In Peter's Leningrad

Having waited impatiently for the evening to arrive, I am kind of relieved to be on my way to the railway station from where we have to catch our train to Leningrad. After arriving at the station, we find out that we are early and have to wait for the train to come to the platform. While waiting for the train, I strike a conversation with some students from Vietnam. Some of them can speak a little bit of English.... and one of them mentions Mahatma Gandhi when he finds out that I am from India. I am very pleased by the fact that he is aware of Gandhiji and just when we start the discussion about him we are told that the train has come and we have to board it quickly. We all rush to the coach which we have to board when suddenly I realize that I have forgotten one of my bags in the waiting area!!! I tell the Russian gentleman, who had been given the responsibility of ensuring that we board the train to Leningrad and with whom we had come from the hotel to the station, about it. He is shocked to hear what I tell him since there is hardly 5 minutes left for the train to leave. Anyways, with his consent, I run back to the waiting area where we were sitting and find my bag waiting to be collected. I rush back to the coach with my bag and get in just in time. The train is an express one and is much better then the trains I have seen back home. The floor is carpeted, the toilets are neat and clean and the cabins are very cosy. The cabin in which I have been supposedly allocated a berth has a total of 4 berths but including me there are 5 students inside it. I am concerned about this and ask one of the 3 Arab students (the other student is from Africa) the reason for this and he tells me that the Russian gentleman who saw us off at the station had got only 4 tickets and that there is no ticket for me! I am shocked and annoyed to hear this and start cursing the Russian. The train is already on its way and the Arabs laugh when they see the look of annoyance on my face. Just when I start to suggest, in my anger, that this whole things reeks of racism, the Arabs tell me to take it easy. Apparently, one of the Arabs has a berth in another cabin and they were just pulling my leg. Eventually I sleep in my berth and when I get up in the morning the train is about to reach the Leningrad station.

Leningrad is the second largest city of Russia and some people also consider it to be the cultural capital of the country. Its full of historical monuments and a major tourist attraction. I am very excited about living in this city and studying here and hope to do well in the academics. For those of you who are not aware, and I suppose most of you would fall in that category, when a foreign student first starts to study at a Russian university, the first year is spent in learning the Russian language and the relevant subjects (for engineering students - its maths, physics and chemistry) in the Russian language. This first year is spent in the "Podgatavitalniye Fakultiyet" or the preparatory faculty of the university/institute before the student goes on to study his main course of interest (like engineering, medicine, etc.). The preparatory faculty of the Leningrad poly tech is on the Grazdansky Avenue and is a L shaped building. One arm of the L has the academic block and the other the hostel for the foreign students. The hostel has apartments consisting of 2 rooms and a common kitchen and toilet and bathroom and I have been allocated a room with 2 other Indian students - Rakesh and Ajay. Rakesh, as I mentioned earlier, is from Bombay and Ajay from a place called Barahbanki. The other room has 2 students from Ghana and one Arab staying in it. The three of us Indians decide to implement the concept of division of labor amongst ourselves - Ajay, since he knows how to cook, is handed the cooking department. Rakesh and I have to take care of the cleaning of the utensils and the procurement of the vegetables. Unfortunately for us this approach will not last very long and soon I would move out of the room. But more about it later. 

The classes also start soon. We have only 8 students in our class and our teacher's name is Nina Meletchivna Malysheva. She is a lady whose age I am unable to fathom. Her looks are such that she could be anywhere between 25 to 45! Out of the 8 student, 2 are from Ghana -Daniel and Gabriel, 1 from Greece - Nikolaos Palitopalas,  1 from Namibia and the rest 4 from India - myself, Dinesh, Sanjay and Arunesh. Daniel is the son of a tribal king from Ghana and is very well to do. Gabriel on the other hand seems to have had a hard life. He happens to be our neighbour in the hostel apartment and is married with kids. His family is back in Ghana but he likes to keep that a secret lest someone tell about them to the Russian ladies that he has intentions of befriending. Nikolaos and Arunesh are the handsome guys of the class while the Namibian (who has some tribal marks across his cheeks and looks kinda funny) seems to have all the luck with the ladies (from his continent). He claims to have bedded so many ladies that he has lost count of them. The students are from such varied backgrounds that the classes are bound to be interesting. More about them in my posts to follow.