Tour diary
22.6-23.6.18. Kolkata (20 10 hrs - IST)
-Delhi (1330 hrs IST) - Moscow (0530 hrs MST)
23.6.18 Beluraskaya -
Kuroskaya Metro station - Nizhny Novogord
24.6.18. Nizhny Novogord
25.6.18. Saransk
26.6.18. Moscow
27.6.18. Moscow
28.6.18. Moscow
29.6.18. Moscow
30.6.18. Kazan - Aandrey
01.07.18. Kazan
02.07.18. St Petersburg - Olga
03.07.18. St Petersburg
04.07.18. St Petersburg - Evgeny
05.07.18. St Petersburg - Evgeny - Hermitrage
06.07.18. St Petersburg - Evgeny - Brazil vs Belgium
07.07.18. St Petersburg - Evgeny - Ballet
08.07.18. St Petersburg - Evgeny
22/06/2018
Like last time we made plans long before the actual date of travel. Pannada (Pannalal Chatterjee - this is his 10th World cup) came to my house number of time before the world cup.
We (Sanjitda and Me) will leave for Delhi by 8.30 pm flight for Kolkata. We planned to leave at 5 pm from home. But I learnt that my final interview (of my new Company) will be held today at 5.30 pm !! I tried my best to defer it , till I return from Russia. But I was told , now or never ! The interview will be taken by a very senior bureaucrat of GoWB. The interesting thing is my existing company is closing down. So this interview is also very important. So I reluctantly decided to appear for the interview. Our Taxi was waiting in front of the office. Sanjit da and Benuda waited for me in the Taxi. The interview went well (and got the job ! ) and left for airport and reached in time. We reached Delhi airport at 10.30 pm
We (Sanjitda and Me) will leave for Delhi by 8.30 pm flight for Kolkata. We planned to leave at 5 pm from home. But I learnt that my final interview (of my new Company) will be held today at 5.30 pm !! I tried my best to defer it , till I return from Russia. But I was told , now or never ! The interview will be taken by a very senior bureaucrat of GoWB. The interesting thing is my existing company is closing down. So this interview is also very important. So I reluctantly decided to appear for the interview. Our Taxi was waiting in front of the office. Sanjit da and Benuda waited for me in the Taxi. The interview went well (and got the job ! ) and left for airport and reached in time. We reached Delhi airport at 10.30 pm
23/06/2018
We took Aeroflot fligt at 1.30 am and reached Moscow ( Sheremetyevo International Airport) at 5.30 am in the morning. Moscow is 2.30 hrs behind us. There are various
options to come to the city centre from airport. The airport express takes
around 500 rouble to reach city centre. But our train is at 11 am. So we have
time to kill and not in a hurry. We thought we will take local bus to reach
city centre. The rate is 55 Rouble (1 $=62 Rouble = Rs 68). The exchange rate
in airport is absurd level of 1$=40 Rouble. We exchanged only 100 rouble (two of
us together). The bus (851) did not take anything from us, since we have match
ticket. But it was not correct, which we learnt later. You get free bus ride
only if you have ticket and fan Id. I do not have ticket for the match in
Moscow, but we have to go to Nizhny Novogorod. Here flat rate in bus is 55
Rouble. The bus has no conductor.
Any
way, we got down at Rechnoy Vokzal to take Metro. This bus is more like a
shuttle. From Rechnoy Vokzal (Green line) Metro station we got down at the
inter change - Beluraskaya Metro station (Brown line) . Beluraskaya Metro
station is quite impressive. The metro of Moscow is world famous for its architecture and beauty.
From Beluraskaya we went to Kuroskaya Metro station -
which is also a train station apart from a metro station. We will take a train
from Kuroskaya to Niznhy Novogorod. We have some time to spend, before we will
catch the train to Nizhny at 11 am. We decided to buy the Sim card and exchange
some Rouble.
 |
| Posters - similar to what we see in Kolkata ! |
I bought 15 GB data for 400 Rouble from a shop near metro
station. Quite reasonable ! It is valid for 1 month. The shopkeeper, more or
less, understands English, but he is using google translate (in voice) to talk
to us ! He is talking in Russian and Google is translating it in English for
us, without any need for typing ! This is something I have never done in India.
He also helped us in calling our friend Anton, that we have reached safely. Till now
Russian people were very nice and very different from the stereotype.
At the airport the rates are 40 Rouble per USD, but
here it is 60 USD. Today being Saturday, many money exchanges were closed.
After lot of effort, we got one shop which is open.
History and
Orientation of Russia and venues of World cup
There are 12 venues
(and 11 cities) in this world cup. There are 2 venues in Moscow city.
North
In North there is St
Petersburg.
South
In South there
is Sochi and Volgograd. Sochi is called
French Riviera (or Côte d'Azur) of Russia. Riviera in Italian means
Coastline. There is mountain and Black sea side by side in Sochi. Narendra Modi
went to Sochi few days back.
Volgograd (Previously it
used to be called Stalingrad) is a very important city historically.
Germans seined
Petrograd (later renamed Leningrad and finally renamed to St Petersburg) for
862 days from 8.9.41-27.1.1944. Lakhs of people of Leningrad died in
Leningrad/Stalingrad.
In the Battle of Volgograd/Stalingrad
(23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943), Germany and its allies (3 Axis power -
Italy, Germany and Japan) fought against the Soviet Union for control of the
city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in Southern Russia. Marked by fierce combat
and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, it is one of the bloodiest
battles in the history of warfare, with an estimated 2 million total
casualties. Ultimately Germans were defeated in Volgograd. This is a very
significant turning point in Eastern front during World War II and ultimately
resulted in German's defeat on D Day on 6.6.1944 in Western Front at Normandy
in the hand of Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada and France
and gained a victory that became the watershed event for World War II in
Europe.
East
In the East there are 5 venues - Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk (part of Mordovian Republic , not very far from Nizhny Novgorod - it has some unique architecture) , Samara and Yekaterinburg (named after Catherine I, Czar Peter the great's (1672-1725) wife. She should not be confused with was Catherine I or Catherine the great, the only woman ruler of Romanov who ruled from 1762 to 1796 after death of her husband. Yekaterina is Russian name of Catherine. It bears testimony to the assassination of lat Czar Nicholas II. Following the October Revolution, the family of deposed last Czar Nicholas II was sent to internal exile in Yekaterinburg where they were imprisoned. In July 17, 1918, the deposed Czar, his wife Alexandra, and their children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and czarevich Alexei were executed by the Bolsheviks). Yekaterinburg is a good base to take the trans-Siberian train. That is the place to avail trans-Siberian rail. Although you can take it from Russia. In Kolkata I met reputed travel writer Ratanlal Biswas in Metro - who went near Baikal Lake by plane, for Baikal Lake trek and came back by Trans Siberian train by 64 hours journey. This Trans Siberian rail goes up to Vladi Vostok - Far East, near Siberia. The rail line was developed during one of the Czar's. From Vladi Vostok Japan and Korea is not far. One of my hosts in Moscow, Olga is from Vladi Vostok.
In the East there are 5 venues - Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk (part of Mordovian Republic , not very far from Nizhny Novgorod - it has some unique architecture) , Samara and Yekaterinburg (named after Catherine I, Czar Peter the great's (1672-1725) wife. She should not be confused with was Catherine I or Catherine the great, the only woman ruler of Romanov who ruled from 1762 to 1796 after death of her husband. Yekaterina is Russian name of Catherine. It bears testimony to the assassination of lat Czar Nicholas II. Following the October Revolution, the family of deposed last Czar Nicholas II was sent to internal exile in Yekaterinburg where they were imprisoned. In July 17, 1918, the deposed Czar, his wife Alexandra, and their children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and czarevich Alexei were executed by the Bolsheviks). Yekaterinburg is a good base to take the trans-Siberian train. That is the place to avail trans-Siberian rail. Although you can take it from Russia. In Kolkata I met reputed travel writer Ratanlal Biswas in Metro - who went near Baikal Lake by plane, for Baikal Lake trek and came back by Trans Siberian train by 64 hours journey. This Trans Siberian rail goes up to Vladi Vostok - Far East, near Siberia. The rail line was developed during one of the Czar's. From Vladi Vostok Japan and Korea is not far. One of my hosts in Moscow, Olga is from Vladi Vostok.
Kazan is a very
interesting place. Genghis Khan captured Russia from 13th Century to 1480. Then
from 16th Century came Romanov dynasty, who ruled till 1917 till Bolshevik
revolution. Genghis Khan is a Mongol from Mongolia. The term Moghul or Mughal
came from Mongol. In Persian language Mongol is referred as Moghul)
Humayun's mother and father has Timur i Lang or Taimur Lang (born in Uzbekistan
and who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Iran and Central
Asia. Persian, the lingua franca of the Timurid elite. His
goal was a restoration of Genghis Khan’s great Mongol Empire. Genghis Khan, who
had died in 1227, and Timur shared a common ancestor.) and Genghis Khan
(He decreed the adoption of the Uyghur script – Uyghur are prosecuted in China
in 21st century) lineage respectively. Kazan is called Istanbul of Russia.
There are many mosques in Kazan and many people are of Turkic origin (The term
Turkic and Turkish should not be confused. Turkic people is a broad term which
includes not only Turks, but also Turkmens, Uzbeks, Azerbaijanis, Uyghur,
Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Tatars and other ethnic groups which inhabit a very large
region. Turkish people are people from the country of Turkey and they speak the
Turkish language as their mother tongue. They are a Turkic group with a Turkic
language. Each of these ethnic groups has their own languages, but their
languages are classified into numerous subgroups based on how intelligible and
close they are to each other. So when we say Babur or Muhammad Bin Tughluq is Turkic
origin, which does not mean he is from Turkey)
While going from Moscow to St Petersburg falls Novgorod. The documented history of Russia starts from Novgorod in 862. The term Rus came from Kyvian Viking clan [Vikings were primarily from southern Scandinavia (in present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden who from the late 8th to late 11th centuries, raided wide areas of Europe)]. The Eastern Slavs came from Belarus and Ukraine (Western part of present day Russia). From there, Slavs were spread to various regions.
Western
Slavs were
Polish, Czech, Slovakia, Bulgarian and Eastern Slavs are Russian.
Southern Slavs were Serbia, Croats, and Bulgarians.
So Russians are basically
Eastern Slav. That is why their language has lot of similarity with other
Slavic languages. My Polish friend Jola says she can understand Czech or
Russian - if it is spoken slowly. In Europe more than 90% speak Indo European
Language - 21.5 Crores or 215 million speak Latin Group (French, Spanish,
Italian, and Portuguese etc), 210 million speak Germanic Group (English,
German, Dutch etc) and 250 million speak Slavic group (Russian, Czech, Polish, Slovak,
Bulgarian etc).
West
The venue in the
Western side is Kaliningrad. The name came a communist leader
- Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, a Bolshevik revolutionary. Its border is not
contiguous to Russia. To its North and East is Lithuania, Poland is in the
South and its West is Baltic Sea. It is a very German Town - German culture is
prevalent. It was under Germany. After the Germans were defeated by Russian,
Russia kept it due its strategic location. When the Bolshevik Revolution happened,
Poland, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia were given option to be part of
USSR - which they declined. Before Bolshevik Revolution it was contiguous part
of USSR.
The venue of
Kaliningrad and Saransk (in East) is apparently a scam - since there is no
major football club or interest in football. The likely reason why it was
chosen as a venue is probably vested interest. Some influential leaders got the
contract, I heard. Possibly Saransk stadium will become a shopping mall after
the world cup. There is no major crowd coming to the ground during the world
cup, I read. Normally Fifa does not give more than 8 venues. If it is too
spread out, then it is difficult to see all the matches. That is indeed the
case. It seems after the world cup it will be desolated. In Brazil also there
were around 12 venues.
..........................
While boarding the train (11 am) to Nizhny Novgorod (should not
be confused with Novgorod – Nizhny means Lower; i.e. Lower Novgorod) we met a
group of Bengali from Jorhat, Assam.
They have got 6 match tickets. They have also got 4 free train tickets (to go from venue to another) ! I got only one, since I applied little late. The criterion is : you have to have match ticket to get free train ticket. We will reach Nizhny Novgorod at 2.43 pm.
In the train we started practising Russian , which we
learnt from Goutam Mama. Spasiba - Thank you, Privet - Hello, Vogzal- train
station, excuse me - pardon, , Stancion - Station, Restaurant - Restoran, Voda - water, yes- da, No - niet,
Tea-Cha, Coffee - Coffee, Road - ulitsa, Aftobus- Bus, Disevli Restoran- cheap
restarurant, Very good - achin khoroso, Toilet is Toilet, Doroga - expensive,
address- aadres, bad - plokhoy, friend - droog, house - Dom, mutton - myasa,
fish is ryba . (Later we learnt that Dawai Dawai is Cheers, while drinking
Vodka !)
Russian script is called Cyrilic. It is named after
Greek Saint Cyril . It is very Close to Greek alphabet. Some words are added to
Greek alphabet. I did not find it very difficult. During the later part of my
stay, I could read Russian with some difficulty. It is similar to English
alphabet also, with some changes. C= S,
so CCCP (= Союз Советских Социалистических Республик OR Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik) = USSR ) or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), P in Russian=R, Roubles is
written as P, Nizhny starts with H (Ни́жний).
So H in Russian is N in English.
After H of Nizhny, it is N, so N (in reverse) mean i or y......Van Gogh (Ван Гог) starts with B , so B in Russian is V in English and Г is G.. so
on so forth...In Russia without knowing Cyrilic
- it will be a problem. So it seems withing
few days I will be able to read. R is Y
in English.
The train runs exactly in time. We got down at 2.43 pm
! Just in front of the Train station is metro station. We took the metro and got
down at Burkovskaya metro station.
From there we started walking towards Anton's
house. On the way we met an old lady. She escorted us to Anton’s house till
the end. She was always smiling.Quite an exceptional lady. She does not understand English. We gave her a
souvenir from India - Panchavati Incense stick.
She does not understand English. We gave her a
souvenir from India - Panchavati Incense stick.
The train runs exactly in time. We got down at 2.43 pm
! Just in front of the Train station is metro station. We took the metro and got
down at Burkovskaya metro station. From there we started walking towards our Anton's
house. On the way we met an old lady. She escorted us to the Anton’s house till
the end. She was always smiling. She does not understand English. We gave her a
souvenir from India - Panchavati Incense stick.
Anton has a studio apartment. Since we were hungry, we told our host , we will go for lunch. In stead, he took out Ham, Cheese , bread from his fridge. Our host knows Spanish, but has limited knowledge of English. Again Google translate was our saviour. He knew I am from Bengal. So he started speaking in Russian and google is translating it direcly into Bengali ! After chatting for some time, we went to the departmental store, inside his complex to buy water. In his complex all houses look similar !
We found Salami and Sausage selling around Rs 700-800 per Kg , much less than what we get in Spencer's. It is even cheaper than Italy. Then we left with his Japanese car (right hand steering, unlike left hand steering in Russia) to the Kremlin.
We found Salami and Sausage selling around Rs 700-800 per Kg , much less than what we get in Spencer's. It is even cheaper than Italy. Then we left with his Japanese car (right hand steering, unlike left hand steering in Russia) to the Kremlin.
Nizhny Novgorod has a written history of 800 years. Maxim Gorky was born here. Gorky has a very interesting story. Once a Czar was sitting idly infront of sea. Suddenly he saw a person (Black) running , followed by a Police . Police cannot catch him. When Police was slowing down , he was slowing down. When they were increasing the speed, he was also increasing thr speed. But he is never looking back. Czar caught him, with the help of their horse. When he was caught, he said, I am from Absynnia (Ethiopia). There are many animals in Abyssinia. I can follow their speed, by just listening to their footstep. I don’t need to look back ! Czar was impressed and adopted him. That person later married a Russian lady and their son is Maxim Gorky . This is what Goutam Mama (He spent 8 years in Russia and had a Russian wife) told me. I don't know if it is true. I did not find any reference in Internet !
So we went to see the square - where there is a statue
of Gorky.
Tolstoy, Gorky and
Dostoyevsky are considered among Russia's greatest writers. Pushkin is considered the greater Russia Poet. Gorky is his
pen name. The city looks very nice.
Here they follow Orthodox Christian order. The robe of father is black. Orthodox Church do not follow present-day , Gregorian calendar. They followed Julian Calendar. There is a gap of 13 days. After Bolshevik revolution happened, Bolsheviks aligned the date with other countries, discarding Julian Calendar. So Bolsheviks say the famous October revolution happened in 25th October, 1917, it is actually 7th November,1917 ! Similarly Christmas is held on 7th January.
The term Czar means Caesar. Caesar is a title of
imperial character. It is derived from Julius Caesar. Ivan the 3rd probably
used the term Czar for the first time. Before
that they used Emperor.
We went to see the Kremlin - fortified city. In Nizhny Novgorod there is a Kremlin. The term Kremlin practically means citadel. There are many Kremlins in Russia and the one in Moscow is not the ONLY one.The architecture of Church is quite unique. It is onion shaped. Somewhat similar to a mosque. The Kremlin, here, is apparently the largest Kremlin in Russia, according to my friend.
They have converted a road into a fan fest and
cordoned off the area. We saw the match of Germany. He was joined by his
friend. Many people has come to Nizhny Novgorod from Panama. One of the people
from Panama told me, there are 4000 (6000 as per another version) Panaman
supporters travelled from Panama. There is a match of Panama tomorrow. The
atmosphere is electric. There is a pedestrian street near fan fest, where I saw
Panama's supporters along with English people dancing till 1.30 am !. I
met an Australian there. He asked - when will India play Football. Immediately
I showed him my Tee Shirt - along with the article in Telegraph. They were very
impressed. He said football comes after, American football, rugby and cricket.
We saw some Ecuadorians, Colombians too. The arrangement of Fifa is very good -
similar to what I saw in Brazil. There are places in the Fifa Fan Fest where
you can buy Beer.
After the match we went to have Shawarma with our
friend (along with his friend. She speaks good English).
They call Lebanese food as Leban. We had Shawarma.
They did not allow us to pay. Then we went to the Pedestrian street and sat for
some time. Our friend Anton dropped his friend and when we came back home it is
2.30 am !! It is day light here ! That is why it is called white night. I had
to use eye pad to sleep. It is quite hot here !
Here bus fare is 28 Rouble (Unlike 55 Rouble in Moscow).
24/06/2018
We brought breakfast from the departmental store.
Since it is inside a housing complex, no body interacts with outsiders
generally and therefore do not understand English. So I spoke in Bengali in
Google Translate , which is translated into Russian (voice message). It worked
quite well. After breakfast, Anton dropped us near the stadium – since there
is a barricade, we had to walk for some time to go to the stadium.
On the way to the stadium, we met people from various nationalities and even offered us beer !
Today is the match between England vs Panama. The whole stadium is red today ! We sat very near to the goal post. Only 1 goal was scored at our side ! The score was 6-1 ! The Panama is a very ordinary team.
 |
| A church falls on the way to the stadium - we went there to see it |
On the way to the stadium, we met people from various nationalities and even offered us beer !
Today is the match between England vs Panama. The whole stadium is red today ! We sat very near to the goal post. Only 1 goal was scored at our side ! The score was 6-1 ! The Panama is a very ordinary team.
The positioning of players of England team are very
critical for their game. Always 2 players are standing at the 2 flanks (in an
open space), which makes it very easy to change the direction of the match from
left to right and vice versa. We, in India, never learnt this ! When somebody
gets a ball , 2 players are supporting him, to get the pass. The understanding
and match reading of English team is very good. I was watching the positioning
of players very carefully today. It is like a chess board. In TV you cannot
make out these things.
The atmosphere in the stadium is electric ! The foods inside the stadium are quite expensive like Brazil - these are owned by Fifa. They are also very well organized - somewhat similar to what I have seen in Brazil.
People from Panama have great spirit. Even if they lost, they danced like anything! Wherever you see in the gallery it is only red !
The atmosphere in the stadium is electric ! The foods inside the stadium are quite expensive like Brazil - these are owned by Fifa. They are also very well organized - somewhat similar to what I have seen in Brazil.
 |
| Burger at around Rs 325 is quite expensive by Russian Standard ! |
People from Panama have great spirit. Even if they lost, they danced like anything! Wherever you see in the gallery it is only red !
We met a Panaman couple. Husband is from Panama, but
the wife was born in Cost Rica. But now she stays in Panama. We were told there
is a strong Indian community in Panama ! In fact she has an Indian friend ,
Ritu ! They speak quite good English. In fact in Panama city, there are 3
Indian Restaurants !
After the match we took free metro ride to come back
home. On the way back we had no option but to miss the ongoing match. We
bought some beer from a grocery store on the road side and had dinner at home.
 |
| Sausages are very reasonably priced - 249 Rouble is almost Rs 250. |
25/06/2018
We went to sleep early and got up at 2.30 am. We have
to catch sleeper class train at 3.53 am to go to Saransk. Our friend called the
Taxi at around 3 am and the Taxi took only 100 Rouble (since Oil is quite cheap
here) for a 5 minutes ride.The train is (2+2)+(1+1), unlike (3+3)+(1+1) in
India. We met some Australians, Russians in the train. We reached at 11.43 am,
exactly on time. It was a slow train. I met a Bangladeshi, from Bogura, in the
train. It is not very far from Dhaka. He is studying IT here. I also met a
Marathi group in the train. I also met a person from Mexico with trademark
hat.
Today the match is between Iran vs
Portugal. We have kept luggage in left luggage facility (organized by
Fifa near the station), so that people can go back to next destination, after
seeing the match. Many people are standing with a placard beside the Train
Station – “rooms available”. It is a very small town. Some people are sleeping
on the grass (beside the footpath). We saw many Iranians.
There is a trolley bus - even in such a small town. It
is town - which can be covered even by foot. It is absolutely neat and clean. Gérard
Depardieu , famous French film star, to evade very high Tax in France, has
taken citizenship of Russia. Dupardeau has adopted
Saransk. He is the brand ambassador of Saransk. Saransk is part of Mordovian Republic (having Mordvinic
language). There are many Republics like Republic of Tatarstan (the Russian
Federation is divided into 85 federal subjects/constituent units, 22 of which
are "republics". Most of the republics represent areas of non-Russian
ethnicity - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republics_of_Russia) - where we will go later. Today our match is at 9
pm. So we have enough time in hand. We went to a cafe to have some food. It is really
very impressive. The price is quite reasonable. We had Cherry pie - very
reasonable price. We also had Russian Pizza (small size) - only Rs 50, Patty -
Rs 45.
 |
| Tarts selling at Rs 25 (25 Roube) only ! |
Here
a very popular dish is called Bear's paw. A local legend has it that in olden
times, bridegrooms had to prove that they are true men and that they are worthy
of their brides. And so they went off into the woods to hunt a bear and returned
with a bear's paw, which they put on the wedding table as proof of their feat.
There are very few bears in Mordovia today – it is as
an endangered species. So the bear's paw is prepared from other ingredients.
To
know more about their cuisine – read https://sputniknews.com/saransk-football-best-restaurants/
I saw some
people from Madeira (the place, CR7 – Ronaldo, was born in Portugal), wearing a
hat with the name of Madeira. They are interviewed by a TV channel.
We walked all the way from the station to the stadium. The roads are mostly closed. The stadium looks very pretty.
 |
| Traditional Mordovian dress |
 |
| Supporter of Galatasary - similar to East Bengal Club |
On the way to the stadium, I met a Bengali called Viv Sarkar. He runs a very
popular Facebook page called Football in our blood. It is very hot here. So I
was just wearing my Tee shirt like a Towel . There is nothing inside.The
Tee-shirt today became a big hit, because it was visible clearly. Many people
came and took pictures with me.
Somebody in the stadium said, do you know
in 1956 India played in bare foot. I said I am really surprised, that you know
this ! But it was actually in the year 1952.
Many Iranian supporters have come to see the match ,
many of them with their wife. Iranian woman are not allowed to enter a stadium
in Iran. Some of the woman are also wearing quite bold dress !
Iranian
woman are very modern inside their home - even smoke inside their home.
But not outside. Some Iranian woman however were wearing hijab here.
The atmosphere is electric. Till 10.00 pm it is just like 4 pm ! We heard 14,000 people came from Iran. They were shouting at the top of their voice.
One very interesting thing about the match is Ronaldo was changing the flank continuously. Sometime left, sometime right and sometimes centre. When a Iran was attacking, Ronaldo was standing in an off side position - behind the stopper of Iran, creating a panic (since while receiving the ball, he will make sure to receive the ball in the "on side" position) and as a result, the last line of Iranian defence was not standing too far ahead and therefore counter attack by Portuguese will start very fast. This is a peculiar strategy of Ronaldo ! Ronaldo missed a Penalty kick. The match ended in a draw, 1-1.
Near the stadium we met a person from Sri Lanka, but
stays in Malaysia. He is a physicist and sometimes come to Kolkata to visit SN
Bose Instt. !
After the match we took our luggage from left luggage facility and after taking our dinner, we took the train to go to Moscow . It takes around 20 minutes from the stadium to the station. Saransk has hosted some major sporting events previously and won best host city award. The stadium is breathtaking. Looks life an UFO. Almost all the major roads were closed for public transport. You can only walk upto the stadium and walk at least 20 minutes. Our train leaves at 1 am. We bought some Voda ( or water in Russian) from a departmental store just in front of the station. They gave us soda water instead of Voda!
On the way back, we met few Iranians in the train and one
of them is an aethist ! I was surprised. I asked him can you say it publicly?
He said you don't need to. I told him about my fondness for Iranian
movies.
26/06/2018
We reached Moscow at 12.20 pm - exactly at the scheduled time. Trains are
amazingly punctual. We got down at Kurskaya station (blue line) and then took
another connecting metro to go to Troparyovo (red line) . It is one of the
terminal stations. Then we took a bus to go to Roman's house. He is a dentist.
He has to go to office. So, after keeping the luggage in his house, we left for
the stadium. We left the house together. Thankfully he has a late office
hours today.
Today' s match between France vs Denmark was very boring and spectators booed the players like anything. Some were saying it is the worst game. The characters in the crowd, were also missing. Today's highlight was however samba/dancing by Brazilians outside the stadium.
After the match we went to Red Square. Red square can also be accessed from
Lubaynka metro station. Today we did not spend much time in Red Square.
Roman told me to go to Nikolskaya ( pedestrian) street for
carnival atmosphere. Over there Brazilians were dancing - the way only then can !
They
made my day. I met Mauro and others – they are Flamengo supporter. I was very
excited to learn that. Zico, Junior played for Flamengo. I told them - I went
to Brazil. I discussed many things - about
Dondinho (Pele's father), Bauro, Bahia where Rivaldo was born, Tostao's house
in Brasilia, Ronaldinho's (they call him Gaucho) house in Porto Alegre. They
were equally excited to know about my love for Brazil. In fact Mauro called his
Brazilian friends to tell them about me (He told them “do you know Pele’s
father’s name ?”. Most of them said no !) - a person from India who even knows
the name of Pele's father! They did not expect a person from India, love Brazil
so much.
 |
| Mauro on the left - we are still in touch |
The roads here are quite good. The prices of goods are quite cheap, compared to other parts of Europe. You can even have lunch for 100 Rouble.
We
had Blini - type of pan cake/patties. It is good , but nothing extra ordinary
or unique. There is also Samosa! I told my friend that we have a salad called Russian Salad ,
in Kolkata ! It is actually called Caesar Salad here. Here you can get different kind of
salads in Super markets like Europe.
Roman
was telling me, Moscow is more cosmopolitan than St Peterburg (or Old
Leningrad). However St Petersburg is considered culturally superior. People are
very modern here as far as dress is concerned. But we did see show of affection
in public. He said you can see Bolshoi Ballet either in Moscow or St Petersburg..
I wanted to see Tchaikovsky's 's Swan lake. One can also see Prokofiev's Music
with Ballet. I learnt that Russians call Siberia , as Siber.
27/06/2018
Roman told me that post 1990 people are generally happy. There are more opportunities now, unlike olden days. Old people are living with nostalgia. The world view was limited to few Eastern bloc. There was hardly any TV in those days. The two Moscow is very different. The new generation generally speaks English quite well. They generally seem to learn English from Class 1 or 2. Old generation of course, does not speak English.
We left together. We went to a Kolomenskoye Park - where Czars used to stay for
at least 200 years. The residence of the Czar / Tzar is quite striking. It is
an UNESCO heritage site. There is a church too inside the Park. This is a huge
Park with approx 4 sq km area. We had some snacks inside the Park.
Roman is joined by two of his friends - one of them was in India for working in a hotel for few months. He told me in India everybody seems to have a Bollywood connection! I told her this is so, since she has worked in a hotel in Delhi ! The other friend, Tatiyana wants to go to India.
Roman is joined by two of his friends - one of them was in India for working in a hotel for few months. He told me in India everybody seems to have a Bollywood connection! I told her this is so, since she has worked in a hotel in Delhi ! The other friend, Tatiyana wants to go to India.
The Czar's residence was closed, because we were late - but I had the opportunity to have a glimse, just the doors were closed.
We left for a bar to see the Brazil match. Unless you have a beer, you won’t be allowed inside the bar. So I was forced to have beer.
We left for a bar to see the Brazil match. Unless you have a beer, you won’t be allowed inside the bar. So I was forced to have beer.
After watching the
match featuring Brazil, we left for – Nikolskaya steet - somewhat similar to
Lapa of Brazil. But I am told, this carnival atmosphere is because of the World
cup.
We were there quite late -
till 1 am and then took a bus and metro combo to go back home.
In Moscow the
metro plies till 1.30 am . The bus, also, runs quite late. It is not
that, it is plying because of the world cup. This is a normal feature. The
metro frequency is every 1.30-2 minutes (approx). Moscow is a huge city divided
into - Central Moscow district and Outlying Moscow district. It is the largest
city by area in Europe The whole city is mostly connected by metro and bus, sometimes,
act as feeder service. Today we have used mostly Fifa Fan Id. In one place they
asked ticket. If you buy “metro card”,
then instead of 55 Rouble, you pay 36 Rouble. Actually we later learnt, that
Fan Id is applicable only during match day.
 |
| The Party scene just outside Nikolskaya at 12.30 am ! |
28/06/2018
I do not have any ticket for the day. I have few options - either to go to
Suzdal, Vladimir OR to see Moscow. We decided to do the later. We went to
Kremlin again. There is huge demand for ticket.
First we went to see the Kremlin Church or St Basil Church at the Red Square.
After Kazan war , Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584 : the first Czar of Russia) to commemorate the victory, ordered this church . Like Taj mahal , Ivan ordered the maker of the Church to be killed, so that similar thing is not produced anywhere else. There is a huge queue in front of the Church. So we did not go inside. Outside the church is more interesting.
First we went to see the Kremlin Church or St Basil Church at the Red Square.
After Kazan war , Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584 : the first Czar of Russia) to commemorate the victory, ordered this church . Like Taj mahal , Ivan ordered the maker of the Church to be killed, so that similar thing is not produced anywhere else. There is a huge queue in front of the Church. So we did not go inside. Outside the church is more interesting.
Around 150 metre from
the church is the place, where Lenin's body is lying – but it is closed.
 |
| In front of Lenin's Mausoleum |
This time I met many supporters of Mineiro. Ronaldinho
used to play their, at the fag end of his life. When I reminded them of famous
trouncing by 0-5 of Mineiro (you just have to say Penta ! ) , they were taken
aback, similar to Mohun Bagan's loss of 5-0 to East Bengal.
Then we went to a Historical museum nearby, starting from Genghis Khan,
even earlier. Almost everything is written in Cyrilic. Very few are in English.
There is a famous armoury museum also - which was closed.
 |
| Lenin's car |
There we met a Guatemalan guy (he looked like Uzbek ! ). He works in an IT
Company. He told me Captcha and Duo
Lingo apps were founded by a Guatemalan guy.
The name Moscow came from a Moscow river. Since we were late, we did not do the cruise along Moscow river.
Here in Moscow, we met many people with Mongoloid feature - actually they are either from Uzbekistan or Khazakistan or Kyrgistan - they do the low end job. The price of oil is quite cheap in Russia - 50 Rouble or approx Rs 55 and Diesel is only 45 Rouble. The oil Reserve in Russia is even more than Saudi Arabia. That explains - why it is so low. Then we walked for some time along the river and saw a famous Church - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
Today is the last day of league stage of the match. Now we are in the knock out stage of World cup. The position is like this, after today's final league stage matches :
KNOCKOUT STAGE SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES (IST) & DATES)
ROUND OF 16
7:30 PM Saturday — France v Argentina
11:30 PM Saturday — Uruguay v Portugal
7:30 PM Sunday — Spain v Russia
11:30 PM Sunday — Croatia v Denmark
7:30 PM Monday — Brazil v Mexico
11:30 PM Monday — Belgium v Japan
7:30 PM Tuesday — Sweden v Switzerland
11:30 PM Tuesday — Colombia v England
29/06/2018
Today we checked out of our house , since we have to catch a train on
30.06.2018 at 1.20 hours. We kept our luggage at Komsomolskaya Metro
station . We changed our metro station at Kazansky station ( since red line
does not go to Komsomolskaya) to take the brown line.
Most of the train stations are linked to a metro
station. So where ever you want to go, you can take metro to reach the train
station. This is true for most of the countries in Europe. For going to various
regions there are many train stations. Not like Howrah station in Kolkata. The
name of metro and the attached train station is not necessarily same. Kurskaya
(train and metro station has same name), Beluruskaya, Kazansky are 3 very
important metro stations for going to different directions.
They were trying to cheat us and charging 500
Rouble. When I pointed out that it is not 500 Rouble , rather it is 250 Rouble
(written on the chart), they were trying to tell me. you have a big suitcase,
which is not correct. So they ultimately returned extra Rouble ! I have one
luggage , so I paid 250 Rouble and Sanjit da paid 500 Rouble since he has two
bags.
Then we proceeded towards Kremlin (which is just beside Red square). There
is a big crowd and we had to wait for some time in the queue.
Inside the
Kremlin we met a big Bengali group from Kolkata, they work in Vivada.We sang
Rabindra Sangeet inside the Kremlin.
Then I met a Marathi couple and another Bengali couple from Kolkata, now based in Delhi. Husband has retired from merchant navy (and get pension) and wife is a Doctor. They did not get ticket initially. They bought ticket at the last moment, in the hospitality segment and paid 900 USD for that ! Not even final ! They did not get Aeroflot (it became Rs 97,000/- at the last moment) and came by Air Astana. Their initial plan was to take Trans Siberian Railway.
Then I met a Marathi couple and another Bengali couple from Kolkata, now based in Delhi. Husband has retired from merchant navy (and get pension) and wife is a Doctor. They did not get ticket initially. They bought ticket at the last moment, in the hospitality segment and paid 900 USD for that ! Not even final ! They did not get Aeroflot (it became Rs 97,000/- at the last moment) and came by Air Astana. Their initial plan was to take Trans Siberian Railway.
Then after spending some time in Kremlin, we went to Arbat Street – a pedestrian
street - I bought one impressionist style picture of St Basil Church (Or
Kremlin Church as is loosely said) from there. I paid one third of what they
asked initially. On the way Sanjit had some beer from complete strangers !
The "spirit" is really high in every sense of the term !
The "spirit" is really high in every sense of the term !
 |
| Lev Yashin |
In the meantime, Roman said over Whatsapp , let’s meet before you leave. So
we met then near Gorky Park. It was really difficult for us to find the
location. Tatiyana was also waiting there. From there we went to a night club.
We paid 300 Rouble to enter the night club. Sanjitda reluctantly paid that
! It was quite an interesting
experience. After dancing for some time (we were quite late) we had to
rush to catch our train. In fact we had to pay two days charges on left luggage,
since we were late! We had some food from a restaurant inside the subway, beside the Station, where whatever you buy is 50 Rouble or Rs 50 !
30/06/2018
Our train left at 1.20 hours and we left for Kazan. It
is called Istanbul of Russia/Volga. This region (including Nizhny Novgorod, Samara,
Saransk, Volgograd) is called Volga region. Here street signs are sometimes
bilingual. There is huge oil Reserve here. Russia has spent lot of money to
make sure that they remain with Russia. They are mostly of Turkic origin (not only Turks, but also Turkmens,
Uzbeks, Azerbaijanis, Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Tatars and other ethnic groups
as mentioned before). That period used to
be called Khanate (like Sultanate in India). They are all descendants of Genghis Khan. Ivan the Terrible (1530- 584) defeated the Khans/Tatars at
Kazan and brought it under Russia (and constructed St Basil Cathedral/Church).
This place is called Republic of Tatarstan. There is also Republic of
Mordovia, Republic of Caucasus apart from various other Republics. Here
48% is Tatar and 49% is Slavic. There are many churches and also many mosques.
It is also known as one of the Finance Capitals and also Cultural Capital
of Russia. Kazan has traditionally been a university city The most famous alumni of Kazan University is Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Ilyich Ulaynov or
Lenin. Lenin was expelled from this university due to revolutionary
activities.
In January 1886, when Lenin was 15,
his father died of a brain haemorrhage. Subsequently he renounced his belief in
God. At the time, Lenin's elder brother Alexander was studying at Saint
Petersburg University. Involved in political agitation against the absolute
monarchy of the reactionary Tsar Alexander III, Alexander Ulyanov studied the
writings of banned leftists and organised anti-government protests. He joined a
revolutionary cell bent on assassinating the Tsar and was selected to construct
a bomb. Before the attack could take place the conspirators were arrested and
tried, and in May, Alexander was executed by hanging. Despite the emotional
trauma of his father's and brother's deaths, Lenin continued studying,
graduated from school at the top of his class with a gold medal for exceptional
performance, and decided to study law at Kazan University. Upon entering Kazan University he joined a
zemlyachestvo, a form of university society that represented the men of a
particular region. This group elected him as its representative to the university's
zemlyachestvo council, and in December, he took part in a demonstration against
government restrictions that banned student societies. The police arrested
Lenin and accused him of being a ring leader in the demonstration; he was
expelled from the university, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs exiled him
to his family's Kokushkino estate. There, he read voraciously.
Lenin's mother was concerned by her
son's radicalization, and was instrumental in convincing the Interior Ministry
to allow him to return to the city of Kazan, but not the university.
On his return, he joined Nikolai
Fedoseev's revolutionary circle, through which he discovered Karl Marx's 1867
book Capital. This sparked his interest in Marxism, a socio-political theory
that argued that society developed in stages, that this development resulted
from class struggle, and that capitalist society would ultimately give way to
socialist society and then communist society. Wary of his political views, Lenin's mother
bought a country estate in Alakaevka
village, Samara Oblast, in the hope that her son would turn his attention
to agriculture. He had little interest in farm management, and his mother soon
sold the land, keeping the house as a summer home.
In September 1889, the Ulyanov
family moved to the city of Samara,
where Lenin joined Alexei Sklyarenko's
socialist discussion circleThere, Lenin fully embraced Marxism and produced a
Russian language translation of Marx and Engels's 1848 political
pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto. He began to read the works of the Russian
Marxist Georgi Plekhanov, agreeing with Plekhanov's argument that Russia was
moving from feudalism to capitalism and so socialism would be implemented by
the proletariat or urban working class, rather than the peasantry. This perspective
contrasted with the view of the agrarian-socialist
Narodnik movement, which held that the peasantry could establish socialism in
Russia by forming peasant communes, thereby bypassing capitalism. Lenin
rejected the premise of the agrarian-socialist argument, but was influenced by
agrarian-socialists and befriended several Narodniks.
In May 1890, Maria—who retained
societal influence as the widow of a nobleman—persuaded the authorities to
allow Lenin to take his exams externally at the University of St Petersburg,
where he obtained the equivalent of a first-class degree with honours. The
graduation celebrations were marred when his sister Olga died of typhoid. Lenin remained in Samara for several years,
working first as a legal assistant for a regional court and then for a local
lawyer. He devoted much time to radical politics, remaining active in
Sklyarenko's group and formulating ideas about how Marxism applied to Russia.
Inspired by Plekhanov's work, Lenin collected data on Russian society, using it
to support a Marxist interpretation of societal development and counter the
claims of the Narodniks.
In late 1893, Lenin moved to Saint
Petersburg. There, he worked as a barrister's assistant and rose to a senior
position in a Marxist revolutionary cell that called itself the
"Social-Democrats" after the Marxist Social Democratic Party of
Germany.
Alexander Pushkin is like Tagore of Russia. Almost
everybody knows a line from Pushkin. Russia (17 million or 1.7 Crore sq Km) is
much bigger in size compared to India (3.3 million or 33 Lakh sq Km of India) -
which is 1/5th of Russia. America is 3 times the size of India, whereas
Brazil is 2.7 times India. So the size of Russia is huge, whereas population of
Russia is only 14 Crore . So it is almost 1/10 of India. Their GDP is 2
Trillion Dollar, similar to India and Brazil. The per capita income of Russia
is therefore 10 times of India. Brazil is 11,000 USD compared to 1800 USD of
India. Although Russia or Brazil is part of BRICS, but is in a different
league. Here 75% people follow Orthodox Christianity, 5% follow Islam and rest
is 20%. There are some Catholic too. Almost all the Princes of Czars are from
Germany. The priests wear a black robe. Most of my friends here are atheist. In Russia only 8.4 people stay per
sq Km compared to 406 in India.
Tatarstan is a melting pot of Asia and Europe. Today there is a match between France Vs Argentina match. In the train, it is full of Argentinians. They are very high on life and very rowdy too and they were shouting like anything in the train. They are highly spirited - you can easily make out. It seemed to me, they are somewhat like local football crowds of Kolkata ! Like Indians they lack discipline. No wonder their economy is not doing well. There is hyper inflation in Argentina even few years back. Interestingly I did not see a single French supporter dancing ! It is a complete study in contrast.
During the world cup, we get many interesting updates/
cartoons, which are lost with time. I thought it is not a bad idea, to document
them. Here are few samples, which I found interesting !
# 1
মুহূর্ত চলে গেলে আর আসেনা ফিরে, তাই ওরা একবার চলে গেলে আর ফিরবে না, যেমন ' ৯৪ এর পর আর ফেরেনি ম্যারাডোনার সরল হাসি, বেকহ্যাম এর ফ্রি-কিক ফিরবে না আর, পেলে আর রোজ রোজ মাঠে নামবে না আরো ১০০০ টা গোল করার জন্য, কই এত তো ভিড় দেখি - কিন্তু এল-লোকো নাম নিয়ে গোলের নীচে পাগলামো করতে হিগুয়েতা আর নামে না তো ...! হাঙ্গেরির হয়ে মাঠে তো কোনো পুসকাস আর দৌড়োয় না...! মাঠে নামার সময় বার্থেজ এর মাথায় আদরের চুমু খেতে তো দেখা যায়না জিনেদিন জিদান কে...আর কয়েক দিন পরেই ইনিয়েস্তা কেও আর দেখা যাবেনা, যেমন নীল চোখের প্লাতিনি কে আর দেখা যায় না, রোনালডিনিহোর বিখ্যাত হাসি কি আর রোজ রোজ মাঠে দেখা যায়?
এরা সময় সময় আমাদের জীবনে আসে, তারপর কয়েক মুহূর্তে আমাদের নিয়ে যায় তাদের স্বপ্নের দুনিয়ায়, মাতাল করে আমাদের, পাগল করে আমাদের...মুষ্টিবদ্ধ হাত আকাশে তুলে চিৎকার করে মৃত্যু কে বুড়ো আঙ্গুল দেখিয়ে বলি 'আহা ! জীবন কি ছন্দময়, কি সুন্দর' ।।।
তারপর চলে যায়... ফেলে রেখে কিছু ড্রিবলিং-চোরা পাস আর কিছু আনন্দ-কান্না-দুঃখ নিয়ে আমাদের মনের আলমারিতে সযত্নে সাজিয়ে রাখা সোনালী মুহূর্তগুলো ।।। আর দিনে দিনে হয়ে ওঠে আমাদের অত্যন্ত কাছের কেউ ।
এরা ফিরে আসেনা, এরা নিজেদের উজাড় করে আমাদের ভাসাতে আসে, এরা আমাদের ভালোবাসতে আসে, ভালোবাসাতে আসে ...
তেমন আর মেসি ফিরবে না, রোনাল্ডো ফিরবেনা, মুহূর্ত গুলো আর ফিরবে না...তাই চলুন ...হয়তো আর কয়েকটা দিন, আর কয়েকটা ঘণ্টা, সময় হয়ে এসেছে, মেসির জন্য গলা ফাটাবার, আর একটা রাত জাগার । যেমন টা কাল ফাটিয়েছিলাম রোনাল্ডোর জন্য, আসুন সবাই মিলে উপভোগ করি এই জাদুকরদের । এদের হেরে যেতে নেই, এরা হেরে গেলে ফুটবল হেরে যাবে । জীবন হেরে যাবে, ছন্দ হেরে যাবে …
এরা আছে বলেই স্বপ্ন আছে, হার না মানা জয় আছে, অসম্ভব কে সম্ভব করা আছে, চ্যাম্পিয়নরা হারে না, আজ কাল অথবা পরশু, ফলাফল যাই হোক, যেই দলই জিতুক । রোনাল্ডো মেসিরা হারবে না, হারতে পারেনা ...হারতে দেবোনা ।।।
১৯৪৬ সাল। দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধের পরমানু হিংসার ক্ষত জাপানের শরীর জুড়ে। জাপানের প্রধানমন্ত্রী দেশবাসীর কাছে আবেদন জানালেন, বিশ্বযুদ্ধের বিপুল ক্ষতি পূরণের জন্য দেশবাসীকে এগিয়ে আসতে।যে যে কাজ করেন। নির্দিষ্ট সময়ের পর প্রতিদিন এক ঘণ্টা করে ফ্রি তে সেই কাজ করার জন্য।একবছর এই ভাবে অতিরিক্ত সার্ভিস দিলে যে অতিরিক্ত উৎপাদন বা শ্রমমূল্য পাওয়া যাবে তা জমা পরবে সরকারের ঘরে।আর সরকার তাই দিয়ে পূরণ করবে পরমানু হানার ক্ষত। "কেন যুদ্ধ হোল? সরকার নিজেরা কী করছে?" এইসব প্রশ্ন না করে জনগন লেগে গেলো দেশ সেবায়। একবছর এই ভাবে ফ্রি সার্ভিস দেবার পর সরকার ধন্যবাদ জ্ঞাপন করে জানালো আমরা কৃতজ্ঞ, আপনাদের সেবায় দেশ ক্ষতি পূরণ করে নিয়েছে অনেকটাই। কাল থেকে আবার নির্দিষ্ট সময়ের কাজ করবেন আপনারা। সরকারকে অবাক করে জনগণ সরকারের কাছে আবেদন জানালো তারা দেশের স্বার্থে আরও এক বছর এই অতিরিক্ত সার্ভিস দিতে চায়। এই হোল জাপান। দেশপ্রেম তাদের রক্তে। তার জোরেই তারা অসম্ভবকে সম্ভব করে তোলে। বৃহৎ দেশ চিনকে করে পদানত, বৃহৎ শক্তি রাশিয়া তাদের কাছে যুদ্ধে হয় পরাজিত।
সেই জাপান কাল খেলতে নেমেছিল আফ্রিকান শক্তি সেনেগালের সাথে। ফুটবল হোল শক্তির খেলা। গতিতে শক্তিতে দমে সেনেগাল অনেক এগিয়ে।ভাবছিলাম এই দৈত্যদের কীভাবে সামলাবে এশিয় ক্ষুদ্র দেশের ক্ষুদ্র মানুষরা। শুরু হোল খেলা। অদম্য ইচ্ছাশক্তি যে ঢেকে দেয় অনেক ঘাটতি, জাপান প্রথম থেকেই দেখিয়ে দিলো তা। দম দেওয়া পুতুলের মতো দৌড়ল মাঠ জুড়ে। গতি পাসিং এমনকি শক্তিতেও টক্কর দিতে লাগলো সমানতালে। দম বেরিয়ে যাচ্ছিলো সেনেগালের। আফ্রিকান দৈত্যরাও বোধয় আশা করেনি তা। সাড়ে ছয় ফুটের কালো মানুষ গুলির মাথার ওপর দিয়ে যখন হেড দিচ্ছিল ওই ক্ষুদ্র মানুষগুলি, মনে হচ্ছিলো পাহাড় টপকে সূর্যোদয় হচ্ছে এশিয় ফুটবলের। খেলা ২-২ ড্র হলেও মনে থেকে যাবে বল possession-এ জাপানের এগিয়ে থাকা, জাপানের শট বারে লেগে ফিরে আসা,সেনেগাল গোলকিপারের অতিমানবীয় সেভ।
জাপান হয়তো
জিতলো না,
পরের
রাউণ্ডে যাওয়াও অনিশ্চিত। কিন্তু দেখিয়ে দিলো,
আত্মবিশ্বাস থাকলে, চেষ্টা থাকলে অনেক ঘাটতি অতিক্রম করা যায়। শিখুক এশিয়া শিখুক ভারত, বিশ্বাস করুক আমরাও পারি। সূর্যোদয়ের দেশ সূর্যোদয় ঘটাক সমগ্র এশিয়ার।
পুনশ্চঃ বিশ্বকাপে মাঠের খেলার বাইরেও থাকে অনেক ঘটনা। যা নাড়া দেয় হৃদয়কে,চেতনাকে। ২০১৪ বিশ্বকাপ। ব্রাজিলের মাঠে কলম্বিয়ার কাছে ৪-১ গোলে হেরে গেলো জাপান। উল্লাসে মত্ত কলম্বিয়ার সমর্থকরা মাঠ ছাড়ার পর দেখা গেলো জাপানি সমর্থকরা তখনও গ্যালারিতে। বিষণ্ণ মুখে গ্যালারি সাফ করে আবর্জনা ফেলছে নির্দিষ্ট বক্সে। সারা বিশ্বের পেপারে ছাপা হয়েছিলো সে ছবি। সেই চেতনা, সেই মানসিকতা স্তম্ভিত করেছিলো সুসভ্য ইউরোপ ও আধুনিকতার ধ্বজাধারি আমেরিকাকে। জাপান গর্বিত করেছিলো এশিয়াকে। এগিয়ে চলো জাপান। মাঠে অথবা মাঠের বাইরে। তাকিয়ে থাকবো তোমাদের দিকে সূর্যোদয়ের আশায়।
# 2
FRANCE IS THE ONLY AFRICAN TEAM LEFT IN THE WORLD CUP AFTER THE GROUP STAGES !
French World
Cup Players are :
1) Presnel Kimpembe - Congo
2) Samuel Umtiti - Cameroon
3) Paul Pogba- Guinea
4) Kylian Mbappé -
Cameroon/Nigeria
5) Ousmane Dembélé -
Senegal/Mali
6) Corentin Tolisso - Togo
7) N'Golo Kanté - Mali
8) Blaise Matuidi - DR
Congo, Angola
9) Steven Nzonzi - DR Congo
10) Steve Mandanda - DR
Congo
11) Adil Rami - Morocco
12) Nabil Fekir - Algeria
13) Djibril Sidibé - Senegal
14) Benjamin Mendy - Senegal
We reached Kazan at 12.35 pm. We reached exactly in time. We decided not to keep the luggage in the left luggage facility in the Rail station. We had our Brunch infront of a nice Patisserie shop. The prices are quite cheap and good is good. We met some lovely Argentian fans there.
 |
| Khacapuri - famous Georgian food |
Then we took a tram to reach the stadium.
In fact Fifa made wonderful arrangement in the stadium itself and it is free. So we kept it in the stadium.
There is nothing much to say about today's match. France won 4-3, probably the best match of the tournament. I thought I was extremely lucky to see a match like this. I thought it was a wrong decision to play Messi so upfront – where he was heavily marked. He should have played as withdrawn half, so that he can creat moves from Argenitna’s half line. He hardly got any ball. But whenever he got the ball, he showed his class. The Argentinian team is very ordinary. I felt very sorry for Messi though. Griznan and Mbappe played very well.
 |
| Everything is very expensive inside the stadium |
We met an Argentinian who is selling the ticket, since Argentina has lost. But that match is in Nizhny Novgorod. But tomorrow we are leaving for St Petersburg via Moscow. He was telling me many people are unhappy with the coach Jorge Sampaoli. Messi was marked throughout the match. Why he was not allowed to fall back and play the game maker, is beyond my understanding. After the match the whole stadium became a necropolis - exactly opposite to what we saw before the match. Nobody is shouting - complete study in contrast.
I met two Bengalis from Kolkata - one of them is
Anirban Bhattacharya.
On the way back, we met Sankar Das from Siliguri. He is into Real Estate. His dress is quite unique – one side (horizontally) it is Russian Flag and the other side it is Indian Flag. Many people took pictures with him. The only word he could say (in English) to the Argentinian supporters is " I like Messi and I like Maradona" - and it ended with a whistle .
He came here with the help of Leisure Sports of Benu Das Gupta. He told me, 2 tickets (of today's match) were wasted because somebody did not have the confidence to come here, on their own to see the match. Leisure Sports is not taking people to this venue (don’t know why ).
On the way back, we met Sankar Das from Siliguri. He is into Real Estate. His dress is quite unique – one side (horizontally) it is Russian Flag and the other side it is Indian Flag. Many people took pictures with him. The only word he could say (in English) to the Argentinian supporters is " I like Messi and I like Maradona" - and it ended with a whistle .
He came here with the help of Leisure Sports of Benu Das Gupta. He told me, 2 tickets (of today's match) were wasted because somebody did not have the confidence to come here, on their own to see the match. Leisure Sports is not taking people to this venue (don’t know why ).
He told me some tickets might be available for the
match in St Peterburg. I took his number and requested him to ask Leisure
Sports Guide cum Coordinator, if any ticket is available. They are all
proceeding towards St Petersburg after this match. Pannada has also come here to
see the world cup with the help of Leisure Sports.
Things to eat in Kazan are :
1. Echpohmak
2. Bakkan or Bekken
3.Qıstıbí – kystybyi with
mashed potato
4.Gubadiya with
raisins
5. Kazylyk - Horse meat
with stewed vegetables
6. Manti
(dumpling)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatar_cuisine for details or https://theculturetrip.com
Andrey's grandfather was a Tatar. His girlfriend is half Uzbek. But you cannot make out from their profile. They are very nice and warm. There is a super market just opposite to his house . We went there to buy some stuff. It is open 24 hours! Then we came back to their home and called it a day.
After today’s match, I got another interesting
forwarded message, which I found funny !
#3
মেসি রোনাল্ডো করে অনেক সময় নষ্ট করলাম । আজ থেকে ডেনমার্কের সাপোর্টার । কারন, সেন বংশের অনেকগুলি ছেলে ওদের দলে খেলছে । আন্ডারসেন, পিটারসেন, এরিকসেন আরো বেশ কয়জন । আর সেনদের ব্যাপারে বাঙালীর একটা আলাদা "সেন"টিমেন্ট আছে এটা তো সবার জানা । বাংলার ইতিহাসের পাতায় বা সিনেমার পর্দায়, সেনদের অবদান সত্যিই অনস্বীকার্য । বল্লাল সেন, লক্ষন সেন, হরি সেন, গৌরী সেন, সুচিত্রা সেন, রাইমা সেন কাকে ছেড়ে কাকে রাখি । আর হ্যাঁ, দলটার গুডউইল অ্যাম্বাস্যাডার কে জান ? নান্ আদার দ্যান শ্রীযুক্ত সুদীপ্ত সেন । সত্যি..... দারুন একটা "সেন"সেশনাল ব্যাপার ॥
#4
প্রদীপ সংঘ মাত্র একমাস আগে একটা পঞ্চান্ন ইঞ্চির টেলিভিশন কিনেছে। সবাই মিলে ক্লাবঘরে বিশ্বকাপ দেখবে বলে। তপন কাকা রিক্সা চালায়। সন্ধ্যাবেলা ক্লাবে এসে টিভি দেখে। খালি বিড়ি খায়। বিড়ি খেতে খেতেই বিশ্বকাপ দেখে। কিন্তু চুপচাপ। কোনও মন্তব্য করে না। গোল হলেও চুপচাপ। না হলেও। পেনাল্টি মিস হলেও কোনও কথা বলে না। কিন্তু সারাক্ষণ চোখটা টিভির পর্দায়। ক্লাবের ছেলেরা ব্রাজিল আর আর্জেন্টিনায় দুই ভাগ। একদিন কৌতুহল বশত একজন প্রশ্ন করল, কাকা তুমি কার সাপোর্টার? তপন কাকা গম্ভীর ভাবে বলল, যে ভাল খেলবে তার। যেদিন আর্জেন্টিনা ড্র করল সেদিনও তপন কাকা বিড়ি খেতে খেতে খেলা দেখেছে। ব্রাজিলের সাথে সুইজারল্যান্ডের যেদিন খেলা ছিল সেদিন অনেকে বলাবলি করছিল, আজ মনে হয় তপন কাকা আসবে না। এত রাতে কী করে আসবে, সারাদিন রিক্সা চালিয়ে যা পরিশ্রম হয়! সাড়ে এগারো বাজার কয়েক মিনিট আগে কাকা ঠিক হাজির। একটা লম্বা ঢেকুর তুলে গ্যাঁট হয়ে শতরঞ্চির উপর বসে ফস করে একটা বিড়ি ধরাল। ক্লাবের ছেলেদের মধ্যে তখন রোনাল্ডো, মেসি আর নেইমারকে নিয়ে তুমুল বাক বিতন্ডা চলছিল। কে বড় সেই নিয়ে খিস্তি খেউর প্রায় হাতাহাতি হয়ে যায় আর কি। তপন কাকা যথারীতি মৌন ও নিরুত্তাপ। হঠাৎ কে একজন গলার শিরা ফুলিয়ে জিজ্ঞেস করল, ও তপা কাকা তুমি বলো তো মেসি রোনাল্ডো আর নেইমারের মধ্যে কে সেরা?
তপন কাকা একবার বিরক্ত চোখে তাকাল। একমুখ ধোঁয়া ছেড়ে বলল, নেইমারের কথা আসছে কেন?
কেন না আসার কী হল? নেইমার কি বড় ফুটবলার নয়? তপন কাকা শান্ত গলায় বলল, মেসি আর রোনাল্ডোর ধারে কাছে নেইমার আসে না।
ব্রাজিলের সাপোর্টাররা খচে গিয়ে জিজ্ঞেস করল, কী বলছ কাকা? নেইমারকে নেওয়ার জন্য বার্সেলোনা ও রিয়াল মাদ্রিদের মধ্যে কাড়াকাড়ি লেগে গেছে, খোঁজখবর রাখো কিছু?
তপন কাকা ততোধিক শান্ত গলায় বলল, না। যেদিন মেসি আর রোনাল্ডোর মত নেইমারের নামেও বিড়ি বার হবে সেদিন বুঝব নেইমার একটা বড় প্লেয়ার।
01/07/2018
We had breakfast together and then left for the city tour. We left with the
luggage , since we are not coming back. Our friend dropped us at a convenient
place. We kept our luggage at the left luggage facility of Kazan Vogzal or
Station. Here they charged 200 Rouble per luggage, unlike 250 in Moscow.
First, we went to see the Kremlin. It is similar to a Lal Killa (though
colour is not Red). It is in an elevated place (like Acropolis in Greece).
There is a Church and mosque inside the Kremlin. The name of the mosque is
Kulsharif mosque. It has derived its name from the Imam who had tried to
protect the Mosque from the Ivan the Terrible in 1552. (Babur has already come
to India by this time). He died in 1552.
After that, we went to see different parts of the city, walking. The city itself is breathtaking.
There is a pedestrian street like Moscow. We went
to a Bar on this pedestrian street and saw the match between Spain vs Russia. I
had soup and local dumpling - Pelmini (Dumpling is a broad classification for a dish that consists of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources) wrapped around a filling - Momo/Wanton/Gyoza/Shumai / Pelmeni/Manti/Gnocchi & Ravioli - Italian dumpling)
Sanjitda has Beer. Russians were very excited during the match. They won 4-3 in Penalty shoot out..
After that, we went to see different parts of the city, walking. The city itself is breathtaking.
 |
| Pelmeni |
Sanjitda has Beer. Russians were very excited during the match. They won 4-3 in Penalty shoot out..
But
their emotions were largely suppressed and did not celebrate like the Latinos.
So many of years of Communism has made their emotions muted. Although they were shouting
"Rossia, Rossia”, but it is for a very short period of time. After
the match, we walked through the pedestrian street. There is a wonderful Bell
Tower on this street.
We met a Russian Professor, with her daughter. She said there are Indian students in her University.
We met a Russian Professor, with her daughter. She said there are Indian students in her University.
In Kazan 39% of the population is Muslim. I saw some woman with hijab. The architecture is
slightly different. There is a metro in this city. But it is single line like
Kolkata, without any intersection. There is tram, trolley bus too. The city is
absolutely clean – litter free. There is a Kazan river, from which the city derived its
name, I guess. There is a city tour - hop on hop off bus tour. But we did not
use public transport for the city tour.
After we
are done with our city tour, we left for station - since we have to catch train
at 9.57 pm.
One of the reasons why train is so punctual is, drivers get bonus, if it is on time. I am sure Putin, also made special effort towards this, in view of the world cup - since the world cup is much more than just football. Everybody (whom I talked to, in Russia), is very happy, with the way everything is organized and generally with Russian people. Kazan is less bilingual than what I thought / read. Not too many sign boards are bilingual. At least I did not come across My friend can still read Tatar language. But hegemony of Russian language will gradually overshadow this language.
One of the reasons why train is so punctual is, drivers get bonus, if it is on time. I am sure Putin, also made special effort towards this, in view of the world cup - since the world cup is much more than just football. Everybody (whom I talked to, in Russia), is very happy, with the way everything is organized and generally with Russian people. Kazan is less bilingual than what I thought / read. Not too many sign boards are bilingual. At least I did not come across My friend can still read Tatar language. But hegemony of Russian language will gradually overshadow this language.
02/07/2018
We reached Kazansky station of Moscow in time. Just opposite to it is Leningradsky/ Oktyabrskaya station. We
have to catch a train from here to leave for St Petersburg (or Leningrad).
Today we are taking a very fast train. It is more expensive. Our train left at
11.40 am from Leningradsky/ Oktyabrskaya station and reached St Petersburg (SPB) at 3.40 pm, at “Moscow station” .
Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky and Kazansky Railway Stations are all located together on Komsomolskaya Ploschad which is served by Komsomolskaya metro station. People often call this square Ploschad Tryok Vokzalov (Three Stations Square). There is a nice restaurant opposite to Moscow station. We had our lunch there.
The restaurant is like an assemby line. You have to push a tray and point out
the food you want to order, to the attendant - so that he/she gives the "right" quantitiy for you. At the end of it, you will be charged according to the
food on your plate. Different types
of food are kept inside the cabinet. For breads, you can taken on your own. For
food or soup, the attendants will give it to you. It is found in many places in
St Petersburg. It
is somewhat similar to Rodizio
or por quilo buffet restaurant in Brazil - where they weigh it. Here it is not weighed.
There is a standard measure - which attendants will give.
Today there is match of Brazil. Olga told us to see the match at Rubinstein.
Since it was raining, we decided to see it in a nearby cafe. We met an Uzbek
person , who is also looking for a Cafe, to see the match of Brazil like us. He
took us to a cafe cum restaurant and said his daughter will also join them,
after some time. His daughter speaks perfect English. He used to pay football
in amateur level for 40 years.
Then, after the match, we left for Olga's house. The main road here is called Nevesky Prospekt. Olga’s house is near Nevesky Prospekt and not very far from the cafe. In fact we walked all the way to her house. She is from Vladivostok. It lies to the extreme East of Russia and it is not very far from Japan (no wonder she has visited Japan and Korea). Her mother and grandmother are from Vladivostok. She got interested about India from her mother. She has heard about Mithun Chakraborty and seen Indian movies like Devdas. Soon she was joined by her husband.
They live in a communal home. It is a big house owned by a bourgeoisie or rich people.
It was later allocated to 5/7 families after Bolshevik Revolution. One big Room
per family. You share a common kitchen (each of them are having their own oven)
and common bathroom. Olga and her husband travel a lot - they have traveled 9
countries last year. They have plan to go to Italy next year. Her husband is
from South - Volga region, near Nizhny Novgorod. He is a dental technician.
Olga work in a real estate company.
Communal home is a unique experience for me. It is right on the main road -
prime location. There are many communal homes like this. So even though things
are very rosy from outside, actually it is not so. The entrance of the building
is very shabby (invariably made of cemented finish) , but when you enter the
home it is quite nice - interior is modern with wall paper. This is true for
almost all the places I have stayed till date. The reason is entrance is
nobody's child !
Today there is Japan vs Belgium match. We saw it in their computer. When the match got over it was 11.30 pm. We went outside for dinner with Olga's husband. It is similar kind of restaurant, we had in the lunch - like an assembly line. But it is open 24 hours ! It is very near to their house. You get all kinds of food - cutlet, soft drinks etc. Here there is sun light till 11.30 pm. In Moscow normally you will find light till 10 pm only. So our sense of time, all got screwed up. You cannot make out the time, looking at the shops (remain open quite late) or metro - unless you look at the watch. Here you pay 45 Rouble for each ride in Metro, unlike 55 Rouble (pronounced as Rubble). We have purchased a metro card for 55 Rouble- since we will stay here for quite some time. We bought many rides for 430 Rouble (- 55 for the card).
Our Check list
for different foods to be taken at St Petersburg :
1.Black Caviar (Ikra)
2.
Borscht soup
3
Pierogi(pies)with cabbage & boiled eggs
4. Olivye
(Russian salad)
5. Russian
dumpling (Pelmeny non veg - we had in Kazan bar during the match &
Vareniky, Manti is basically Turkish...which I had in Turkey...here we saw many
mid Eastern deserts)
6.Sirniki -
pancake for breakfast
7. Samsa
8.Khachapuri -
Georgian
9. Khinkali-
Georgian dumpling
10. Selyodka
11.Blini
12. Holodet or
zalivnoe (meat jelly)
13. Shuba or
Shuboy (traditional salad)
14. Gorohoviy
soup
15. Plov (
plao)
16. Kompot
(type of juice)
17. Holodnik
18. Okroshka na
Kvasi / Kefire - soupy type
19. Pirozhki
03/07/2018
Today we took the metro to go to get down at Nevsky Prospekt metro station.
Nevky Prospekt is the most important road in Moscow. We reached Kazan
Cathedral (Kazan Sobor) walking - it looks exactly like St Peters Cathedral of Vatican. We spent
some time there. Then we started walking along Nevsky Prospekt. We reached
Armitrage Museum (Hermitrage museum). There was hardly any time left for visiting
the museum. So we decided to go there later.
We left for Neva River
- the main river here. St Petersburg is somewhat like Bruges/Ghent of Belgium
or Venice of Italy. There are many canals. There are number cruises which are
available for the tourists along the Canal. Then we went to Peter and Paul
(P&P) Fortress, after crossing the Neva river. In 1703 it was used as
Military fortress and till 1917 it was used for keeping political prison -
Gorky, Trotsky, Dostoyevskey, Alexei - son of Peter. Near the fortress there is
a mosque.The mosque is modelled on a Gueri Amir - Azure mosque, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. You get to
see this kind of coloured mosque – Azure, in Iran also. The P&P Fortress is
quite big and there are some museums too. ! The fortress 's spire is quite
unique - landmark of P&P. St Petersburg is often referred to as enchanting
or elegant as Prague or Budapest - it is the most European of Russian
cities. You get to Corintihian pillars, Ionic pillars. You see less of Baroque.
We started walking back, since today there is a match. Then we took a metro,
to reach Nevsky Prospekt and see Seweden and Switzerland match in a bar.
We again started walking along the river/canal and reached Rubenstein (the
place Olga recommended) and finally went to SubWay, to see the match of England
vs Colombia and finally left for Olga's house just before the tie breaker and
saw the penalty shoot out in Olga’s house ( since we were getting late). On
the way we saw that there are some tickets available for Ballet based on Swan
Lake of Tchaikovsky. The show is on 6.7.18. On that day there is a Brazil
match. I told them, I cannot miss Brazil match. So I did not buy the ticket.
There is a programme on 7.7.2019 also.
04/07/2018
Today, after getting up, we left for Evgeny, our new host's house by metro.
It is not on the main road. We changed the metro and took red line to get down
at Veteronov. From there you have to take a bus to reach his house. We had
lunch together. We had Broscht
Soup with bread. It is based on meat (beef), unlike vegeterian Brotsch
soup, we had previously. It was quite good. He is going to meet his
mother and won’t come back today. He handed over the key to us ! We left for
Nevsky Prospekt.
Hermitrage museum was Winter Palace of the Czar. It is a historic building which bears testimony to many important events in the history of Russia. Winter Palace is inside a Palace square / Ploschad. There are 1057 rooms in Winter Palace.Out of that, 360 rooms are opened to pubic for this museum. There are 30 lakh artefacts in this museum. Elizabeth commissioned this building in 1754. There is a General Staff building - just beside Hermitrage - inside this square - where you get to see modern painting, unlike Mediavel and other painting in Hermitrage museum. You can see Alexander column (1812) in this square.
Catherine the great (the only woman rule of Russia) was one of the greatest collectors of art of all time. It continued till Nicholas I. The gallery was open to public in 1852. Romanov dynasty ruled from 1613-1917, almost 300 years. Before that Russia went into the dark ages. Peter the great in 1703 expanded the area to Arctic in the north, Cacasus in the South, Siberia in the East. Catherine extended the progressive policy of Peter the great. Catherine made it into a great power in mid 18th Century. So the art collection started around mid 18th Century and continued till Nicholas I. In 1852 after 100 years of collection, it was opened to the public.
Cathedral is called Sobor in Russian. People in the street won’t understand the term Cathedral - you have to say Sobor. Then we went to Church of spill blood (Church of resurrection of Christ - constructed in 1887) - very near to Hermitrage museum. This is also similar to St Basil Cathedral in Kremlin, Moscow ! This is the landmark of St Petersburg. Though the style is quite different from other structures. This is the place where assassination of Alexander II took place in 1881 and final Czar Nicholas II took charge till 1917, when he was indisposed by Bolshevik Revolution.
Then we went on to see Cathedral of Isaac or Isacevsky Sobor, along a wonderful Avenue.
05/07/2018
Our friend has booked ticket for Hermitrage
museum (or Armitaz phonetically)
and also a ticket for Ballet, based on Swan Lake. He bought an expensive
ticket for us- 3000 Rouble each - for a nice view (though cheaper ones were
also available). We will see the ballet on 7.7.2019.
Hermitrage museum is an exceptional museum, comparable to Louvre, Paris , if not better. The Egyptian part in this museum is better than what I saw in Vatican.
There are many things from Syria or Assyria. Asur was
considered as God - there in Syria and Deva was Demon in Persia/Iran. Asur
dynasty was displayed here.
There is Flemish Section also - Van Dyke, Rubens were in display.
Dutch room consisted of - Rembrandt, Van Gogh. There
is an Italian Room too.
Then we went to General Staff building. It is within the
Winter Palace square , but not attached to Hermitage museum. It has collection
of modern art - Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh, Kandisnsky. We
went little late to the this museum. That is why we could not see Rodin
. I was the last person to thrown out of the museum, after playing hide
and seek ! Ideally you should reach there by 9 am. It closes around
5.30 pm. Rembrandt obviously is not here, since he is from 17th
Century. You have to decide before hand which section or room to
concentrate.
There are many pictures are for sale here. They are printed on Canvas paper. The picture really looks good. In Amsterdam the pictures were not canvas material. Also the pictures were very expensive. I bought 8 pictures here - mostly Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso. Only those are sold - which are on display here. The pictures costs much less compared to Amsterdam.
After coming back home , we had a grand dinner today
with Evgeny. There is a special home made alcohol - which you have to drink at
one go. It has 39% alcohol - somewhat similar to Wasabi ! We also had
Broscht soup. We also had raw
marinated Mackarel (salty). He bought it from a shop. It was quite interesting.
With that we had onion. There were some leafy vegetable - salads too. Yesterday
he went to her mother's house - it is 80 km from his house . He brought some
strawberry for us from the garden.
He bought some famous Red Caviar for us. It looks like Mihidana. There are two types of
Caviar - Red and black Caviar. Black
Caviar is very expensive. Black Caviar is made near Siberia. However they
make red caviar near Stalingrad
and Volgograd in South. There is a place where they cultivate it - it looks
like a manufacturing unit ! Black Caviar
dish costs Rs 2500. Even in super market a small jar cost Rs 2500. It takes
8 years, before a Caviar can be obtained from the fish. Caviar is nothing but a
fish egg. They slit open the fish and
take out the Caviar and stitch it and leave it to the pond ! It tastes
quite nice. We had pelmini - it is nothing but Dumpling/ Dim sum (or a type of Momo).
Here people drink lot of beer and not vodka. People
drink Vodka only during winter. There are many beer pubs here. Red Caviar
basically comes from Salmon, but black Caviar from a different fish.
I learnt many things from Evgeny. Regarding Communal house the rooms were taken from the elite and distributed among common people, somewhat like our land reform. During those times many people (elite) went to France and Germany - since nobody has any special entitlement. So by 1980 almost everybody has a building. His grandfather was a farmer. So they moved up the social ladder fast because of these policies. However he also said, it could also have been normal progression in life, like elsewhere. Generally in Soviet time, more stress was given on bigger issues, lesser attention was given to trivial things like shirts, pants. Only few companies (2 or 4) used to sell it. So people had only 3-4 types of shirts only - almost like a uniform. The quality of food was good. But things were not in abundance. There was deficit in many things. He does not believe in conspiracy theory, that America conspired the downfall of Soviet union, like me. He said Gorbachev did not have much option before him. He had to go for Glasnost or Perestroika. He did not do it because of conspiracy. He also learnt many things from me - caste system, poverty of India.
Russia has become very affordable, due to devaluation of Rouble, even for an Indian. Unlike India even a swanky looking restaurant is quite reasonable. In India anything you buy in airport is prohibitive. That is not the case in Europe or even Russia. A typical cup of tea will cost around 70-80 Rouble compared to 110 Rouble (or Rs 120) in CCD. Even Khacapuri will cost only 50-60 Rouble.
The basic difference between 2 world cup in Russia and Brazil is the people. But it is organized by Fifa - so it is very well organized.Almost every major metro station has a kiosk. There is a map, made especially for the world cup. The signages are bilingual. There is a sticker attached to the English version - which makes it clear , it has been done specially for the world cup. They are allowing people to take camera, but not water. Many volunteers have been appointed. Many exhibitons has been organized with football as theme. This time probably the volunteers are even more compared to Brazil. However the natural beauty of Rio De Janeiro is breathtaking - City of God. Then there is Gold mining town of Ouro Preto (first Gold rush took place here) - comparable to Italy. The architecture is Barrock. What Gaudi is to Barcelona, Oscar Niyemayar is to Brazil. In Brazil people are very fun loving. PDA or public display of affection is much more. They are very warm. The language is very sweet. Carnival atmosphere of Brazil's favela during the World cup is missing here. There is metro almost everywhere in Brazil, like Russia. In Russia we did not see any security guard. You open the door with a circular magnetic key bar/ ring. You just have to tap it on a key reader.
My friend was saying, if you go outside the main
cities - you won’t find the road that well maintained . During winter there is
snowfall - which is a culprit for the bad road. But he also pointed out, that
it should have been true for Finland/Norway too - but they have perfect road !
It is bad because of poor building material. He was saying it is true for China
too. The roads however in the city are good. Here we have travelled mostly by
train - so we did not face the condition of road beyond the cities.But roads in
Brazil are very good. I have travelled 62 hours by bus - but I did not get
bumpy ride even once. In Brazil everybody goes to the stadium with their favourite
team's jersey - including a selller of pop corn. That is not true in Russia. In
Copacabana beach, even old people are playing in the beach and juggling ball.
But Brazil is different from any other country I have visited.
He told me in Soviet, they used to refer each other as Tavarish and not Comrade. Comrade is a French word. Tavarish Lenin and not Comrade Lenin.
In fact the way they do Lal Selam is not correct.
Rather they do it like this :
06/07/2018
We got up little late today, for a change. We bought a long shoe spoon (shoe
horn) – which I never saw in India. Today we had Khacapuri and returned home. Our
friend has booked a seat in a bar (near his house) for today’s
match. Leisure Sports informed us that there is no ticket available
for today's match.
Today the first match was between France vs Urguguay,
France won 2-0. Not too many people turned up for the match at the bar.
After the match we went to see Alexandria Park for
spending some time , before the main match, Brazil
vs Belgium starts. I learnt from him that during Soviet period they used to
import movies from 3 countries - German, French,
Indian film. So during that time Disco Dancer was a hit movie and almost all
the elderly people have seen Disco Danncer and know Mithun Chakraborty.
They used to dub it in Russian. Now Indian movies are no longer shown. Almost
everybody I met knows the name of Mithun Chakraborty. It is because of that
crucial time in their history. Now, young people do not know Mithun Chakraborty
or Indian film for that matter.After 1991 Indian movies stopped coming. People
also know Amitabh and Dharmendra.
Evgeny’s wife (they got divorced recenty) is now in Gerogia. Russian people
go to Georgia regularly and they do not need Visa. In Russia Georgian food is
very popular.
Now it is time for the next match.
The bar is full for the match. In the bar 50% people supported Brazil. I have seen everywhere people love Brazil or Argentina. Even my friend (originally from Siberia and grew up there when he was young. He still goes there - his house is near Lake Baikal. He used to ride horse and domesticate animals like horse, pig. He used to shoot in Siberia ! The concept of standing in line for bread,Vodka etc was not there in Siberia - it was restricted to big cities like Moscow, Leningrad) used to support Brazil for 20 years. After 2010 he now supports Spanish.
Brazil lost 1-2, though they played quite well. Eden Hazard played
exceptional football. We were all heart broken after the match. We went back
home and went to sleep heartbroken.
To me and to many
Kolkatans , Brazil is not just name of a country.
Bill Shankly, the legendary manager of Liverpool football club, once
remarked that, “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I
am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more
important than that.”
Shankly, for Brazilians, was guilty of a gross understatement.....Roger Cohen summed up the character of Brazilians in
few lines - Most Brazilians, in my experience have a natural optimism, goodness
and humility — the latter captured in the extraordinary and widespread
expression “desculpa qualquer coisa,” or please excuse anything that may
somehow, for some reason, due to some mischance, not have been pleasing.
They are deeply linked to their land. In no other country do gentleness and violence reside in such proximity to each other. It is important to win. But that is not quite everything. Brazil, five times World Cup champions, has (nearly) always played beautiful soccer — creative, liquid, improvised, unpredictable and at times outrageous. It’s a land of magic and love.
There’s a “jeitinho” for your every need, from getting
hold of a ticket to the semifinal to getting out of a speeding fine. A
“jeitinho” is the means to bend the rules, display ingenuity and conjure
solutions from impossible situations. It is a core part of the nation’s “jogo
de cintura,” literally its ability to adjust its belt, more loosely its endless
flexibility. The poor North American “gringo,” by contrast, is literal-minded
and rules-bound. Loosen up or lose. Everything is late, and even later in
Bahia. So is everyone. For a dinner, usually 90 minutes late, and don’t expect
anyone before the “telenovela” (TV soap opera) is over. “Atrasado” — delayed —
is a state of mind. (Everywhere I saw
people watching soap opera)
The nation tends to “empurrar com a barriga,” literally put things off through artful procrastination. The only place you find twinkling speed is on the soccer field, where Brazilians have “samba no pé,” or roughly magic in their feet.
In Brazil it is always “Tudobem,” everything’s
fine, there’s sun, there’s “chopp” (ice-cold draught beer) and miles of “praia”
(beach). “Bola prafrente!” — keep your head up and keep the spirit. There is
always the “jogo bonito” — the beautiful game. It is always thumbs up....
You cannot but feel sorry for Brazil….
After the match we got many forwards like this through whatsapp, I thought
it is a good idea to document it:
আজি এ ম্যাচে কে করিল ভর,
বল যে পশিল গোলের পর,
কেমনে পশিল প্রবল বেগে গোল দুইদুইখান,
নাজানি কেনরে এতদিন পরে কাঁদিয়া উঠিল প্রাণ।.......
কাঁদিয়া উঠিল প্রাণ,
হলো বাঙালির মন ভারি,
ওরে লুকাকুর তেজ, লুকাকুর দৌড় রুধিয়া রাখিতে নারি।
থর থর করি কাঁপিছে অধর,
মিস রাশিরাশি দেখিছে বসে,
ফুলিয়া ফুলিয়া হানিল নেইমার
গরজি উঠিছে দারুন রোষে।
হেথায় হোথায় ছুটিয়া বেড়ায়,
ঘুরিয়া পড়িয়া মাটিতে গড়ায়,
গোল দিতে চায়, দেখিতে না পায় কোথায় গোলের দ্বার।
কেন রে বিধাতা পাষান হেন,
চারিদিকে বেলজিয়ান কেন,
ভাঙলো ওদের কঠিন বাঁধন,
এক গোল তবু করলো সাধন।...
নাটকের পর নাটক করিয়া,
কেবল যে চাস পেনাল্টি বর
বিশ্বজয়ী দল যে তোরা,
বরং শক্ত পায়ে বলটা ধর!
বাঙালির আঁখিতে অশ্রুধারা....
বাঙালি দুঃখে দিশেহারা,
বাঙালি জগৎ প্লাবিয়া হৃদয় ভাঙিয়া
আকুল পাষানপারা।
উপোষ করিয়া, পাঁচালি পড়িয়া ,
হলুদ-সবুজের পতাকা উড়াইয়া,
ব্রাজিলপুজোতে অঞ্জলি দিয়েছিলো ঢালি,
কত মানসিক একান্ন টাকা,
তবু গোলখানা রয়ে গেলো ফাঁকা
হায়রে অফিস কামাই হলো খালি।
এতো কাপ আছে, এতো ডিশ আছে , তবুও বাঙালি তোর,
ব্রাজিল ঘিরেই যত স্বপ্ন, তারই প্রেমেতে বিভোর।
কি জানি কি হলো আজি , কাঁদিয়া উঠিল প্রাণ,
দূর হতে শুনি পরের বিশ্বকাপের গান,
এখন ভুলিয়া দুঃখ তোর,
আসিবে আবার নতুন ভোর,
ভাঙ ভাঙ ভাঙ রে এ শাপ, আঘাতে আঘাত কর,
ব্রাজিল আবার আসিবে ফিরিয়া,
চারটি বছর পর !
এ নদীতে ভাঁটা আসে না
রাজর্ষি গাঙ্গুলি
ব্রাজিল হেরে গেছে কোয়ার্টার ফাইনালে বেলজিয়ামের কাছে। কেন হেরেছে, কি করলে জিততো, কে ভালো খেলেছে, কে খারাপ। অনেক কাঁটাছেড়া। চলছে। চলবেও। কিন্তু তাতে বাস্তব পালটাবে না। বিশ্বকাপে আর ব্রাজিল ফিরে আসবে না। অনেকেই দেখি বলছে, লাতিন আমেরিকার ফুটবল শেষ। এখন ইউরোপের ফুটবলের যুগ। তা হবে হয়তো। হয়তো ঠিক। আমি লাতিন আমেরিকায় আসছি না। আমি ব্রাজিলে আসি।
ব্রাজিল বেলজিয়ামের কাছে হারার পর রিও দি জেনেইরো শহরের বস্তির অন্ধগলির বাচ্চাটা হাপুস নয়নে কেঁদেছে। কান্না থামার পর সব ভুলে ও আবার ফুটবলার হওয়ারই স্বপ্ন দেখবে। কারণ ওটা ব্রাজিল। ওখানে মানুষ ফুটবলে বাঁচে। ফুটবলেই স্বপ্ন দেখে। বলা হচ্ছে ‘গোল্ডেন জেনারেশন অব বেলজিয়াম’। ‘গোল্ডেন জেনারেশন অব ক্রোয়েশিয়া’। কখনও শুনেছেন কাউকে বলতে গোল্ডেন জেনারেশন অব ব্রাজিল? শুনবেন না। কারণ ব্রাজিলে যে শিশুটা দু’বেলা খেতে পায় না, সেও দিনের শেষে স্বপ্ন দেখে। একদিন বড় ফুটবলার হয়ে সব কষ্ট মুছে ফেলবে। ফুটবলটা ওখানে অনেকটা জল খাওয়ার মতো। বাঁচতে খেলে ফুটবলই খেলতে হবে। বাঁচতে হবে। জীবনযুদ্ধের একমাত্র অবলম্বন। ব্রাজিল ছাড়া আর কোন দেশ নেই যাঁদের কাছে ফুটবলটাই ফার্স্ট প্রাওরিটি।
স্ট্রিট ফুটবল। ব্রাজিলে খুব বিখ্যাত। খুব। পিচের রাস্তা, অথবা ইটের। খালি পা। একটা তাপ্পি মারা ফুটবল। আর একঝাঁক স্বপ্নের ডানা মেলা। ব্রাজিলের বিখ্যাত সব ফুটবলাররা উঠে এসেছেন এই স্ট্রিট ফুটবল থেকে। এটা একটা প্রবাহ। নিরন্তর। মারাদোনা চলে যাওয়ার পর আর্জেন্টিনা বারবার মারাদোনাকে খুঁজেছে। যাঁকে আকড়ে ধরে স্বপ্ন দেখবে। বিশ্বজয়ের স্বপ্ন। পায়নি। বহুদিন পর একটা মেসি পেয়েছিলো আর্জেন্টিনা। আবার একটা জাদুকর। যে একাই জেতাতে পারে। এবার হলো না। তারপর? ভবিষ্যত? পরের মেসি? কবে আসবে? প্রশ্নচিহ্ন।
স্পেন। তিকিতাকা। সেই ২০১০। গোল্ডেন জেনারেশন। বিশ্বকাপ। তারপর দু’বার? উত্তর নেই। হঠাৎ করে একটা ইংল্যান্ড, একটা বেলজিয়াম, একটা ক্রোয়েশিয়া। ব্রাজিল কিন্তু তা নয়। ছোটবেলায় ব্রাজিল দেখা শুরু করেছিলাম রোনাল্ডো, রোনাল্ডিনহোকে দেখে। এখন সেটা নেইমার, কুটিনহো। তুলনায় না গেলেও একটা কথা বলাই যায়। শিল্প মরেনি। শিল্প মরতে পারে না। ইউরোপীয় ফুটবলের জয়োল্লাসের দিনেও ব্রাজিল থাকবে ব্রাজিল।
নেইমারকে নিয়ে এতো সমালোচনা। ও নাকি শুধু নাটক করে। বিশ্বকাপের পরিসংখ্যান অনেক নামী দামি মহাতারকার থেকে এই বিশ্বকাপে নেইমার অনেক সপ্রতিভ। ছোটবেলা থেকে ব্রাজিল সমর্থক। ব্রাজিল হেরে যাওয়ায় খুব খারাপ লাগছে। কষ্ট হচ্ছে। সঙ্গে ভীষণ গর্বিত। একটা ম্যাচের মতো ম্যাচ উপহার দিয়ে বিদায় নিলো ব্রাজিল। বেলজিয়াম এই বিশ্বকাপের অন্যতম ফেভারিট। গোটা দ্বিতীয়ার্ধ নিজেদের পেনাল্টি বক্সে খেলে গেলো। কিন্তু ভালো খেলে হেরে যাওয়া অর্থহীন। বা্স্তব বলছে ব্রাজিল বিদায়।
অদ্ভুত খুশি হয়েছে কিছু মানুষ। অদ্ভুত উল্লাস। অনেকগুলো পোস্টে কমেন্ট করেও মুছে দিলাম। কারণ বয়স বাড়ছে। আমি জানি কথায় কথা বাড়ে। আর কাউকে কিছু বুঝিয়েও লাভ নেই। ব্রাজিলের হার কারা চাইছে? যাঁরা জানে ব্রাজিল ফুটবল ঘরানা শেষ হবে না। যাঁরা জানে ৭ গোলের খোঁটা হাজারবার দিলেও ব্রাজিলের সাফল্য তাঁদের নেই। যাঁরা জানে ব্রাজিল থামতে জানে না। যাঁরা জানে ব্রাজিল আবার ফিরবেই। যাঁরা জানে প্রতি বিশ্বকাপে কেউ না থাকুক ব্রাজিল ফেভারিট থাকবেই। যাঁরা জানে হাজার হাজার বার বললেও প্রমাণ করা যাবে না ব্রাজিল ফুটবল ঘরানা মরে গেছে। সাম্বার ছন্দ আর মন মাতায় না বলেও যাঁরা ব্রাজিলের খেলা না দেখে থাকতে পারেন না।
বিশ্বকাপের এখনও ৮ দিন বাকি। যাঁরা সমালোচনা করছে তাঁরাও জানে ফুটবল বিশ্বের একটা বড় অংশের কাছে বিশ্বকাপ শেষ। কারণ এটা ব্রাজিল। হয় পাগলের মতো সমর্থন করার জন্য। অথবা প্রতি মুহূর্তে হার চাওয়ার জন্য যাঁদের খেলা দেখতেই হয়। হয়তো দারুন খেলা দেখা যাবে। জয় দেখা যাবে। দারুন গোল। কিন্তু তাল, লয়, ছন্দ আর দেখা যাবে না। কারণ শিল্পী বিদায় নিয়েছে বিশ্বকাপ থেকে।
যাঁরা ব্রাজিল হারে ভীষণ খুশি তাঁরাও জানে। যাঁরা ভেঙে পড়েছে তাঁরাও জানে। ব্রাজিল ফুটবলের মৃত্যু হয় না। কারণ কোন ঘরানা কখনও মরে না। বেঁচে থাকে প্রজন্মের পর প্রজন্মে। যুগের পর যুগ ধরে তৈরি করে সমর্থক। মুগ্ধ করে নিজের শিল্পশৈলীতে।
কাল হারের পর অফিসের ছাদে দাঁড়িয়ে ছিলাম। মাথায় ঘুরছিলো হারটা। তখন একটা লাইন মাথায় এলো। সেই লাইনটা লিখেই শেষ করলাম।
‘ব্রাজিল ফুটবল একটা নদীর মতো, যে নদীতে কখনও ভাঁটা আসে না।’
There were numerous jokes which were forwarded during the world cup for
play acting by Neymar. Some of them are:
Neymarism : a psychological condition where the victim feels an uncontrollable urge to pretend or exaggerate hurt or injury to the level of deathlike pain, often through sheer imagination.
Uses : “ Can you believe it ! He neymared the claim agent again !”
“The public wont buy the Opposition’s neymaristic portrayal of our government’s accomplishments.”
“ For God’s sake ! will you stop neymaring about your
boss ?”
07/07/2018
We took one of the boat rides along the river. It (SPB) is often called
Venice of Russia. You get a different view
of the city from the river. After that we left for Fifa fan Fest to see England
vs Sweden match at 5 pm. It was really sunny. We had to stand beneath a shade
and it was difficult to see the screen. After the match was over at 7 pm, we
left for Swan Lake Ballet, at Mikhailovsky theatre. We paid 45 Euro for each
ticket. There are different tiers in the theatre. It is an exceptionally
grand theatre. I have never seen anything like this. You cannot take picture
while the performance is going on. There are 3 intervals in the ballet. First
interval is after 1 hour, with 30 minutes break , the break after second
interval is 20 minutes and last break is for 10 minutes. Thankfully there were
two ballets - one on 6.7.18 and the other one on 7.7.18. I skipped the one on
6.7.18. for the Brazil match. It is important to read the synopsis of the swan
lake ballet to enjoy the ballet more.
During the interval I went out the theatre, to find out the score of the
ongoing match between Russia vs Croatia.
Inside the theatre one can have wine. It goes without saying, it is very
expensive. After the ballet, we saw the match is not yet finished. People
are watching the match from the window of a bar, standing on the sidewalk -
since there is no seat inside ! Almost everybody is watching the match. Some
people were sitting on the side walk to see the match. I had no option but to
see the thrilling the match, from the side walk. I cannot see the TV screen -
because of the large crowd. Almost all the bars and restaurant has been
converted into a mini stadium. Therefore, I saw the match in somebody's mobile,
standing on the sidewalk. At least 5 people are watching the match from the
same mobile ! We see “somewhat” similar kind of thing during cricket world cup
in the streets of Kolkata. The match was a draw 2-2. Ultimately Russia lost in
tie breaker 3-4.
08/07/2018 - 09/07/2019
We have to catch a fast train from
Moscow Station (of SPB) at 11.30 am to go to Moscow (City). We reached
Moscow at 3.53 pm. Our flight is at 7.10 pm and got down at Leninsky station at
Moscow and took brown line to go to Belarusky station. Then finally
we took green line to reach Rechnoi vogzal (second last station of green line)
and from there we took a connecting bus to go to Moscow Airport . We could have
taken Airport express also. We reached Delhi at 3 am at T3. We took a
free shuttle Bus to go to T2 of Delhi . Our next flight was 6.50 am and
reached Kolkata at 9.30 am.
Can you believe it? She is the President of Croatia,
congratulating her Football team.
