The Farce Called Akshaya Trithiya

To the vast Indian middle class who are always cribbing about the problems of Government , corruption, and much more, if there is a simple service that you can do the nation, just sell your gold..

Why ? Because one of the aspects that you are consistently lamenting is the inflation. And a huge contribution to that is the falling value of rupee which makes the imports costlier, especially fuel, which has a multiplier effect on prices of most consumer goods..One of the most important contributors on rupee fall is our current account deficit ( in simple words, we import more than the export ) .  And one of the main contributors to this is the ever increasing gold imports for domestic consumption.  If you sell your gold, atleast the supply in local market will increase and should bring down the pressure on rupee.

The savvy marketers over the last few years have found a way to tap into the Indian attraction towards the yellow metal by this non-sense called Akshaya Tithiya , which they have extended to a week this year.  And the campaigns have reached such nonsense such as - "Invest in Gold Mutual fund on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Trithiya"

"It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”

- Warren Buffet

Travelogue - St Petersburg

There is a touch of elegance in everything related to this city. Be it the roadside restaurants, or be it the opulent palaces of Tsars, everything has an element of elegance. That elegance is not one enmeshed in a fashionista world like Milan or Paris. It is rather a unique sense of royal charm. There is a melancholy in the air reminding us of the Tsarist past. There is still that intellectual element that gave birth to new ideas in politics and science. And, I'm quite sure that those unique spirits will shape up this city going forward as well.

The intellectual & cultural capital of Russia -  St Petersburg has a rather short history starting only in 1700's. At different times, it was named as Petrograd & Leningrad. It was here that Bolsheviks overthrew the Tsars. It was here that Dmitri Mendeleev invented periodic table. This city has also witnessed one of the longest millitary sieges in modern world history during second world war.

We reached from Moscow in a night train. Comfortable ride with pleasant sleep. We checked into this small , but very conveniently located hotel ( link ) next to Nevsky Prospect, the arterial road connecting most of the landmarks.

In front of Hermitage - Winter Palace of Tsars

Peterhoff's Palace

Peterhoff's Palace

Day -1 : Hermitage - The largest art & cultural museum in the world.  Tsar's winter palace is converted into a world class museum which will leave you spell bound. Thousands of artifacts and paintings , royal pictures and much more. You would get tired of walking over here. We spent about 4 to 5 hrs here and then proceeded to Peterhoff palace , about half an hour ferry ride through the Baltic Sea.



The most spectacular palace that I've seen anywhere. Pictures speak of the beauty. All the fountains are natural streams . It was damaged during the second world war and restored later.  Hermitage and Peterhoff palace are just two among the many palaces built by Tsars. We missed Catherine's palace - which is supposed to be equally beautiful.

Dinner @ Pushkin's Restaurant, Nevsky Prospect

That night we had dinner at a classic restaurant themed on another Petersburg Luminary - Alexander Pushkin.. And then, took a stroll along Nevsky prospect till the Neva river which cuts across the city . The glittering Hermitage at night along the Neva river is an awesome sight.

Church of Our Lady of Kazan

Church of Our Lady of Kazan - Another glittering sight along Nevsky Prospect. Pretty near our hotel as well

View from the balcony of St Isaac's Cathedral 

Day 2 :  Rasputin - the mad monk lived in this city. And was murdered in another palace over here. Did not have the time to see the palace. St Isaac's cathedral gives a panoramic view of the entire city. Covered two more cathedrals and a park as well..  One downside that I can put over here is that, entry to any of these monuments costs about 250 - 400 Roubles per head.  Beyond a point, you would tend to avoid paying that and getting into these cathedrals.

Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood

A painter in-front of Hermitage

At many places, you would see that intellectual charm and sense of style. It has an element of mystic calmness reminding us silently of the past .

If Moscow left a feeling of incompleteness, St Petersburg really overwhelmed me with its aura.
We flew out in the evening flight back to Dubai in EK 176 .. And this city calls me back again for a trip.Not to see more monuments..but to relish the beauty of the city , Neva river and to breathe the fresh baltic sea air.

Travelogue - Moscow

The land behind the iron-curtain has fascinated me for a long time. Be it for the Communist legacy, or be it for the legion of chess champions , or be it for the modern oligarchs who buy off Soccer clubs, Russia seemed to be an enigmatic land.

We flew to Domodedovo International airport on a wednesday evening. EK131, a five hour flight from Dubai. Moscow has three airports. This one was quite outside the city. A one hour taxi ride took us to our hotel . Its the olympic hostel of 1980 converted to a hotel. Pretty big complex with all the amenities. 

Thursday Morning :- We started off to explore Moscow. Started off with a taste of Russian expenses. Couple of sandwiches and tea costed us 300+ Roubles. 

Enter Moscow metro.

Moscow Metro Network

You would wonder at the engineering marvel of Russian engineers once you see the enmeshed map of metro tracks. Considering that this was built beginning from 1930s, it is really astonishing. 



Advice 1 : You need a map which has Russian & English names of stations printed. Russian alphabets and language is completely different from English. All display boards are in Russian. And you have to do some serious pattern matching to recognize station names.

St Basil's Cathedral

We surfaces at one of the railway stations near Kremlin. Started of with a small museum ( everywhere, entry fee is atleast 200 Roubles ). Next was the iconic St Basil cathedral. Nice place for photographs. History dates it back to the 1600's i think. The cathedral is next to Red square itself. You would scarcely see any relics of Communism except Lenin's mausoleum . 






Exit red square , we were welcomed by these two gentlemen.. And why not, I immediately jumped in for a photograph with them. Realized moments 
later that nothing comes for free in Russia - 200 Roubles down :( .  It doesnt make much sense to pick up a fight with Lenin & Stalin next to Red square .. Isn't it ?

Couple of small landmarks next to the area like war memorial, shopping area and some other museum etc were covered then.

Advice 2: If you are visiting St Petersburg, its better not to waste money in Moscow museums.

We wound up the first day with a Russian dinner ( with vodka , ofcourse :) ). The waiter asked us in broken English if we know Shah Rukh Khan

Kremlin

To an ordinary Indian, the first thing that they tend to associate with Russia is that of a friendly next door nation. To an ordinary Russian, India still reminds him of Raj Kapoor and maybe of late, Shah Rukh :)

Day 2: Kremlin 

The complex housing Russian govt establishments and the old Tsar'ist cathedrals. You need a full day to cover it. Except the arms museum, we covered all places open for visitors. We could not visit the Bolshoi theatre as it was closed. 

At night, we returned again to Red Square . And, that was beautiful

Day 3: Lenin's Mausoleum. 

To me, this would be the everlasting image of Moscow . Lenin's body is still kept preserved inside a glass case guarded by Russian soldiers. No photographs permitted there. The reverence with which they guard him even after the fall of communism is commendable.

Second World War memorial

Visited the Moscow city center next to Red square. There were members of Russian Olympic team playing table tennis with the public over there.

We did a Moscow boat cruise after that. Apart from a few photographic spots, the cruise was nowhere near the magnificent Bosphorus cruise at Istanbul. 

We had already checked out that day morning. After spending some more time, we proceeded to Leningradsky railway station for our train to St Petersburg.

Maybe because of the beauty & elegance of St Petersburg which we saw over the next two days, In my mind, Moscow left a bit of disappointment.Or, may be I can term it as incompleteness. Either way, those vivid images remain..and will be there for the lifetime. 

Next : St Petersburg