Frozen in time

“In Russia do you have arranged marriage?” Bhatnagar had been asking this type of questions to the Dy.Chief Engineer Ms Lana which was promptly translated in Russian by our guide and translator Alexendrov to Lana.

I was amused by the way Alexendrov was translating such question to Lana which he himself could have replied as it was no technical question.

We were standing by the side of frozen Baltic Ocean, to avoid people walking on the frozen sea they had put up a barbed wire fencing. We had gone to Russia for a technical collaboration, the meeting was over so I requested Alexendrov to show us around. When he mentioned about frozen sea I got interested. We could see the white sheet of ice like a skating rink in place of sea water. At a distance we could see some ships marooned. Lana avoided replying to such type of silly questions. Lana looked to be in her fifties, the usual typical squarish Russian face cut and solidly built. The Chief Engineer Chekov was a thin gentleman always smiling. Alexendrov though was acting as our guide and translator but he was a professional with 6 patents under his belt. I was pretty surprised when he told me that he had patents not only in electrical but also in chemical components, dealing with electrical insulation. I still remember his visiting card which had a caricature face of him in beard, just outline and his credentials.

While I was enjoying the frozen sea Bhatnagar threw another of his nagging questions to Lana which she refused to answer and Alexendrov explained why.

‘When did you pass your engineering?’

Alexendrov spoke in Russian to Lana and she smiled and gave some reply.

With a serious face Alexndrv told Bhatnagar, “She will not give reply to this question as you will then calculate her age!” then he guffawed and I laughed out loud.

Well gentleman that was Alexendrov and I had this incidence in St Petersberg in April,2003.

Back to present ,when this time I was in Goa then on the beach I found some Russians standing around a few cows by the side of Arabian sea,  They were clicking pictures while passing them I looked at an elderly gentleman and said, “ For tonight dinner you don’t have to hunt much for beef, it’s there for you!’

He laughed out and looked at his wife said smilingly while rubbing his belly, “Yes I love beef.”

I teasingly rubbed his belly and said, “Sure you have that fat there.’’

We stuck up friendship and walked to the shack known Pedros on the beach. A cool breeze of February was blowing, we could watch the restless waves of the sea breaking on the beach and the sea foam sidling down the beach leaving behind myriad patterns on the sand.

I   ordered beer for both of us and introduced myself. He was a retired Engineer from Petersburg, February month meant freezing cold back home so they had come to Goa. Russian tourist makes up the majority of foreign tourists visiting Goa. Due to the fall of Russian ruble numbers had decreased but they recovered soon. Tourists in northern belt of Goa are mostly Russians. Many shacks and restaurants run by locals have become accustomed to it and have sign boards and menus in Russian. Due to their large presence, the town of Morjim is often called ‘little Russia.’ It appears there are some Russian tour operators who operate chartered flights from even unknown cities of Siberia. Russians prefer Goa over middle east in winter because of our friendly culture. There certainly is a very strong presence of them in Goa, and like most mass-migrations, there is no particular date in history that can be assigned to this. However, common consensus seems to be around the time the Russian economy started opening up under Putin. Russians began travelling to friendly countries like India.

While talking to him my mind went back to that day by the side of Baltic ocean, I was remembering about Alexendrov , the twinkle in the eyes and wry smile were like that of Alexendrov. We exchanged visiting card, his card was a caricature of him and his credentials. I was taken aback by the similarity of the visiting card of his with that of Alexndrov.

“I have seen such card, my friend Alexendrov’s visiting card was like this!”

“Oh, you knew Alexendrov, the engineer,inventor?” He said excitedly.

“Yes, the same! Wish I could meet him again!”

“He was a close friend of mine. I had borrowed his visiting card and got mine made as per his design. I am sorry to inform that Alexendrov is no more, he left us 6 years back.” The Russian said with a gloomy face.

I was shocked,Alexendrov was such good engineer, he helped us in designing Shunt Reactor, often he would come from Russia to BHEL,Bhopal. I remembered that he could turn any ordinary topic to an erudite discussion with his creative mind.

That Russian gentleman could sense my melancholy mood, he quickly finished his beer and shuffled off bidding good bye to me. I did not try to remember his name, no use loading the mind with another name which eventually I forget at this age of mine. Yes, I had his visiting card, his visiting card was like a prism refracting two situations, one by the side of frozen Baltic Ocean and another by the side of roaring Arabian sea. I slowly tore off his visiting card and without bothering to look at the name and scattered the pieces on the beach. Those pieces flew away with the strong gust of wind blowing on the beach, as though taking away the memory of my friend Alexendrov with it.

Well friends meeting the Russian on the beach is my imagination. I have seen lot of Russians on the beach around the cows , the Russians were in every beach of Goa. Seeing the Russians my memory of that day by the side of frozen Baltic sea got triggered. Alexendrov was real and he was our guide and adviser in Russia and he is no more, left us a few years back.While walking on the beach of Goa i started thinking about Alexendrov and if one of these Russians turned to be his friend but that was too much coincidence to expect, so i did the next best thing of spinning this yarn.