Only in Russia - Tinda
While living in Siberia for a year, I agreed to speak at a human
rights conference. Only in Russia will you find a place like
Tinda, a city we stopped in on our way.
Trans-Siberian Railway
When living in Siberia, the only way to get around is car,
helicopter or the Trans-Siberian Railway. Since I had neither a
car nor helicopter, the train it was. Unfortunately, the train
to my conference left at 4 AM after a night spent trying to
acquire a travel visa on the sly, which meant drinking a lot of
visa.
Dutifully, my travel partner, Oleg Vladimirovich, and I made the
train where we were met by a local reporter, Nina, who was
coming along. The Trans-Siberian Railway can offer some amazing
views, but not at four in the morning. I went to sleep.
The thing about Russia is you simply can't grasp how big it is.
Although we were traveling in the same state ["oblast"], the
trip took 30 hours. Since it was winter, the view out the train
was mostly of snow covered trees. Yes, it sounds romantic until
you have to sit there for a day. Fortunately, the Russians have
good taste as the train radio blared John Lee Hooker most of the
way. No, I don't know why.
Tinda
Only in Russia will you find a city like Tinda. During the
Stalin era, it was determined that the timber and natural
resources in a particular spot of Siberia were very valuable.
Unfortunately, nobody lived within 500 miles of so of the
location. To solve the problem, the authorities decided to build
a railroad and city from scratch.
Building in the middle of Siberia is just a slight challenge.
Just to get to the location of Tinda, the Russians had to build
a railway over permafrost, bogs, huge mountain ranges, roaring
rivers and I won't even mention the bugs in the summer.
The unfortunately named BUM railway was started in 1930 and
finished in 1984. During this process, hundreds of five story
concrete buildings were built to form the city of Tinda. A
hundred thousand people were uprooted from their homes and moved
to this city in the middle of nowhere. Walla, the communist
authorities had a labor force to exploit the natural resources.
With the fall of communism, the authorities in Russia are no
longer interested in the area. The city is failing and people
are flocking to live in cities with jobs and better wages. The
ones that remain in Tinda are in desperate straits. It is a sad
statement to the legacy of communism, where the interests of the
state dominated.