In Russia during the communist days, bartering was the only way to regal survival. It was only 4 Roubles for a bottle of sweet Abrau-Djurso Sampanskoye (champagne) while it cost more than 10 US$ in the Duty Free shop. I was only 21years old then and I stayed in a Russian champagne stupor for 3 months though I would not recommend it.
The Russians had kept the value of the Rouble at an absurdly high rate with respect to the US$ and all European currencies and so also the Indian Rupee. However, somethings were expensive in Russia like chewing gum, cigarettes, waterproofs etc. So instead of using money as the medium of exchange, we simply used x packets of Wrigley's for a hand driven torch generator. Or one plastic raincoat for a Zenit camera and so on.
As far as I remember, I had bought many cartons of these white ones. We did not indulge in these exchanges directly. My steward or my Engine room Serang (Bosun) would report any nice offers being made by the Russian unloaders and then do the exchange next day.
Thus, if money is useless for exchange of goods, exchange will not stop. It will go on by barter! I had lots of stuff like that but they’ve all disappeared over the years. But I still have a prized Russian cap of mink bought with chewing gum! As far as the Russian cap is concerned I made Prithvi wear it this (2020) winter. It is grey like Tyson (husky pet dog) but much softer. Daddy often wore it too in winter. Now I have a brown mink as well but bought only during my last trip in Siberia. I always loved Russian Caps after seeing my German Dadu wear them.
Blogger note: Also called Ushanka hat, the cap raises more memories...
From Monisha Choudhury:
Daddy wore one too gifted by our Russian tenants downstairs. One of them used to teach me Russian on Ma’s insistence and the lady’s enthusiasm to teach me! Mr Nikolai from Minsk was our first tenant. He had never seen a ceiling fan before. One day he came to tell us it had fallen down. We were amazed with what we saw ... all the blades had bent down as if he had tried swinging from them!
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