Angkor Wat was much less wooded than the other sites I had visited. I was unprepared for the enormity of the place. My decision of walking around the structure in the dry sun was not helpful. By the time I was around the carvings, I was dehydrated. Since I did not have more time, I had to drag myself to complete my tour. The cool palm sap drink was a life-giver, but in the process I lost my voice. A good tourist must always carry a water bottle! Ms. Kunthea communicated that she was on her way to my hotel. Dr. Darith had arrived. He advised that we go to a special vegetarian restaurant downtown. Ms Kunthea showed up on a motorbike. I liked her style: independent, scholarly and curious. She is completing her PhD studying Khmer orthography and is trying to make sense of hundreds of inscriptions found in the Angkor temples. Dr. Darith and I traveled in Mr Kushal's transport and Ms. Kunthea rode her motorbike. We passed through many low level semi-constructed structures and bumpy roads. We came across an area that appeared like a university campus. After about ten minutes or so, we reached our destination, which looked modern in a zen-like setting. Normally Mr. Kushal joins me in lunch, but we were more in a discussion mood and we advised him to take lunch on his own.
Dr. Darith ordered a fruit juice drink that showed up in a tall glass. It was whitish in color and had some pulp in it. It was a sweet drink. I was told that it was extremely hygienic. They said it would soothe my throat and help replenish the salt radicals that the body needed. I enjoyed the drink and then looked at the menu. Dr. Darith and Ms. Kunthea were in debate about what is good in hot weather. They appeared to converge and the food was ordered.
Ms. Kunthea had been making efforts to learn Sanskrit for the past two years. She had begun to appreciate that the Cambodian sounds had a lot of similarity to the Sanskrit sounds. She wanted to study deeper. She had a large number of photographs of inscriptions from the monuments and needed to study them to compile a history. She wanted to create a language research unit in the Museum.
Vegetable soup was served first followed by tofu dumplings. Then several kinds of mixed vegetables followed with an eggplant dish and a dish of mushrooms. Ginger was liberally used in the cooking with a feel of coconut. Rice was served, the food looked larger than what three of us could consume. We ate leisurely and talked.
Dr. Darith seemed to appreciate his new opening to Cambodian archaeology. The economic development of a people also needed reexamination of history and intellectual development. I made the bold statement that the Cambodian culture as presented needs analysis to trace the origin the the architecture and the engineering. All words might not have direct Sanskrit counterparts, but their trajectory should to be discovered through linguistic analysis. Ms. Kunthea did talk about the limited funds available for research and the need to create the manpower for the research. She loved our discussion and was eager to show us her work.
We spent about two hours at the lunch place. Other people showed up known to Ms. Kunthea. They were Professors but were engaged in servicing knowledge and not creating new material. Colonization has a tendency to reduce people to mechanical tools. South Asia is still buried in complacency and inertia. People try to import technology which may not work well in the local set up. Rarely people invent technology to be applicable to their local conditions. Innovation exists only in adopting technology than creating new. This must change for the country to rise!
We left the restaurant and proceeded to Angkor National Museum. It was several miles away on the outskirts of the town. We traveled through a road named after Charles De Gaulle, the former President of France. Remnants of colonial past continued. De Gaulle might have been credited to have given Cambodia her "freedom." The national heroes of Cambodia were frozen in the Museum or buried in Angkor. Both Dr. Darith and Ms.Kunthea have to work hard in order to extract the personalities and create role models for people.
The Museum was set in a big piece of land. There was an introductory video and then we were led to a hall where the pre-history of Cambodia was narrated through pictures. Archaeological artifacts of neolithic period were displayed. Man started habitat in the area some forty thousand years ago. British scientists have developed a model to suggest that the human migration to Far East happened via Australia. A time line was being developed by dating the tools and utensils through modern scientific methods.
We went to a larger hall where various Buddha statues were displayed. These statues had been recovered from various sites in Angkor. They were labeled along with possible dates of creation. Then there was another large hall where the Hindu statues were exhibited. They contained the images of Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha and several female statues commonly labeled as "apsara" in Cambodian version. Detailed contextual study of the statues were not done.
Many of the images were done extremely well. There were various kinds of stones used. Mr. Kushal was fully engaged in visiting the statues and was asking good questions. Dr. Darith was feeling happy to be exposed to the historical roots and was suggesting that he could create educational material for the museum staff and the guides. I was looking for the tools and techniques of carving, but did not find. There was no information on the artisans. World museums display busts of kings and queens and do not mention who made them! A Museum should be the celebration of people than a glorification of the empire! I have never understood why the commoners visit the large palaces to take pictures.
We came to the library where we would view the photographs of the inscriptions. Ms. Kunthea picked up several hard covered folders and displayed them on a large desk. She gave us a magnifying glass to help us recognize the letters in the writing. A couple of her Assistants also showed up.
