Day 41 was an unbelievably busy day. The first agenda for the day was to drive to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Cultural Centre, to pick up this Shakhnoza, who was going to show the team around the city. The team was absolutely impressed seeing the kind of work the cultural center did. There are 5 Yoga and Kathak dance classes held every day! So many Uzbeks attend both of these classes.
With Shakhnoza in tow, they headed to the Khast-Imam Mosque. An approach from any direction will feature the impressive rise of the twin 53m (175ft) minarets of the Khazrati Imam Mosque. Built in 2007, the mosque, while not at all that historically significant, dominates the square with its massive facade, and two blue domes.
Across the square is the 16th century Barak-khan Madrasah, built by the grandson of Mirzo Ulugbek.
After this, they found the heat to be on the rise and so they decided to head towards the Indian Embassy for lunch. The embassy gave them a warm welcome and lunch was absolutely lip smacking. With full stomachs, they set out to Tashkent International School with the First Secretary, Madam Sipra Ghosh. There they spoke to a class of 9th graders about their very worthy cause and rotary.
The next meeting was with the India Ladies Club at Bibigon. It was a rendezvous for Coffee, Pizza and conversation. Every one of these gorgeous, enterprising women at the club were extremely curious and had quite a lot of queries on their expedition. There are about 75 Indian families in Tashkent and they learnt so much about their lives. Again, the love and warmth they received were endless. Lots of photos were taken and it was sad that everyone had to part ways.
Dinner was with Consul Shri Suresh and his gentle amiable wife, Mini at their gorgeous home. Mini had made idlies, dosas and vadas for dinner. Shri Suresh and his wife were the perfect hosts and the team was completely at ease and at there.
Uzbekistan is such a beautiful country, with even better people. It was indeed, the love and affection that was very graciously extended to the team, that has made this phase of the expedition an undoubtedly memorable one.