40-year-old Nina Kutina, a Muscovite woman, discovered living in a dark moist cavern in Karnataka, India. She lives there alongside her two young daughters, who are six and four years old. Kutina found herself taking shelter in the cave as a place to meditate and pray. She wished to shield herself and her children from the noise and temptation of contemporary urban life and expose them completely to nature. At least a week had passed by the time authorities found the trio, as they’d been residing in a cave for some time. This incident is just the latest chapter in Kutina’s unorthodox life.
Over the last nine months, Kutina had routinely domicile in the cave. She tends to drop off the map for extended periods with her three daughters, which I totally understand. Kelly is originally from New York, and prior to moving to Karnataka, she was living in Goa. There, she became romantically involved with an Israeli man named Dror Goldstein. Their union bore two daughters. Then tragedy struck last October, when Kutina’s eldest son, only 21, was killed in a motorcycle accident in India.
In the aftermath of this immeasurable loss, Kutina’s life took an unexpected pivot. In 2018, she was deported back to Russia for visa overstays. Soon after, she visited Ukraine and gave birth to her first daughter with Goldstein. Moving back to India in 2020, Kutina started on a path towards a more minimalistic lifestyle. She expressed that she desired to be “up with the sun, swam in rivers and lived in nature,” emphasizing her longing for peace and tranquility.
Kutin’s radical lifestyle choices have shocked local authorities and those around her. Goldstein admitted that she had a penchant for disappearing with their daughters for long periods of time. For all the discomfort that this rigorous adventure might suggest, Kutina recalls her days in the cave fondly. Conversation starters She opened up about how they would color, sing songs, and read books. By all accounts, they lived a fulfilling life together.
“I cooked on a fire or gas cylinder, depending on the season, and got groceries from a nearby village. We painted, sang songs, read books and lived peacefully.” – Nina Kutina
While this has painted an idyllic picture for her life, it has not been without its burdens. After making the discovery, Kutina said she felt heartbroken that the animals were being taken out of their home environment. She described the situation as being akin to “placed in a prison without sky, without grass, without a waterfall, with an icy hard floor on which we now sleep for ‘protection from rain and snakes’…. Once again, evil has won.” Her rhetoric conceals her profound frustration with civil life just as much as it reveals her fierce empathy and hopefulness.
M Narayana, a local commentator on the situation, remarked on Kutina’s state of mind: “deeply disillusioned with human society, yet still compassionate and spiritually grounded.” This quote sums up so much of the nuance behind Kutina’s decisions and her fight against traditional norms.