4. Myanmar: underlying compassion

Cont'd from 3. Myanmar

Keeping clear of riots

Then it was simply a long drive back home through teak forests and sugar cane fields. We must have made only one stop. Closer to Yangon we came across a village surrounded by sugar plantations. It was evening and the village folk were sitting on low stools at the palm-leaf roofed wooden tea stalls, enjoying the chai. What was noteworthy was they they were all dressed in Gujerati clothes, and spoke Gujerati. We could have been in India. Our driver did not encourage us to stop because he had heard that trouble was brewing in one of the other villages we would be passing by and he did not want us to be caught in the riots. So we literally sped through.

The final journey of an aunt

After a night's rest it was revealed that the uncle's wife's favourite aunt had passed on in Yangon while we were in Mandalay and that was one of the reasons we hastened back. So we went to the crematorium where the body. Many bodies, each laid out on a trolley and covered by an umbrella like mosquito net to keep flies away, filled up a large part of the covered shed. The aunt payed homage to the old hunched shrunken woman who would be cremated soon. There was a waiting line for the incinerator. We got back home and seven days afterwards a memorial feast was held.  Large amounts in mohinga noodles were cooked, under a makeshift marquee in the tiny backyard, for the continuous stream of relatives.

Yearly Monkhood

A two week monkhood, once a year, is encouraged for adults. The uncle has done it several times and he says the experience is humbling, and very good for anger management. As a monk you go out in the morning after payers, and walk down streets where almost every household reverently ladles food into the alms bowls which the monks carry back to the monastery and tip them all into a common pot. The food that is thus collected is doled out to every monk at 11:00 am, after which there is no other meal. Every household has an elaborate altar where the family's chosen monk arrives once every week to give his blessings and receive alms.

Safe distancing

Two of the uncle's daughters are University graduates. We asked to visit the University. It was now located a hour's drive from the city to prevent student agitation, like those at the time of the military coup. Most of the classrooms had long benches and desks. The teacher heard a blackboard. We met a Professor who spoke a smattering of English, dressed in a longyi, sporting stained teeth from chewing betel leaves. Secondary and tertiary education takes place at government schools. University comes directly after 10th grade. University buses pick up students from various pickup and drop off points in the city.

Vestiges of a glorious past

When Myanmar achieved independence in 1948 its schools were regarded as among the best in Asia, but over the next 50 years, being shut off from the world by the military junta, the quality of education declined. All said and done, the teacher is highly revered.

We also visited the repurposed (still dilapidated) school in Kanpai, once a very special boarding school for highly intelligent Indian students. Kanpai has a large Indian population, as evidenced by two well built and well maintained Hindu Temples. 

To be continued in 5.Myanmar.