Remembering Ledo in Russia

9288 kms. from/to Moscow, says the milepost on the main platform at Vladivostock train station. It was erected in 1996 to mark the centenary of the Trans-Siberian Railway, connecting the capital Moscow to the eastern-most part of Russia. In the initial years, this railway was the life-line connecting the vast stretches of the Siberian no-man’s land  to the rest of the world. Possibly nowhere else in the world can one find a train terminus located so far away from the capital. And this is perhaps also Vladivostock’s greatest claim to glory. In any case, that was the only thing I knew about the city till we landed here last week.

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Four months later

As I write this I realise that I have not written anything in my blog for almost five months now. And this is because these last four months, since we got back from Chile in mid April, I have done very little else but write! And believe it or not, we have not travelled further than Munich and Goettingen in these months. Very unusual for us. But we have had quite a few guests, and a few 'big'  events have kept us happily occupied. 

But the recent developments in the Bodoland areas have given no cause for cheer. And the subsequent exodus of north-easterners from the rest of India left me completely dazed. Could this really be happening in India today? But then in India everything is possible, as long as the country is in the hands of unscrupulous politicians who think nothing of inviting foreingers to settle in the country for the sake of their votes. And even more tragic scenarios are possibly in store for us in Assam as long as we Assamese cannot stop being just sentimental and emotional about everything, and learn to insist that 'Accords' need to be implemented and that some implementable and just method has to be put in place to determine who is a genuine citizen of India and who is not. Is this asking for too much?

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