Sar pe laal topi Rusi...phir bhi dil hai Hindustaani !

Sar pe laal topi Rusi...phir bhi dil hai Hindustaani !

I know it is cliché' to use this when talking about Russia, but what to do, we really experienced this and much more when we visited Russia last week.

I have always, even as a child, imagined Russia as a fantasy land- a land of women in long traditional skirts, rustic and strict men, Onion shaped colourful domes of churches, only farmers and peasants, no big business men, long stretches of open lands, tyrant kings and czars and emperors killing poor people for target practice and all that...and above all else Spies and KGB and James bond stuff.

In short all the things that made Russia a Narnia-ic land!

This childhood fantasy, as I grew older, was further conditioned by the relentless 'fantastic' and sometimes 'almost' true and sometimes actually true news by western news agencies.

Now, When Sonali suggested that, in 2018, we should go to Russia for touring, I was like-'You serious ?!'………… Then again- Why not? You got to believe in Narnia to see Narnia!

But preparation for the tour was, what can I say....'could have been smoother'.

When applying for Visa, I realised how frustrating it can be for a tourist when your systems are archaic and of a bygone era. This experience made me realise what a wonderful thing Narendra Modi government has done in easing Tourist and business Visa process for India. Just an online application, take a print and travel to India. No wonder, the number of tourist visiting India has multiplied many times over the last four years, bringing additional revenue and providing livelihood to lakhs of Indians.

We decided that we will go to only two places- St Petersburg and Moscow. Now, after the tour we can definitely say we did the right thing.

I don’t know why, but when we reached Russia, it did not feel so Narnia-ic, rather it felt just like landing in any Indian airport. Ok! an OLD Indian airport. The ones from 1990s. Yes, maybe because of such stupid and unnecessary practices like filling up an immigration form before entering the country. They cut out a slip from the form and gave it back to us. Thank God I kept is safe in my bag. While returning we realised that this slip was mandatorily to be handed over back to the authorities when we return. I always found it funny when we had to fill up a similar form with all already provided information, before landing in India and wondered, How on Earth can the authorities keep track of lakhs of such silly slips of papers? No wonder Desi sar pe laal topi Rusi!!!

The real Russia was not much different from my childhood imagination, at least partly. The people sound very rude, almost like a military command. But speak to them a few sentences and you realise that they are not rude. It is just their way of talking. In fact, we realised that almost everybody was trying to strike a bond by using words like 'Namaste', 'Indira Gandhi', 'Raj Kapoor'. Yes! true, even I was thinking that Indira Gandhi has been dead for more than 30 years now, still people identify India with her! God bless your soul Madam G! Our driver even played a Mithun Chakraborty song "Jimmy! Jimmy! Jimmy! Aaja! Aaja! Aaja! " and our guide told us that almost everybody knows this song there! Mithun da! tum to Chaa gaye !

The Taxi drivers of Russia reminded me of Chennai Auto walas. No, they were not wearing Lungis and carrying Thalaiva's picture on their autos and playing Basha songs. They are equally as cheats as a Chennai Auto wala. If you take a Non-metered taxi you will be cheated, if you take a metered taxi you are cheated ten times more. If the fare for a local Russian is 200 Rubles, it will be 2000 Rubles for you. I am not joking, I experienced it first-hand. God bless our tour guide who volunteered to hire a taxi for us and saved us. She even gave me her Mobile number ;-) and said I can call her anytime. I did not disappoint her. I called her at 3 AM. Why? you ask me? 'cause I needed her help!

St Petersburg city is magnificent. Huge magnificent buildings. Most of them in the same old, very old fashion. very broad roads, a river running through, almost all walls very old with age and fading colours but still having that majestic look to them. Then again, in other part of the city there are these Soviet era apartment blocks. Same assembly line buildings with minimal deco, making each street look like the other. 

 

If you want to see St Petersburg, start with the Peterhof. You will know the 'what and How and when' of St Petersburg. Then all other attractions in St P'burg will make real sense to you. There is so much to know, learn, feel sad about, feel happy about Peterhof. The Greatness of Emperor 'Peter the Great' is etched all over the city. The people still revere his memory. The pride they feel when they speak of his victory over Sweden can be felt. And why not! I was pleasantly surprised to learn that for a very long time, in the best it its days, Russia was ruled by women. The best known and loved amongst them 'Catherine the great' was of German origin. Our Guide Helga (Olga Ziyatdinova) was great. She was a history expert. Knowledge alone is not enough, you should know how to explain and make it interesting. Even my kids loved it. They were like 'What happened next?' Shashank loved the stories about the wars. In fact, Sneha was asking more questions than us and Helga was patient enough to answer all her questions. She was the one who made us realise the deep connection between Peterhof and Catherine palace. History apart, the Peterhof is stunningly beautiful. The beautiful palace with gold gilded domes. In some cases, the Domes are actually gold plated. This palace is said to be inspired by Versailles near Paris. Having seen both, I feel that this palace surpasses Versailles in all aspects- beauty as well as wealth. The sad part is, how the Nazis had destroyed this beautiful palace. These evil Nazis were such sadists that they searched for the most beautiful parts of the palace to destroy them. The pictures of this palace after the world war show the real gruesome face of this army of satan.

When we visited the 'Peter and Pauls fortress' kids suddenly realised that the stories of kings and queen are not always romantic. Most of the times they involve unspeakable tortures and death.

The Hermitage museum is huge! The collection of art is immense and stunning. Even two days will not be enough to do justice to this very large collection.

If St Petersburg is Majestic, Moscow is no less so. Our Guide Alina was the best guide ever. The way she showed Moscow to us, especially the Kremlin, the Red square, GUM, we are sure to make a second visit. In addition to the places we requested to see, she came up with some of her own places to see which actually were hidden gems, including the Shopping mall exclusively for kids, the most decorated street of Moscow and such places. When our camera suddenly stopped working Alina was so kind to take many pictures of us and send them to us later. Thank you so much Alina. You are the best. 

Moscow reminds us of Cold War, KGB, Spy, James bond and all. We even saw the headquarters of the erstwhile KGB. The whole city is strewn with symbols of soviet era. The 'Red Star' the symbol of the revolution is present all over the city, especially on the Stalin's sky scrapers. 'Stalin's smile'-want to know what it is? It is a nick name given to a huge apartment building in the most expensive quarter of Moscow where the 'Who's who' of Soviet Russia lived, including the Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox church. It got this nick name because during Stalin's rule, all the houses in this building were bugged and if anybody was heard criticising the government, even in their own bedrooms they were promptly picked up by the KGB never to be seen again. We were told that there are at least 800 recorded cases of such disappearances. I would rather have stalin NOT Smile. Communists, what else!

The churches in both St P'burg and Moscow are really beautiful. Almost all gilded with real gold and some of them actually Gold plated. The intricate carvings, Sculptures and Paintings are beyond description. The typical Onion shaped colourful domes add to the beauty of these lovely buildings. Nobody in their right state of mind would think of damaging these structures, even if they don't believe in God. Nobody! But Communists! After all Communists can never be in 'Right' state of Mind. Blinded by their hateful ideology these creatures damaged many of these churches. It is so saddening to know that during Soviet era some of these Churches, including the very beautiful St Issac's cathedral were used as storage for vegetables and food which caused huge damage to the structures.

The Victory Memorial erected in the memory of the World wars I and II and many other wars fought by Russia is a very beautiful tribute to the fallen soldiers. The obelisk's height is exactly 141.8 metres, which is 10 centimetres for every day of the War. Again, a chance for hundreds of questions from Shashank and Sneha.

The Soviet era was as much about Show off as it was about an egalitarian society (sic). The grand metro stations ordered by Stalin are in themselves a piece of art. Each station an art museum.

In all, it was a very memorable visit. More than what we have expected. 

- Sandeep Kulkarni

May 2018