Professor Arun Mohanty,

Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies,

SIS, JNU

It was wonderful visiting Uzbekistan after a gap of a decade. Tashkent was as warm and hospitable as ever. We were received at the airport by the functionaries of Centre for Political Studies (CPS), something I had missed during my last visit in 1995. The memories of my fast visits to Uzbekistan in 1980s as a student in the framework of “avtopoezd druzhbi” are still very fresh till today.

The first impressions about the city during my last visit through the windows of the car were rather pleasant Soon after checking into the hotel we went out to have a look of the city. We were impressed by the sprawling green parks with fountains, wide avenues, and neat and clean roads. Though Tashkent is the capital of a Central Asian country, one can notice minimum Asian touch here in comparison with other Central Asian cities. It is no doubt most Europeans among the Central Asian cities, though there are many buildings, official and residential as well, which bear imposingly Asian touch. One can not but be impressed by the eastern architecture of Tashkent’s theaters, some of the magnificent hotels that have been constructed up off late.

Tashkent bazaar is a unique place, particularly for the foreigners to see. Walking through the huge bazaar with its grand eastern features is an unforgetful experience. You get varieties of exotic fruits, vegetables, foodstuffs, ornaments, handicrafts that you cannot but feel like purchasing.

Of course the most important event during our stay in Uzbekistan was the seminar organized by CPS, headed by Gulnara Karimova, an eminent Harvard educated political scientist. Scholars from more than 15 Asian and European countries had taken part in the day long workshop. Experts from Russia, France, Japan, Korea, Britain, China, India, and many other countries participated in the deliberations of the workshop. We were charmed by the intellectual contribution of young, articulate and beautiful Director of CPS, Gulnara Karimova. She proved to be not only an efficient organizer but also eloquent speaker.

Apart from formal and informal meetings with the seminar participants, we had number of informal of meetings with some Uzbek citizens who had spent some time in India in different missions. Most of them had come to India on ITECE programme, a scheme under which foreign nationals from different walks of life receive training in the area of their professional interest. Many of them had received vocational training in the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, (IIMC), Delhi, and their beloved teacher Prof. K.M.Srivastava happened to be a participant of the conference. The moment the news of Srivastav’s arrival at Tashkent reached one of his former students, it spread like wild fire among all the students, who had received training at IIMC, Delhi.

Most of them within a short notice flocked in the Indian embassy to greet their favourite teacher. All of them spoke highly about the training they received in India, and remembered their good old days at IIMC with nostalgia. Many of them are now highly placed government officials and very sincere friends of India. These former students of IIMC threw a lavish dinner in our honour in a restaurant on the bank of a river that flows in the middle of the city. These former students of IIMC raised toasts one after another in honour of Indo-Uzbek friendship, their institute and of course Prof. K.M.Srivastava. The whole evening passed amid narration of anecdotes, memorable incidents that took place with them during their stay in India. We were pleasantly surprised to know that these Uzbek citizens have even formed a club which is name as “Club-33”. They often gather and recall the lovely memories of those good old days in India. They cherish those days very much though many years have passed ever since they left India.

India and Uzbekistan are bound by firm ties of friendship from time immemorial. We share civilizational ties which run into many centuries. India had roaring trade with Europe through Silk Route that passed through Central Asia. India and Uzbekistan enriched their culture through mutual contribution during Mughal period. Tashkent was home to dozens of Indian revolutionaries who fought for our freedom. In the post independence period, we had a thriving relationship with Uzbekistan through intensive cultural exchange.

Tashkent has a beautiful monument of India’s late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Sastri, who passed away in this city after successfully concluding talks with Pakistan in the aftermath of Indo-Pak conflict of mid-1960s. We were delighted to see that the statue is well-maintained.

Civilizational and cultural ties between India and Uzbekistan are very old. Uzbeks have lot of love and respect for India, which could be felt while walking on Tashkent roads. Some do not miss to repeat couplets from popular Indian movies when they recognize you as Indian. Indian films are an amazing cultural phenomena here. We saw many movie theaters screening Indian films at Tashkent. We were told that the local TV channels too demonstrate Indian films quite often. Indian films remain an important element of Uzbekistan’s cultural life.

Uzbekistan is very important for India from geopolitical point of view. Secular and politically stable Uzbekistan in our extended neighborhood, threaten with Islamic fundamentalism is of utmost importance for us. President Karimov must be credited for maintaining a secular fabric of the society in a predominantly Islamic country and providing political stability that is oxygen for bringing about reform and maintaining calm in a volatile region like Central Asia.

“Diplomatist”, October 2006