{"id":155247,"date":"2026-03-20T16:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155247"},"modified":"2026-03-20T16:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:40:12","slug":"from-kalbasa-to-kilowatts-lessons-from-a-simpler-tougher-world-in-soviet-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/20\/from-kalbasa-to-kilowatts-lessons-from-a-simpler-tougher-world-in-soviet-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"From Kalbasa to Kilowatts: Lessons from a Simpler, Tougher World in Soviet Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

There was a time when life did not come with apps, algorithms, or air-conditioned opinions. It came instead with cabbage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not metaphorical cabbage\u2014but real, stubborn, Soviet cabbage. The kind you harvested yourself whether you were an engineering student, a future military officer, or a confused foreigner wondering how you ended up in a place called Orenburg fixing gas equipment in sub-zero winds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of Life (with Compulsory Farming Minor)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the days of the Soviet Union, education was not confined to lecture halls. If you didn\u2019t go to university, you went to the military. If you went to university, you still learned military thinking. And regardless of your academic brilliance, at some point you were sent to a kolkhoz\u2014a collective farm\u2014to harvest cabbage, potatoes, or anything else that refused to grow politely on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine today\u2019s students being told:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before your degree, please report to Monaragala to harvest pumpkins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There would be protests on Instagram within minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But back then, nobody protested. You just picked up the cabbage\u2014and perhaps, unknowingly, a work ethic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language Lessons, Soviet Style<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Russians had a remarkable way with language. Their vocabulary could be\u2026 expressive. Words like blyad and pizda floated around like punctuation marks in a heated conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the real genius was the supervisor who replaced all profanity with one magical word:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pamidori!\u201d (Tomatoes!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of shouting insults, he would roar:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pamidori! Pamidori!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And somehow, nobody was offended. Imagine if Sri Lankan traffic police adopted this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pamidori! Move your three-wheeler!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Road rage would disappear overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuisine of Champions (and Survivors)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dinner was simple, predictable, and unforgettable:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Cabbage (again\u2014inescapable)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Kalbasa (minced meat sausage, heroic in its greasiness)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Black bread (dense enough to stop a bullet\u2014or at least a complaint)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    And then came the real highlight: vodka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Not your premium, imported, crystal-bottle variety. No. This was the legendary cheap spirit\u2014sometimes whispered to be distilled from substances that may have once powered machinery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At 3.62 rubles a bottle, it was less a drink and more a national institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To accompany it, there was zakuska\u2014the noble chaser:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Salted fish<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Pickled tomatoes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Gherkins that could wake the dead<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      And in true weekend spirit, there were adventures: catching land-based krevetki (crab-like creatures), boiling them over open fires, and consuming them with enthusiasm that defied hygiene standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Hardship Without Misery<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Here is the surprising part: people were not miserable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      They worked hard, lived simply, and laughed loudly. There was a sense of shared struggle\u2014an unspoken agreement that life was tough, but it was everyone\u2019s tough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Compare that to today, where comfort is abundant but contentment is scarce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      What Did We Learn?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Not communism. Not ideology. Not politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We learned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Discipline without supervision<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Skill through doing, not theorizing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Respect for labour\u2014whether in a classroom or a cabbage field<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        And perhaps most importantly, we learned that happiness does not always come from comfort. Sometimes it comes from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • A shared meal<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • A bad joke shouted as Pamidori!\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • A cold night made warm by camaraderie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          A Thought for Today\u2019s Sri Lanka<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          As Sri Lanka debates its future, with movements like the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the National People\u2019s Power offering frameworks and theories, one wonders:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Do we have the will to build character along with policy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Because no system\u2014capitalist, socialist, or otherwise\u2014can succeed without a generation that knows how to work, endure, and laugh at hardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          You cannot teach resilience in an air-conditioned lecture hall alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Sometimes, you need a cabbage field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n\n\n\n

          Final Reflection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          From the frozen yards of Orenburg to the structured efficiency of Norway and the polished systems of the United Kingdom, the journey was not just geographic\u2014it was educational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          But the most unforgettable classroom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          A Soviet lorry, a shouting supervisor, a bottle of cheap vodka, and a plate of cabbage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Pamidori! What an education. \ud83c\udf45<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          By Sarath Obeysekera There was a time when life did not come with apps, algorithms, or air-conditioned opinions. It came instead with cabbage. Not metaphorical cabbage\u2014but real, stubborn, Soviet cabbage. The kind you harvested yourself whether you were an engineering student, a future military officer, or a confused foreigner wondering how you ended up in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155248,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155247\/revisions\/155248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}