Right from the time I exited the самолёт (समल्योत = aircraft) to the time I arrived home (90 minutes), I must have received 12 Thankyou’s and 5 Sorry’s, approximately. Quickly I panicked to restore my North American ‘polite’ avatar which I had, after intensely painful efforts, buried for over 3 months. This avatar had a nasty habit of sneaking up in unexpected places when I was in India or even Russia – leading to embarrassing situations – usually causing me to apologise for being ‘polite’ in the American way, which again was met with glares and a sympathetic ‘oh, the poor boy is Americanized’ look.

I was walking in the very crowded Moscow metro when the tip of my wrist brushed against the tip of a woman’s handbag who whizzed ahead of me. Like any normal person in Toronto would, I thought she was rude for not apologising to me but nevertheless I said by reflex, “I’m sorry, извиненте!” (इझविनीच)
The huge lady turned around, stopped and giving me a look said, “что?” (श्तो = what?)
I laughed inside my head, said “ничего” (निचीवो = nothing) to her and left.

I spent many hours explaining to both, Americans and Indians, what the American ‘polite’ manners mean. The Americans don’t understand why Indians never seem to thank or apologise (one survey even put Mumbai as least polite city in the world – imagine!) and the Indians don’t understand why critical words like Sorry and Thankyou are treated like commodity and used hundred times a day. Well, cultural differences are so beautiful and I discovered that in spite of living in India for first 25 years of my life, I could not, after just 2 years in Canada, switch to a different culture in an instant. Predictably, it will take me some time to get used to thanking and apologising hundred times a day here too.

Moscow from the sky

My Аэрофлот (ऐरोफ्लोट Aeroflot) flight flew from Mumbai to Moscow, change plane, Moscow to Toronto. Aeroflot served me BEEF in my Hindu meal (will make a post with pictures on my travel blog), they are known to flatly refuse to serve plain Water (which is what Indians drink), served a drink called “chai” which they think is tea (well it is Russian tea), their flight was 4 (FOUR) hours late and their seats are designed for discomfort. Yet, I flew them because I had to go to Moscow and the ticket cost was too good to be true. I discovered that the airhostess had a bias against, well, Russians and non-Russian-looking-but-Russian-speaking people like me on one side compared to other non-Russian-looking-and-no-Russian-speaking people on the other. boooo. Nevertheless I found this international discrimination less insulting than what happens in Mumbai between different ethnic groups ironically belonging to the same country…

As the flight landed, I was deeply touched to see the passengers clap as a ‘thank you’ to the pilot.
“Nyet nyet” my neighbor said wisely, “They clap to thank God that the plane has finally landed. It’s Aeroflot, Russian airline!”

View from my window

I was finally glad to be home. Toronto looks beautiful, wrapped in a blanket of snow and occasionally glittering with a scarlet glow from the rays of the sun. I tried to sleep, but I was still tuned to IST. Still I tried to get into my bed and catch some sleep something that was difficult to get without the familiar barking of street dogs…

Quick update: Russia was fantastic, eventful and full of friendly people. I fly to Mumbai, India tomorrow. I can’t wait to see my motherland (after 2 years!)

Walking on, where else but, the Red Square

• I soaked Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and many Golden Ring cities. I acquired some religiously, architecturally, historically, bureaucratically, culturally, etc. significant knowledge.
• My Russian is perfect. People mostly understand my baby Russian, for eg: ‘I-want-go-Moscow-train, where-buy-ticket?’ The trouble arises only when they reply in grammatically complicated Russian.
• Everything is exorbitantly expensive. Medium coffee and a slice of cake would cost upto 250 Roubles, or $10. I don’t just have a hole in my pocket, but my entire pants are gone. (Any request for photos will be ignored.) I couldn’t buy new ones because the costs are crazy.
• I mostly couch-surfed in Russia, i.e. stayed in homes of people who were willing to host. It was a wonderful (almost unbelievable) experience of hospitality. Only 3 days out of 3 weeks did I stay in hostels.
• Non-spicy meat eating (morning, noon and night) will come to an end and I am looking forward to eating vegetarian food again. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed food each and every day (which will be displayed here in delightful pictures). But after 26 years of vegetarianism, imagine 3 purely meat-only weeks.
• Finally, yes it was completely safe, and I had almost no problems whatsoever. After you get used to everyone turning their heads and examining a darker non-Slavic foreigner (to the point that I looked at a mirror all the time to ensure everything was okay) and after the cold, expressionless Russian glance is broken, people will go out of their way to help you.

Thats all for now, I will write more and visit my blog-mates once I am settled in Mumbai.

Пока! (paka पाका: ‘bye!’)

I sublet my apartment, packed my stuff in 7 boxes, dropped them off at friends places and now I am ready to travel. After working long hours, I quit my job, took a term off from school and arranged for this little 12 week holiday. Perhaps it was a bad move in these days of recession, but who cares, time to worry about it will only be in 2009.

Like the title says, I am headed for Russia first (3.2 weeks).

I have a sketchy itinerary for now which covers – European Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Golden Ring) and Caucasian Russia (Sochi, Black Sea). It’s a big country and I am spending very little time there. Which only means that I have to visit again!

And I learnt an important lesson from my Peru trip. Learning the local language is very very important, otherwise you are left in the middle of nowhere (not that it’s bad.) So I spent last two months learning Russian. So many new sounds!

I will, unfortunately, miss reading many lovely blogs and I will try to catch up later. While I am carrying my laptop, I do not foresee blogging from Russia.

After Russia, I’ll visit India (7 weeks) and Bhutan (2 weeks) before returning back home (Toronto) early next year.

Any advice and tips welcome. My email address is ‘mail-at-priyank-dot-com’, I’ll be happy to hear from you

cheers,
Priyank.