06 Apr Ukraine in “Turmoil”
Ukraine in “Turmoil”
Well, after annexing Crimea, Russian troops have lined up along the border with Ukraine. This beautiful, historic nation has a sweet spot in my mind and memory. I (thrivikramji@gmail.com) toured the capital Kiev along with Com. Strod Kropachev (Geologist of PFU, Ordshonikidze, Moscow) way back in 1986 and in the month of April, when I was an exchange scientist in USSR and attached to PFU, Moscow. As ritual, I was to go with my friend to Kiev to first hand see the historic places and the western gateway of the then USSR.
We rode the funicular (cable railway over a cliff). Met the fellow geologists in the Geology & Geophysics department of the University of Kiev; the progress exhibition (where I saw a scale model of the Chernobyle plant on display), local Ballet and played ball in the Dniper river beaches. The stay was fantastic and fun filled, but for the Chernobyle Nuclear plant meltdown. I also made several visits to the Local Geological Survey Lab and the University of Kiev and participated as spectator in the Kiev-Prague bicycle rally on a bright and brilliant Sunday.
I distinctly remember one petrologist who I made friendship with in the Univ. of Kiev, who gave about 75 thin sections of sedimentary rocks) as a gift that I could use in the class work at the Geology Dept., Kariavattom. Currently after nearly three decades why would I worry about the fate of those thin sections? Also an Atlas of the seafloor of the world. Well, USSR is very keen about the seabed resources right from the early days. Along with this there is a cut and mounted geological map of the Ukraine. I am sure that all these are somewhere in the unused pile in the Dept. of Geology at Kariavattom campus.
In the Soviet days Ukraine had a special status within the USSR and therefore Kiev had sent an ambassador to the UN. Well now the fate of that nation seems to be in jeopardy. I WISH WELL FOR THE NATION NOW AND IN FUTURE
April 4, 14
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