What is the emotion that is readily visible & transmitted most easily? Is it love, joy, happiness,sorrow or fear? All powerful emotions and I'm sure many of us have experienced the full gamut of emotions listed above, at one point or the other.
In my experience, I found that fear was an emotion that was most easily discernible amongst people. You may hide the felling, you may mask it or you may camouflage fear but it shows.......
Sometimes you can smell fear. You may wonder, why I'm talking about fear and I would like to state at the outset that I'm offering no solutions a to how to deal with this fore most debilitating emotion.
I witnessed fear on a large scale when in Cambodia Or Kampuchea, as it is called today. I felt that every person was ready to stand at attention and salute if even talked to sternly.
The Khmer Rouge, had been vanquished but its legacy of fear remained. Cambodia was and continues to be a poor, under developed nation, but though I did not see poverty on the scale that one sees in India, what I did notice was that people lived in terrible fear, fear of the unknown, fear for the safety of their families, fear that Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge would return to haunt them. Fear that the world had forsaken the people of Cambodia.
Who were these folk who inspired such fear and who was Pol Pot, who belongs to the pantheon of other Mass Murderers like Attila the Hun, Hitler, Stalin and Mao?
Pol Pot, who became responsible for the deaths of over two million of his own people, was born Saloth Sar in a small Cambodian village about 140 kilometers north of Phnom Penh. His date of birth is uncertain although French records give it as May 25, 1928. At age six he went to live with his brother at the Royal household in Phnom Penh. Here he learned Buddhist precepts and discipline. At age eight he went to a Catholic primary school, where he remained for six years. It was here that he picked up the basics of Western culture, as well as the French language.
In 1949, Pol Pot went to study in Paris on a government scholarship. It was here that he got his introduction to Communism, joining the French Communist Party. After four years of exposure to Stalinist Communism he returned to Cambodia in 1953. Within a month he had joined the Communist resistance, becoming a member of the Indochina Communist Party (IHC) which was dominated by the Viet Minh.
The 1954 Cambodian elections saw the Communists throw in support with the Democrats. The Democrats were soundly defeated, however, by the incumbent Government of Prince Sihanouk who now held absolute power. Pol Pot now took up a post as a teacher in a private college. He also spent his time recruiting the educated classes to the Communist cause. The Government, however, began a Communist crackdown and Pol Pot was forced to flee to the Jungles near the Vietnam border to avoid arrest. For the next seven years he would spend his time in the Cambodian jungle hiding from the police.
Over the ensuing years the communists bided their time as they built up their strength for a take-over attempt. They were bolstered by the North Vietnamese who were waging warfare against the Cambodian Government. A major Vietnamese victory in 1971 allowed the Communists to take control of certain areas of the country. In 1973 the communists launched a major attack on the Government but this was halted by American bombing. A final Communist assault began on January 1, 1975. This time they were victorious. On April 17, Communist forces entered Phnom Penh. Within 24 hours they had ordered the entire city evacuated. This process was repeated in other cities resulting in more than 2 million Cambodians being forced out of their homes. Many of them starved to death.
Pol Pot was now Prime Minister of Cambodia, which he promptly renamed Kampuchea. In August, 1976 he unveiled his Four Year Plan, which detailed the collectivisation of agriculture, the nationalization of industry and the financing of the economy through increased agricultural exports. This plan caused untold misery to the nation with many thousands dying in the paddy fields. Crops needed to feed the population were marked for export. Malnutrition was rampant, made worse by the Communist insistence on traditional Cambodian medicine. Pol Pot also started the infamous S-21 interrogation center where more than 20,000 men, women and children were tortured to death.
Throughout 1976 and ’77 skirmishes with Vietnam continued. In December 1977 The Vietnamese made real inroads in Kampuchea. Pol Pot, however, held on for another year. By January, 1979 the Vietnamese forces had actually reached Phnom Penh. The Kampuchean Government fled by train while Pol Pot was taken by helicopter to Thailand. His last public appearance was an interview in December 1979. For the next 19 years he remained in exile in the Thai jungle. Pol Pot died in 1998.
What was I doing in this part of South East Asia? Well, my wife & I, were there to have a look at the famed Angkor Wat. The Angkor Wat, is the largest temple in the world and dedicated to Lord Vishnu, though now it doubles as a place of worship for the Buddhists. As a little boy I had seen a picture of the temple and it had fascinated me since. I had determined that I would see, the famed monument one day.
My secret fear was the many unidentified explosive mines that still dot the countryside in this part of the world and a second issue was food of the vegetarian variety. Fortunately we encountered no mines and almost immediately on landing in Siem Riep, ran into Sharma's Vegetarian Restaurant. Sharmaji served us wonderful Aloo Paratha, and found regular visitors, in us.The Indian diaspora is amazing.
The hotel we stayed in was constructed almost entirely of teak wood & was breathtaking in its beauty. By entirely I mean that even the soap dishes were made of wood!
Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom are two of the must see places, for any person and Cambodia is one country I would like to visit again and I'm sure the fear quotient would have now reduced.
