Kazakhstan Diary
That
we would be visiting a new city in a new country, I had not planned it. I had
been thinking for some time to visit Uzbekistan (if I was to visit any of the
CIS countries, other than Russia) for its sheer historical significance for
India. Samarkand and Bukhara had been important cities on the silk route, and
Mughals had originated from here. But we had not thought of Almaty in Kazakhstan,
and that too this year. But it was all made possible by Shammi and Sonia, and
their good friend, Rakesh Gaur, who has been living and working in Almaty for
more than 8 years. To come to think of it, Almaty is only 3 hrs away from
Delhi, and if you take the distance as crow flies, it is 1600 km! Return air
fare @ Rs 25K is less than what you pay for your flight to Bengaluru or
Chennai. The only hitch in it not being a tourist destination is that it does
not welcome tourists. Obtaining tourist visa is arduous, and it is possible
only through an agent, or if someone living in Kazakhstan arranges one for you.
Anyway, we have arrived here, and have immediately fallen in love with this
city; but then it is not unusual, for me, it is ‘love at first sight’ for any
place outside Delhi. For accommodation, we have a luxury with a fantastic view
from our 19th floor apartment. For weather, you couldn’t ask for
more; from 46 C of Delhi’s scorching temperature to a heavenly 24 C in Almaty.
And dinner at an Uzbek restaurant with traditional dresses, vodka, and Uzbek
bread and live performance with pretty artists, and a music which is so close
to our folk music. One could not have asked for a better beginning of a holiday
week.
Day
2; Almaty, Kazakhstan: 08/07/2014
The
day started really very early; I was missing my pillow and uneven mattress back
home. But then, 4.30 am, the sun was already on its job. But I did not mind,
the view from the drawing room window was fantastic with 5 layers of hills
right before the eyes; slopes with houses, tree line, then pasture land, and
finally mountains with snow. What could you ask for more, with top layer of
snow changing its colour from golden to silver with the rising sun?
We
have brought so much food from Delhi as if we were going to some famine-struck
country. So had ‘dalia’ and masala tea for breakfast, and to top that ‘panjiri
wale laddu’!
Rakesh
came punctually at 10, and had organized the day meticulously for us to take us
to various tourist attractions. The day began with a visit to a school,
‘Miras’; the name perhaps is derived from the ‘Midas touch’. It has 400
students, but has facilities and area size as if it is meant for 40 thousand.
Sandeep is the physical and sports trainer their. Today being Sunday, the school
wore a deserted look, but seeing the young kids practicing for their Salsa
competition made our day. It was so infectious, I felt like jumping into the
ring. I bet they would have welcomed me. We drove 20 km outside the city to
reach the foothills for doing an easy trek, but then it started raining making
walking on boulders difficult. But that did not deter us having our share of
vodka; it was quite a sight walking on slippery trek and trying to prevent
spilling our vodka, and saving ourselves from falling down. We took shelter in
a circular tent and had an early lunch of idli-sambar-chutney, and chholey made
by Qasim and Shabana. Can you imagine what it was like having it sitting inside
a tent with rain outside, and mojito (mind you, not virgin) to add to the atmosphere?
The rain, sun, and clouds kept playing hide and seek, but that did not deter us
from visiting Tao resort, and a few other places. With 10 Indians in a group
having two Sikhs was an amusing sight for the locals, many of who wanted to be
photographed with us.
We
returned to our apartment happy and satisfied in time to watch the final of
French Open.
We
had to give our passport to the local immigration department for registering
ourselves. All foreign visitors have to register themselves within 5 days of
their arrival into the country. It was similar to Pakistan, where foreigners
(at least Indians) must report to the local police station within 2 days of
their arrival; however, in our two visits to Pakistan, the consular in New
Delhi Pakistan High Commission was kind enough to grant us exemption from this
ordeal. It took quite a while to complete this formality at Almaty, taking
almost half a day. Rakesh had kindly deputed his staff member, Nishant, to
organize this registration. If our visit to Almaty has been so pleasurable and
totally hassle-free, it is all because of the meticulous arrangement put in by
Rakesh. And Chitra and I are fortunate in having Shammi and Sonia, who have
included us in their visit to this beautiful place. So we had planned to visit
only local shops and the malls. The malls were like any other you see in any
west European city or now in Delhi. These have all the known brand names, so
nothing different.
Hamid
has been our driver and guide. He is graduate, and about to finish his Masters;
he is doing this job because he doesn’t want to be seen as being dependent on
his father, who owns a service garage. He is of Kurd ethnicity, and informs us
that Kurds are not as religious as much traditionalists. Hence, being the only
son of his parents, he must live with them always. The parents will arrange his
marriage, and the education of his future wife is not important, as she is not
going to work outside home. He told us his views about the local politics,
Russians, and Stalin. He is educated and knowledgeable person, but says that
here in Kazakhstan it is not important what you know, but whom do you know. I
wanted to tell him his belief is not different from what we have in India.
Day
4; Almaty, Kazakhstan: 10/06/2014
The
day was planned for a visit to the Grand Canyon of Kazakhstan, i.e., Charyn
Canyon, which is about 200 km away from Almaty, located in Charyn National
Park. As is the case with any canyon, there is a river here too at the bottom
of the canyon called Charyn. In size it may be a micro version of the Grand
Canyon in Arizona State of the US, but is no less in grandeur and splendor.
Like any other canyon, it must have been formed by the combined effect of water
(river Charyn), wind, the Sun, and the earthquake. It is said to be a
comparatively younger canyon at about 10-12 million years old.
The
drive from Almaty to the canyon takes more than 3 hours. Though the road was
not bad, but there were many villages en route, where the speed limit was 50 km
till you have crossed it, so that delays you. Our driver was strictly following
speed limit, even if there were no traffic police was in sight. But we were not
complaining; it was so different than what we have back in Delhi, where people
irrespective of their education, occupation or class, take pride in breaking
traffic rules. So we got a peek, though only from a moving vehicle, of the
villages, where the houses appeared to be maintained well, there was no garbage
dumped on the roadside, and no cattle lazing around on the road. There were
very few people visible; but then, Kazakhstan is a big country (9th
in the world by area), with a population of approx. 17 million only, with only
6 people per sq km.
Much
before reaching the canyon, the desert like area begins. The trek to the bottom
starts with a steep descent of about 10 min, but afterwards it is a plain walk
for 3 km before we reached the river. Though the Sun was shining clear and
bright over our head, the breeze at the bottom was cool. And the walk was very
interesting; the water and the wind had worked as master craftsmen to sculpt
the rocks in amazing shapes resembling people of all ages interacting with each
other (did some remind me of Khajuraho!); some rocks looked like an
amphitheatre, or even medieval castles. The sight of the river was very
thrilling, and dipping our feet was so refreshing. There were only a handful of
tourists, and again the site did not have any garbage littered around. The
tourist sites in India are always chaotically crowded with dumps of garbage and
stray dogs.
We
had aloo-parantha for lunch, made and packed by the Kazakh cook of Rakesh. On
our way back we stopped in a village for buying delicious and fresh fruits plucked,
may be, the same day: cherry, apricot, peach, apples etc. But then, Kazakhstan
is a big producer of fruits and vegetables.
Day
5; Almaty, Kazakhstan: 11/06/2014
We
started the day with a visit to the Green Bazaar. This is a market famous for
its fresh fruits and vegetables, and other provisions like imported dry fruits
from Iran and other neighbouring countries. And as is usual for any market in
any country, there were many shops selling Chinese wares. Of course, we were
not satisfied with browsing and window shopping, but shopped for varied items.
This was followed by having lunch at Govinda’s, a pure veg restaurant run by
the ISCON society. What did we have? Of course, ‘aloo-parantha’ made in pure
desi ghee (cow’s), perfectly round, and fried golden brown, made by Kazakh
cook. Local girls perfectly attired in sarees served us. ISCON does not have
permission to start a temple in the city, but outside the city, they have an
ashram. This was followed by a visit to Shymbulak Ski Resort, which is
increasing its popularity every year. It has already hosted international
events, and may bid for winter Olympics soon. There is well placed rope way
which takes you to a height of more than ten thousand ft. I am sure it must be
a lot cheaper to ski here than any European resort. However, currently most of
the tourists here are from Russia and other CIS countries. These are all
natural slopes, and very picturesque.
Day
6; Almaty, Kazakhstan: 12/06/2014
This
is our last day for going around Almaty; tomorrow (13 June), we go back to
Delhi after a fantastic week of sheer romance with this place. No visit to
Almaty is complete without going to the Charyn Canyon (that we already did),
and the Ile-Alatau National Park, and the Turgen Gorge within it. It is again 2
hrs drive east of Almaty, more than half of the route is the same that we did
for the Canyon. In between, there is a diversion from where the Chinese border
is just 2 hours away. Almaty is the largest and the most developed city of
Kazakhstan, and till 1996, it was the capital; but in view of the close
proximity of Chinese border, the capital shifted to Astana, which has been
developed as a planned city. No one wants to give Chinese any chance or
opportunity to become ambitious. We stopped en route to buy honey from a local
fruit seller. It has become a joke in my family that I am easily lured into
buying honey, as I actually have bought from as far place as Nagaland, or villages
on high altitude of Garhwal, and now Kazakhstan.
Once
the route leaves the main highway to turn to the Turgen Gorge, the landscape
changes dramatically. From a flat land with houses interspersed on both sides,
it became a mild hill drive with expansive green pastures on both sides where
you see herds of cows and horses grazing. Horse is a valuable animal here, for
its meat, and may be for export too for racing and other sports. It was here
that the horse was domesticated during ancient times. The drive was
exhilarating with freshest of breeze and all shades of green. It kept us
reminding us about our drives in Uttarakhand, Himachal, or Kashmir. After
paying a small entry fee, we entered the park area. The Ile-Alatau National
Park is a vast area of virgin and pristine beauty, undisturbed by human
involvement or encroachments. It is home to a large number of birds and
animals, but to witness some of these, you need time, and may need to stay
there over night. I am not sure if there are arrangements for night stay. Since
we had reached there at about 2 pm, most of birds activities had come to a
stop, and I could spot only magpie, common myna, swallow, crows, and vultures;
could not shoot any…with the camera.
There
were two waterfalls; one was 1 km away, and another (bigger and more
beautiful), some 7 km away. We chose to trek to the nearer one, which was again
on a hilly trek. The trek was beautiful with all colours of wild flowers and
trees of many kinds. I could recognize only arecaria, pine, and birch
(bhojpatra, on which our ancient texts have been written; you could spot them
in plenty if you go to Garhwal and Kumaon hills at above 10k feet) too. Though
the waterfall was only 1 km away, but this 1 km would just not end, inspite of all
the beauty of the trek. So many times, I
have repented on my treks in Garhwal and Kumaon of having asked the locals how
far was the next campsite. And their 30 minutes or ‘just around the next
corner’ never seemed to end. There were many groups of families, which were
picnicking around the riverside. Kazakh people are very fond of picnicking and
barbecuing, which they call as ‘shashlik’. There was a group of noisy and
sprightly school kids who were walking alongside with us. Their laughter and
chatting was adding life to the atmosphere. They were very keen to be
photographed with us, and polish their English. They found Shammi’s turban very
amusing, and he was in great demand for group photographs. Chitra would remind
him again and again to charge a fee, but then Shammi is a great sport, and
would easily oblige them. The waterfall became a popular photographic spot,
with kids getting their ‘selfie’ in all poses and various groups. The water was
cold, and like an elixir to drink, it was pure and had rich minerals from the
hills.
Hamid,
our guide and driver, kept us company and regaled us with many stories about
his Kurd culture. He had earlier told us how his mother has arranged his
marriage; he is getting married on 28 September. Another way is by ‘stealing
wife’. If a boy likes a girl, and girl’s father refuses to oblige his family,
then boy’s family openly threatens to abduct/steal the girl. And they actually
do it, even if it results in blood shed. Sometimes, the girl’s father, if he is
poor and can not afford marriage expenses’, suggests to the boy’s family to
steal his own daughter. In that event, he is obliged not to spend any money on
wedding affairs. Many of the marriage related customs that he described to us,
bore close resemblance to our own ceremonies.
It
was our last day of going around Almaty, and we have been very happy
throughout. Rakesh and team took great pains in making our trip enjoyable and
worthwhile. It would not have been possible without their shouldering it. I
wanted to tip Hamid at the end of the day; he steadfastly refused; I even
suggested he buys something for his fiancée, but then he countered saying I
should do it myself in September. I would remember many things and people of
Almaty, and Hamid would be one of them.
Kazakh
Diary : Day 7 (Time to say disvidaniya): 13/06/2014
No
visit to a CIS country is complete without talking about Raj Kapoor and
Bollywood; that we realized in our earlier visit to Russia. Any taxi driver or
tour guide, on realizing we were from India, would break into ‘mera juta hai
japani’. Here, another rage has been Mithun Chakravorty. It was because of his
1980s blockbuster ‘Disco Dancer’. In Africa too, Mithun seemed to be popular;
it was released in Ethiopia while we were there, and it broke all records of
earlier Bollywood releases. Hamid had a collection of popular Hindi songs on
his ipod, and some numbers were of karaoke singing; it was fun listening to
‘mein chali mein chali, pichhe pichhe jahan…’ sung by local singers. Bollywood
movies DVDs are available dubbed or sub-titled in Russian. Hamid’s mother’s
favourite has been ‘Gardner’; guess what…Baagwaan, starring Amitabh B. Many of
the popular TV serials are also available.
They
say in Kazakhstan, people never say good bye, they say it with disvidaniya,
meaning ‘phir milenge. So, it is time to sing ‘jaane waale phir milenge, yaar
disvidaniya’.
Sudhir
Almaty
to Delhi, 13 June 2014
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