Dream.Musings.TalesofTravel

Ankgor Wat

My first visit was a tumultuous welcome - the anti-climax of watching this wonder with hordes of tourists overrunning it and a constant clamour to click and be clicked; to immortalize that moment when the three pillars come up behind you; that frenzied air. I needed to escape this; to find a parity between the images of it carved in my mind and my sight. And so I sought it out when the crowds dissipated.
Time stood still as the rays of the setting sun colored the pale blue sky with muted hues of orange and vermillion, vibrant and soft at the same time. Sunsets for me are a culmination of past, present and future in one frame. As an overwhelming rush envelopes you, one realises why this temple was the centre of all activity and existence once upon a time. Looking down the pathways and alleys, one can almost hear the trod of the nobility and the saints of that bygone era alike. These stone structures had stood the test of time, turmoil and all the conflict that came its way. It had seen generations of kings and generations of tourists; it had seen the madness and the solitude alike; withstood the grandeur and the decline that vagaries of time thrust upon it. If stones could truly speak, I am sure our conversations would have been nothing less than illuminating.
Though this was the build-up, the magic was yet to touch me. The next morning brought with it something unexpected.
There were thousands who had gathered together to witness the sun illuminate the towering walls. One could sense a restrained calm of anticipation. There were bated breaths and expectant eyes, hushed tones and muted chatter but the associated clamour was missing. A steely warmth seeped through my veins as the sun painted the gray sky with amber brush strokes, washing away all the initial scepticism in my earlier visit.
The air was pregnant with emotions – of lovers holding hands and of those without, hoping to share it with someone special. It was a ground full of people yet all one could feel was the desolate loneliness of each individual. You could feel the weeping of lonely and broken hearts and the flight of the liberated ones, all finding their own solace in the silence of a morning redefined. As a melange of emotions welled up inside me, I discovered the depths of love that I was capable of even if it was to a mythical lover. I rediscovered lost love.
A page from my recent trip to Cambodia this February.