'Marry an Indian to save Russia'

The import of eligible bachelors from India is my big geopolitical idea, says Maria Arbatova, a prominent television presenter

MOSCOW: Indian men promise to be the ideal spouses for Russian women. Russian men are prone to high death rate owing largely to unhealthy lifestyles. That is the opinion of Maria Arbatova, leading Russian feminist author and prominent television presenter.

“The import of eligible bachelors from India is my big geopolitical idea,” she told RIA Novosti news agency. India can be of help now that Russia has come to grips with its formidable demographic problem, Arbatova said during the launch of her latest book A Taste of India at the 20th Moscow International Book Fair.

“First, both Russians and Indians are Indo-Europeans, and we speak related languages — just look at the many similarities between Sanskrit and modern Russian vocabularies. Second, and even more important, the archetypal Indian man is a fanatic paterfamilias. To raise many children is his cherished dream, and he makes the best possible husband,” remarked Arbatova, who is married to Shumeet of West Bengal.

Attracting Indian bachelors to Russia should be a government policy or Russia will have two crosses to bear — one of its own male deaths and the other of the Chinese birth rate.

Arbatova’s book was on the bestseller list in summer. Britain’s International Biographical Centre of Cambridge has awarded her its 20th Century Outstanding Achievement gold medal. The author points out many similarities between Russian and Indian life. “Both nations are now getting back to their sources in the age of globalisation. That’s hard to do — like walking home inside a centrifuge,” she says.