Vremenske Zone

Četvrtog jutra, vlak se nalazio negdje zapadno od Novosibirska. Polly je pogledala mali sat iznad vrata kupea. Pokazivao je 06:30. Sat nije bio promijenjen od Moskve. Svi vozni redovi Transsibirske željeznice vode se po moskovskom vremenu, cijelom dužinom pruge, kroz sedam dana i sedam vremenskih zona. To je praktična odluka iz sovjetskog doba: ne možete voditi željeznicu preko osam tisuća kilometara ako svaka stanica ima drugačiji sat.

On the fourth morning, the train was somewhere west of Novosibirsk. Polly checked the small clock above the compartment door. It read 06:30. The clock had not been changed since Moscow. All Trans-Siberian timetables run on Moscow time, the whole length of the line, for seven days and seven time zones. This is a Soviet-era practical decision: you cannot run a railway across eight thousand kilometres if every station has a different watch.

Lokalno vrijeme izvan prozora, međutim, bilo je oko 10:30. Sunce je bilo na nebu već šest sati. Polja su već bila topla.

Local time outside the window, however, was about 10:30. The sun had been up for six hours. The fields were already warm.

Ova neskladnost između vremena u vlaku i vanjskog vremena bila je, kako joj je rekao kondukter, jedan od malih mentalnih izazova putovanja. Do Vladivostoka, sat u vlaku pokazivao bi jedno, a lokalno sunce nešto sedam sati drugačije. Mnogi putnici su to smatrali dezorijentirajućim. Neki su se prilagodili. Neki nisu.

This dislocation of train-time and outside-time was, the conductor had told her, one of the small mental challenges of the journey. By Vladivostok the train clock would say one thing and the local sun would say something seven hours different. Many passengers found this disorienting. Some adjusted. Some did not.

Polly je skočila sa svog mjesta na stražnjem dijelu ležaja i krenula u istraživanje.

Polly hopped down from her perch on the back of the bunk and went exploring.

Vagon-restoran bio je tri vagona dalje. Polly je prošla dužinu tri vagona, skakućući s ležaja na ležaj i duž rukohvata hodnika. Svaki vagon bio je dugačak tunel obložen drvom s osam kupea sa strane, samovarom na kraju i kondukterskom sobom na drugom kraju. Kondukteri, u zelenim uniformama, sjedili su s nogama podignutim, čitajući novine između stanica. Nisu izgledali iznenađeni kad su vidjeli papigu. Vlak je vozio sedam dana u tjednu već više od sto godina. Vidio je svašta.

The dining car was three carriages down. Polly walked the length of three carriages, hopping from bunk to bunk and along the corridor rail. Each carriage was a long wood-panelled tunnel with eight compartments to the side, a samovar at the end, and a conductor's room at the other end. The conductors, in green uniforms, sat with their feet up reading newspapers between station stops. They did not look surprised to see a parrot. The train had been running for seven days a week for over a hundred years. It had seen things.

Vagon-restoran bio je izvana obojen izblijedjelom crvenom bojom, a iznutra neočekivano svijetloplavom. Teške čipkaste zavjese. Drvene kabine. Mala kuhinja na dalekom kraju gdje je kuhar u bijeloj pregači pripremao nešto što je mirisalo na kupus. Dva putnika već su jela. Polly je zauzela mjesto u praznoj kabini uz prozor.

The dining car was painted a faded red on the outside and an unexpected pale blue inside. Heavy lace curtains. Wooden booths. A small kitchen at the far end where a cook in a white apron was making something that smelled like cabbage. Two passengers were already eating. Polly took a perch at the empty booth by the window.

Konobar u pomalo prevelikom sakou pojavio se. Postavio je jelovnik na stol. Jelovnik je bio na ruskom, zatim engleskom, pa kineskom. Boršč. Pelmeni, mali ruski knedli punjeni mesom. Lososov kavijar na tamnom kruhu. Čaj. Votka. Pivo.

A waiter in a slightly too-large jacket appeared. He set a menu on the table. The menu was in Russian, then English, then Chinese. Borscht. Pelmeni, which were small Russian dumplings stuffed with meat. Salmon caviar on dark bread. Tea. Vodka. Beer.

Konobar je čekao. Polly je nagnula glavu. On se nasmiješio, uzeo jelovnik natrag i nestao. Dvije minute kasnije vratio se s malim tanjurom kruha, maslaca i komadom tamne haringe. Postavio ga je na klupu kabine na visini Polly.

The waiter waited. Polly tilted her head. He smiled, took the menu back, and disappeared. Two minutes later he returned with a small plate of bread, butter, and a piece of dark herring. He placed it on the booth bench at Polly's height.

"Pozdrav iz kuhinje," rekao je na engleskom.

"Compliments of the kitchen," he said, in English.

Haringa je bila solju konzervirana i snažnog mirisa. Polly je probala mali komad. Bila je jaka, ali dobra. Kruh je imao blagu kiselost koju nikad prije nije okusila, rezultat trodnevne fermentacije. Maslac je bio neslan. Kombinacija, u pravom redoslijedu, bila je nešto što su Rusi jeli u vagonima dugih putovanja već sto dvadeset godina.

The herring was salt-cured and pungent. Polly tried a small piece. It was strong but good. The bread had a faint sourness she had never tasted before, a result of three days of fermentation. The butter was unsalted. The combination, in the right order, was a thing Russians had been eating in long-distance train carriages for a hundred and twenty years.

Vlak je nastavio put. Izvan prozora vagona-restorana, tajga se prorijedila u visoku otvorenu travnatu ravnicu, južni rub Zapadnosibirske nizine. Stado krava paslo je blizu male drvene kuće. Čovjek na biciklu čekao je na prijelazu.

The train ran on. Outside the dining car window, the taiga had thinned into a high open grassland, the southern fringe of the West Siberian Plain. A herd of cows was grazing near a small wooden house. A man on a bicycle waited at a level crossing.

Konobar se vratio u kuhinju. Radio je svirao, negdje u pozadini, pjesmu koju Polly nije prepoznala, ali je sumnjala da je vrlo popularna u ovom dijelu svijeta. Dovršila je haringu. Smjestila se uz prozor. Vlak je krenuo dalje.

The waiter went back to the kitchen. A radio played, somewhere in the back, a song Polly did not recognise but which she suspected was very popular in this part of the world. She finished the herring. She perched at the window. The train moved.