Remembering Cambodia

I received a query at an online forum recently, for tips to someone visiting Cambodia.  I don't remember whether I've written here before of my visit to Cambodia back in '04, so thought I'll fill the gap now.  The account below is based on my experiences there at that time, and many things may have changed since then.

Phnom Penh National Museum

There are many things to do at Phnom Penh, the capital city. For a start, you could visit the palace (now more of a museum) - besides the intricate carvings, frescoes and panels, if you're lucky you may see the King waving to the visitors from his quarters nearby! In the markets, there are a number of quaint little eating places with quintessential French food, and you may enjoy a healthy breakfast at one of these. If you're historically inclined, you could go visit the quarters where Khmer Rouge tortured & killed hundreds of thousands (some say millions) during their reign - a sad effect is that you'd see most of today's citizens are pretty young!  

For the evenings, one can go to one of the restaurants on the 'riverfront', which overlooks the giant Mekong river which meanders through many countries in that region.  Many of the restaurants are built on 'stakes', on wooden platforms over the marshy area.  The food is a mish mash of local and continental (mostly French) delicacies.  One tip: Cambodia may be one of the countries where the US Dollar is almost legal currency - you can pay for everything with the dollar, and local businesses actually prefer the dollar (the exchange rate being what it is).

The multicoloured plane!

But I guess most people go to Cambodia for the Angkor Wat temple.  The magic at Siem Reap (a short flight from Phnom Penh) starts the moment you land there.  If you're lucky, you'd have been travelling in one of those multi-coloured small aircraft with traditional Cambodian designs painted all over. Siem Reap itself is a pretty laid back town, with old French-style vistas and a narrow canal.  

Siem Reap town

Entry to the famed Angkor Wat temple complex

Angkor Wat totally deserves its status as a World Heritage site. The main structure itself, as well as the surrounding grounds, are full of history, and you feel as if you're yourself standing right amidst ancients! And, be careful about coming down one of those steep open stairways with narrow steps (going up is easier) - don't try it unless your calves are strong, else they'll cry out for mercy.

Stranded midway on the stairs!

What I found interesting at Angkor Wat is the evidence of different period of history strewn about. You can of course see the prominent Buddha images throughout, some still being worshipped. But if you look closely (sometimes behind the life-size Buddha statues), you can see remnants of the Hindu culture and religion which existed before Buddhism, for instance relics of Hindu gods and goddesses. 

Ramayana at Angkor Wat!

A bird's eye view of Angkor Wat

Budha at Angkor Wat

Entry to Angkor Thom

But of course you can't come back from Siem Reap after just seeing Angkor Wat. The real treat, in my personal opinion, lies at Angkor Thom, a whole city in ruins. It takes your breath away the instant you get there, with the phalanx of a neat line of stone images (demons?) welcoming you at the very entrance. Inside the 'city', a whole lot of historical structures beckon you to explore the life of the kings of that period.  Apparently, before the ascendancy of Vietnamese empire (which at one time occupied much of South East Asia and part of China), it was the Khmer kings of present day Cambodia which held sway over that part of Asia.  Quite a contrast with the condition in which Cambodia finds itself now, made worse by the evil reign of Khmer Rouge in the '70s.

Angkor Thom ruins

What leaves one amazed is the giant stone faces (made famous by countless movies), some with long trees growing right on top! Actually, Angkor Thom is more like a jungle now, with the faces and structures strewn about. 

The 'Faces'

Back in the town, you may like to explore the nooks and crannies of local alleyways, while being careful of your belongings (not much organised crime, I guess, but it's always useful to be wary of locallised petty crime). And once done, one can spend the evening at FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) - at a nice buildinging overlooking the main vista with a canal - and start supper with some nice tomato soup! After that, the choice is endless... (well, for that place!).

A cry!

A high pitched cry!  I froze in my tracks.

It was a busy morning.  After getting my 10-year old ready for school, I'd just opened our front door to unlock the gate (and to get the newspapers, to browse at least the headlines before rushing to get ready for office) when I heard my son's cry.  The first thought that came to mind (like any parent): he may have hurt himself.  A moment later, however, he came bounding up to the door and pointed outside, where a thick fog was billowing.  Oh, so that was the reason for the excited cry.  Quite a relief.  He went on to tell his mom how everything outside was "invisible" (not the first time this season he had seen fog, but not this late in the season).

After the initial reaction, it got me thinking.  When was the last time I myself had such a 'hoopla' moment, or even wonder?  Even simple things like excitement watching (and feeling) first drops of rain...  excitement (fueled by anticipation) at fruits being plucked from a tree using a long twine...  excitement (tinged with apprehension) reading down the school/college results list...  Can't even remember the feeling, the last time it happened.  Slowly, it seems, as we settle down into humdrum everyday life and the years advance, almost all excitement goes out of the life for many of us.  Those who're fond of sport, for instance cricket in India, are blessed in the sense that at least they can get momentary excitement when they watch matches.  For those who're not too fond of cricket et al, like yours truly (though watching World Cup Soccer remains an abiding interest, but alas, a four-yearly affair), even that is not there.

Is excitement good or bad?  For some of course, like those suffering from heart or brain ailments, it may be bad.  I still remember when we were watching the World Cup Cricket '83 finals, and India were on the verge of winning, the TV commentators were advising heart patients to stop watching!  Also, there's something on the waxing and waning levels of adrenaline in blood not being good for heart/blood vessels.  But even medically, I'd guess (and I could be totally wrong) that occasional excitement may not be a very bad thing (at the least, it could 'keep the machine running' i.e. hone our 'fight or flight' instincts!).

But leaving aside the medical aspects, most people may agree that at least a bit of excitement now and then, whether in relations or at work, may help to bring the best out in people.  Sadly, it seems, the daily grind of rushing about, dealing with traffic, grappling with a (usually) tense & competitive work environment, and then housework (and this applies quite a lot, if not equally, to men too) tends to leave our senses totally dull and hardly receptive to any source of 'real' excitement.  On the other hand, the constant stress may be sending misleading 'fight or flight' signals to our body (sometimes keeping it under a constant state of 'excitement'), with adrenaline rushing about and sometimes doing irreparable damage to our body and mind.  So what's the way out?  'Create' some real excitement in daily life?  Easier said than done, contrary to what the self-improvement guides may teach (too much work!).

The least we can do is not to stifle but nurture the sense of wonder and excitement in our children, mostly at things we ourselves now find mundane or everyday.  Who know, if we allow our taut senses the leeway to empathize with the children's feelings in a true manner, we may also be on the way to recapturing some of that wonder and excitement.

Calamities all over!

I was watching BBC & CNN news last evening.  Not something I do every day, admittedly, since most times one TV of ours is monopolized by my pre-teener in the evenings, and the other by the better half once she's home.  Instead of the rushed, breathless soundbites from reporters, I much prefer to get my news the old fashioned way, through newspapers (and mostly hard copy, though sometimes online as well), where I can get news (free of 'first to the post syndrome') as well as considered views.  Though I do admit that "A picture is worth a thousand words" (read on...), I feel the cacophony of pictures sometimes muddles the mind more than it is informative.

Anyway, so I was watching news, rare as it may be.  What struck me is the multiplicity of natural disasters striking our beloved earth, seemingly all at the same time.
US: snowed over - heaviest snowing since 1925 at NY Central Park, reportedly.
Southern Africa - heavy rains leading to waterlogging/light floods (courtesy La Nina).
Jeddah in Saudi Arabia - in a desert country of all places, and God knows they're just not equipped to handle rain, let alone flood.
South East Asia: Heavy rains (though mercifully no floods).
Australia: The tragic floods continue, with the losses now expected to cross US$ 4 billion.
Japan: A volcano erupts.

Whassup, guys?!  I'm sure the reporters logging in from different parts of the World don't see any patterns here.  But don't the people who bring all of this together discern any pattern either.  All the way from the West to the East, from the North to the South, a wide swathe, rolling in agony cause by natural disasters.  And most of them caused by water in different forms (even the Japanese volcano, if you consider the steam columns rising up from the crater).

What could be behind it:
God's wrath? (Um, no - He'd be too busy managing so many Worlds, and he's already bequeathed the power of free choice to us humans, remember.)
A rare confluence of World weather patterns? (Maybe)
The nature striking back? (Hmmm... there may be something, with all the environmental degradation going on...)
Take your pick.

Meanwhile, to add to the natural disasters, (well, almost) a man made one.  Reportedly, there was an explosion at Davos, near the hotel where all the World's leaders are gathered for a pow-wow on the World economy (no less).

And then a (double) disaster on the sports field: Nadal and (now) Federer are out of the Australian open (does this have anything to do with their eagerness to flee the flooded country? Hope not.).  The commentators are calling it a 'change of guards'.  Let's see...

The real role of politicians (the 'ritual of politics')

While commuting to office this morning, heard on news that a certain national office bearer of a political party (incidentally, the one everyone looks at as almost the messiah, mostly courtesy the lineage) had said while addressing his party workers in a state (again incidentally, one going for polls in the not too long future) that they should keep an eye on the implementation of Central development programs in their respective areas. Taking a cue, the head of the party in that state (perhaps again incidentally, daughter of a party stalwart, long gone) announced that she'd form district monitoring committees for the purpose.

Set me thinking. Why do these hallowed people have to emphasize this simple need to their workers? What is the basic purpose for which grassroots (again a much abused term, now even part of the name of another political party which grew out of this mother party) politics was 'invented'?

To a simple mind, the very basis of representational politics was the 'upward' communication of the aspirations and needs of people living in far flung places to powers that be, and the reverse 'downward' communication of the response (by way of development programs or whatever) to those same people through the channel of their representatives. And that would've been the basic driver for the whole movement across centuries to gain universal franchise (right to vote), something which people across nations fought for and won after a long & hard struggle.

But has this right really empowered the people, especially in an under-developed/developing country like India? It seems the only time that people get to exercise their right & leverage over the political system is during elections. And here too, the process gets vitiated to a large extent by factors like strong-arm tactics, identity politics, and sometimes downright fraud. Even where these factors are not at play, the constituents hardly get any real opportunity to get to know the candidates and understand their outlook and approach, within the short time that the candidates visit the constituencies before the elections. So people who vote (and many don't!) do so either on the basis of identify politics (including for 'dynasties', political or otherwise) or in support of a specific political party. And the manifestos of most election parties are such elaborate documents (making almost identical promises!) that a lay voter is hardly in a position to assess the party's ideology or program directions, and s/he has instead to go by heresay (including those propagated through press and electronic media - and not all independently, as the recent cases of 'sponsored' coverage revealed).

So what happens once elections are over? An eerie calm descends! Having extracted their moolah (that is, votes), the politicians go back to their high abodes, some to state/country capital as elected 'representatives', and most don't look back on the constituencies for another five years (or till when the next elections happen). The elected 'representatives' continue to draw their remunerations (mostly for disrupting the proceedings at the assembly/parliament), and also their (ironically named) 'constituency allowance', travel allowances (ostensibly for visiting the constituencies - which many don't spend as they travel gratis while the railway officials look the other way out of fear or favour) and sundry other moneys, but those who actually visit their constituencies and listen to the people can perhaps be counted on fingers.

Only once in a while, the voice of a politician is heard on matters concerning his/her constituency. This is usually when some calamity has struck or some gross injustice is revealed, for instance people dying of hunger in some districts of a state like Orissa (a regular happening). Then the elected 'representatives' are heard telling the media that this or that thing should have been done for the welfare of the people, but was never done. Begs the question: then what the hell were you doing all these years? Did you take up the issue with those who could do something about it, all through the chain, from the local administrators all the way up (that is, beyond slapping around a bureaucrat or currying personal favours)? And if you really raised the issue and it was still not addressed, did you consider this as an utter lack of your effectiveness (to 'serve people', something you promised during the elections) and consider resigning your post of elected 'representative' on moral grounds? But this is being naive - why should s/he let go of his/her fat salary, allowance and sundry perks (legal and illegal) just to benefit some wretched souls, who would have died anyway!

The problem (or the symptom thereof) is that the 'ritual of politicking' seems to have supplanted actual politics at all levels, which is why 'politics' ('invented' ostensibly for benefit of people) has gained such a bad name [this is akin to the rituals of religions, where something which was supposed to bring people closer to God or their spiritual core has degenerated to just an observance of certain rituals mostly]. So when some people join 'politics', perhaps as grassroots workers, all they think about is what they can do during elections to help their then leader win, and thus curry favours and move up the 'value chain' of political aspirations, all the way up. The basic purpose of politics, that is understanding and communicating local needs upwards and ensuring those needs get fulfilled by appropriately designed and implemented development programs, doesn't enter their equations at any stage. So till such time that a culture evolves where it is ingrained in a political worker (at whatever level) from day one what the basic purpose of 'politics' is, things would continue to run in the same way.

But I'm again being naive. Evolution of a culture, or for that matter anything to do with human endeavour, seems to depend much less on noble thoughts and much more on the alignment of incentives (taking cue from a different plane, the current economic crisis, where the subprime crisis in US is supposed to have been caused due to a misalignment of incentives all through the chain of housing mortgage management, from originators to aggregators to investment bankers and beyond). Till the time people know that they are accountable (that they would be held responsible) for acting in a certain undesirable manner, and conversely they would be rewarded for acting in a manner which is likely to lead to greater public good, they'll continue to act in a way they are accustomed to act since time immemorial. This needs a system of appropriate rewards (incentives) and punishment (disincentives).

But can we really even hope for such a system to evolve, in an environment where even the existing system is regularly bent and broken by people who have the power, either physical or money?

Aphorisms of Dalai Lama

Just came back from our corporate annual day event, addressed by His Holiness Dalai Lama. With some previous indication that Dalai Lama was very down to earth & humble (and humorous!), got a first hand glimpse of the personality.

The theme of Dalai Lama's talk was the traditional harmony between various religious groups in India, since thousands of years. He said that this was true not only of home grown religions like Buddhism, but also those coming from outside like Islam, Parsis, Zoroastrians and Christianity, the influence of all of which India had absorbed in itself. Dalai Lama made a reference to his visit to New York on the first anniversay of 9/11, when he had made the point that the WTC bombings could only be attributed to some 'mischievous' characters in the Islamic commnity, and that the whole community could not be branded as terrorists.

A second theme of the address was how India was inherently democratic, as it had through ages promoted and protected the 'debate' culture and not tried to put down any thought. So even while the ideas of people adhering to Nihilism (those who don't subscribe to any religion or god) were vehemently debated, the adherents themselves were still regarded as 'Rishis' (ascetics). This tolerance for different ideas had, in turn, nurtured the spirit of democracy in the country, as contrasted with many surrounding countries. In this context, Dalai Lama made a reference to the various contrasting ideas propounded by Buddha himself, which (far from arising from any 'confusion' in Buddha's mind, as Dalai Lama humorously remarked) was designed to kickstart the spirit of inquiry among people.

Then came the questions from participants. One question was about how to calm the mind and get over anger and frustrations. Dalai Lama's reply to this was that since frustrations and anger mostly arise due to some problem, it's advisable to think about the problem deeply and try to look for a solution and other opportunities, rather than manifesting the frustration outwardly through anger which doesn't solve the problem. Such meditative inquiry, while it may not directly lead to a solution of the problem, can calm the mind and prepare it better to find a solution. In this context, Dalai Lama made a reference to how he had lost his country, but how this had in turn opened other avenues and how he had been able to learn so much by interacting with people from different backgrounds, religions,etc.

Another question was as to whether there was any one blessing that Dalai Lama would want everyone to receive. To this, first Dalai Lama replied humourously that he didn't have any response. Later, he went on to explain that just asking for blessings didn't solve any problems. He made a reference to his participation at the opening of a Budhist Vihara (monument) at Patna, the capital city of the Bihar state in India. Apparently, at the function, the Chief Minister of the state had remarked that now the blessings of Budha will lead to exemplary development of the state. To which Dalai Lama had (humourously) responded that since Budha's blessings had already been there for the state since hundreds of years (it is said that Budha had attained enlightenment at a place in Bihar), the state should have been very highly developed, instead of being one of the poorest in India! To wit, just blessings are not very useful, and what was required was action. Even Buddha went from house to house explaining the meaning of Buddhism (something the Dalai Lama said he had advised the monks of Ladakh to do, when he had perceived a 'gap' between the monks and the people of the surrounding communities). Same was done and emphasised by Jesus. So instead of just praying for blessings (while that may be something you do anyway), focus on action, was the message.

An 'out of the box' question was raised regarding the 'violence' supposedly involved in the medical profession. To this, Dalai Lama (after referring humorously to two incidents - one where a person had accidentally closed his mouth to speak while a doctor was examining his tooth, and another where Dalai Lama's cook had 'boxed' a dentist who tried to pull out a bad teeth!) said that violence depends on the intentions. A person saying good things and giving gifts may not mean well, which would be mental violence. On the other hand, since a doctor performs a surgery with the intention to cure a person, this cannot be called 'violence'.

How 'accountants' today have forgotten accounting!

Accounting Basics: A Guest Post From Robert B. Walker

World Cup Soccer

The World Cup Soccer kicks off today in South Africa. Takes me back to the last one held in 2006. I was travelling in Zambia. Almost every evening (in sync with German time), I used to sit with my colleagues in the Holiday Inn Lusaka bar & cheer for whichever our favourite team was for the day. So many nationalities represented in the bar itself! And so many ways of cheering, and jeering - thankfully, nothing led to a scuffle!

Those were the days, travelling the World, seeping in different cultures and peoples, tasting a different type of food every month, seeing a different place every month. All that is gone now, sadly. I am grounded, at least as of now since four long years. The heart yearns sometimes for those days, but the mind says this is a sacrifice we all make, moving away from things we like and having to do things which bring us more... money? position? status? That's life.

But hoping to plug into World Cup Soccer even this time, watching games past midnight, and going "Yaaay"...

Bottoms up.

Do life experiences influence what we read?

[This is the abridged version of a comment I made on the post 'The joys of rereading' on Soumya Bhattachrya's 'Page Turner' in HTblogs]

I started reading War and Peace while in college, and it never could hold my interest then. Then I started re-reading it in my late thirties while on tours in different parts of the world. And Eureka, it started talking to me! While the story itself seemed engrossing enough, it told me so much about (a) human nature, timeless; (b) the ‘real’ history of French invasion of Russia; (c) the intrinsic unpredictability and lack of causal relation of events, quite (and surprisingly so) at variance with what history (either personal or national) may tend to portray (this is aligned to the theme of a new book called ‘Black Swan’ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb).

This last one I found to be theme of the tome, on which Tolstoy dwells time & again and most elaborately at the end with a philosophical chapter (I even wrote a piece for our Durga Puja souvenir on the parallels between the ‘War and Peace’ philosophy and our own Gita ‘Karmanyevadhikarastey…’). The point is, my life experiences of twenty years probably prepared the fertile ground for the understanding of the classic.

Apart from re-reading, I also find that even first time reading of classics like Mayor of Casterbridge & Far From the Madding Crowd hold much more meaning when you’ve gained the experience of real life. Ergo, I find it a fruitless exercise for college students to be taught these classics as part of their course (doubtless with the noble objective of imparting good values) when perhaps they don’t have the depth of thought to appreciate such learnings, which can perhaps be brought about only by first-hand experience of life.

Given the time, I’d love to take up again my unfinished reading of Freedom at Midnight, while re-reading the short story collections of O Henry (William Sidney Porter), Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) and Maxim Gorky.

Oh, and I forgot to add the Bengali ones to my re-reading list: Abol Tabol & Hojoborolo (Sukumar Ray), Feluda & Professor Shanku (Satyajit Ray) and the Kiriti detective novels (Bibhitibhushan?) - sadly, I never read the perhaps more famous Byomkesh Bakshi in print, though I hugely enjoyed the TV serial. Which takes me to my all time favourite - Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle) - that delectable amalgam of the cerebral and the active (I’ve so many collections of Holmes that sometimes I’m half way through one story before I realise I’ve already read it once!).

And talking of Mark Twain, why only the short stories. Besides the Tom Sawyer & Hucklebury Finn series (sadly not so enjoyable as movies as in the novels - another point for not all movies being able to bring out the real idiom) - which are not merely ‘children’s tales’ as many think - I would love to go back to ‘A Connecticut Yanky in King Arthur’s Court’.

Whew! Some list!

Appreciating everyday beauty

Got a forward from a former colleague this morning, which set me thinking. Here goes the story:

"A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. The only one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. However, his mother tagged him along. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In 45 minutes, the musician played but only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32.

When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it ! No one applauded! nor was there any recognition! No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.

The outlines were:
In a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

Observation:
In our routine life, we are caught in so many daily mundane transactions that we do not have time to think about life goals, our beliefs, close relations and miss out on reaping benefits of valuable interactions & learning's!"

So true. In our rush to keep up with 'life', as we define it, we mostly forget to appreciate everyday beauty. Even I, who is pontificating on this topic, mostly forget the easily available beauties in life - my son riding horse on me, his face when asleep, a flower in our lawn, the movement of a clouds, or of the moon among them, a creature (e.g. a chameleon) in our yard (I've taken to photographing these - the last three I have).

Over-emotional as it may sound, life is too short and goes too fast for us to keep postponing our 'enjoyment' of it. Don't know when it may end, or suddenly lose charm (like when we suddenly realise we are 'old'). Better to smell the flowers whenever we can.

Viet Nam

Nothing much to add. After I came back from Zambia, I had to go to UK twice, once to attend our annual conference and another time to attend a 5-day training course. This week I reached Viet Nam (Ha Noi) where I'm working right now.