The train hop between Petersburg and Kazan was the longest and the most memorable of the entire trip. 24 hours in the train. There was this business man that spoke a little bit English, a medium age guy from Kazan and a Babuska. Babuska means old Russian woman. She didn’t travel all the way to Kazan but I had time enough to teach her basic Spanish. This Babuska trying to speak some naughty Spanish words was one of the hightlight of the entire trip.
In Kazan I met my friend Lili. She was really happy because I made a stop on my way to visit her and also because she could practice her English with me (She believes my English is good, ah bendita ignorancia). In Kazan I tasted some Tatarish food and I discovered that they have a dish that looks and taste exactly the same as our national dish the Spanish Paella. I found it interesting because the Tatar empire inherites a lot of the Turkish culture so this recipe can be a very old nexus between Muslim people in Spain and in Central Asia.
Tartar food microwaved by Lili. Notice the Tartar rice dish, it is basically a Spanish paella!
Now let’s speak a little bit about Kazan. This city calls itself the third city of Russia, but there are many cities that claim this same thing. Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan, the region were Tartar people lived long time ago, a civilization that was almost wiped out by Ivan the terrible. Tatarstan is today one of the wealthiest and independent regions of Russia. They have a different culture and language and a lot of natural resources.
Beautiful Mosque at twilight
Kazan looks like a construction set game. Kazan will host in 2013 the Universiada and they are using this international event as an excuse to rebuild and clean up the city. They are making new streets, fixing old ones and creating lots of new lines of streetcars. When I was there all the important streets were in construction. Kazan was the first city I visited that looks like what I was expecting to see. Behind the magnificent buildings of Moscow and Saint Petesbourg there are ugly backyards that most tourists don’t get to see. One day train distance by train to the east of Moscow the entire cities look like those backyards. But the city is mutating fast and with the help of lots of petrodollars it may be soon as splendorous as the capitals in the west.
The subway in this city is under construction and it is similar to the new lines I saw all over Russia. However in Kazan you will see Muslin iconography everywhere.
My host in Kazan was Olga and a friend of her from Kachemir. This was the first time in my life that I met somebody from Kachemir so I asked him a lot of questions. How is the life is in Kachemir? how is the weather? What kind of crops do they have? How is the relation with Indians and Pakistanies? how personal relationships are in modern Kachemir? I didn’t know Kachemir people speak Farsi and I didn’t know this region is very rich on natural resources. It is also one of the few Zafran producer region of the world.
I had the opportunity to visit Kazan’s university. It was an eye opening experience. There are a lot of international students in this place. No American, no European but students from all over Central Asia live harmoniously here.
I only visited the medicine institute. This place is a time machine. The most amazing feature are the corridors. This building has never been renewer and it still have lots of diagrams showing what to do in case an American plane starts a chemical attack in the city. Diagrams showing the local political structure of the CCCP. Shelves with gas masks. Radiation detectors. Diagrams comparing the militar force of the two super powers. Lots of cold war heritage that in my opinion, should be stored in a museum instead of in the corridors of a modern University.
Cold war posters in the university. How to survive in case of a chemical attack. Not very useful nowadays!
Tatar people are Muslims and the community raised funds to build the beautiful kal sharif mosque. It was finished in 2005. This building is the main attraction of the city and it is located on the Kremlim complex. Lili showed me the place inside. This was my first time in a mosque. It looks classical from outside but it has modern levels of comfort: It even has an air conditioning system! The mosque is beautiful from outside and stunning inside.
We went to the Islam museum located in the basement. They declare to be the most important museum dedicated to Islam in the world. I don’t know if I can believe that, but the museum was indeed interesting. And I learnt a lot of things about how the main religions are interconnected. They tought me that Muslim religion have the same prophets that other religions have. They believe that Allah gave a book (bible) to Jesus creating the Christianity. Another book (Tora) to Samuel creating the Jew religion and the last, final and more perfect book to Mohammed, which is the origin of Islam. As this last book is the final word of Allah, Islam is the only true religion and that’s why they believe that the other religions are imperfect.
Lili in the Mosque
It’s very interesting that they explain in the Mosque that all main religions are interrelated and have a common root. I’ve never seen anything like that in a Catholic Church. Why does people fight to defend different flavors of the same thing?
Next stop, Ekaterimburg!
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