TEMPLE PONDS OF KERALA

 

KAZAKHSTAN – THROUGH TEN MONUMENTS OF ALMATY  - I 

A city is best explored on foot. It has so much to offer. The boulevards and cobblestoned alleys. The traffic discipline or the lack of it. The sidewalks lined with quaint cafes and pubs. The illuminated store fronts with tempting displays. The exotic signages. The architecture of buildings. The street performers. The people, strolling by hand in hand, or striding with a purpose. And then there are monuments that spell history with capital H.

I was recently in Almaty, the cultural capital and the largest city of Kazakhstan. I was travelling with a group of twenty, but on one particular balmy evening decided to take things in my own legs. This is what I saw and learned.

Monument of Independence

I began at the root of Kazakh civilisation. A towering column dominates the semi-circular arena. Atop the column is the Golden Man – the national icon. Some say it’s a woman. He is astride a snow leopard, the national animal and holds a bow in one hand and a falcon in the other – reminders of a hunting past. The column is so tall, that it is difficult to get a good sight of him, let alone get a good picture, unless you have a drone with you. The Golden Man has been put together from the fragments found in a burial mound of the ancient Saka nomads, in the outskirts of the city. I visited this site and the adjoining museum on another day to learn more about the Sakas; that will be a different story.

At the base of the column are four other statutes – a wise old man, Mother earth and two boys astride foals. Behind them is a panorama of eight carved panels that narrate the country’s history over the centuries. It is worth 30 minutes and even an hour of your time to let the wrought iron carvings speak to you.

Dawn of Freedom

Barely 300 m away, I came across this stunning monument that honours the December 1986 uprising, when the Kazakh youth challenged the Soviet authority. A young woman appears to be emerging out of a crack in a massive concrete wall. Her arms are spread wide, with a handkerchief in one hand and a dove in the other. The metaphors are easy to comprehend. The student protests that began here on 16 December 1986 snowballed and eventually led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The energy conveyed by the young woman is very palpable. I came here again the next morning to capture the energy in the golden hour.

Gani Muratbaev – The Youthful Idealogue

A brisk walk, little short of 2 kms, along the Satpaev Avenue (named after a prominent geologist and the founder of the Academy of Sciences) brought me to the Dostyk Avenue and the imposing building of The Children’s Republic Palace, a Soviet-era complex of youth education and culture. In the adjoining park stands the statue of a dashing young man, who can be easily mistaken for a footballer. But his fatigues give him away. He is Gani Muratbaev, the Kazakh youth leader who founded the Komsomol (Leninist Young Communist League) after the October Revolution. He died of tuberculosis at just 22. Communism has disappeared from Kazakhstan, but its legacy stands juxtaposed at the doorstep of education, just the way the Soviet ideology had planned.

Abay – The National Reformer

A 10-minute walk brings me to the Abay Square in front of the Republic Palace, the city’s concert hall. Abay Kunanbayuly was a poet, a composer, a philosopher, an educator and much more. He was a reformer in the mould of Tagore. Interestingly, they both lived during the same period. His poetry and songs blend the oral traditions of the steppe with Russian influences. He sought to modernise the Kazakh society while still retaining its distinct identity. His enduring legacy on Kazakh culture is evident from many landmarks named after him. He stands tall in the Abay square at the head of Abay avenue, on which is located a Metro station named after him. The hotel where I was staying also carries his name.

Zhambyl – The Folk Voice

A kilometre along the Dostyk Avenue from the Abay Square and I am standing before the monument dedicated to Zhambyl Zhabayev. He is depicted holding the dombra – the traditional, long-necked, two-stringed, pear-shaped, plucked lute originating from Central Asia, particularly associated with the Kazakh people and their folk music. His statue is set against a rock from which two springs emanate. Zhambyl lived for 99 years, preserving the legends and traditions of the steppe life and culture in his songs. The Soviet authorities co-opted him as a cultural symbol for their agenda and his later songs praised Stalin and collectivisation. The two springs in the background cliff unwittingly represent this duality of Zhambyl.

These 5 monuments are laid out in a right angle along a 3 km stretch and can be covered in a little under an hour. For the next set of 5 monuments we need to take a dive of faith and I will cover them in my next post.