Food, markets and meals of Thailand, Laos & Cambodia - Part I

The day began with a trawl through Thai food bazaar in our hotel; the Majestic Grande, a 25 storey five star affair with costs nearer three star level. It has its dining room on 7th floor with the swimming pool set outside and visible from other skyscrapers around it. Breakfast was included and had two sections – Continental and Asian, the latter consisting of largely Thai and Chinese style dishes. I would tuck into the Asian section with real gutso given that Chinese is my faviourite.

People in SEAsia are wonderful cooks and have the magical ability to concoct something out of nothing. Their staple cereal is rice which comes in different flaviours and colours and is served in many ways. You would have rice that is steamed, that is sticky and that is sticky and steamed. Rice is not boiled but placed in a bamboo container and steamed over boiling water. Rice comes in various hues of white, yellow, brown and violet. Usually sticky rice is a breakfast dish or comes as part of starter, while steamed rice is eaten with main course. They tend to eat with hands in rural areas but with a fork and spoon otherwise. The fork is used to shovel food on to the spoon and just as in the west you would not put knife into your mouth, the not so cosmopolitan SEAsians look aghast if a fork is put into the mouth.

Now the more one can say about the spices, the less it would be. Spices form the backbone of all dishes and these folks have the ability to tingle all your taste buds – simultaneously. From sweet and sour to hot/spicy and mild, from tangy to pungent, from hot to cold: no wonder Bangkok is known as the Kitchen of the world as Thais merge Asian with European tastes. They use spices differently to how Indians do – no powdering, pickling or preserving spice pastes for Thais who use fresh spices everytime. Meat of all kinds is served along with a range of fish and poultry dishes. In some Chinese influence restaurants it’s not unusual to find a section on the menu that says ‘Insects’. Thais are known to eat fried insects which I’m told has a crunchy and nutty feel (do keep a glass of lager handily placed next to you should the guts rebel).

While all this was of no interest to Amita, I had a great time. For vegetarians, most restaurants and street vendors would cook all the dishes that contain meat by putting vegetables instead. Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, sweet potato (I could hardly find potato anywhere in this trip), carrots, pak choi – that quintessential Chinese spinach with a wonderful taste, beans, corns and other vegetables make up for what the vegetarian misses out in meat dishes, although without any regrets. Whilst veggies generally tend to ensure that no meat, fish or eggs are in their dishes, beware that you specifically ask that no fish or oyster sauce is used in vegetarian cooking as every Thai dish has traces of it!

Kingdom of Siam: Ayuthayya

Thailand
Thailand was born only on 11th May 1949 before which the nation was referred to by Westerners as ‘Siam’. Medieval Indian references to the country calls it ‘Soumyadesh’ or the land of ‘gentle, calm’ peoples. There are heated debates even now as to the origins of the word Siam. Next door neighbours, the Khmer Cambodians tend to call the Thai by their original Khmer name of ‘Siem’, which means ‘theif or pilferer’ (Ravana, the demon kind from the Indian epic Ramayan is called ‘Siem’ for stealing lady Sita away from her husband Rama). The Khmers believe that Thais stole away Cambodian land in the 13th century after being allowed to live as friends.

The word "Syâm or Syâma" in Sanskrit & Pali means ‘dark skinned’. Khmers, who were Hindus prior to converting to Buddhism, may have used it to refer to ‘dark souls’. Alternatively, it may have been used as a racial sub-typing; Siamese people being "dark/brown" people, being separated by the fairer Chinese, generally considered "yellow people". If one considers the Irish, English, German, Danes as sub races or tribes of "white" as the Sioux, Chickasaw, Pawnee are tribes of the "Red people" in North America, then the Siamese sub-races are the Tai-Kadai, Mon-Khmer and the Austronesian Karen, etc.

The original Siam nation was created between Khmer Cambodia and Thai-Kadai state of ‘Sukhothai', a distortion of the Sanskrit word ‘Sukhodaya’ which means ‘happiness-kindness’. Thais even today place a high value on ‘jai yen’ or ‘cool heart’ such that even in the most trying bumper to bumper traffic jams, honking is rarely heard, even when the other car has just squeezed yours out.


Ayuthaya: The ancient capital of Siam was Ayuthaya, the 'lost city'. It is built at a confluence of three rivers - Chao Phraya, Pa Sak and Lopburi and was the seat of Siamese kingdom and culture between 1350-1767AD. The Royal palace was located here from the time of King Ramathibodi 1 (1350) to King Sam Phraya (1448). King Borommatrailokanat (or if you prefer the Hindu version Brahmatriloknath)ordered a temple (Wat)Phra Si Samphet to be built at this site in 1448AD.

Its stranglehold extended (following the waning of Angkor Wat as the pre-eminent kingdom in SE Asia in 1320 AD)at the height of its powers to present day Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar/Burma. Its strength might have been derived from its Sanskrit meaning 'Unassailable' or 'Undefeatable' as well as its ancient namesake of Ayodhya; the birthplace of Rama. It flourished as a river port, webbed as it was by rivers and khlongs (canals), courted by teh Portugese, Dutch, French, English, Chinese and Japanese merchants.

Its popularity and wealth meant potential disaster by greedy foreigners including one attempt by a Greek advisor to plot a coup. But what distant Europeans could not do, the Burmese did when they ransacked Ayuthaya in 1767. They destroyed much of its Buddhist temples and royal edifices and marched off the Siamese to Burma as slaves. Between 1767-1782, the Siamese were led by Phaya Takhsin, a half-Chinese half-Thai general, who moved the capital further south (away from northern Burma) to Thonburi Si Mahasamut. Power went to his head and he called himself the next Buddha and became violent and totalitarian. His ministers deposed him and executed him in the customary mild-mannered Thai way. They sealed him in a velvet sack so no royal blood would spill on the ground and beat him to death with a scented sandalwood club in 1782.

Thailand - Land of Happiness-Kindness

Bangkok is comfortably Asia’s modernist cities, probably just behind Tokyo and Singapore. Founded almost 200 years ago on the banks of Chao Phraya river it consists of 3600 residents for every square kilometer. Whilst that might not be a lot by Indian standards, the style, grace and cleanliness with which Bangkok manages it is exemplary. The streets are clean of litter, even the poorest wear well laundried and pressed clothes, jasmine blossoms hang everywhere and with incense smoke from religious corners sat atop small pedestals, the ‘spirit houses’, you forget the fumes of vehicles. It boasts of a wonderful mass transit system as well as a waterway system that keeps Bangkokians on the move 24/7. Bangkok has over 250 art galleries and hundreds of pretty women and ‘ladyboys’, their version of transvestites and transsexuals, that adorn the street sidewalks, jostling for space next to a vendor selling deep-fried crunchy insects and beetles, and another selling caged birds of paradise. These sit in front of neon-lighted bars full of western tourists with young nubile Thai consorts. It’s a very modern city whose credentials unfold as you disembark at the Suvarnabhumi airport (the entire south-east Asia was given this name by Indians in medieval times, meaning ‘the golden land’), with its ultra-modern look that makes most European and American airports pale into insignificance. Thais approach everything with a sense of playfulness (although their rage at inequity and unfairness does spill over as the recent Red Shirt movement reveals) – ‘sanuk’. It’s a society where women have a lot of power and control – they control family finances, shops are almost always managed by women, they ply the massage and sex industries too. Traffic is a mayhem and everything is planned around the ebbs and flows of it. More later….

SE Asia - India expanded: Day 1

Over the next few days I shall blog about my reflections during our holiday to three south-asian countries: Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, which concluded today. I am going to transcribe my diary jottings - a somewhat ancient system of making 'fair' an older and 'rough' copy. In fact this reflects many aspects of the cultural life and customs of the peoples of these three Asian countries that have so much in common with the two major neighbours - India and China, that until recent times the entire area was known as Indo-China. The countries have established their own identity collectively as the ASEAN block. This consists of 5 countries each on mainland and islands: Cambodia, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam & Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore and Brunei respectively. We left Heathrow on a Thai airways flight - I was flying Thai for the first time and was impressed by how respectfully and lovingly their crew bow and with folded hands greet you with a 'Sawadi Kha' (for women) and 'Sawadi Khraab' (for men) [milar to 'she' and 'he']. I later learnt that this phrase comes from a Khmer greeting used in Cambodia 'SuSwasthi', which derives from 'Saraswati'. Does this refer to the goddess Sarawati, the goddess of art and culture, or to the civilization that initially emerged from the banks of Saraswati river - Vedic Brahmanism? Either way, the greeting and the gentle manner of the crew reminds me of a time when Indian airline crews were equally gentle and quite unlike the brusque and business-like attitudes they have these days. I settle into a deep slumber quickly and am only awakened by noise emanating from fellow travellers assembled around the windows looking down at a wide expanse of light in the middle of dark night on the ground below. I quickly glance a look at the map unfolding on the flight screens to find that we're flying over Muzaffarnagar. The lights are reflected up into the sky from New Delhi, and I try desperately to take a photo with my new Nokia D7000; a task so cumbersome for a novice like me, that I give up equally swiftly. I keep awake for the next two hours to catch a glimpse of Kolkata to compare the luminiscence factor of the two cities but Kolkata does not come anywhere close to New Delhi. Tomorrow will be long day especially since Taksh is unwell - feverish and we'll be 7 hours ahead of our biological clocks, which means jet-lag. Also I'll be welcomes by my dear friend Harp and his newly wedded wife Tee, who will be flying up to Bangkok from Kuala Lumpur to spend a couple of days with us. Ciao until then...

Who Am I?

Who am I?

Am I
The blood, flesh, nerves and bones?
Or
The phlegm, spittle, urine or turd?
The eyes, ears, nose ,and tongue,
Or
The skin, nails, hair and breathe?
Who am I?

Am I
The one who has a name?
Who
Is dark, funny and helpful?
Or
The one who has a genealogy
With
A family name, class and creed?
Who am I?

Am I
The experiencer of personal grief and joy,
Envy, jealousy, greed or shame?
Ecstasy, gratitude, pride and Love?
Or is it
My memories that determine who I am?
Who am I ?

Am I
Constituted by my thoughts, ideas, beliefs and quirks?
Or my
Philosophies, religion, ideologies and dogmas?
Am I
The one with compassion, patriotism,
Sacrifice and pain?
Or am I
The only one who asks the question
Who am I?

Am I
Of atoms, molecules, enzymes and chemicals
That course through the body
Or the breath that enters and leaves
And connects me to the universe
Who
Am I?

Am I
The physical, the emotional, the intellectual
And psychological
Or
the categorical, theological
intentional, causal, autobiographical
or
the temporal, spatial, evocative, interpersonal?
Who
Am I?

Am I
The child loved by his parents
Or
the boy who played with his peers
Am I the brat?
Who could never sit still?
Or
the brother
Who always wanted to win?
Who
am I?

Am I the lover
Whose love knew no bounds
Or the father whose concerns are all too real
Am I
The cousin, nephew, uncle or son in law
Or am I
Merely who I call ‘I’
Who
Am I?

Am I
The Bengali growing up in Bihar
Or the
‘Khotta’ spending time in Bengal?
Am I
The north Indian settling down in south India?
Or the Asian
Living in Great Britain?
Who
Am I?

Am I
One who often works wonders
Or
The drug crazed misfit who lives
In the dumps?
The Kishore-‘kanthi’ who could yoddle and woo
Or
The axe-wielding guitarist a-la Motley
Crue?
Who
Am I?

Am I
The eastern cultured in western garbs?
Or the Western intellect with an eastern spirit?
The artist, poet
Dreamer, genius, the psychotic
Or
The analytical, ethical, grounded man of earth?
Who
Am I?

Am I
The cultural, anthropological, Darwinian organism?
Or
The ephemeral, ethereal, unfathomable?
Or
The intrepid, individual or collective unconscious?
Who am I?

Am I this
Or Am I that
A bit of it and bit of wit?
And does it matter
Who calls me what?
For there is no one really in here
Who asks the question
Who am I?

I set aside the question
And ask myself another
Perhaps it is the question
And not me asking it
That poses the problem?

I rephrase it to:
What am I without another?
The existence of whom
Gives me reason to ponder
Who am I?

Assimilators not Conquerors - Part II

The diaspora of Hindu colonists were quite unlike the later European ways of colonization. The European colonizer started as a trader too but he acted often with tacit or indeed explicit support of his government. He was accompanied by private militias or the state’s military forces to impose trade practices that would lead to international outrage if practiced today. He never intended to make these countries his own but was there mainly to exploit the resources for the benefit of his homeland. Thus, his strategy was to first gain control over the market and people, impose his laws that would allow him to drain resources away, and finally change the lifestyle and culture of the peoples. The latter was their gift to the colonized: a Eurocentric education, judicial, bureaucratic and political systems. As a ‘mother country’ India too experienced this strategy of colonization herself.


Unlike the European colonizers, Indians went out of their country without any sort of backing of any of the Indian states. These ancient Indians often left their country to settle abroad, not to make fortune and run back to the motherland. It was diaspora in the truest sense. As a result, they ‘Indianized’ the local cultures first in order to make life more acceptable as outsiders. This led to penetration of the Indian civilization, culture, and languages in South East Asia. This took place so peacefully that the indigenous population never felt that their country had been taken over. They enriched the native populations by introducing the art of writing, high degree of culture, improved methods of cultivation, improved handicrafts and introduced new industries. These early waves of migrations laid the foundations for later control and dominion over these regions by Indian kings.

Cultural integration and societal disintegration as consequences
The mark that ancient Indians left on south and south-east Asia can be gauged by scratching the surface of these states. Behind edifices of western European culture reflected in the education, bureaucratic, and political systems, lies cultural and societal linkages to a much earlier epoch. The local peoples of these countries have adopted religions that emanated out of India – Buddhism and Hinduism and later Islam. Their cultural practices are rooted in ancient Indian customs. The wonders of Angkor Vat, the Hindus of Bali, and the temples of Borobodur mark more tangible evidences of this influence. Integrating into the culture, influencing lifestyles and ethnic practices weaved strands of Indian-ness into the islands and nations.

In direct strategic and tactical contrast, the British many centuries later, re-colonised south-east Asia. In Malay speaking countries - Malaysia, Thailand, Bali, Sumatra, and parts of Philippines, the British in the last century, brought about and oragnised migration along religious and racial lines. For instance, they took Tamil ‘coolies’ to build the railway systems, tall and powerful Sikhs as policemen, and the Chinese as administrators. They did not change the Malays' - the indigenous locals - way of life and they did not really bother the British, but their ethnic minority management was such that each group hated the other: the Tamils hated the Sikh cops who hated the Chinese who paid their wages. The consequence now is that the Chinese are very powerful businessmen; the Sikhs still are middle class while a large proportion of Tamils are working and under-class. Many of the Malays have in the meantime converted to Islam and Malaysia and Indonesia are now Islamic states.

Assimilators not Conquerors

It’s never the case that those who are rich and wealthy have any need to travel for survival needs. Millenia ago too, people tended to travel when traveling, unlike today, was dangerous, expensive and often fatal, especially overseas, for economic reasons. In fact people of Indus valley civilization were intrepid travelers, traveling by sea to ports in the gulf region, the oldest recorded date right back to the Mesopotamian times, around 2100 BC. They were traders and it is likely that those traveling into the south east Asia were traders too. While Sri Lanka and Myanmar are just over the horizon for Indian seafarers, negotiating tricky straits and storms to land in Java, Sumatra, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bali and the Philippines demonstrated their real test of skill and endurance over 2,500 years ago. Sailing west was relatively easy as the annual monsoon winds carried their sailboats from Kutch to the Gulf and then south to East Africa and a few months later, on their return journeys the trade winds, which had changed direction, would take them into lands beyond their motherland of Jambudvipa or India as it was known then.

Ancient Nomenclature
Many of the countries of South-East Asia with Indian names were colonised by sea-faring travelers from the south-eastern parts of India, namely Tamraparn or modern Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Kalinga or Orissa. The table below lists some of the ancient Indian names of countries in SE Asia. Some of these names can be found in the early Indian epic of Ramayana, where Sugriva, a monkey, is sent in search of Lady Sita in the forests of Yavadvipa, or Java. Two possibilities are relevant. Either these regions were populated by people of Indian origins for a very long time or these were inhabited much later, when the migrants replaced indigenous names with the names of places they had left behind. Something similar can be found in the practices of migrants throughout history as demonstrated by those who populated north America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, where they used names of the original British towns and villages they came from. Thus New York must have been populated by those from York in north England, while Perth is likely to have been inhabited by people from the county of Perthshire in Scotland. Note the phonetic similarities in the ancient and modern names.

Ancient Indian names of Modern South-eastern states

Indian Name - South & S-E Asian countries

Jambudvipa - Bharatavarsasha or India
Dvipantar - India abroad or ‘beyond the seas’
Indradvipa - Myanmar, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam
Nagadvipa - Thailand and parts of Malaysia
Soumya - Laos, Vietnam and parts of Thailand, also Soumya - Siam in recent past
Kamboj - Cambodia and parts of Vietnam
Malayadvipa - Malaysia
Balidvipa - Bali
Suvarnadvipa - Sumatra. Palembang was known as Srivijaya
Yavadvipa - Java
Varunadvipa - Borneo
Simhapura - Singapore
Hamasvati - Parts of south Bangladesh and Myanmar
Tamravarna - Sri Lanka
Individual vs State
The colonisation of south and south-east Asia by ancient Indians was not driven by the dual needs for power and subjugation. The driving force was one of exploration and commerce. But trading was not a fashionable occupation in ancient India, preoccupied with notions of purity and contamination. Manu, the Indian Adam, is documented in the scripture of ‘Manusmriti’ to describe trading as a "low" profession. He lumps them with arsonists, dancers, musicians and ordains that those that undertake voyages beyond the seas are 'mlechchhas' : the ritually impure, who should be ostracized socially.

As such many Indians or rather Jambudvipians were making one-way trips away from home. In line with the prevalent thinking in those times, the priestly Brahmin class looked down upon the traders, while the Kshatriya clans who were usually kings took no notice of this entrepreneurial zeal. This lack of organisational and military support for the intrepid traveller and settler from India, is probably the major driver behind the process of acculturation and assimilation that stands in direct contrast to other colonists this region has experienced since.