vsbabu.org

In Moscow, Lenin greets Stalin

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct. 23: Lenin was the first to arrive and welcomed latecomers Stalin and Khrushchev with a smart handshake. Pravda was all smiles when she came in, but was soon bawling for milk and had to be taken out. Gagarin and Pushkin were busy exchanging notes even as Brezhnev looked on silently.

These rather bizarre encounters took place at a get-together of Keralites with Russian names at a village near Changanasserry on Saturday evening. The village, aptly enough, is named Moscow, and the meeting was organised by the Russian Cultural Centre of Thiruvananthapuram. The Russian fixation is, of course, linked to the strong roots of the Communist movement in Kerala. The parents of many of the Lenins and Stalins were fellow travellers or party members.

According to the officials of the cultural centre, there are about 450 persons with Russian names in Kerala. Of the “Russians” who turned up for the get-together, there were several Lenins, an instance of the popularity of the founder of the Soviet Union in Kerala.

Gagarin confessed that his father named him after the first cosmonaut after being thrilled by the news of his trip to the space. An exception was Krushchev, whose father is a Congressman. However, he seemed comfortable with his name and said that it once saved him from a police case after an agitation, since the policeman who nabbed him could not spell it.

Apart from the great Russians, there were also Valentinas, Natashas, Dimitris and Volgas in the crowd. The meeting was inaugurated by Pushkin, who incidentally, dabbles in verse. Others have, however, not lived up to their names. Lenin, for instance, is the driver of a pick-up van. Moscow itself was named so after the 1957 electoral victory of the Communists. There are seven such Moscows in Kottayam district.