Remembering Baumanskaya Market

It seems like there are countless stories around the country this week--Senator Santorum's mortgage, the ever-escalating violence in Iraq, the UAE-US port transaction, even spring training. Even Tom Delay's dealings with Russian oil are more interesting than the story that caught me day-dreaming during the commute today....

I have spent several summers and one too many winters in Moscow, Russia. During one of those summers, I lived in the Baumanskaya district of Moscow. It is just up the Yauza River, represented by a stop on the Metro's blue line. You will not find much information about the neighborhood even in travel books. Alexander Pushkin, Russia's greatest poet, was born there. There are numerous churches and temples that you would never hear of except by wandering through. The area was once known as the German quarter, known for the many immigrant laborers hoping in a sort of old-world, Russian dream before there was much of an "American Dream."

In the middle of it all, there is a spectacular Soviet stamp in the form of a huge metal dome that served as the market. At least there was until today. It was certainly difficult to think that just as every other morning people were preparing their goods to sell in true market when the roof collapsed. It is even more difficult to realize that there may have been people who died from whom I personally purchased fresh tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, beets, and later in the summer, watermelon.

Markets like these are quickly giving way to the mega-giant-humongous-warehouse-superstores. Moscow, unlike many other cities in Eastern Europe, is following the same path. The suburbs are growing strip malls. Even considering the apparent savings, few welcome the longer commutes, poorer quality of products, the superficially-smiling faceless drones who ring you up at the end, and wish you a nice day because it is mandated in the employee manual. The markets of Moscow, and the rest of the world are collapsing. Today, that development was more literal, than figurative.