On the Trans-Siberian Express
Over 50 hours on a train without being able to chat up fellow
passengers may sound boring, but it isn't if you're hurtling down from St
Petersburg to Vladivostok
A
train journey? In Russia? On the Trans Siberian Railway?“ With varying empha
ses, the reactions from friends and fami ly on hearing the travel plans
diverged from being amazed to appalled. Eventu ally, with an air of
resignation, they of fered: “Ok, tell us about it when you're back, and we
might do it too.“
The
Russians were too polite to ask why but the real reason for opting for the
train journey was that nearly half a cen tury ago, my geography teacher at
school had fired in me a desire to visit the more uninhabited, unknown places.
And Sibe ria, with its vast stretch of land, most of it uninhabited, retained
its appeal through all these years. That thin line, denoting the railway line,
was waiting to be used.
So,
there we were, going from west to east, from St Petersburg to Vladivostok,
stopping off for sightseeing at a few places along the way.
Reviving
Russian History
While
the Russians retained their amazement at the sight of this Indian couple, their
first reaction at discovering we were Indian was `Kapoor?' (Raj) often preceded
by `Chakravarty?' (`Disco Dancer' Mithun).
St
Petersburg is the most European-looking of Russian cities with its rivers,
tree-lined canals (locals think of Venice but to me it seemed closer to
Amsterdam), churches without the mandatory onion domes. September is a good
season to visit since the tourists have come and gone. There weren't too many
this year, following the prolonged Ukrainian crisis triggered two years ago
when then-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for the
implementation of an association agreement with the European Union. So the
Hermitage museum of art and culture, one of the largest and oldest in the world
that was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, did not have too many people
crowding in front of whatever we wanted to see.
While
on the subject of history, they have been busy for the past couple of decades
reviving some of it. The Soviet star on government buildings looms but it is
just as common to see the Imperial double-headed eagle with the crown on newer
government structures. Both symbolise Russia's power, a guide said.
The
cathedrals of the Russian Orthodox Church were an eye-opener. First, the
congregation has to stand; there are no seats.Not even for the Tsar -although
Peter the Great had a small raised platform built in the cathedral inside the
Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg for himself so that he was above the
rest of the populace, closer to the heavens.
The
only onion-domed structure in St Petersburg is the Cathedral of Spilled Blood,
built where the second-last Tsar, Alexander II, was killed by assassins in the
late 19th century. During the Soviet era it was a store for vegetables and
other perishables. As the guide said, “It took 24 years to build and 25 years
to restore.“
Exploring
Russia
Travel
in Russia is a lesson in so many subjects: geography, life sciences and mainly
history. So , bridges across the Fontanka river in St Petersburg have large
pock-marked headstones, with a plaque alongside noting that the indentations
have been made by German shells during the two year siege of the city between
1941 and 1943.
Moscow,
with its Kremlin (fortress) and the river, stately buildings, large open
spaces, fourteen-plus laned road jammed with traffic and a horrendous parking
situation is where the Bolshoi theatre, symbol of decadence, has a statue of
Karl Marx facing it and shops on adjoining streets, housing the most exclusive
of western labels. It's all there, together: remnants of the socialist Soviet
era with the modern, western capitalist symbols, reverting to the Imperial
past.
For
us, with memories of the Cold War, a city tour of Moscow without stopping at
the Lubyanka or Lenin's Mausoleum would not have been complete but
time-strapped, we could not check out these two. I did catch a glimpse of the
Lubyanka, mandatory for a die-hard le Carré fan.
En
route to Yektarinburg was our first brush with the vilified category of
`providinista', who in our railway bureaucratese would translate into
conductresses (except we don't have females in that category). Online reports
have made them into ogres, although we found them helpful, even chatty, despite
the language barrier.
The
big thing about travelling in Russia is you need to be able to speak the
language and read the Cyrillic script, else you're lost.
Siberia
starts at Yekaterinburg, which marks the border between Europe and Asia. Its
place in history has been assured not merely due to the border but also because
this was where the last Tsar, Nicholas II and his family, now canonised by the
Russian Orthodox Church, lived (and died) after the overthrow. The bodies of
the last royals were thrown into an abandoned quarry here, now a monastery, and
have now been shifted to the burial site of all Romanov rulers from Peter the
Great, the Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg.
Travelling
through Siberia, the vastness of Russia hit us: hundreds of miles of forest,
which in September was turning yellow and red with the green of the conifers.
That is the region where political prisoners were sent in the last century but
all of Siberia has historically been a favourite region for banishment by all
rulers whatever their persuasion.
A
Ride to Remember
Spending
over 50 hours at a stretch on train sounds like punishment, especially when the
train hurtles on for four-five hours without stopping. And then halts for close
to 50 minutes. Both sound boring but neither was, despite not being able to
chat up fellow passengers, all Russians, and the scenery being an unvarying
enchanted forest.
Irkutsk
is the rail head for Lake Baikal with Listvyanka a resort like town on its
shores. The amazing story of the lake is captured in detail at the Limnological
(study of lakes) Museum.
The
religious clampdown of the Soviet era was not uniformly enforced in the
Republic of Buryatin, the home of followers of Tibetan Buddhism. Close to its
capital city, Ulan Ude, is a large Buddhist temple complex where a Lama took
`maha samadhi' in 1927 at the age of 75. It is an amazing sight, the diminutive
figure seated behind a glass barrier, who believers (and some non-believers)
think responds to their queries.
Ulan
Ude also has the world's largest statu of the head of Lenin and a memorial wall
to the purges of the 1930s with a heartwrenching `What for?' plaque. A
reminder, like the one at Dachau, in Germany, saying `Never again'.
Walking
through Khabarovsk, on the banks of the river Amur, I thought I was in a US
university town, the red brick buildings, crowds of youngsters, the river
embankment with its cyclists, skate boarders, runners, just walkers and
strollers... the feel is youthful, vibrant with an air of prosperity although
times are hard.
In
comparison, Vladivostok doesn't have the feel of a port city despite being a
very large one. It has none of the loud cafes, taverns, drinking spots associated
with sailor boys although it is home to the Russian Pacific Fleet besides being
the entry point for all the second-hand, right-hand drive Japanese cars so
popular in a country, which drive on the other side. The belief is that cars
built in Japan for the Japanese are better than those built in Europe (by the
same manufacturer), hence the demand.
The
friendly Russian is not an oxymoron: language is the barrier. The silence on
the streets is uncanny, despite people walking and going about their
businesses. That once-in-a-lifetime dream has been accomplished. Next stop?
Southern Russia. Or the Asian republics. Or both. And family and friends,
relieved that we are back, now talk of following up.
|
Gouri
Agtey Athale
|
(ETM15NOV15)
No comments:
Post a Comment