Barely few hours inside St.Petersburg, we decided to go out and see what the local area is all about. After walking for about ten minutes, we reached Historic Palace Square, which has seen birth of many revolutions that shook the world. We took some photographs with Alexander column in the background...spent a few more minutes in this wide open area and then started walking again. We enquired few people on the streets to find out whether there is any good place closeby to have a few drinks....Most of them spoke Russian and we had no clue except saying "Spasibo" i.e. Thank You to whatever they uttered.
Eventually, we entered a bar called 'Bubble Bar'....dont know the logic behind that name. I was personally feeling very irritated with all the bubble shaped lights being flashed on the walls...Anyways, bar had nothing special...music was loud...environment was ordinary... but we had to start somewhere so there we were. It was barely 8 p.m so it was too early to have a good crowd in the bar. To make the matters worse, we had one of our serious lady professor enjoying our company. We ordered some mild drinks before vodka shots arrived. Few shots down and we started to open up a bit. Lady Professor also started enjoy our company....I heard her saying "you guys are well mannerred compared to previous batches in the past"....I felt sorry for her :) Another half an hour went by and we started chatting about various things we experienced in the past.....some experiences were really interesting :)
We noticed a mid-aged person (looked like security personnel) watching us all the time, so we were tentative in whatever we did or said..you never know....KGB...By the time our session ended, we became favourite students of our professor. She did not knew that one of my friend had already started hitting on the curly haired waitress (looking more Spanish than Russian) behind the bar...Around 11, it was time to move on to a better club. We came out and started walking....Anther 20 feet....and there we see some really tough looking bouncers/security standing outside this club and not allowing anyone to go in....
They would not let us in as well.....because we were not with pretty girls, we did not dressed in white shirts and jeans, we did not had a table reserved, we didn’t look familiar, our skin color was different ..basically we all looked like aliens to them. Few minutes of smart talk and they let us in....Pounds do speak ;).
We did not knew we were about to enter into one of the Russia’s best clubs named 'Arena'. That night we rocked the club....had some great time...danced after a long time...reminded me of my days when we did some serious partying.
Monday, 28 July 2008
Warm Welcome
Before we flew into the former capital of Russia on a consultancy trip, we were briefed that although this country is changing and its economy is now in transitional mode....things are different.
For some reason, I was not too excited about travelling to Russia....I never heard anything which interested me. We (few batchmates) planned to go a a day earlier and do some sight seeing so we were on direct morning flight off to Russia. We landed there about 4 p.m local time and the weather looked great (much better than where we get in London).
Airport did not gave any signals about the booming local economy, it looked like any other average aiport around the world. I saw different adverts with weird russian alphabets. To make things interesting we were all from different backgrounds and nationalities....British, American, Nigerian and a few Indians with a common feature of "Londoner".
After speaking to a few batchmates, immigration officer came out if his shabby cabin and told us to stand aside from the queue. Couple of weeks earlier, one of my British colleague told me that his passport was seriously damaged when he went to Russia on a personal visit. Some pages on his passport were torn, some pages were badly scratched. ...So I was expecting something similar or worse. Few anxious moments went by and then I saw some serious looking men come (they looked more like men who hang people and less like senior immigration officials).
After asking a few questions....they let us in into the country. It was clear signal that we are getting into a country which is different and things are not straight.
For some reason, I was not too excited about travelling to Russia....I never heard anything which interested me. We (few batchmates) planned to go a a day earlier and do some sight seeing so we were on direct morning flight off to Russia. We landed there about 4 p.m local time and the weather looked great (much better than where we get in London).
Airport did not gave any signals about the booming local economy, it looked like any other average aiport around the world. I saw different adverts with weird russian alphabets. To make things interesting we were all from different backgrounds and nationalities....British, American, Nigerian and a few Indians with a common feature of "Londoner".
After speaking to a few batchmates, immigration officer came out if his shabby cabin and told us to stand aside from the queue. Couple of weeks earlier, one of my British colleague told me that his passport was seriously damaged when he went to Russia on a personal visit. Some pages on his passport were torn, some pages were badly scratched. ...So I was expecting something similar or worse. Few anxious moments went by and then I saw some serious looking men come (they looked more like men who hang people and less like senior immigration officials).
After asking a few questions....they let us in into the country. It was clear signal that we are getting into a country which is different and things are not straight.
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Brick Lane
Few weeks back I had a small party at my house and I wanted some Indian sweets for the occasion. My friends informed me about a famous shop named "X" based in “Brick Lane”. So for the first time in UK, I visited this place also known as “Banglatown” famous for curry joints and Asian sweets.
After getting down from a cab, looked around first to see what the place is all about and then slowly started walking. As I progressed down the street when I heard an old Hindi song ..."Noorie Noorie..Aaja Re". I had not heard this bollywood song for years now, I guess last time I heard in 80's when I was a kid and probably watched repeatedly on "Chayageet" :)
I started smiling because it was played loudly in a Travel Agent Shop (wondered whether it was a new way to invite customers by saying “Aaaaja Re…dil ki pyaas bhuja ja re". I walked a few yards and I saw this small restaurant with a board outside "Free first round of drinks plus thirty per cent off" and then underneath it "Special VIP table available". I saw a 45+ guy, standing there wearing a old oversized coat and geared up to welcome the customers....No wonder restaurant was empty"
Anyways, I found the sweet shop 2 mins later. As soon as I entered this shop, I was struck with mesmerizing smell of “hot Punjabi samosas”. I had not tasted one since ages...it also reminded me of my college days where literally they were like "lifeline". I almost forgot why I came to that shop and straight away ordered a samosa...1 down ...2 down and then I felt a bit better and started checking out sweets...Suddenly, I heard someone speaking in Hindi…so I looked around and saw this young guy in his mid-20's, standing a few feet away and having a conversation with the shop owner.
Owner : "Angrezi mein baat kar lethe ho"
Young Guy : "Thoda Bahut"
Owner : "English log bhi yahan aathe hai..unse baat karna zaroori hai"
Young Guy : "Haaan saab....jaldhi seekh loonga"
Owner : "Seekhne ka time nahin hai..waise bhi abhi nahin chahiye"
Young Guy : "Meherbani saab"
Owner : "Ramzaan ya Diwali ke time pe aana..Abhi mushkil hai"
Young Guy : "Part time bhi chalega"
Few minutes of silence, when the owner asked him to stand aside and let the customers shop freely. I gave my debit card and the owner said "saab yeh card machine baraber kaam nahin kar raha hai" I wondered it ever worked because I have heard that statement a million times…and you would never see those machines working. Anyways I expected this...Paid him by cash and made a call to a
cab company.
I waited there for a few more minutes before the cab arrived and I finally got inside into it....I could still see this young chap standing there like a beggar with a hope that owner will change his mind and offer him a job.
After getting down from a cab, looked around first to see what the place is all about and then slowly started walking. As I progressed down the street when I heard an old Hindi song ..."Noorie Noorie..Aaja Re". I had not heard this bollywood song for years now, I guess last time I heard in 80's when I was a kid and probably watched repeatedly on "Chayageet" :)
I started smiling because it was played loudly in a Travel Agent Shop (wondered whether it was a new way to invite customers by saying “Aaaaja Re…dil ki pyaas bhuja ja re". I walked a few yards and I saw this small restaurant with a board outside "Free first round of drinks plus thirty per cent off" and then underneath it "Special VIP table available". I saw a 45+ guy, standing there wearing a old oversized coat and geared up to welcome the customers....No wonder restaurant was empty"
Anyways, I found the sweet shop 2 mins later. As soon as I entered this shop, I was struck with mesmerizing smell of “hot Punjabi samosas”. I had not tasted one since ages...it also reminded me of my college days where literally they were like "lifeline". I almost forgot why I came to that shop and straight away ordered a samosa...1 down ...2 down and then I felt a bit better and started checking out sweets...Suddenly, I heard someone speaking in Hindi…so I looked around and saw this young guy in his mid-20's, standing a few feet away and having a conversation with the shop owner.
Owner : "Angrezi mein baat kar lethe ho"
Young Guy : "Thoda Bahut"
Owner : "English log bhi yahan aathe hai..unse baat karna zaroori hai"
Young Guy : "Haaan saab....jaldhi seekh loonga"
Owner : "Seekhne ka time nahin hai..waise bhi abhi nahin chahiye"
Young Guy : "Meherbani saab"
Owner : "Ramzaan ya Diwali ke time pe aana..Abhi mushkil hai"
Young Guy : "Part time bhi chalega"
Few minutes of silence, when the owner asked him to stand aside and let the customers shop freely. I gave my debit card and the owner said "saab yeh card machine baraber kaam nahin kar raha hai" I wondered it ever worked because I have heard that statement a million times…and you would never see those machines working. Anyways I expected this...Paid him by cash and made a call to a
cab company.
I waited there for a few more minutes before the cab arrived and I finally got inside into it....I could still see this young chap standing there like a beggar with a hope that owner will change his mind and offer him a job.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
