Travel Russia Today

On this day, twenty years ago, my sister, three aunts and I were supposed to deliver a birthday cake for my cousin who was born on November 17 - a day that commemorates the tragic death of Jan Opletal, a student killed by the Nazis during the occupation and that has since become The International Day of Students. It was 1989 and people, mainly students, took to the streets turning the celebration of the Students' Day into a protest against the communist regime that was still desperately holding on to the power.

My aunts and I decided that the birthday party would have to wait a bit since we wanted to support the protesters. I was barely a teenager then and felt huge pride for being able to join the demonstration. It was the first time I really looked at people around me and felt a common bond. Before that no one on the streets of Prague would look into your eyes, nobody would engage in a conversation with a stranger. Now we were screaming in unison and demanded freedom. The feeling of change about to come was palpable, for me there was no question about it - it was in the smiles and the excitement of people around me. Some of the leaders of the demonstration decided to move from Vysehrad down to the center towards Narodni Avenue. A few minutes later, there were rumors of police and militia blocking the streets to contain the protestors. It was then that my aunts made the call to leave and finally deliver the now slightly damaged cake.

Later that evening, we found out from my grandmother who had stayed longer that people were brutally beaten as the orders came to stop the demonstration at all cost. My grandmother was saved by a stranger who unlocked the entrance door to an apartment building and took peoplein. I felt slightly embarrassed that I was saved by a cake, but I guess I should not complain. The events of that day led to more protests and eventually the end of the Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.

Today, I remember November 17 along with the whole country and I am grateful that it is only history now. People are free to celebrate or protest, voice their opinion and travel whenever and wherever they like. They are free to vote and free to be unsatisfied with the government. They are even free to scream at the current president as one of the student leaders did yesterday. And that is something to celebrate!

Oh, and happy birthday, cousin!