Nov 16, 2006 12:47 PM
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It’s a nation that always fascinated me – by its geography, its strength, multi hued culture & of course, its VODKA. Its not to take away anything at all from its lovely women, its just that there was always much more in it for me ;-) So when I had the opportunity to visit that country, I simply lapped it up. My excitement knew no bounds as I was set to visit the l& of Lenin & the Cathedral of Vasily, the Blessed OR the St. Basilica! Quite a few places I visited in the 10 days I spent there – some gleeful, some revealing; & this is an account of ‘Mother Russia’ as I experienced it.
First of all, the facts. My places of visit were: Smolensk, Rostov – On Dom & Miniralniye Vodi, outside of St. Petersburg & Moscow. I was there for 12 odd days in the months of March – April 06. Traveled by air (Aeroflot & Pulkovo Airlines) to some places, did long road drives to the others & in the middle, was also able to smuggle in a truly lovely train ride!
Moscow is full of places that make your jaws drop in awe. The Kremlin, Lenin’s Mausoleum in the Red Square, the Arbaat (little market street that is full of street performers & local souvenirs) & of course, tonnes n tonnes of mouth watering eateries. I stayed at the Salut Hotel, isn’t the best in town but is good value for money & is housed in a relatively ‘happening’ south – western district of the town. Moscow is fast becoming the economic hub of the country although it must be said that given the length & breadth of Russia, one hub can obviously not be enough!
The other big place to be in is St. Petersburg. & if Moscow made my jaws drop, then this place (colloquially called St. Pete’s) left me breathless with its sheer beauty; & its there in any street that you walk, around every stop you make. St. Pete’s is famous for how it has preserved the Czarist architecture – enormous yet very pretty buildings. Its also has a part of the sea flowing thru it almost like a magical river, making it an even prettier place. Of course there are museums galore here & each is a visual, cultural treat!
Ok, all this is great, but now a little recount of the ‘experience’. Russia is a very large country with lots n lots of culture. It’s a place that has left the ‘long queues for a loaf’ far, far behind. It’s a country on the move – very fast catching up with all that passed by it in the last decade that was, to say the least, very disconcertingly troublesome for it. What impresses you is not the fabulous height of its constructions’, but how in the basic walks of life, it is progressing. How the roads get cleaned of snow in a jiffy (despite almost constant falls, certainly in most parts of the year), how the taps continue to serve warm water when everything outside is freezing & how nuclear power ensure that there are no moments when there is darkness that clouds the country, whatever be the weather, however small be the place that you are in.
It delights you to see that despite all the hardships that the Russians have seen not very long back, the people are still full of warmth & gaiety. It’s a confident nation, most certainly in its neighborhood, a nation that believes in its leadership & has great hope in Putin. & when in Russia, what is it that you cant simply miss - it’s the vodka & the women, for sure!
I was educated on quite a few things, starting with, on the Vodka front! Being an avid consumer of that ‘poison’, the first thing that I learnt was that you don’t dilute it with anything when you have it. Its like a national insult to that country if you do so! So if you are man, you drink it straight from the shot servers; if a woman, then you have the option of ‘chasing’ your drink, ie. have it straight & then you can drink a little bit of juice or whatever else just after it. & my fellow Vodka drinkers would be glad to know that the measures in Russia are quite different from what we are used it in this part of the world – a small measure is 45 ml where as a large one is 90, now isn’t that simply brilliant !!! The ‘Ruski Standaaard’ (that’s how its pronounced) is the poison of choice for the average drinker although its goes without being said that the choices that are available are simply mind boggling, to say the least!
The Russian women are some of the most hard working ones (besides having perhaps the longest, best looking legs!) that you could find almost anywhere on the planet. The men are there, somewhere but its pretty much the women who run the ‘kiosks’ (roadside shops that sell from almost anything to almost everything), the markets, &, almost any other establishment that you can think of. &, yes they are quite gorgeous! Not all of them but a fair number of them for sure. & they are confident & very aware of themselves as well.
What makes the Russian experience almost unforgettable is also the Russian police. Now, behold, if you thought that the most corrupt police force in the world is ours, then this is the time to correct yourselves – these guys a leeches!!!! Its not funny that in the period that I was there, I had numerous encounters with them. While on the highway, while walking on the side walks, while in pubs; anywhere & everywhere. That because it’s a country where I have seen the maximum amount of ‘checking’ of documents for all visitors. & its very, very normal to get stopped wherever you are by one of these cops to show your travel documents, the visa , the stamp of the ministry of immigration (that you get immediately upon ur arrival in Russia) etc etc …. But hang on, that’s not what makes these guys notorious, it’s the ‘gifts’ that they ask you for every time you meet them which takes you aback completely!
The funny part is that, forget the cops, almost everyone in Russia knows Raj Kapoor & Waheeda Rahman. They have watched ‘Mera Naam Joker’ & ‘Sita aur Geeta’ more than once for sure (these actually get beamed on the national television quite frequently). So when you friendly neighborhood cops meets you every time, the conversation, usually after a couple of moments of a gruff look, start from there, of course if you are an Indian. & then its goes onto ‘What has my Indian friend got a gift for me – don’t forget we (Indian & Russians) have always been friends & brothers’! Even while they may not always completely believe in what they are saying, but that is a great starting point for the conversation, invariably.
So leave the corrupt cops & the difficult language out & you have a country that is truly heart-warming with all what its offers. Its pretty easy actually to fall in love with this place. I did with alarming ease. Of course I might add that in my case, I already had a fascination with the Revolution, Lenin, Stalin & Putin! It’s a country that you MUST visit if you can – not for its fancy stuff (there are many other European countries that can offer you much more on that front) but true learnings on how simple life can be made to run with rare clockwork precision, how the sheer expanse of the geography can bewilder you … & how you can romance life on many a bone freezing nights, sitting by the bay with an innocuous bottle of the ‘Ruski Standaaard’ for n along with company!
