When you get older…

Not a stark place, but a sad one sometimes

Other stories about India… It’s such a strange place because it’s so beautiful but there’s so much… the people are just living off of so little, you know? And sometimes it’s heartbreaking and a lot of times when you’re in the car in the traffic jam there will be little children who will come [...]

It was a cow. That was nice.

On a trip India, I was at a temple, and at the end of the temple when you pray, the priest will give you some holy food and usually it’s like dried lentils or something. So I was eating my dried lentils and chomping away and all of a sudden I feel a hand [...]

Beware the monkeys

I’ve had quite a few stories with animals, actually. We went to this holy city of Hardvar and Rishike which is on the river Ganga, like the Ganges river. And there, my cousin and I were outside on our open-air balcony. So these monkeys—they’re free to roam anywhere. And [...]

Some dicey moments

I first went to India… well, every time I go to India I get sick just because my body needs to adjust. And when I first went to India I was a baby, probably less than six months old, and I got very, very sick. And for a baby—I mean, I lost ten [...]

School in Siberia

When you say, “Going to school,” the first thing that comes to my mind is cold. When I grew up, this place was in Siberia, so when people talk about Chicago winter I’m like, “No, you have no idea.’” So it was really, really cold. Schools are good, universities are good—I mean the [...]

American flags everywhere

I remember my very first two impressions when I came here to the States as a tourist. The first one was the number of American flags everywhere. In Russia back in ’96 after the Communist era it was actually not good. People did not want to show any pride in their countries, so [...]

I’ve never been back to Russia, ever since I left Russia.

My dad is still in Russia because he’s a journalist, and you know how it is when you’re a journalist. He’s a very good journalist, but when your profession is connected to a language—and he is Russian, born and raised, so he still lives there. My mother lives in London. She’s been [...]