The Stans : From Silk Roads to Pamirs and beyond

​Forming the majority of the Central Asia, the so called Stans (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan) are unique and diverse at the same time. Encompassing many great mountain ranges (Hindu Kush, Pamirs, Kun Luns etc), rivers such as the might Amu Darya and Syr Darya, and a millennia of history stretching from Alexander to Mongols, from Timur to Babur, and then from Great Game to Socialism. Last year we were lucky to travel to four of these and witness many of its stories first hand - be amazed at the monuments of Samarkand, get ourselves lost in the streets of Old Bukhara, find amazing hidden valleys deep inside Pamirs in Tajikistan, stare across the amazing blues of alpine lakes in Kyrgyzstan, cross overland borders from one country to another, and witness the transformation of old Soviet city like Almaty into a modern capitalist era. Join us as we share some of these stories and tit-bits of our journey.

​About Speaker: Anshul Chaurasia is a Business Analyst by profession, but more of a traveler at heart. He has traveled to more than 60 countries, is a certified advance scuba diver with 100+ dives across the world and is always yearning to back in Ladakh which he considers his second home. When in Bangalore, he is either busy reading travelogues and history books or planning his next adventures.

16th March, Friday, 4 .00pm
Place: Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science , Bangalore