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GOING NATIVE

From Russia, with love

Photo: Prema Manmadhan

Russo-Indian ties Svetlana Pillai with husband Dr.Gopalakrishna Pillai, sons Sanjay Pillai and Jolion Pillai at their Edappally home

Statuesque Svetlana Pillai has kohled eyes and wears the sari effortlessly. “She stitches her own blouse and other clothes she wears at home,” says Dr Gopalakrishnan, her husband and a cardiac surgeon. They have been married for 28 years. He met the Ukrainian beauty when he went to do his medical studies in Russia. “It was in Lvov, in Ukraine, that we met,” says Svetlana. And she grew up listening to Raj Kapoor film songs which her mother simply loved. Today Svetlana and Dr. Gopalakrishnan mingle with Malayalis and go to temples together. Svetlana is an ardent admirer of Swami Vivekananda.

She can talk some Malayalam but sons Jolion Pillai, an electronics engineer and Sanjay Pillai (Class VI) speak well in Malayalam. While posing for the photo, Svetlana wonders whether her nose stud will be visible, because she likes it very much.

“At home, we all speak Russian still,” says Svetlana, maybe because they grew to understand and love each other using that language. In the drawing room of their Edappally house there is a big TV and you wonder what channel or programme that is, the coated and booted guys in some cold country, speaking an alien tongue. “Oh, that is a Russian channel we have. There is a special dish for that. It is good to get a different view from that of the Americans, you know,” Svetlana jokes. But that is the only way perhaps to get all the local news ‘back home’ for Svetlana. The two paintings in blue and white and black that adorn the walls strike you as very European. Well, Svetlana also paints. And those are her works. One is that of their son, Sanjay.

Having been in Kerala for the last 15 years, with short spells outside the country, Svetlana is sore that Kochi has become “very congested”. They live in a house in suburban Edappally with lots of trees and a large yard outside. The pooja area has a lit lamp and flowers.

Svetlana feels sad about the vanishing healthy lifestyle of Keralites. She rues the trend of copying anything western blindly by the youths. Her in-laws have always been very supportive, patient and loving, qualities that helped Svetlana adjust to life in Kerala. She prefers wearing a sari when she goes out and kancheepuram silks are her favourite. “Now when I go to Russia, I feel like a foreigner,” she laughs.

The food cooked in her kitchen is both Indian and Russian. Her husband likes Russian food. Sambar is as much a favourite as Russian salad. “The Russian salad you get in the hotels here is actually not the native Russian salad,” says Svetlana as she brings in a bowl of Russian salad, to be eaten with bread, as a starter. There are no fruits in it. It’s nutritious and “like avial, a wholesome dish”. Very graciously, she shares the Russian salad recipe with us (see box)

That will be a cool ‘cold starter’ for that dinner you are looking forward to, courtesy Svetlana Pillai!

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