I woke up sweating, and heard incessant rain beating down on the windows of our humble hostel room. I realised there was no electricity! Once a norm in my life as a child in Uttar
Pradesh, and a college student in New Delhi, my city slicker existence in
Mumbai has spoilt me. I simply couldn’t believe a capital in Eurasia would have
no electricity. In a state of slumber, I walked downstairs to the reception to
find out more. It was 630 AM, and the part time student/ receptionist told me
most apologetically, that heavy rains & snowfall had ensured Tbilisi loses
power!
Repairs were on. All around
me, as dawn broke, well-endowed babushkas, the commonest tourist in Georgia,
were sitting outside their hostels, shaking their heads & muttering.
Curious, I asked the worried receptionist what were they saying. Shrugging his
shoulders, he said, they debate if life was better before or after the Soviet
Union, their favorite subject for all weathers. Only a month before, the
Tbilisi zoo had flooded & rhinos as well as zebras had marched on its
streets! Despite exhaustion, I simply couldn’t stop laughing at the age of
innocence of this young nation. Only recently, Georgians had protested against those who leaked private conversations over phone of their political leaders. I marvel at the honesty and prevalent freedom of expression in this tiny country.
When we told a select few
friends that we are travelling to Georgia, they (naturally) assumed that we
meant the Southern American state. Not many know of this quaint little country,
which, to describe in the words of a German fellow traveller, is literally like
a ‘fairytale nation with two mountains on two sides & a river running
between them’.
I am fascinated by anything
connected to the USSR. Additionally, having chosen Soviet history in college
and aware of its shocking, brutal past, I have a morbid curiosity of the
consequences of post Soviet politics in Eurasia.
But getting to Georgia. One
had to transit via Moscow or Istanbul. That meant two visas & of course, a
natural choice- Istanbul! We divided time between the historic Turkish
metropolis & Georgia equally.
We stayed in Tbilisi, a
hillside capital city laid out around the green river Kura. Surrounded by
majestic Russian & Armenian Orthodox churches, and a magnificent marble
statue of the mother of Georgia, Tbilisi is a small town quickly modernizing in
the European way. People are gentle and have a basic knowledge of English.
Their food is always absolutely fresh. Be it the staple white onions- terragon
based sharp salads, bread with olive oil or fruits, Georgia eats whole &
eats well. Most importantly, their popular meal, Khachapuri, uses the best
quality cottage cheese. Georgia has also gone to great lengths, including
archeological, to establish that wine originated here and is their chief
export. Only not too many are buying that story!
What’s extraordinary about
Georgia is that this relatively tiny nation state has all forms of topography-
a desert around David Gareja in the Kakheti wine region; hillsides with
glaciers in Kazbegi & Svaneti; and former USSR’s most popular elite beach
resort town, Batumi by the Black Sea. It also has the dubious distinction of
being Stalin’s home, born in the town of Gori. Come to think of it, what an apt
coincidence of a name!
Raj Kapoor remains a popular
movie star, as a throwback to USSR era.
But Ekta Kapoor’s dubbed soaps in Georgian are their new cultural import
from India.
We chose to visit David
Gareja, with it’s barren landscape & two salten lakes. We also picked Kazbegi.
Both need you to drive for 2.5 hours, but the ride to Kakheti in August’s heat
was somewhat draining. Even so, what you simply can’t miss is the constant
presence of the somber, stone façade Orthodox Church everywhere. Tbilisi also
has Catholic churches, mosques & synagogues. Having been on the silk route,
it was a secular, liberal culture that loved to drink wine & live life in its
‘bazaars’ and ‘maidaans’. But with Stalinism taking hold, preists, artists
& intellectuals were slaughtered by the trainloads here and people were
shot if they visited church. Which is why, post it’s independence, 80 per cent
of Georgians are devout & practicing Orthodox followers. Simple, stark places of worship,
they instantly soothe your senses after hectic travels.
And then there are the
natural sulphur hot springs. Tbilisi is actually named after five of these,
meaning the ‘land of hot waters’. We ventured in one such public sulphur baths,
leaving modesty behind. And it worked effectively in making me feel a lot
lighter. Some folks in the capital actually use these public bathhouses as
their regular shower rooms.
I conclude with another
rather unusual achievement of Georgians. In a region where Mafia controls
politics, business & displays mercilessness as norm, Georgia has no mafia.
With the assistance of its mentor nation, Germany, Georgian police are well
paid & well equipped. Their focus on new trade agreements with Eurozone
require them to have law enforcement & less crime; which they have managed
to do a lot better than neighbours Russia, Azerbaijan & Armenia. Therefore,
tourism is also booming here.
However, the last word must
be saved for Georgians themselves. Humble, hard working & honest with
tourists, these people are battling low rates of employment & deliberate
economic destruction by Soviet Russia doggedly. One can only hope that this
fairytale nation with its sweet folk gets a fair chance from the developed
world.
Comments
Post a Comment