Missing the Czar: Indo-Russian Kaun-Action?

Missing the Czar:

Here I go walking down memory lane, searching for the lost Rusi bhai

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Medvedev's visit to our country, reminds me of the days gone by—the Russian connection we Indians once boasted about.

Some years ago Mikhail Gorbachev’s photograph appeared in the newspapers after a very long gap following his wife’s death. With his daughter standing by his side, Gorbachev was seen wiping tears. The dark, birthmark on his forehead indeed looked very familiar. Not many Indians at that time knew much about Raisa, the deceased wife of one of the most powerful men of that time, but tears trickling down Gorbachev’s eyes did evoke sympathy.

I still remember the times we Indian looked up to the then Russian President as a big brother and a trusted friend—whom we could rely on. In other words as Rusi bhai we could count on and identify ourselves with.

Our country in the 1950s was of course, highly influenced by the Russian version of socialism. This era was marked by the experimentation of certain practices prevalent in the Russian system.

No wonder, a number of movies were made in India on related themes. Take for instance, Raj Kapoor’s Awara, which became an instant hit in Russia with the Russians.

Indian, on the other hand, had a special liking for Russian literature and culture projected through certain magazines brought out by the Russians and circulated in friendly nations. One such magazine being Soviet Bhoomi, the main source of information at least, for me during my childhood.

Those were also the days when India’s agriculture, industry and defence were highly influenced by Russia. Which explains why Russian tools and machinery were a craze here including Russian circus and artists. Not to forget, the cultural programmes organized for cultural exchange between India and Russia those days.

One has to be a machine to forget the 20 years treaty, the American its destination, the Indian Ocean, and the reports of Russian preparedness to intervene during the Indo-Pak war of 1971.

Of course, the Breznev era was equally important in the diplomatic relations in the Indian context, and later, perestroika of Gorbachev had its own desirable and undesirable effects on Russia, in particular, and the rest of the globe in general.

The world became unipolar and the then Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi, was rumoured to have referred to the Russian President, Gorbachev, as “Guru-Bachao”.

Earlier, Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death in Tashkent after the Indo-Pak war of 1965, in a way, led to the further strengthening of Indo-Russian ties. The common Indian man on the streets boasted of their Rusi bhais who were there for their Indian brothers whenever they were threatened by enemies, no wonder they couldn’t stop narrating tales about Russian trained monkeys planting explosives under the Pakistani Patton Tanks during the war.

Unfortunately for us though, we seemed to have lost touch with our Rusi bhais over the years, but then it’s never too late to get back to big brother.