GALINA - Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia - page 76

“You promised when you visited us that you would bring your wife next time.”
“Oh, Galina, I'm sorry. I will bring her the next time.”
She gives a stiff nod that communicates You'd better.
We all walk quietly back up the path, and return to the sanatoriy building. Marina has
set up a conference room for Sergei and me to meet with the babushkas. She won't be far,
right outside in the auditorium, leading other guests in karaoke.
The babushkas have found seats around a long wooden table. We are all quiet at first.
The subject I really want to talk about—how they survived losing husbands and found the
strength to move on—is the one they were least happy to talk about last time. These women
don't like to boast about survival skills.
Galina reminds me only half-jokingly that my leash is short: “I once drove away two
journalists who asked the wrong questions. They said, 'We have a list of questions, and
we'll get started.' The guy started reading to me his questions, as I sat with him, alone in
my house. He says, 'So do you have “intrigues” when you travel? Do you fall in love with
anyone when you travel?' I said, 'Get out of here now!'”
Everyone in the room is now laughing but me.
Galina reaches into a bag and pulls out two little babushkas—knitted versions of them-
selves. “We sit and knit these together,” she says. “They are for good luck and happiness.
Here is one for you and one for Rose.”
This is incredibly sweet. I also get the feeling they are not expecting any of the more
sensitive questions I danced around last time.
I ASK G ALINA how construction on the church in Buranovo is going. Restoring the church
is vitally important to these women. Their village, like so many across Russia, became a
sad and barren place during Soviet times. Their Orthodox church was destroyed—along
with thousands of others under a regime that eschewed organized religion. Roads are not
paved. The women walk to each other's houses on mud paths. The money they have made
performing around Russia has all gone to rebuilding their small Orthodox church.
“The brickwork is done,” Galina says. “The bell tower is ready. Now we need to do the
roof, but we don't have the money yet.”
“Can I ask, how important is the friendship you all share?”
The Soviets got rid of religion—and also languages that were not Russian. The women
of Buranovo could not legally speak their native Udmurt. So in 1990 they tried to do
something about that. These women met in the village hall, knitted, and began singing Ud-
murt songs together.