For two and a half years Ammamma has been a virtual prisoner in our flat, because there was no lift and except for visiting the doctor, Ammamma never came out of the house. It is only recently that we got the lift and I took her out for a film at INOX yesterday! It was quite a treat to be out and free and Ammamma loved it. I took her up in the lift and she enjoyed the new mall. I tried to tempt her into getting the fish spa, and she just shushed me. At the movie entrance however, we had to take the escalator for one level. I was trying to find out a lift for her, but Ammamma is all game for trying out. She decided to get on to the escalator and she almost tripped and fell. I and the attendant there caught hold of her. I was pretty worried because of her heart, but she was alright in a second and was hurrying forward as the movie time was already on. While coming back, she was gloating on her escalator experience and said that it reminded her of her visit to Russia and how at that time also she enjoyed trying out the escalator without much difficulty, except for getting off, when the translator was supposed to have told them to jump off with both feet together! I thought 'lost in translation' meant something else! From then on till now, I am only hearing of the visit to Russia, so I better record it now itself.
In 1986, Ammamma went for a 15 day trip to the mecca of communists - USSR! This was organized by Soviet Women's Committee - a conference called "Women for World Peace" in Tashkent. Ammamma represented the National Federation of Indian Women and she was part of a 13-15 delegate team of different women's organizations including CPM, FICCI Ladies, Shramik Sanghatan and others. Sheila Dixit (now the CM of Delhi) and Sheela Kaul, Congress MP, Aruna Asaf Ali, President of NFIW, were also part of the delegation. Many were from Delhi, 2 from Tamil Nadu, 1 from Maharashtra, 1 from Punjab (a minister, Surinder Kaur) and Ammamma representing AP. Ammamma had to get her passport done, go tot Delhi for her Visa, buy gifts for giving to the hosts, etc. She and Maapi and Bhaiyya (Sulakshan Sharma) in Delhi did all this, while I was preparing for our first family holiday to Delhi. Nishu was just born and Ammamma felt a bit uncomfortable leaving Maapi with a small baby even for 15 days.
It was her second trip by air and she was thrilled by it. She says she was overcome by an overwhelming feeling when they were crossing over the Himalayas that she was leaving her country behind. She also said that when she was returning she experienced an even more overwhelming feeling - things like these may not appeal to your generation, who think that patriotism is an overrated feeling. I was teasing Ammamma that her return was more thrilling because she came back with Aruna Asaf Ali and she got her upgraded to executive class and this also made her get away with excess baggage!
As you all know, Ammamma never cared much for clothes or jewellery, except when she was buying for us. For this trip however, she needed silk sarees and she borrowed the same from Maapi and me and was quite amused when Sheila Dixit went on complimenting her on her choice possession of sarees. She had to prepare speeches on behalf of NFIW and she had to hand over her text to the organizers for translation in the conference. She was warned to take care of her health as in Russia, you will be put in an isolation ward should you even catch a cold! Ammamma was very, very careful, given her background with allergic rhinitis. (I wonder what they are doing with Swine Flu now!)
She met women from many countries and interacted with them. She was on a roller coaster ride, so much to do, so much to see, so many people to meet - she was in her element. She was happy to see people from USA in the conference. They had a special day with Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman astronaut of the world and presented her with a gift. The Conference lasted for 3 days and then they were given an exposure tour of many social and historical places. Among the places she visited, she particularly remembers the tombs of Babar and Timur, Lal Bahadur Shastri memorial (Shastri was the Indian Prime Minister who signed a historic Indo Pak treaty in Tashkent and he died under circumstances not fully clear after this in his hotel), agricultural cooperatives (collective farms), schools, dispensaries, hospitals, sanitariums, not only in Tashkent, but also in small towns and villages(Some photographs at the bottom).It was a visual exposure of their working of an equitable society. They then went to Moscow and Ammamma was thrilled to stay on the 27th floor of Hotel Moskva (I went particularly to photograph this hotel in 1995, when I visited it) for Ammamma.
Ammamma's observations include both the good things and the not so good things. She learnt about the advantages of collective farming - its organization, operations and sustainability model, the very practical orientation to students in schools at a very young age (eg primary school children learning to play with instruments and mechanics), inculcation of past history and culture among youth through cultural activities, the local language being very close in intonation to Urdu, etc. She also met some AP girl students studying medicine, whom she reassured that the flood situation in AP was ok and not to worry for their folks (she visited their rooms in hostel). She learnt from the girls that there was eve teasing there also, but she told them not to give importance to every little thing, only to face it directly in Moscow, when delegates were also eve teased by ruffians. In one of the programmes where they showcased war heroes, Ammamma was made to dance. So a la Fiddler on the Roof, Ammamma did a jig with the hefty and robust Uzbeks!
In Moscow, they visited Lenin's Mausoleum, Kremlin, Red Square, the Duma (Russian Parliament), Stalin's magnificent buildings built as a testimony to Russian grandeur and many other places. She could not see the famous Russian ballet as it had to be booked a year in advance, to her disappointment. In October, it was already cold in Moscow at 2 deg centigrade. She had borrowed my coat (of my first trip abroad to Holland), which did not quite fit her and she was shivering. At least she was better off than a lady in the delegation who was completely vegetarian. Another lady, a Punjabi, was resourceful enough to get a small heater, coffee and milk powder and she gave Ammamma coffee everyday, otherwise, the Indians found it difficult to stay till breakfast for their first cup of coffee, which was also bitter and often black! Ammamma had no problems with food, as she really does not crib about anything she eats. Within 15 days, she put on a lot of weight!
Ammamma noticed all the differences between Tashkent and Moscow. Tashkent had water problems, insufficient sanitary facilities in interior places and such like. In Tashkent she asked why a school building, built only 2 years ago had already developed cracks. She says quality is a problem maybe because of state employment and/or corruption. In Moscow, she asked why they were not able to see many women drivers (a fact that is glamourised in India and other socialist countries that women in Russia had access to all kinds of jobs and are truly liberated).
She also did shopping for her three granddaughters and two daughters. She could not buy Vodka for her sons in law as the line for rouble payment was very long and poor Ammamma had converted all her dollars into roubles! (In those days, you were allowed to take out very little foreign exchange with you and Bhaiyya's friend gave her a little extra as well to tide over. Even so, it was very difficult for travellers). Ammamma bought electronic play things for all of you, which were pretty heavy, given Russian workmanship. The train bought for Nishu was particularly heavy and everyone warned her that she will not be allowed on board with this excess baggage - she was lucky, Aruna Asaf Ali's executive class came to her aid and she sailed through with all her gifts intact. She also brought back some pomegranates which she also planted in our garden. In fact, it was Preeti who received the first gift as it was her birthday in Delhi on the day Ammamma returned from Moscow. But Preeti had 104 temperature and so it was Sweety who played with both the gifts.
Ammamma wrote a detailed account of her experiences titled 'Nenu Naa Anubhavaalu' and it was published in Vishalandhra. Ammammma's tenant Papa Rao was quite flabbergasted with her narrative (to him in person, about her disillusionment with the facade of development)- he said that he had not heard anybody speaking of any defects in Russia - the role model of development for all developing countries! Well, we have to see with our hearts and brains as well and not just with our eyes and ears!
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