Love, marriage and masalas: The Indian experience in 1970s Soviet Union

In 1972, Indo-Soviet relations were at a high point. Just a year earlier, the two countries had signed a 20-year Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation. This agreement proved invaluable when India went to war with Pakistan in 1971, with critical Soviet support including diplomatic cover at the United Nations and the dispatch of Moscow’s Pacific Fleet to the Indian Ocean.

This strong diplomatic bond also fostered goodwill for India among the Soviet public, who had a well-known fondness for Hindi cinema. In 1972, Indian missions in the USSR issued 40% more visas, although strict Soviet rules on foreign travel meant that the majority of the 3,000-plus visitors to India were part of government-related programmes.

Despite this warmth in relations, Communist USSR was not considered a potential immigration destination for very many Indians. At the time, Moscow was home to only about 150 Indian families. The student community was relatively larger, numbering a few thousand and spread across cities like Leningrad (now St Petersburg), Kyiv, Volgograd, Odessa and Tashkent. Most of them were enrolled in long-term engineering or science and technology programmes.

In an era when phone calls required an operator and postal services could take months, these Indians were intensely disconnected from life back home....

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