Skip to main content

THE RUSSIAN MADONNA

Image
By
http://www.masharasputina.com/
The closest I came to the real Madonna of popstar fame was the Russian Madonna, Masha Rasputina. She had it all; sex appeal, the awesome presence, the spoilt-brat syndrome of a Prima Donna and enormous talent. I remember getting vaguely excited when my Russian travel agent Helena Sorokina booked a group with a brief to look after this famous but difficult client. A Russian equivalent of People's Magazine had paid her to visit Nepal on a photo-shoot to promote the magazine as Masha had just released a huge hit single called, "Put Me on Top of the Himalayas". In the process Nepal too would be promoted in Russia.

The Russian ambassador at the time Alexander Kulagin looked scandalized, "Oh that wench has come here", he laughed out loud heartily. I did not know what reputation the Russian Madonna had back home but I was ready to cut her some slack. After a VIP welcome at the airport I brought her to Hotel Yak and Yeti, the presidential suite reserved for her use. The next morning I was to learn what handling a diva was all about. Along with her entourage and the Russian speaking guide I had arranged I too was waiting for her to come down to the lobby at 9:00 AM sharp for a photo shoot in Bhaktapur. She appeared at noon with a sheepish grin and a warm hug and exclaimed aloud, "Where is everybody?" as if she was the one waiting. She had set the tone for the rest of her stay.

I sent her to Machan Wildlife Resort inside the Chitwan National Park, to Nagarkot, to heritage sites for the usual photo ops. Sometime later I was most pleasantly thrilled to see a multi-page exposure of her Nepal visit with Masha in her many poses. It was a great exposure for Nepal in Russia and blissfully Masha did not have many of the scintillating poses she had struck for Playboy's Russian edition in an earlier photo shoot.
Oh, those Russians!

Comments

  1. Akash BhairabJanuary 14, 2010 at 12:04 AM

    Hey Subodh just when we got started this thing finished off. Wish it were longer!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. HoratioJanuary 14, 2010 at 11:13 PM

    If this amazing lady is still around, could she not be the catalyst to promote Russian tourists coming to Nepal? "Rasputina"...any relation to THE Rasputin??

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE BIOGRAPHER: LIFE OF GENERAL PADMA JUNG RANA

By
An important biography  of Maharajah Jung Bahadur Rana was written by his son General Padma Jung Rana during his exile in India and it was published after his death in Allahabad in 1909 A.D. by Pioneer Press titled "Life of Sir Jung Bahadur of Nepal". It is the only book to my knowledge that is written by an "insider" eye witness, a member of the family of Jung Bahadur, and is full of interesting accounts and anecdotes that would not have come to light had it not been for this book. I have always wanted to learn more about the Rana family members who fled Nepal after the coup d'etat of 1885 A.D. and their life in India. Here is the first in the series: my findings on General Padma Jung Rana.  A tragedy in life came early, at the very instance of birth in fact. Writes General Padma Jung Rana in his biography of his famous father, he was born on the very day Maharajah Jung Bahadur Rana left Kathmandu for the war effort to relieve the hard-pressed British forces i...
21 comments
Read more

FEATHERS IN THE CROWN

By
As a kid I used to gape in wonderment at the magnificent crown my father possessed not knowing that the jewels were only for show. The dark green emerald drops were made of glass, the sparkling diamonds were probably zirconium and the pearls were not of the best sort. Every Rana general had his personal crown in those days and my father was no exception. I did not recognize the difference between this personal crown of father's and the other more valuable crown of the Nepalese Commander-in-Chief of the Army that my father was seen wearing in many a portrait displayed about the house. Little did I know that my father was the last person to put on his head the army chief's crown from the Rana era, real glittering diamonds, snow white pearls and thumb-sized emerald drops and all. The feather in the crown was the magnificent plumes of the Bird of Paradise that gave it such a majestic look. Nepal had only three crowns that were genuinely the real stuff b...
23 comments
Read more

THE FIRST SON

By
T he child was just 2 years old when his father Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana received an invitation from the East India Company to visit England in 1850 A.D. Her Majesty Queen Victoria would be receiving him at court! The household was in a frenzy preparing for this arduous journey. Palpable excitement was in the air. The delegation had to be finalized, supplies and rations to be ordered, modes of transportation to be chartered, decorations and gifts to be sorted out to offer to the gracious hosts, et all. No ruler from the sub-continent had been invited by the Company until this instance. Too, dire premonition was weighing heavily on the newly blessed "Rana" family despite the auspicious date of travel charted by court astrologers and birth-chart diviners. Would the young thirty-four year prime minister and de facto ruler return safely after crossing the black waters? "What would happen to the young child if he didn't?" lamented his pregnant mother Nanda Ku...
6 comments
Read more