White Night

In the evening, we briefly went out on the errands but at night we met again. The place of our gathering was the bank of the Neva. In addition to people already familiar to us, other Kostia’s friends came here. Many of them brought outlandish musical instruments. Earlier I met such instruments as pipes, tambourines, drums, and flutes only in Goa.

It turned out that all those people who gathered near the Neva bank are big fans of India and Goa. It surprised me more and more. I could not imagine that in a region, which is so far from India, a few hundred kilometres from the Arctic Circle, I would meet people I had met in Goa before. Goa is truly a magical place!

If it were not for the watch on the phone, I would never have guessed that it was midnight. Even at 1 a.m., the sky over Saint Petersburg remained light. It was more like twilight. I saw a white night for the first time in my life and could not believe that at that time most of the inhabitants were sleeping. It seemed that it was impossible to sleep in such light.

We did not sleep. Kostia and his friends were playing musical instruments, while others at this time were dancing a little to warm up. At this night time, I felt that talking about the cold in Saint Petersburg is not a fiction but a reality. To warm up, I also danced. Dancing near the Neva during the performance of Indian mantras is very beautiful!

Soon it was time to leave. We received a call from Andrei and he said that he was waiting for us at the other end of the city to deliver us back to Moscow by car. We did not want to leave. During these two days, I fell in love with Saint Petersburg and its inhabitants. I wanted to stay here forever. Nevertheless, fate had other plans for us.

We thanked Saint Petersburg, Kostia, and his friends for everything. We promised that we would definitely return here. Then we could not even imagine that this would happen so soon: within three months. However, about this adventure, I will certainly tell in other chapters.