An Uzbek Odyssey: A word about my Bukharan host

This is the city in Uzbekistan where I had the most profound interactions with locals, and I am all the wealthier for it. I made a new friend in my generous and intelligent host.

Umid is a common name in Uzbekistan and means hope. The way a person named Umid chooses to pronounce his name would indicate his ethnicity. If someone calls himself Umeed, then he is likely to be an ethnic Uzbek, but if he says Umid, then he’s an ethnic Tajik, the community that culturally and numerically dominates the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara.

M…