all sound
the same, look the same, talk the same way, etc.
Therefore, I wonder what would be a story of
Cinderella in today’s environment. So, I decided to
come up with possible version. Here it is.

3. PAGE 2
The girl’s name is Delfi. I am sure you would agree, it is quite an
unusual name. I think this name was given to her because of her
late mother, Amanda, was so obsessed with celebrities and
anything that was related to their lives. She read only tabloids
and did not watch anything else except E Channel.
So when Delfi was born, Amanda said that she will not give a
name to her newly born baby girl until she finds something really
unique. I guess this idea came to her mind after E Channel’s
show about unusual names which celebrities choose for their
children. And who would argue with such creative approach?
As soon as you learn that celebrities name their children Pilot
Inspector, Blanket or North West, who would want to give a
regular name to their child. In fact, we shall recommend to our
lawmakers to adopt a specific set of legislation which would
deprive parental rights those who give regular names to their
babies.
Initially, Amanda thought that maybe she should come up with
the name that relates to something sweet. But when she learned
that the name Apple is already taken, she couldn’t find any other
fruit that would be good enough to ensure uniqueness. Amanda
very quickly realised that vegetables are not suitable for it either.
Therefore, she decided to come up with an abbreviation that
consists of the first letter of the fist name of her favourite

4. PAGE 3
celebrities. I really cannot tell who those celebrities really are,
but who cares.
Unfortunately, Amanda died shortly after Delfi’s birth due to
anorexia. If you remember, there was a time when fashion
industry was aggressively promoting certain body image.
Millions of women were convinced that food shall not stay in their
stomach longer than a period of time within which a teenager
can last at his first sexual intercourse.
It was a time when women, shortly after finishing their meal,
were lining up to the toilet at the restaurant, making toilets
impossible to be used for its original purpose. All these women
couldn’t wait to get on their knees and hold a toilet seat to enjoy
all benefits of bulimia.
And who would blame them? It must be a pick of satisfaction to
see how your food which you have just consumed is coming out
of your mouth in a form of puree mixed with stomach acid. I also
think that most of them enjoyed aftertaste as well. I came to this
conclusion when I realised that I did not like the taste of whisky
when I tried it for the first time, but now I really like it. It is called
an acquired taste.
Anyway, when Amanda died, Delfi’s father, Dick, could not deal
with it. Amanda was the only person whom he really trusted. He
started to use cocaine and got addicted to it. Eventually, he had
to leave his office because he was forced to resign.

5. PAGE 4
He really had to resign for many reasons. He worked as a Vice
President in one of the very influential banking corporations.
Many people then gossiped that it was God’s punishment for
Dick because he made a lot of money by selling financial
products to his clients that lead to a bankruptcy of many of them.
Dick also did not think twice if he saw an opportunity to make a
couple of hundreds of millions of dollars even if it was clearly in
breach of existing regulations.
Although Dick lost his job, it was crystal clear to everyone that
he and his daughter have so much at their disposal that even
Dick’s grandchildren will not have to work until they die and still
enjoy all benefits of very wealthy and comfortable reality.
Dick was a cynical and very pragmatic person. He was also very
influential for many reasons, both positive and not so much.
Therefore, other influential people in every financial centre
around the globe were a bit scared of him. I am sure that you
would like to ask why they were scared? Well, it was kinda inner
secret that was known almost to all of them, which is this – Dick
somehow had information on almost everyone in the industry
that would make them do anything that Dick would “request”.
Once upon a time, people like Dick were rejected by society.
Back then everybody believed in timeless values. But it was a
very long time ago and things have changed since then.
Nowadays people like Dick are welcomed, respected and doors

6. PAGE 5
of the most prestige clubs, houses and charity associations are
widely open for them.
Nobody questions origins of Dick-like-people wealth. Why
bother? Besides, today’s societies around the world finally
found the most effective way to rank others. Currently, the level
of respect is defined in direct correlation with the number in your
bank account, or accounts. Quite practical, isn’t it?
Why trouble yourself with other irrelevant questions? It is a
waste of time. Besides, the danger of not following established
rules precisely is absolutely clear. Before you know it, you would
begin to think of those people who claim that they cannot afford
basic things and therefore minimum wage needs to be raised for
few dollars an hour. What a pathetic excuse to exploit the very
idea and generosity of free market. Terrible!
Or worse still, you may start thinking about people from so called
3rd world countries who were entrusted to sew all these
fabulous designer’s creations. However, instead of expressing
their deep appreciation they constantly complain with no reason
whatsoever that they are not paid enough and work very long
hours in inhumane conditions. We as representatives of the free
and the democratic world shall tell them this – Honey, no pain,
no gain. How dare they to complain when we give them jobs.
Ridiculous! All these people are nothing but a just bunch of lazy
guys.

7. PAGE 6
Anyway, I digressed.
So, Delfi grew up in a very comfortable environment. She had an
unlimited monthly allowance and her wardrobe was filled with
very best clothes money can buy. Who needs love when you
cannot decide what to wear today, Armani, Oscar de la Renta or
D&G? I really feel for her. What a terrible choice. But as you
probably guessed, she was not a stranger to such difficult
choices and that made her a very strong girl. They say, what
does not kill you, make you stronger. So true…. so true.
She was not exactly a beautiful girl, but she was not unattractive
either. She had big and very expressive blue eyes. Probably her
eyes were her best features. Actually, her eyes were just as
attractive as eyes of Ellen DeGeneres. Oh, by the way, does Ellen
have anything to do with it? Uhmmmm. No, most likely not,
otherwise it would be known to public sooner or later. Or, wait a
second, Amanda decided to give this name to her baby girl
because it is consists of the first letter of the first name of her
favourite celebrities. Does “e” stand for Ellen? Ok, now I need to
stop because it is only my speculation………..or is it?
Neveryoumind, let’s move on.
She had long nice hair. I cannot tell you what her original hair
colour was because she constantly changed it. People did not
know what hair colour she would have next week. This is how
unpredictable she was. Most likely she was doing it because she

8. PAGE 7
had some sort of physiological/emotional issue. It is difficult to
say because in today’s world we call it fashion forward.
Fortunately for Delfi, unlike her mother, she was not obsessed
with her body shape. Delfi was neither thin nor overweight.
Maybe because by the time she was 16, standards of body image
have started to change. Even fashion industry realised this trend
at a very early stage and started to hire models who have curves.
They even came up with the special term “A + model”. However,
nobody explained whether “+” means “+ unacceptable number
of extra kilos”.
Since there was no explanation what “+” really means, the
number of dramatically overweight celebrities started to grow
way faster than the economy of China during its peak. Suddenly
it was not acceptable to criticise heavy bodies and various TV
channels began to say that those celebrities actually look
beautiful. Millions of people who believe that whatever is said on
TV actually represents an undisputable truth started to follow it.
And no one noticed that due to political correctness, the
standards shifted from one unhealthy shape to another.
But who really cares about what problems unhealthy body shape
can cause? Only idiots trouble themselves with issues which
only complicate and make absolutely inconvenient our day to
day reality. We really shouldn’t pay any attention to their opinion
because we know what is really important. The most important

9. PAGE 8
are to follow standards which mass media has defined for us. We
are smart enough to understand that it is vital to have the solid
assurance that we are not misunderstood by other people
because the image is everything. Besides we shall not forget
simple but timeless wisdom - beauty requires scarifies.
Anyway, a few days ago our Delfi celebrated her milestone
birthday which provided her with the most important and vital
legal right like drinking alcohol openly. She felt like now she is
finally free and knows what real life is all about.
Her girlfriends were typical representatives of her social circle.
All of them looked alike with very similar hair extension and fake
eyelashes. They had the same type of voice. It sounded like they
want to show that they are actually very tired of their wealthy life,
completely lost and do not know what to do with their wealthy
lives. Their body language clearly manifested that they are so
bored because it is almost impossible to impress them.
They were also more or less at the same level intellectually. In
their mind, Africa was a country. However, they couldn’t recall
what Africa’s capital city was. Once one of them said that it is
Kuala Lumpur and all of them felt very proud of themselves that
they now a bit wiser as they learnt something new. Whether
Kuala Lumpur is really a capital city of Africa was not important
to them. In the end, who cares, it sounds exotic.

10. PAGE 9
These girls were not exactly interested in politics but if someone
would ask them they all as one would say that they are
Republicans and Sara Palin was their idol. In their opinion, Sara
Palin was truly a forward-looking woman. They were convinced
that Sara could see further than anyone else. Well, it is difficult
to argue with them because who else without any special
equipment can see Russia from their porch.
By the way, if you do not know who are Republicans or Sara
Palin, please watch Real Time with Bill Maher. He will be able to
explain it to you in the best possible manner. I hope you get the
picture. However, if you don’t, please refer to the reality show
called Keeping up with Kardashians and you will understand
what I mean.
I specifically do not want to describe these girls further in details
because it is a waste of time. All I can say is that all of them
looked polished and shiny but absolutely empty inside.
So, the society continued to spin around fake values that made
people’s spiritual world a bit poorer day by day. And for them,
nothing suggested that big change is just around the corner. I
don’t blame those people who could not predict that upcoming
change is going to shake the world economy so dramatically. For
many people, the change would happen so quickly that when
they wake up tomorrow, it will look like a totally different planet.
One downside, though. It will look really ugly.

11. PAGE 10
Nobody could actually predict it. It was impossible. Crude oil
prices were shooting up like petroleum companies announced
that they produce last drops of oil. Leading stock markets were
soaring. Corporations paid bonuses to their executives that
were slightly bigger than the budget of a small country. So,
everyone jumped in to grab as much as they could as it was
widely accepted that material wealth shall be used as the only
definitive measurement for anything, including human life.
So, Delfi’s father Dick was sure that all investments he has made
are secure. His confidence was absolutely solid. In his opinion
how can it be otherwise? He knows the industry inside out and
he consulted with leading financial advisors before he made the
final decision to invest. He could not imagine that the very
industry he thought he knew would play such a cruel joke with
him.
When Dick learnt about the collapse of Lehman Brothers, initially
he could not believe it. At the same time he could not stop staring
at the huge flat TV screen and for a moment he had an
impression that his head is about to explode. Dick was
completely paralysed. He could not move. His heart suddenly
shrank to a microscopic size. He felt like someone sucked out
every molecule of oxygen by gigantic vacuum.
Little by little he realised that impossible happened. He knew
that it is going to be something the industry has never seen

12. PAGE 11
before. It is going to be something the whole world has never
seen before. No existing official definition would be able to
describe the entire scale of the disaster that about to hit with
immense force each and every person on this planet. He knew
that so many lives will be affected, including his own. Suddenly
it all become so clear to him – this is the end of the era.
That’s right, I am talking about 2008 global meltdown.
TO BE CONTINUED