Russia warms up to an Indian winter

By Leonid Ragozin
BBC, Moscow

It is hard to imagine two things less similar than a scene from a Bollywood film and a Moscow street scene - particularly in winter.

But some 30 years ago the Soviet Union was a major importer of Masala films.

And now India is back in fashion.

Russians are flocking to India for inspiration, adventure - or warmth

Thousands of young Russians fill the few remaining places on beaches in India's southern state of Goa - and last weekend British-Indian rapper Panjabi MC packed one of Moscow's biggest venues.

"One can't strangle this song, one can't kill it," proclaims a Soviet-era patriotic anthem.

And "Mundian to Bach Ke" - which translates as "Beware of the Boys" - is that kind of song.

Last summer it spread throughout Moscow, blasting from passing cars and kiosks that sell pirate CDs.

The song was the first sign that Indian summer had arrived in Moscow.

But London's summer 2002 craze for all things Indian has turned into a long-term fixation of the Russian bohemian crowd.

Indian winter

The peak of this fashion seems to have fallen in the last month of a notoriously severe Russian winter.

It may be -15C on the street.

But inside trendy Moscow lounge bars with Indian designs, young people sip lassies - a traditional Indian yoghurt drink - and listen to artists like Nitin Sawhney and Badmarsh and Shri.

Every week several charters - and many more regular flights - take off from snow-covered Moscow airports, for the white sand of Goan beaches.

The tiny former Portuguese colony has become a mainstream holiday destination for Russia's middle class, but more are now voyaging into the unknown of India-proper.

For many young Russians, the Indian love affair could be the start of the equivalent of the '60s in the West - the time when people strove for full freedom from the constraints of traditional society.

They head for Full Moon raves in northern Goa, naturists' communities in Pondicherry and self-proclaimed gurus in the Himalayas.

For others, a trip brings a chance to re-find a land that Russians have always felt good about - politically and emotionally.

And it is a chance to see the land of the Bollywood characters of their youth.