SAN LEANDRO, Calif. — Sulata Sarkar, a philanthropist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has watched proudly as her latest project, the carving of a huge sandstone Buddha in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is nearing completion.
In 2005 on a trip there, Sarkar was moved by the plight of the Cambodian people who were victimized by the brutal regime of dictator Pol Pot.
 “We talked to local people through our guide, Mr. BoBo, on what we could do to help local people relieve their past pain and suffering,” Sarkar told India-West in an e-mail.
After meeting with local religious and civic leaders as well a UNESCO representative and India’s ambassador to Cambodia, Aloke Sen, she came to decide that “a large stone Buddha statue depicting peace and harmony would be most appropriate for a gift  from my family funds for the local people who have suffered a lot from Pol Pot’s regime.”
Sarkar, a native of Kolkata, first commissioned the ambitious project in May 2006. Now, after a few delays, she expects the seven-meter-tall work of art to be unveiled in December of this year.
The 80-ton statue is ma  de out of pink sandstone and sits atop a lotus stand, which is situated on a large pedestal, and was carved by a handicapped former soldier-turned-stone-carver, 78-year-old Him Tour.
“I was first offered a site at the Angkor Wat complex, but this was not suitable because they shut the area early in the evening and I want this statue given to the public so they can enjoy it any time they want,” she told the Phnom Penh Post. So she accepted a donation of land in Siem Reap from a Japanese company working there, and kept in close contact as the construction was assisted by the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap, known as the Apsara Authority.
The Phnom Penh Post has followed the construction of the statue from the beginning, and covered a colorful ceremony last December marking a construction milestone.
“The pedestal was completed in November 2010 and we invited Hindu priest Pt. Monomohon Mukherjee from the Livermore temple in California to bless the pedestal with vedic rituals and Antram,” she told India-West.
“By the first week of January 2011 the installation of the lotus and Buddha was completed. The Apsara Authority is putting a roof and water pond around the pedestal and completing the pavement and garden around it.
“We expect everything to be completed by the end of December 2011.” | 
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