Zoom Qartulad -

Georgian internet, while improving, is not perfect. During government-imposed internet restrictions or simple infrastructure lags, Zoom becomes a game of Russian roulette. One person’s audio arrives 12 seconds late, creating a surreal echo chamber. A toast about unity is heard as a disjointed glitch-folk remix.

Older relatives, seeing their own video for the first time, panic. “Why am I so old? Why is my hair like this?” The result is an explosion of beauty filters. Grannies in the village of Sighnaghi suddenly appear with cartoon butterfly crowns and smoothed skin, toasting Stalin-era wine while looking like anime characters. zoom qartulad

Diaspora families, for whom a supra was once a once-a-year luxury, now hold weekly digital feasts. A cousin in Chicago makes lobio , a grandmother in Tbilisi watches, correcting the spice mix via laggy video. Weddings are live-streamed. Funerals, too. The “Zoom qartulad” has become the country’s second living room—a place where you can drop in unannounced, interrupt a meeting about quarterly reports with a story about your neighbor’s goat, and no one will kick you out. Georgian internet, while improving, is not perfect

Suddenly, grandmas who had never used a smartphone were learning to “raise a glass” by lifting their laptops. Uncles were toasting with chacha in one hand and muting themselves with the other after a particularly loud “Gaumarjos!” The Zoom gallery view became a digital supra table: 20 faces in squares, each with a plate of khachapuri visible in the frame, each with a story. A toast about unity is heard as a

Gaumarjos, Zoom Qartulad. Nini Kapanadze is a Tbilisi-based writer covering the intersection of technology, folklore, and fermented grapes.