CAMBODIA AND THE INDIAN CONNECTION

The Indian connection begins when you fly on an Indian carrier to Bangkok and then onward to Phonm Penh. Sticky rice is the staple food and one can see variety of preparations made from it, including sweetmeat.  Sticky rice is more common to Assamese cuisine. The alphabets sound like a mix of Hindi and Assamese pronunciation.

When you land in Cambodia, don’t bother about currency conversion. US dollars and our own Indian rupee work fabulously. You can witness small street vendors quoting prices in rupees. Indian restaurant chains are also doing great business in Cambodia.

The Royal Palace grounds houses a museum and some of the artifacts, especially utensils, that are very similar to what is used in Assamese household. I could see a ‘Betel Container with conical cover used for wedding ceremony’. The way the ladies draped their traditional attire had similarities with saree. The Ramayana (their version) was mural painted on a 42 metre long wall by 40 Indian artists in 1900.

The ‘Angkor Wat’ at Siem Reap has strong Indian connection. It has a lot of Hindu mythology associated with, it’s the oldest temple, UNESCO heritage site, and is supposed to be a replica of the universe. The Indian government is actively helping in restoration of the temple. Another temple in the vicinity, now known as Bayon temple, was earlier known as Jay Giri temple (mountain of victory). One can see faces of Gods etched in the stone carvings.

An interesting custom is that the boy goes and lives with the girl’s family after marriage. Traditionally all property was given to the youngest daughter. I can hear you saying…just like Meghalaya.

Cambodians do the ‘namaste’ like we Indians do. However there is a code. When palms are pressed together and the namaste is at the chest position, it is meant for peers. For seniors, the namaste is at the nose level, for elders it is at the forehead level and for God the namaste is above the head.

In Cambodia, you will always see three flags flying in unison. The multi coloured flag is the Buddhist flag, blue and orange with the picture of Angkor Wat is the national flag and the third blue one with royal insignia is for the king.