ON A FIRST CLASS TRIP TO MOSCOW. PART ONE

 

HINDUKUSH

Getting upgraded to business class was the beginning of a great journey to Russia. The service on the aircraft of Air Astana was good, food was excellent, drinks were unlimited and view from the plane window was astounding. I believe we flew over Pakistan, the Hindukush mountain range and saw snow capped mountains and beautiful rivers go on and on. The passes in the mountains gave me the routes that the Mongols, would have taken on their journey to India on horseback, about five or was it six centuries ago?

ALMATY

My imagination usually takes wings and I now saw all the faces of the invaders on the faces of the crew of the flight. They had high cheek bones, slightly slanted eyes, broad faces, fair complexion, dark hair, and spoke an unknown language. They looked friendly and calm, may be as their country though land locked was calm, peaceful and beautiful. 

THE AIRPORT

The airport at Almaty was small, the facilities were limited and it reminded me more of a railway waiting room. People were disciplined, there was not much noise, except for people comparing this airport with Delhi airport from where we had boarded the flight. I do think traveling is a great eye opener and one can learn so much about the ways of the world, the different people, their culture and their cuisine, as we observe them and visit their land. There was a Kazhak Doctor we met at the airport, who spoke impeccable Hindi as she has lived in Delhi for a couple of years, who asked which part of Delhi we came from and the only remark that she made about our country is that it is very unsafe for women. She spoke from personal experience. Sadly that is how we appear to the world.

As it was daytime we could see the city of Almaty which quite took my breath away. The surrounding snow capped mountains and the beautiful city of Almaty which once was known as Alma Ata had lovely colorful sloping roofed houses. All around one could see cottages with tiny gardens. The air was fresh, the water was cool and very refreshing as though it was from a brook coming down straight from the snow capped mountains.

APPETISER

We had a brief halt at Almaty, where we went through the Duty Free shops in a jiffy. Then we took off for a great first world country which I had known as a big power throughout my life, till only the other day that Glasnost happened and Gorbachev changed the face of the whole world. The Iron country, the huge Communist country which divided the whole world into two camps, has changed the configuration of the World once again. USSR was the place where everyone had a chance to equality, the country where the peasants rose under the leadership of the great Lenin to overthrow the beautiful world of the Tsars and forever end the rule of the Russian aristocracy. 

USSR was formed in 1922 and broke up in 1991. The Soviet Union was formed with the unification of the Russian, Trans Caucasian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian republics.  Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. and  suppressed all political opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism-Leninism and the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivisation. Stalin conducted the great purge to remove opponents of him from the Communist Party through the mass arbitrary arrest of many people who were  sent to correctional labour camps  or sentenced to death.

People of my time would remember Alexander Solzhenitsyn who was one such inmate and won the Noble Prize for Literature in 1970. At the beginning of World War II, Stalin signed a non aggression pact  with Hitler's Germany, the treaty delayed confrontation between the two countries but in June 1941, the Germans did invade Russia.  It is said that one million civilians died of starvation in St. Petersburg during the German siege which lasted for 872 days from Sept 1941 to January 1944. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945. The territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc, and we had the city of Berlin divided by the Berlin Wall. 

Following Stalin's death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as "Khrushchev's thaw" took the country forward rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took an early lead in the Space race with the first satellite and the first human spaceflight. On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first space satellite Sputnik. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space in the Soviet spaceship Vostok 1.

In the 1970s, there was a brief detente of relations with the United States, but tensions resumed when the Soviet Union deployed troops in Afghanistan in 1979.  The war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen  fighters.

In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to further reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of Glasnost(Openness)  and Perestroika(economic restructuring). The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing economic stagnation. The Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes.  On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the remaining twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as independent post Soviet states.  The 15 states that had formed USSR were  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) now consists of 11 former Soviet Republics. 

I had to go through this little History of the USSR as all this happened lately and is very interesting to recapitulate.

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS

Russia is a huge country, better known to me as the land of the different Ivan's, Peters, Alexander, Rasputin, Catherine the Czarina, the beautiful golden Faberge eggs, circus, ballet, gymnasts, cheap and beautifully illustrated children's story books, Ekaterinburg where the last Tsar and his family were executed, Anastasia the princess, who they say survived the attack, Russian peasants. The great literary world of Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Nabokov, Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Pushkin, Tchaikovsky, Boris Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, all forgotten memories came tumbling out of my memory banks. Today's generation may not even have heard of those times, when one had to wait in line for buying everything. The communist world where everything was rationed, when everyone had to work and wait for their turn. All aristocratic houses were taken over, every person was given a specific amount of space, personal property did not exist, everything belonged to the government then. Glasnost and Perestroika had changed everything.

 We landed at Moscow's Sherematyevo airport in the evening on the 2nd of July and waited for our taxi, which had already been pre-booked. We faced language problem as soon as we landed, as no one could guide us to where our taxi could have been waiting. After much waiting, running around, buying a phone card, we were able to contact our hotel and were told that the taxi was on its way to pick us up. The airport was not impressive at all, it looked just like a functional landing and disembarking station for planes, a mere means of transportation. Today we look for beauty besides comfort in an airport, but come to think of it, an airport actually is just a transit point.

The drive into the city which was fairly long, 29 kms. to be precise, was quite a treat. The roads are beautiful and all the buildings on the route are very well lit. One building is more beautiful than the other. 

Moscow is one of the most amazing places that I have been to. The roads are very very wide, and I could recall all those pictures of troops marching in formation on these roads. The roads actually look as wide as a farmer’s field and a mere pedestrian would find it intimidating to cross those wide roads which are without dividers. 

The well lit roads, beautifully lit magnificent buildings did not look identical as it may have looked like during the time of the Communists. History is indeed written by the victors or those in power. I did not see any statue of Stalin, there was a slight glimpse of Lenin, there was absolutely no mention of Khrushchev, Bulganin, and all those people who had created the aura of the iron curtain or Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin who removed the curtains.

LUZHKOV BRIDGE

These are times of prosperity and peace now and therefore one finds that the city is dotted with statues of its artists and literary figures. Pushkin finds pride of place with statues and museums. The city now talks of peace, love, tranquility and happy times. The country now wants to commemorate their beautiful artistic and literary heritage.

LUZHKOV BRIDGE

On our first day in Moscow, as we walked towards the Red Square, we walked into a lovely garden with colourful blooms, flower laden gateways, lots of roses and a beautiful bridge over the River Moscow. This was a lovely park called "Luzhkov Bridge", where when a couple gets married, they write their names on a padlock, lock it on a metal tree frame and toss the key into the river. The garden is full of metal trees and we saw many newly wed couples in their wedding finery locking their love.

THE LOCK TREE

The Red Square historically was meant to serve as Moscow's main marketplace. It was also the site of various public ceremonies and proclamations, and occasionally a coronation for Russia's Tsars would take place here. The Red Square has the Kremlin, Lenin’s tomb, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Spasskaya Tower, The GUM and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan.

 

RED SQUARE WITH SPASSKAYA ON LEFT, GUM, ST. BASIL'S ON RIGHT.

Every hour a small guard of honour comes and checks the collar and cap of the soldier on duty at the Spasskaya Tower which was built in 1491 by the Italian architect Pietro Antonio Solari. The clock on the Spasskaya Tower appeared between 1491 and 1585 and it  designates the official Moscow Time.

ST. BASIL'S CATHEDRAL

St. Basil's Cathedral is the most well known colorful, onion domed church associated with Russia and was erected by Ivan the Terrible to mark the 1552 AD capture of Kazan from Mongol forces. The church was completed in 1560. There is a dubious legend that Ivan had the builders blinded so that they could not create anything to compare with this building. This story was very similar to the story one has heard about Shah Jehan, who had cut the hands of the people who had constructed the Taj Mahal. It is indeed surprising that those who could get such fabulous buildings constructed, could be so cruel. The desire to remain incomparable is indeed unique and perhaps only us humans  can plan and execute such different kind of emotions. St. Basil's Cathedral is actually a cluster of eight churches built around a ninth in the center. Originally the Cathedral was all white to match the white-stone Kremlin, and the onion domes were gold rather than multi-colored and patterned as they are today. This Church stands out as an outstanding building, with no match to this day. 

 Kremlin means "fortress inside a city" and the complex now serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian federation. 

THE GUM PRONOUNCED GOOM

The majestic building which houses the famous GUM does not look like a shopping mall, which it actually is. It is magnificent and better than any mall anywhere in the world. It is more like a colorful garden with a plethora of flowers all laid out to perfection. 

INSIDE GUM.

Shops seem to be incidental. The entire feeling is of being in a peaceful, beautiful garden. This complex is located in the wholesale and retail trading rows of Red Square which were laid out here in the 17th Century. 

 

INSIDE GUM

The country now perhaps wants to commemorate their beautiful and artistic side. One can see lots of statues of writers and artists. Statues of Gaugin, Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, are dotted around the city. 

The KGB building does not look as intimidating as it once was. 

METRO STATION

The Metros which are their underground train network is remarkable. The trains arrive in quick succession without almost any gap, passengers do not have to wait for their next rain. Unlike London there is no gap between the train and the platform also. The plan for the people to have no inconvenience has been calculated to perfection. The people and their transportation seems to have been considered the most important. It is said that Stalin wished for the people to be able to see art daily, therefore the metro stations have been designed in such a manner that there is art displayed on the walls, the lights are generally chandeliers, the ceiling is painted and one is surrounded by art as one walks up and down the platform. 

METRO STATION

These are not just platforms, they are art galleries. The cost of a ticket is 50 roubles, whether one wants to travel to the next station or the furthest one. The ticket is not needed at the end of the journey, so we found that there were bins near where one entered the station, and many Muscovites threw their tickets after validating it on entry. 

METRO STATION

Before arriving at Moscow I did wonder about the commune living and their quarters, but I was quite surprised to see that there was no drabness evident. It is possible that we did not visit the lesser known places or perhaps those buildings have been taken down and new ones have been built in their place.

To be continued...