All Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian
By NITIN GAIROLA
This is an unusual title even by my quirky writing standards and style. ‘Republic of Karakalpakstan’ sounds very strange to me too and it could well be a fictional country right out of a Tintin adventure comic. However it does exist in the real world and happens to be the most unknown and unheard of autonomous region in the world. I didn’t even know of its existence until our guide, Atabich, proclaimed ‘welcome to Karakalpakstan’ (it almost sounded like Pakistan, the way he said it).
This Republic (and not a banana republic) is actually a breakaway state of Uzbekistan which covers the far western portion of this landlocked and somewhat rectangular country that has been diagonally placed and sandwiched between the other ‘Stans’. Karakalpakstan has its own flag too not to mention it houses the infamous Aral Sea.
The other part of this strange title is the ‘Feeling like Bollywood Stars’ bit, since it would be hard to imagine why two travel bums would ever feel like Bollywood Stars. Actually it felt weird (but in a nice way) when almost everyone we met there wanted to take a ‘selfie’ with us. In fact this was not only the case in remote Karakalpakstan but we saw it across the beautiful country of Uzbekistan. Also Bollywood was not just an attempt to strike a conversation and make us feel comfortable. I felt most were genuinely mad about Bollywood and for them all things Indian (including us) were exotic. We were stopped at so many places by curious locals that after a while we only were having the selfies taken for them on their mobile cameras.
As I said that these Uzbek people really knew their Bollywood, since so many in the ‘Stans’ sing & dance to Hindi movie songs and actually know quite a bit of the lyrics too. Shah Rukh Khan is by far their top star but there were quite of few mentions of Raj Kapoor, Mithun, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and even Govinda. Amongst the actresses it was Kajol (DDLJ naturally), Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone (Pathan), Preity Zinta (Veer-Zara & Kal Ho Na Ho), Katrina Kaif, Madhuri Dixit (Dil) and Rekha.
This Uzbek Bollywood mania hit us the moment we reached Tashkent (from Kazakhstan) at the start of our trip. We were just strolling inside a popular park in the city center when four college girls came to us and said they wanted to take an interview of ours for a school project. They recorded our comments via their mobile phones (obviously) and then asked for a selfie. I felt this was similar to our experience in Jordan and the Syrian border way back in 2016 when many school girls come to us for photographs. But somehow we have never had this kind of a reaction in Africa or in South & Central America for that matter. And these all are generally warmer places and I mean human warmth not just the climate (which is in fact more than just warm). On the other hand, less said the better when it comes to the frosty cold of Europe, North America and Australia (but I don’t want to generalize). This warm and welcoming spirit seems to be a very Asian thing and in particular is seen in the Middle East and Central Asia and in our very own South Asia (i.e. the Indian subcontinent). It makes me proud to be an Asian too just as it makes me proud to be an Indian.
So after Tashkent at the start, in Samarkand we had similar moments too. We missed all the attention when we left for Tajikistan since there we were in remote areas with limited human interactions. It was only in Afghanistan that folks were suddenly interested in the curiosities which the two of us were. But the moment we returned to Uzbekistan, it re-started. First in Khiva (but not as much) and later in Nukus which is the capital of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. Nukus is where it went to the next level. There was a place on the highway where Atabich stopped for some gas and so we used the break to pick up a few snacks from the store next to the petrol station.
There a poker faced lady requested if we could join her in the frame. We gladly obliged, knowing that no one would ask for our photograph once we were back home. Then as we stepped outside the store, two more ladies came with the same request and we happily said yes again. No less than five minutes later, five other people followed suit. All this happened in the span of around 20-30 minutes (yes, unusually long to fill some gas but gave us some of our best moments). Travel is strange you plan for the highlights told to the multitudes on the net but the actual highlights come in disguise and are unique to you alone.
I believe there was not a single city in Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Samarkand, Khiva, Nukus, Moynaq and Bukhara) where we didn’t find diehard Bollywood fans. Hollywood was nowhere to be seen or heard in the ‘Stans’. Here ‘Disco Dancer’ beat ‘Dirty Dancing’ hands (and feet) down. It wasn’t even a contest. Towards the end of the trip we were in Bukhara & Tashkent and the closing time blues were hitting us hard. But it was such interactions that were lifting up our spirits and chins. We met an Indian Bollywood fan too who went as far as lending the Bollywood theme to his restaurant in Bukhara. Yes, we indulged in yummy dals and paneer (cottage cheese) in Bukhara too just as we did in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) a week before.
Even on our last day in Tashkent, when we were coming out of a market place, some more locals quickly came to us, smiled and took their snaps and the interaction was over in an instant. We also had our second recorded interview at a historical place in the old town and to top it all, a young lady took her picture with Richa inside the artistic Soviet style metro stations just a few hours before we were to reach the airport. It was a wonderful way to sign off this adventure.
As everyone would know, many Indians visit Tashkent and Bukhara (if not Nukus and other far flung areas) so we really couldn’t figure out this photo craze. Do they stop all Indians for a snap? Well it remains a mystery as to why they would have their photographs taken with two ordinary Indians but whatever was the reason, such interactions are a lasting memory from the trip. As they say, it is never about the place but the people. I just hope they remember these moments just as fondly as we do and I hope it brings a smile to their faces when they look at those snaps on their phones, just as it brings to ours. From our side, we have nothing but love for the people of Uzbekistan. John Lennon was right after all, when he sang ‘All you need is love, love is all you need’.
(Nitin Gairola is from Dehradun and has travelled the natural world more than almost any Indian ever. He has set world travel records certified by India Book of Records, has written for Lonely Planet, and holds National Geographic conservation certifications. He is also a senior corporate executive in an MNC and in his early days, used to be a published poet as well. More than anything else, he loves his Himalayan home. Reach him at: www.facebook.com/ MostTravelledIndian/; nitin.gairola@gmail.com)
