A Trip Down Moscow Lanes

#5 Shobig

[BJ sahib #3: Why so much emphasis on the `and fat` thingy? ]

Ama yaar, you know the connection!

“Rich and fatty
Go together like
Shirt and panty
Ask your
Chowkee brudder….

Can’t have one
Without the udder...”

Further to my #5 for #1, the 1000 word limit meant I had to make a choice between a description of the various sites and that of my view of the society and the city as a whole. I picked up the latter blending in some elements of the former. But one thing I do regret having missed on this journey is a visit to St. Petersburg. I had plans for that but it turned out to be too much of a rush towards the end.
And indeed, there are some finer details a la my `run into blossoming girls` and especially some pertaining to that last night, that I have had to deliberately skip for the sake of my reputation. We can always get back to them offline! ;)

Atif payee #1:

``Although I get this feeling that you did not have enough time on your hand to do more sight seeing. And yes, this cyrillic alphabet is a pain.``

I think you are right to some extent. I had a very busy schedule there, since it is the biggest annual conference in the world in my descipline with 700+ participants from across the globe, and had only one week to it. Add to that the money constraint I had (my school`s getting more and more miserly by the day :( ). But I was pretty satisfied with the site-seeing in the end. On the Sunday that I mentioned, the organisers had arranged quite a few excursions to various significant places (of course one had to choose one or at the most two out of them) I opted for a bus-tour around the city. And we did manage to have a glimpe of almost every major site in the central city. Then a boat-trip on the Moscow river more than made up for rest. But to be honest, quite like yourself, the buildings and structures do not really inspire me, and that`s the best you can get in a cosmopolitan city. To me it is the feeling of being there and the apparently petty experiences and endeavors that count more. The best part of that visit for me was my walk to the metro station early in the morning and back to the University in the evening. The campus is located in a quiet corner of the city. And so traversing alone down the seemingly `unbounded` lanes of Moscow, accompanied by the pleasant mist in the air, the soothing breezes, and the serenity in the atmosphere have had a feel that I`d savor for years.

``Usually, cyrillic alphabets are one to one match of english alphbets. This way within a few minutes you can form your key to all road signs. The easiest way of course is to download it from the net, but that takes prior thinking:) ``

And that I inevitably did, albeit not in a few minutes but, blame it on my dumbness, in a couple of days! :D The fact that I hardly took on the road on my own, since I used metro to commute, meant that I didn`t get any chance to familiarise myself with the road signs. But the metro stations did a good enough job for me in that regard. The color -coding of the lines, the simplicity of the map and the efficiency and punctuality of the metro service were a great help and it didn`t take me long to get used to it.



BJ sahib #3: Why so much emphasis on the `and fat` thingy? Mind you, Russian people, particularly the youth, are some of the physically fittest and smartest people I have come across.
And, I did pass on some suggestions and proposals to the authorites regarding various issues, but only in English :) !

Khamkhwa payee #4:
`twas the plot actually!

[And boy, did they oblige!]
...this was what kept me go through the entire narrative and at the end i felt cheated...but being an eternal optimist, i wait for the more juicier next instalment...;)

Shobig, from the very first exit sign – you seem to have gotten started on the wrong foot. To have a more pleasant experience the next time around, don’t forget the following take “home” lessons:

(1) The golden rule: when in another country – follow their lead. If they don’t speak English – well, that’s the way it is. Carry a dictionary or at least an alphabet – a rich, fat native speaker friend would be even better.

(2) Do not get miffed because the airport is laid out all wrong – come up with a redesigned proposal and get some money for it. Ask the rich fat guy who should get the proposal. Ask him if HE would fund it.

(3) Do not get miffed if the metro station is shabbily maintained. Come up with some janitorial suggestions. Find the rich fat guy who should get the suggestions. Ask him if HE would fund it.

(3) Do not ask for directions from old creeps – just from the young and lovely Russian daisies. You seem to have figured that already, but here is what you need to ensure – if the young and lovely Russian daisies are rich and fat – they are to be preferred.

(4) Stay for free in the University Guest House. (You got that one, too!) Unless you can stay for free in the house of some rich and fat young and lovely Russian daisy, of course!

(5) When everything else fails, take comfort from the fact that you (probably) had more fun than Delhiwala did in Las Vegas! (Delhiwala may disagree. (Ignore him! (Unless he meets the definition of “rich and fat”, in which case do not ignore him – just cultivate his friendship for the purposes outlined in the previous items.)))

What I wanted to say with my example of Sheraton, and which I think I left off completely, is that usually hotel names are written in both english and cyrillic. And once you match all alphabets of Sheraton with their cyrillic alphabets, and you repeat that with some other famous icons, within few minutes you will have your key that you can use for all the road signs which are typically only in cyrillic.

``From then on, I made a note to approach only the lively and lovely young Russian women for that purpose. And boy, did they oblige! ``

hahaha...I am sure they did. Probably one of them looked u in the eyes and said ``Shobig ji, maiN tay jammee tavanooN rah dassan laee see`` :)

Nice narrative. Although I get this feeling that you did not have enough time on your hand to do more sight seeing. And yes, this cyrillic alphabet is a pain. All I remember from my experiences is that their ``P`` is our ``R``. Actually the best way to decipher if you suddenly find yourself in a cyrillic country (and I think there are only 3 such countries - Russia, Belarus, and Bulgaria) is to look around where you are standing and see if you can spot a hotel, say Sheraton. Usually, cyrillic alphabets are one to one match of english alphbets. This way within a few minutes you can form your key to all road signs. The easiest way of course is to download it from the net, but that takes prior thinking:)

But you missed on one important detail of your trip...your run into girls who were about to blossom :)