In Moscow, village, and or even Siberia, you pass old women selling anything and everything. You see old women on the Metro stairs, they are on the buses and they are walking every street. They are all grandmas, but they all sell things to survive the harsh world we live in. If you love a particular sauerkraut, then that grandma will be there 7 days a week and you may buy it at anytime. Russia has a name for these women, Babushka!

In the big village near our little village; there is a babushka that meets the trains everyday. She sells something, anything and all things. She carries buckets of potatoes and tried to sell them to the train passengers. She carries buckets of radishes to sell to the train passengers. She is a typical babushka and even though she has to leave her home two hours before the train comes, just to carry that bucket, she is always there…

The Babushka is by no means the same as an elderly woman in the Americas today. These women will take on a 6’3″, 300 pound American Bear like me and not even blink. They grew up in hard times and give no inch to any one! I respect them for that and be polite or stay out of their way. I have at times gotten a bit peeved and Sveta has explained to me about the Babushka’s. The Babushka’s work very hard and seem at times to have boundless energy!

A babushka is a proud title and to call a woman a babushka is respect in Russia. These women have outlived a husband many times and they do not lay down and roll over when their husband is gone. They grab life by the rails and keep on going. They are and is the mainstay pillar of many families, for the dedushka (grandpa,) does not live as long as the babushka and therefore, she is the monarchy of the family…

The babushka does not ask for handouts and the babushka will make her own way. I understand this by the way Sveta and her mother interact over Sveta trying to give money to her mom. Sveta hides it in new books or old books that she buys her mom, or books that her mom is reading at the time. It is a way for the daughter to help and the mother to not refuse the help. A babushka is a proud woman, who has lived through more downfalls than most people on earth…

They remind me of my grandma (means babushka,) for she was from the era of Americans that had to fight for what they got in life (the depression). They fear no one…

The Babushka are a part of life in the villages as well as the large cities. They are a part of Russian life that tells of its history and future. The young women in Russia should learn from them and use the Babushka as a guide to helping themselves through life…

For one day they will be Babushka also!!

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: Softness is the downfall of a society…

The copy scores 76.4 in the Flesch Reading Ease test, which is considered fairly easy to read.