Marking territory
CAMBODIA is, for the average tourist, synonymous with two things: the ancient city of Angkor in Siem Reap and the “Killing Fields Museum” in Phnom Penh. The sheer expanse of ancient Angkor is itself a fascinating sight, with Angkor Wat as the piece de resistance; the museum documents graphically the aberrations of the Pol Pot regime with little information about other colonial depredations.
Angkor is at the core of Cambodia’s tourism, a major source of revenue for the country’s economy. COVID-19 led to a big dip in tourist inflow from East Asia, India, and Europe in 2020-21, but since then arrivals have increased. According to Sonbek, a young woman staffer at the Elias Greek Restaurant at Pub Street, a popular haunt for foreigners, tourist footfall was 10-20 per cent of the inflow before the pandemic but was steadily picking up.
Siem Reap literally means “Thailand defeated”, widely acknowledged as a not-so-appropriate term for a city with an international border. It was the site of a battle where Siam (Thailand) was defeated by the Khmer army, hence the name. It is another matter that Siam defeated the Khmers subsequently.
There’s no public transport in Siem Reap. Motorcycles and mopeds are the popular forms of transport. It was a pleasant sight to see women driving motorcycles. Other forms include improvised mopeds attached to a four-seater buggy called the Remok, also known as the “Tuk-tuk”. One advantage of taking a Tuk Tuk is that one gets to see the countryside, with palm and coconut trees jutting out of paddy fields on either side of the road, which incidentally is in very good shape. It is a common sight to see women selling vegetables, meat, and local wares.
No narrative about Angkor is complete without a mention of the ubiquitous guides. These linguistic geniuses—they speak French, German English, Spanish, and most of the East Asian languages—are quick to warn tourists about the dangers of “getting lost” amid the sandstone temples and their Byzantine corridors.
In The Civilization of Angkor, the archaeological researcher Charles Higham says that
Angkor, according to Sanskrit and Khmer inscriptions and early accounts of Portuguese traders and Chinese travellers, was the capital of a civilisation (800 to 1400 CE) that commanded the rich lowlands of Cambodia and much of modern-day Thailand. Its god kings lived in cities built to represent Mount Meru, the mythical mountain home of Hindu gods.
History has it that Jayavarman II unified the warring independent Khmer states into one empire. The historians Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques, authors of Ancient Angkor, write that Angkor Wat (Wat means Buddhist monastery) owes its origin to Suryavarman II, a grandnephew of Jayavarman VI in the 12th century. His rule, they say, marks the peak of Angkor’s power and influence. There are temples like Banteay Srei which radiate elegance despite their diminutiveness, and there is the city of Angkor Thom whose sheer scale inspires awe.
Whether it is the imposing Buddha figurine in Angkor Wat, its bas-relief gallery depicting the Battle of Kurukshetra, the delicate stone carvings of Apsaras (described by one guide as “celestial goddesses”), Siva’s dance of destruction in Banteay Srei, or the labyrinthlike galleries at the sprawling Preah Khan temple complex, it is apparent that the then rulers wanted to mark their territories in the grandest way possible.
The other unique feature is the coexistence of a confluence of religious streams: Shaivism, Vaishnavism (within Hinduism), and Buddhism. There is no doubt that Hindu rulers brought with them their religion and the associated epics before Buddhism established itself in the region. But what is singularly missing is any information about the craftsmen who erected the sandstone temples, with their huge slabs, each weighing several tonnes and locking perfectly into the other without any cementing material. The rocks have faces cut into them, besides exquisite carvings of dancing apsaras, but little is known about how the stones were hoisted to those heights on the towers. Due to their antiquity and the constant threat of erosion, the Angkor temples are under restoration work with assistance from India, Germany, Japan, and other countries.
1. Credited with coining the term “action figure” instead of “doll” (and thereby preventing the shattering of fragile male egos), this line of toys saw major worldwide success for many reasons, least of all the Kung Fu grip that gave the dolls, sorry, action figures, the power to “hold things”. What very manly franchise am I talking about?
2. Around the mid 1970s, Dave Okada, former VP of preliminary design at Kenner, who had the contract for Star Wars toys, was on a tight deadline. The morning of the presentation to George Lucas, he realised he did not have the right fabric for the costume. In a moment of inspiration, he cut up one of his socks to use as a makeshift solution. What character was the sock-costume for?
3. Known and referred to within the organisation almost deferentially as “the system”, it is the basic principle the company is built on. It has been a long-standing rule that any new product the company makes has to be in accordance with the system. What billion-dollar phenomenon am I talking about?
4. What do these things have in common: Dice, chess pawn, spinning top?
5. It is one of the most popular dissection puzzles in the world. A Chinese psychologist termed it “the earliest psychological test in the world”, albeit one made for entertainment rather than analysis. A contributing factor to the popularity of the game in Europe was that although the Catholic Church forbade many forms of recreation on the Sabbath, they made no objection to this particular game. What exceedingly simple yet highly complex puzzle is this?
6. Colin Snedeker, a chemist for Binney & Smith (which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards), developed these in response to consumer complaints regarding stained fabrics and walls. What did he develop?
7. Sixteen teams participate in the ______ League each season, with the best three teams of each season along with the host team automatically qualifying for the next season. Some of the names of the participating leagues are Crazy Cat’s Eyes, Jaw Breakers, and Balls of Chaos. Fill in the blank.
8. Fans of this “sport” can be divided into two groups: marks and smarks, words derived from the same term for the prey of conmen. What are they fans of?
9. This is the synopsis of Animal World, a Chinese adventure-action film: Backed into a corner by mounting debts, a youth agrees to submit himself to a high-stakes game of chance in international waters aboard a disused warship. What is the game played on the ship?
10. In a 2010 TED talk, the veteran Saturday Night Live comedian Julia Sweeney describes having “the talk” with her then eight-year-old daughter. When her daughter expressed shock at learning about being touched where “you go to the bathroom???”, Sweeney agreed, observing that the body is an example of “bad zoning”. “Like having a waste treatment plant next to …” what?