2019, March, Yangon
With panting and perspiring, Lin woke up suddenly after having dreamt a bad dream. The room was dark and so, he was trying to fumble a jar of water and a cup beside his bed to cool him down. He found the jar and poured water into the cup and drank it after turning on the light bulb. Soon, he felt at ease. When he watched the clock, it said half-past one.
He was fully awake and he knew that sleep would not come easily to him in this situation. He did not also want to lie down on the bed again. He stood up from the bed and walked outside. He tiptoed out of his room because he did not want to disturb his uncle’s sleep. When he was out of the house, Lin inhaled fresh air fully.
He walked to and fro in front of the house for a while before he sat down on a charpoy under a mango tree. He was looking up at the night sky and found a crescent moon and several stars. Apparently, they were looking down at him. The who
2016, October, 37th Street, Yangon YANGON city was in agony under the blaring October afternoon sun. Almost all the city dwellers suffered in the heat. Lin was no exception. He was now experiencing the intense heat so much that he was complaining how hot it was, compared to last year. But, Lin forgot to bring his umbrella today, but not his Shan bag. He could sense the intensity of the heat more because he wore a long sleeved, collar less white shirt, and a blue checkered sarong while he was sipping a cup of tea enjoyably at a teashop on 37th street. He looked around the teashop, and he could see that other tea drinkers were also feeling the heat. Some had chosen to sit under the fan to alleviate the heat. Even the teashop owner fanned herself with a rattan fan, but she did not seem satisfied with what she was doing. Instead, her eyes still fixed on the open ledger book into which she input the number of tea and sn
2016, November, Mahabandoola Park, Yangon LIN suddenly turned his steps into Mahabandoola Park which has, in its center, the obelisk Independent Monument. He wanted his weary mind to stray from his daily cares and concerns. This was a kind of solace on which he relied whenever he needed something different from the boredom of his daily job, which included daily visits to book stores and shops which lay downtown, especially along Pansodan Street. Lin was living with his uncle in a suburb near downtown Yangon. His uncle, U Thein Lwin was engaged in book distribution so Lin worked in his uncle’s office. Lin had graduated from university three years ago but his aim was to be a successful author. He was striving to achieve this goal. Actually, his mother sent him to live with U Thein Lwin who was Lin’s mother’s elder brother. As soon as Lin entered the park, he directed his steps towards the whitewashed obelisk where there
2016, December, Sule Pagoda Road, YangonLIN got off the crowded commuter bus which stopped at Sule Bus Stop. He needed to queue up until the passengers in front of him finally got off the bus.He watched people taking different directions when they disembarked. Some went up to a series of cinemas across the road. Some directed towards the Sule Pagoda where they were going to pray. Some went in the direction of Theingyi Bazaar to buy commodities or other things they needed.But, Lin was walking easily along the road towards Sule Pagoda, and he needed to stop at the traffic lights to cross Anawrahta Road on which many big and small vehicles were running almost continuously, only stopping for a red light.Last night, he had finished reading the poetry book “Rainbow Land and Other Burma Verses” by C. J Richards. In the book, there was one poem titled “To an Indian bull on Sule Pagoda Road” a
2016, Dec, 37th Street, Bagan Book House, YangonLIN was wondering whether there were any other foreign poets who composed about verses on Burma apart from C. J Richards. Currently, to his knowledge, he could not find any other.He thought that he should ask someone who had got much knowledge of Books on Burma or who had read as many books as he could.Lin knew that there was a National Library, and other reliable libraries in Yangon, especially one on the second floor of BTS (Burma Translation Society) which is now known as Sar Pay Beik Man building.But, he preferred searching old books on Pansodan Road and 37th Street in which several old book vendor shops and best book collector shops lie.Now, he was directing his steps towards Bagan Book House which lies in 37th Street. In his mind, Lin thought that he could find the other books of C. J Richards there.Lin read the book list of
Collecting Old BooksAS everyone might know, collecting old books is not quite easy. It takes time, much effort and much money too so that one needs patience and resilience. If not, one easily gives up collecting old books.When a person can collect the books he wants, he will definitely be the happiest person in the world and it adds credits to his relentless endeavor. And, the satisfaction resulting from the complete collection of works is quite charming, and fulfilled. Therefore, there are some private collectors who like to collect the whole set of a certain author or a certain field.Once Lin heard from his uncle, who told him that a famous physician in the city liked to collect the whole set of James Bond and he bought the books wherever he could find them. Lin marvel at such an adamant passion.For Lin, at first, he just collected a few books in his affordable means. Later, he continued to collect old books, especially boo
Chapter-6 2016, Dec, 37th Street, at a local teashop LIN was a bit interested in talking about books and literature. Today, he had an appointment with his friend Oo at Seik Ku Thit (New Idea) teashop on 37th Street. Normally, they met each other for enjoying literature talks and other small pieces of stuff on Saturday morning when they had free time. Lin was looking impatiently at his watch which said half-past eleven. Today, Lin wore a short-sleeve white shirt, and a Karen longyi (man’s sarong). The costume made him high-spirited. He thought that today’s sun was not as hot as last week because he sensed that the winter started to unfold its coldness in the city, making it more livable. In the early morning, he noticed that mist was falling down shortly when he opened his window to see the first sunlight. He saw corrugated roofs were wet with mildew. At this time, he li
2017, January, downtown YangonLIN was thinking about the author C. J Richards and asking the same question again and again because the curiosity was gnawing his conscience. He really wanted to find out about this author’s life such as where he was born, where he was educated, why he chose to come to Burma, etc.Even he tried to find the author on Google, but only a few facts appeared. He was wondering where this author spent his life after his retirement from I.C.S (Indian Civil Service) in 1947 just before the country Burma (now it is called Myanmar) gained its independence in 1948.Lin was placing the poetry book on his lap, and staring into the distance from the balcony which was on the sixth floor of the downtown building on 40th Street. Although he was at the balcony, he felt no stirring of wind. So, he thought that it was another rather hot day in January.Actually, this was not his apartment, but it was h
2017, January, Downtown YangonIT was Saturday. Lin was free from his job. Lin sat at the desk, looking out from the window, staring at the coconut trees which flanked their house fence. On the desk, there were a box for pens and a book was open on the table. It seemed that Lin was reading a book.Lin was looking at the stirring palm leaves of the coconut trees which bore a clump of several coconut fruits. His glance moved from coconut trees to the sky which was sky blue and clear. It seemed that today would be fine.Last night his uncle U Thein Lwin related some history of Rangoon. It was a very interesting topic his uncle told him. It was also remarkable. Rangoon was used to call Dagon in Myanmar King and Mon King’s times.When King Alaungpaya won Dagon city from Mon’s hands in 1755, he changed the name into “Yangon”, which means “End of Strife”. But to the ears of British, they prefer to pro