Natasha Volkov

I came for the city. I stayed for the people. That is the short version. The longer version involves a modelling contract that brought me from Moscow to Mumbai two years ago, a contract that ended, and a decision to stay because this city — this chaotic, beautiful, impossible city — had already changed me. In Russia, I studied economics at Moscow State University. I speak English formally, perhaps too formally, but I have been told my accent is charming rather than distracting. I am tall, blonde, and yes, I am aware that I stand out in Mumbai. I have learned to enjoy it rather than resist it. I live near Juhu beach. I drink masala chai every morning, which my mother in Moscow finds hilarious. I have learned enough Hindi to bargain at Linking Road and enough Marathi to make my landlord smile. I miss the snow sometimes, and borscht always, but I do not miss the cold — not the weather and not the people. Mumbai is warm in every sense. I offer companionship that is genuinely cross-cultural. I can discuss Dostoevsky and Bollywood in the same evening. I know which Russian companions are real and which are marketing inventions — I am very much real. European elegance, Indian warmth. That is what two years in this city has made me.