Khin Hnin Yu - Maythe House

Like a pearl,

'What kind of fish?'

Strong bones, double-edged sword

Sapphire crystal

To the pearls of the hair, the emeralds scattered

The rare and strange "winter flower"

Krangangzambu

Buy Kyaiksu Kyi Nuk, Ponya Htut.

The grammar of the mind is broken. In the myth.

With a bow, presented and offered

The owner of the house is not the only one.

That poem was written by Shin Ohn Nyo. In the high school poetry collection, the poem was called 'Winter Flower'. We had to learn the high school poetry collection in the 9th grade. Since then, the poems of Shin Maharatthasara, Shin Mahathilawansa, Shin Ohn Nyo, and Shin Teyzawsara have been ingrained in my heart. When I became a writer, I took the names of their poems and named my novels. For example, "Shin Sa Rakhine Ta Saung Law `Winter Flower' etc.

I entered the literary world with short stories and became famous for my magazine-length novels, which are also called short stories. This is not a long novel (or a full-length novel), and it was my first novel.

As a late bloomer

I would like to reiterate my message when the book was reprinted for the fourth time by the Kyik Nyunt Publishing House.

When we reach this point, the winter flowers will bloom. My novel “Winter Flowers” ​​is not a novel based on the seasonal flowers that bloom in winter.

It is the name that has spread from Shin Ohn Nyo's winter flower to my heart.

Although the lotus is a seasonal flower (the flower of the autumnal month, near the end of the rainy season), the poet Ohn Nyo saw it bloom as a late flower in winter, and he described it in his poem, ``The rare and strange winter flower.''

The novel was published in December 1953 by U Sein Hlaing (Meikthila-Bo Aye Maung) of U Oo Sapay. It was the first full-length novel by the writer to be published. The fourth printing was in January 1965, so it has already been twelve years since then.

If it weren't for the publisher's full support when I wrote that book, I wouldn't have dared to touch the entire novel.

At that time, U Sein Hlaing encouraged me to write. I also gave up. Why do I say give up? That was not only the era of the honchin, but also the era when publishers did not dare to publish someone like me who had no experience in honchin at all.

I think that because of fear and anxiety, I couldn't skillfully place the characters in my novel, I couldn't keep the plot together well, and the words weren't very dense.

However, "Winter Flower" seems to me to be a bit messy and chaotic, so now that it is in its fourth edition, I must thank the readers.

Drinking the dew for the fourth time

“The characters in the novel Winter Flowers, along with the farmers from Kyimyindaing Village and Garden Village around the old capital of Inwa, have also gone through various eras, enduring hardships such as climate change, floods, the division of the leaders, and the lack of unity among the villagers. Just as they have gone through in my novel, they have also gone through various eras (as farmers and ranchers) outside of it.

In this snowy winter, when my novel "Winter Flower" raised its head to drink the dew for the fourth time, the farmers in the fields around the Inwa area also wrote a message under the snow, "May the land be happy and peaceful."

In that message, I explained in detail why I wrote the poem "Winter Flowers."

A small river with emerald green water

In fact, the 'Winter Flower' tattoo was conceived in my heart when I was married. My lover was still a lieutenant colonel in the military at the time. However, he was assigned to the position of commander of the Sitko District Military Personnel Battalion.

I couldn't go after the wedding, but a year later, in the fall, I went to visit him. At that time, the country was still unstable. It was the height of the rebellion.

One day, he said, I went to the wedding of his friend, Saya Ko Maung Sein. He said that the teacher was a friend of his when he was a physical education teacher in Tada U. I went to the wedding with him. We went in his jeep.

The jeep crossed the Sagaing Bridge and headed towards Mandalay. But after the bridge, it turned right into the fields. It was not a cart road, nor a motor road. It was a real field. The road was rough, and finally we reached Kyi Myint Tai village. Kyi Myint Tai village is on the banks of the Myit Nge River. A little further on is Garden Village. Garden Village and Kyi Myint Tai village are separated by a small stream with little water and only two fields. We had attended a wedding reception, and I was relaxing alone on the riverbank. He was talking to his friend in the wedding house. The riverbank where I was sitting was covered with mango trees, and the water of the Myit Nge River was a beautiful emerald green. Garden Village and Kyi Myint Tai village are mostly farmers and weavers. Sometimes the Myit Nge River floods, causing farmers to suffer.

The elusive flower of peace

'I don't know how long Major Mamara will stay, this place is not safe.'

The driver, a young soldier, was talking to me, but I didn't pay attention to the surrounding situation. At the foot of the mango tree, I listened only to the murmur of the river.

On the way back, I carefully looked at the chickpea and sesame fields outside the village. At that time, in our country, Burma, due to the oppression of the Thung Cheung, farmers were not able to cultivate. The government's assistance to farmers, such as the Amataw fee, also did not reach the farmers because of the dishonest people. The life was a life of giving and receiving.

In the novel, the head of the village of Garden is Ko Ba San, and the leader of the village of Kyee Myin Daing is Ko Lu Shan. When the two leaders were united, the two villages were able to fight against natural disasters with unity. Later, the landowners and rice brokers from Mandalay and Amarapura did not like the farmers selling rice through the cooperative system, and the farmers did not obey their orders, so they removed the leader Ko Ba San from his position. Due to the pressure of the landowners and traders, Ko Lu Shan and Ko Ba San had a falling out. The farmers and farmers also became so hostile that they did not want to look at each other. In the village, the people of the landowners' side wanted to control the agricultural products. They destroyed the farmers' cooperative system and the cooperative sales. Some of them longed for the era of Bodaw Pagoda by overthrowing the king. Some of them were deceived by the lies of the In-naya gang. The villagers died because they did not accept modern and progressive methods of health care and instead treated diseases with traditional and unnatural methods.

In the conflict between the two villages, Ko Ba San's lover, Ma Thita, was killed by the witchcraft of those who tried to kill him. Ma Thita's ashes were scattered in a pond. I wrote that in the middle of the pond, the ashes gathered and bloomed into a lotus flower. The lotus flower is a rare flower of peace. Since that lotus flower bloomed, the conflicts between the two villages have been peacefully resolved.

The fragrant scent of lotus flowers

I have experience in the fields, but I am far from the field. At that time, I only saw beans, corn, sesame, and cotton plants for a moment when I passed by the fields. I really didn't know how to cultivate them, when to plant them, when to harvest them, the shape of sesame flowers, or the shape of chickpea flowers. To be sure of this information, I had to read and study agricultural books published by the Library.

I have not personally experienced the problems of the disease of the sorghum stalks in sesame fields, the "green shoots" that cause good flowers to not bloom and the sesame yield to be low, the fungus disease in chickpea plants, the cotton picking while it is still soft and the separation of good and bad cotton. I have read the book "Sabre Beimaan" and included it appropriately in the novel.

Although the story is based on the two women, Ma Thita and Ko Ba San, the two villages of Kyee Myin Daing and Kyaung Myint were used as the backdrop, and my novel depicts the situation in Burma at that time. Therefore, it can be said that it is a novel with a political background.

In my novel, both the characters and the villagers are burned. When the village leaders unite, their village is peaceful and solves any problems together. Later, due to the violence of Ko Lu Shan, the villagers try to kill Ko Ba San due to conflict. Ma Thita is killed by Ko Lu Shan while trying to report the death of her lover. I buried Ma Thita's ashes in the river, which she could not find peace for the rest of her life.

In my eyes, I painted the winter flower with longing for the time when the calm of the emerald green water and the fragrant scent of the lotus flower were intoxicating.

Reduce, reduce, Matthita

The story begins with the big house in the garden village where the sisters Mathida and Masape were born. My Mathida was born into a large family, but only the household members worked, and her two sisters had to manage the farms alone. Mathida was a working girl, so her spirit was very strong. At the beginning of the story, my grandmother repeatedly warned Mathida, "Leave it, Mathida."

Now, whenever I do something, I do it with great enthusiasm. I can't stand it, I can't sit still, and my friends tell me, "Leave it, don't be lazy." Then I also came to my senses. My novel is a rebuke to me.

Tin Tun, a reader of my novels - my friend

'His ability to portray human nature so vividly makes his characters seem like living people. Every reader of Khin Hnin Yu

'Reduce, reduce, Matthita'

"They always remember the words. Whenever their spirits are so strong that they can't bear it anymore, they always use these words to console each other. Along with these words, we always remember the protagonist, Mathida. We respect Mathida's ability to be agile, caring, forgiving, patient, and responsible. Along with Mathida, we will always remember the actions of a village leader like Ko Ba San, who sacrificed his heart for the good of the entire village."

Tin Tun May commented.

Silver snowflake, winter spirit

Anyway, my "Reduce, Reduce, Don't Let Me Down" has reached the public. Whether the plot is logical, the characters are natural, or not, we will only know by looking at the critics' comments.

At the end of the novel -

"Now, the little ashes of the lotus flower bloom peacefully in the moonlight of the night. The lotus flower is not cheap. It is a rare 'winter flower' that blooms in late winter."

However, for those who do not understand the meaning of this lotus flower, which carries the characteristics of coolness, coolness, and clarity, I wrote, "Winter flowers are worthless."

In the next month, the Winter Goddess, wrapped in silver snow, visits the human world. Every time the Black Goddess waves her silver wand, the sleeping winter flowers awaken.

(Lonmalay Magazine, December 1986)