An Economist’s Rambling Thoughts on the Trans Siberian-May 2015
July 12th, 2015Garvin Karunaratne
Two days well spent in Moscow
Our Guide Olga showed us the way
The Kremlin and the imposive buildings
The Diamond Fund showing the regalia of Russia
Gone are the misadventures in the economy,
Gorbachov, is no more,
Gone are his Perestroika and Glasnost
Gifted with a Noble Prize he lives in luxury’
While Russia did suffer with poverty bursting peoples lives.
Our Tour driver, a chemistry grad lost his job in that economic upheaval
Russia seems to have now regained its strength’
the Production base looks back in full swing
The shops were full of local produce,
The Imperial Sanctions has not brought a starving people,
Instead, it has actually spurred production
Low are the salaries and so are also goods, low in price.
Even Metformine- a medical tablet made in Germany is dead cheap
The Rich plundering the people and making them poor is not on.
Its communism, with a tinge of the Free Markets
A controlled economy with a place for the Private Sector to contribute.
Moscow was full of elegant people, not a beggar in sight,
Looks a contented people with memories of a victorious past?
The Trans Siberian Train pulled up at Moscow Railway Station,
A two berth for me and my wife and our son in the adjoining,
Bag and baggage all cramped up.
A train taking us across two continents to Mongolia and far away China.
A lifetime trip of some four thousands miles,
It took off on the rails with a bang.
The country sides were full of fir trees, endless.
We were in the thick of the Taiga, the largest forest in the world
Those economists who opine that the world will be bereft of trees.
I am dead cert- they have never been on the Trans Siberian
For once I remembered my geography lessons at St Peter’s College, Colombo
We learned of the Russian Taiga and the Urals
It stopped a while at main stations, when we could alight
A quick wander in the shops, have a bite, buy some bread and off we go again
A one minute stop at small stations
for a lone passenger drop and a stray pick up
And off it goes again at a steady pace, unstoppable, undeterred
The fir trees ended and then it was Silver Birch, endless.
There were timber yards everywhere,
where Silver Birch were felled, debarked and made into logs
All loaded for another Freight Siberian to take it away.
Then came the Russian Steppes, massive farmland, endless hectares
There was no end as far as my eyes and field glasses could see.
It looked like my gazing at eternity
In the scattered villages, a farm yard here and a veg patch there,
men and women with rakes and forks,
hard at work, they are everywhere
land being readied for planting.
People in small dwellings painted in an array of colour
Homes, All clustered together, well lit, blessed with people
The roads were dirt tracks, the cars old and ramshackle, but that was life.
No luxury homes for the rich, All looked alike
A lone tractor was straining in the distance- dry ploughing.
The earth was dark, ideal for crops and the extents legion.
I recalled the Canadian and US Prairies I had seen. earlier
In them, there were no settlements of people. no life.
Only tractor stations, godowns and large offices,
All bereft of people; robots and tractors had taken their place.
Not in Russia; there were people, in settlements all over
Huddled together so that services- education and food can be easily provided
The Russian Steppes do breathe with human life
The sights of the Russian Steppes and the Canadian Prairies
Tells me that the World will never be short of food.
Economist pundits have to go by road to the Prairies and Steppes
Get on the Trans Siberian before they come with their concoctions of global misery
In the US farmers are paid for not cultivating their land
All to ensure that there is no glut of produce which could cause a drop in the price.
The American Prairies are commercialized- all to make a buck
While Russia’s Steppes are devoted to make bread for the masses
Naturally in Russia there is plenty of produce, rice, wheat, buck wheat,
all at ridiculously low affordable prices,
Bread at the lowest prices I have ever seen, at half the price in the US
Russia has actually controlled hunger with its massive production.
The wages are low, but cheap food, cheap energy, cheap electricity
Enabling a happy and contented people.
At Irkutsh, Guide Sergie greeted us.
We broke journey for two days
It was a City humming with life,
While the waters of the Angara River flowed calm and certain
Next day we were at Lake Baikal
The marvel of all lakes I’ve ever seen,
One dark sheet of water, deep blue , stretching endless
as far as my eyes could see,
Further on the horizon, on the Buryat shore
Shining silvery snow capped mountains,
A glorious sight that I do hope to see someday..
The City Market was well stocked with local fish and veg.
More, it was womenfolk that ran them
We were again on the Trans Siberian
Heading for Mongolia,
The train skirted the waters of Lake Baikal.
At times it seemed we were on the Lake. It was that close.
The heavens lit up,
A varied hue of orange, red and yellow
Another day was born
The Trans Siberian is yet moving along.
The waters calm and placid are shining in all its glory
All in the dead of the night.
A lone star, far away, shines, speaking out that she is also there.
The Trans Siberian, all alone, stealthily ploughs its way, slowly but surely
Never at break neck speed, all in measured steps,
Lest we get shaken up, like dice in a tin
The driver knows the art of gliding along
We have to pass not one not two, some four thousand miles.
And at the end we should not be having broken bones
It is all different from trains in India- the Shatabdi Express that speeds
Making us hold our breath and life in our hands
The Trans Siberian has to learn one thing from the Shatabdi Express
that’s how the passengers have to be cared for.
The carriage attendants- the provodnitsa are a law unto themselves
The Trans Siberian halts again, a minute for a lone passenger to alight
She walks home to meet the loved ones who may yet be fast asleep.
Her home, a wooden cottage can be seen, a distance away, on a well lit path
As she strolls along, she waves Good Bye to the Siberian that goes its way.
Bringing the habitats of lone Siberian settlers
To be in touch with the rest of the world,
The waters are seen shimmering through the silhouette of fir trees
The Trans Siberian is almost touching the water,
The Sun is casting its first ray of light, a golden orange hue,
Telling the world that another day will dawn.
The orange hue becomes brighter
The bark of the Silver Birches doth shine,
The Sun says, I am there, I’m coming soon,
Surely, Do Wait for me, Lest ye forget, It’s I that brings you life”.
The Trans Siberian has now gone into a settlement
It’s a Railway Station, with shining rails all long
On one side it is cranes loading logs,
On another it is Foremen Plate Layers
Bending down- they are taking levels on the two rails
Casting a sharp eye on the sleepers and fish plates,
All to see that we are safe and sound.
Off we go on with a thud and a bang.
Again a one minute stop, another one out and another one in.
Rumbling along its path by the Lake, Baikal,
The deepest of all fresh water lakes
The sky is now brighter
Yet the Sun is lingering on, getting ready,
Giving time for the resting men to regain strength
To get ready for another day’s toil
A Mist casts itself over the shimmering blue waters of Goose Lake
The Rays of the Sun lights up the Heavens,
Off goes the Mist,
Meanwhile the Trans Siberian takes off
We entered Mongolia
The land is rugged, the mountains unkempt
In the valleys herds of cattle loiter along one after another
Hundreds. They are always very busy, munching a stray plant
Wandering all over, by nightfall destined for a Ger, far away,
Being goaded along when straying, by a nomad on horseback
All going to their master, in a Ger, visible, far out in the distance.
The Trans Siberian gets to Ullan batar
It is the capital of Mongolia, our stay for two days,
Our tour guide Enny greets us
A night in cosy Edelweiss Hotel
The next day we are escorted to the town.
I gazed, amazed at he massive Chinghiz Square,
With the mighty Chinghiz Khan, carved out of a huge marble
Flanked by armed riders, astride on horse back ,
The sheer size of the square, the riders on horseback armed to the teeth,
Make me relive Chinghiz Khan, the mighty,
along with his ten thousand warriors
Riding to China, to Russia, to Poland, to Afghanistan, to far off lands
All put to the sword- to his bows and arrows.
No talk of Human Rights Commissions then
The next day we were off to Kharakhorum,
The sacred sanctum Erdene Zuu Khlid Monastery,
Endless statues of Lord Buddha Sakyamuni,
Of Kassapa the Buddha of yore, Of Maitri the Buddha of the Future
All tell the devotion of a grand people
The Lamas- priests, the custodians of Buddhism are omnipresent
– their chants rendered the air
We lived in a Ger Tourist Camp
Our Ger, a nomadic tent, with all comforts
In the nights the light blue heavens were lit with numerous stars.
Shining bright, the brightest sky I’ve ever seen
It was not the bleak sky I gazed on my lawn at Anuradhapura
On the SOB Road- Staff Officers Bungalow Road. That was five decades ago
Trying to identify the few stars that shon.
Then we saw Orion and his belt. That was all.
Now it was, countless brothers and sisters of Mother Earth
The sheer numbers of celestial bodies- stars, galaxies defied me.
It was a myriad, shining bright casting a ray at me
At times winking at me, a stray stranger gazing from far
Telling me, You are not alone. Don’t think you are alone,
We may be far away, but we are there”
We were taken to a Ger, a nomad’s tent,
A nomad family feted us wholeheartedly,
It was unbelievable an entire home in a tiny Ger, twenty feet in diameter
Beds and tables all arranged, a small kitchenette on a side
That’s where an entire family lived.
Around it were a few sheds to house the calves and the foal
and the dairy milking enclosure,
A rugged makeshift fence to keep off wolves.
The Gur was unpicked and moved to newer pastures often
On State land that belonged to all
To find eatables for the cattle and horses,
The only assets the nomads ever had
The Concept of State land that belonged to all, to be used and not abused
Makes me think of the Crown Lands Ordinance of the Colonial British,
A Decree that all unoccupied land belonged to the Crown
And then sold off the land at five shillings an acre to European settlers
Depriving the Sinhala highlanders of their water resources, their livelihood,
Leaving them paupers for ever
Again on the Trans Siberian – off to China.
At the border at Zamun Ude
Where the carriage wheels were unlocked and moved to the new China gauge.
A Great job, done in record time, with Chinese workmen working pell mell
Off we were on our way again,
This time the Chinese carriage attendants were more human,
No more frowning faces,
Chatty with the little broken English they knew
They even helped carry our luggage.
Lo and behold,
The Mongolian steppes and mountains turned into green in China.
They were teeming with people
A tractor in the distance, ponies dragging the ploughs,
Land was being tilled by hand, prepared for the onset of rain
trees were planted on the contours, the land graded with care,
Vast nurseries making plants
Canals, well maintained, took the water along.
There were new homes being built for the masses
Everything was breathing with life
It was a marvel of a sight, people at work in soiled clothes
plants sprouting, trees waving in the winds, brick after brick being laid
a country at work, all hands to the deck,
All while the Trans Siberian rumbled along
Beijing is a City that shines, Sindy took us around.
Exceptional Development bursting at the seams.
Endless Skyscapers scraping the skies for space,
Massive hotels teeming with smart businessmen,
The Beijin International my home for five days
Swarming with Sales Supermarkets
Full of everything that one wants.
I held my breath at Tinneman Square,
People moving solemnly, in reverence at Mao
Mao Tse Tung, the Creator of Communist China
Who built the people in communes
However today it is Communism with FreeMarkets,
Looks to be a well worked out strategy
It is No Wonder, China has stolen the thunder
While the world lingers in slumber.
In the USA the Republicans and the Democrats are at loggerheads
The one in the opposition wont allow the other to rule.
There is no new development, ever.
The Fed, Bernanke and earlier Greenspan
Both talked a lot; They only knew to change interest rates,
Little knowing that people will cash in, draw loans at low interest,
The earth was drawn under their feet when interest rates were increased.
Simply, they could not pay up; defaults inevitable.
Pundits did not know basic human behaviour
but the bankers had their way, giving out dud loans
and the Fed changing interest rates
Led to a crash in the economy in 2008.
The homes, the assets of the people crumbled
and their worthy assets lay in ruins even today full seven years later
It was a Humpty Dumpty having a great fall-never to be put back again.
Then in Europe, Greece is in trouble without paying dues on its foreign debt
The IMF and the EU insists on payment and advocates austerity,
Little do they know that Austerity is the IMF’s strategy to cause a Regime Change
All have forgotten that the foreign debt comes from the days
when the Greeks had to fight the Ottoman Caliphs and raised loans for that.
That was centuries ago
Why have today’s people to suffer for that
Meanwhile the Third World is in worse tatters
Following the IMF and its Structural Adjustment,
The countries were told to give up import and forex controls
which once enabled them to manage with what they had
They were advised to raise loans and spend
Borrow and spend made them indebted.
Exactly like Greece.
Now it is their lot to rack their brains and raise further loans to pay up the debts
Meanwhile the IMF like Shylock insists on repayment
Little knowing that it was misadventure on their part, the cause.
It is Austerity, wage cuts, moré taxes
They fail to understand that Austerity can bring a saving,
but never Growth, Production and Income
Meanwhile China has kicked the IMF’s preachings
Goes ahead from strength to strength
That is what I saw, a country full of vigour and strength
Peoples power to the fore, undeterred, bashing ahead
The Trans Siberian shows us the way.
The rumblings of the train shall never leave my head.
Thanks be to Trailfinders, to Matthew, for planning our trip,
To our able Guides who knew it all
And to the friendly wonderful people,
I am sorry to have left them behind
Best Wishes to them all.
Garvin Karunaratne
For more reading:
Garvin Karunaratne; How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka, Godages, Colombo
China Development at the Seams; The Nation.lk
