BELARUS, LAID BARE

Grand monuments in Minsk and Brest, the soft beauty of Grodno, and the kindness of strangers mark a writer’s journey to the “ideal gateway to the Soviet world”

- PALOMA DUTTA

The Gates of Minsk are the symbols of how the city was reconstructed after being razed to the ground during World War II, to be the gateway to the Soviet world, an ideal city.

Our personal gateway to the Soviet world was our journey around Russia during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. We thought the handful of Russian words we’d picked up would stand us in good stead in Belarus, formerly a part of the USSR, where Russian is still a national language along with Belarusian (there is also some mutual intelligibility between the two). If nothing else, my vegan partner could roll out “bez myasa/moloka [without meat/milk]” and “kartoshka piroshki [potato pancakes] ” with flair.

RISEN FROM RUIN

Lashing rains greeted us when we alighted at the airport, and rolling fields and farmlands lined the streets leading to the city centre. By the time we entered the underground metro system, stark in its Soviet-era decor, the sun shone brightly. But what really warmed our hearts was how that very first evening in Belarus, strangers who didn’t speak English wouldn’t rest till they’d roused an entire office block to find someone to help us find the location of our accommodation, curiously named Mouse House.