Bo Tara (Comrade Three) - Head-to-Head Mountain Journey

On the way back, work is in full swing.

The car started speeding along the Pyinmana-Taungnyo asphalt road at a speed of thirty kilometers per hour.

My thoughts were very anxious about the city. There were reasons to be anxious. Since it was more than two days before I returned to Pyinmana, my wife, the Empress Dowager, and my two young daughters were also anxiously awaiting my return. My literary work was also eagerly awaited. In addition, the peasants and old lords, who had trusted and respected me because of my two revolutions in the Pyinmana area, would be waiting at my house to discuss their problems and ask for help and leadership.

For me, I no longer have to worry about the problems of workers and farmers as I did during the government era. The township party office and the township council, which have been leading the problems of workers and farmers at the top of their list, are now opening the way for me to continue to support them. As I think about the problems of farmers, landowners, and workers, a space in my mind becomes clearer and lighter.

U Bo Han Gyi and U Tun Win, the forest office clerk, also known as U Aung, were ruminating on the events of the shooting, each carrying a gun on his shoulder and rolling a large cigarette, while Comrade Than Nyunt and Kan Hla were busy looking around the road like crows, trying to find a way to shoot a flock of wild chickens that were feeding in the fields along the road.

"The Major's return home is beautiful. With two pigs and one elk, we have enough dried meat for a month."

While talking to U Bo Han, U Aung walked over to me and said...

"I didn't get to shoot the animals I wanted to shoot, and it's really sad that I didn't see them, because I usually see them in these forests and mountains."

As I spoke, U Bo Han took the cigarette out of his mouth...

"Wild animals and pigs are very docile. I think we'll find traces of big wild animals in these forests. It's really good to come out when we're actually looking for them."

U Bo Han said in a disgruntled voice.

The car had passed through Bu Kwe village and was descending the steep slope towards Lwin Thar. The cool breeze from the wide fields was starting to blow towards the car. Than Nyunt and Kan Hla were talking louder now, as they only had a few minutes to get home.

I sat down on the bench, exhausted and exhausted, and began to think about how I would have to write a novel for next month and short stories for magazines like Myawaddy, Ngwe Taree, Shuma Wa, and Detective.

Soon the car turned around and entered the Taungnyo intersection. I could finally see the city.

"This time, when Than Nyunt's wife comes to his house, will she still be asking where Than Nyunt went?"

I remembered and turned to Than Nyunt and asked, and our hunter friends burst out laughing.

My friend Than Nyunt is a very keen hunter, and whenever he gets the chance to hunt, he will go to his work shop or the blacksmith shop and follow him home without any warning. If he doesn’t come home for a night or two, his wife will often come to my very close house to look for him. Than Nyunt is not only a keen hunter, but also very skilled in hunting and skinning, and he is also very patient in cooking. In tasks that require sleep, he is the first to go out and is a reliable “partner” of the hunter in road riding and tiger hunting.

"If you don't have anything funny to say, then make up a joke and then say it. I told you, my friend... This time my wife won't come looking for me. I told you very clearly that I will go to the Zha Laung area and hunt..."

Chin Than Nyunt, a boy who had broken his teeth but was very fond of hunting, solved my puzzle.

In fact, whenever we went hunting in the Zalaung Minkan and Paunglaung areas, our people were very competitive. The Zalaung area is not only very forested with various kinds of trees, but also a forest with many large trees and bamboos. Even today, we can shoot elk, wild boars, and even large deer that sometimes come down. It is a good forest. During the Japanese era, it was a good forest, a dense forest with thick bamboo and bamboo forests, where you could even find wild elephants in the area of ​​Paunglaung.

The car turned west of Pyinmana Township, Shan Lake, and entered the Maungdaw Forest. As soon as it stopped in front of my house, my two beloved daughters, Ni Ni Oo and Nai Naing Oo, jumped out and...

"Dad is back... Dad is back..."

They greeted each other with loud, ringing voices.

My old lady, the one who was my wife, smiled at me like a cup of medicine and helped me to take the things from the car, including the guns. My disciple Kyaw U Soe Yin, who was the housekeeper at my house, and my two sisters, along with Comrade Kan Hla, took the things from the car, including the bedrolls, the dried meat, and the wet meat.

"I think I've been holding back for two days because I can't let go of my feelings. My two daughters, with their long necks, kept asking each other if their father had come back yet. They kept waiting outside the house when they heard the sound of a car..."

Saw Ekeri looked at my two little girls, aged four and two, who were wrapped in my arms and told me how the girls missed their father.

I nodded my head and said... "Yes... I wonder if you and your daughters miss you very much..."

I asked softly, and my two daughters smiled and nodded, leaning against my chest.

“Who else has come? Where have the letters come from?” I asked about the friends who often came to my house while I was out hunting.

"It's all set, brother.. I'll have time to eat before the guests leave and be entertained. There's also a lot of letters. They're ready on my desk."

Saw Ekeri was pouring me a cup of hot coffee, but suddenly, out of thought, she raised one eyebrow...

“Oh... Besides, my friend, Bo Aung Yota, came to Waili Wailin yesterday in his car and asked me to see him urgently. He was very angry because he couldn’t find him, and he took out an envelope and a letter from his big leather bag. He also gave me a small package wrapped in paper as a souvenir for my two daughters. He will be back tomorrow afternoon. I can’t even stop him by saying, ‘Wait a minute.’ He apologized and left, saying that he had friends waiting for him in Mandalay. I also saw two men with three or four shotguns in his car, just like Maung….”

"Yes... Bo Pe Aung..." I happily asked my wife. I was so happy to hear about my friend Bo Pe Aung that I asked him so urgently.

When I heard the news of Bo Ta Ya (Thirty Comrades), Bo Kyi Aung or Ko Pe Aung B.A. (Geology) or the young bachelor Pe Aung, who, like me, had wandered around the forests and mountains, searching for minerals and hunting, and had established his own worldly life, I was very curious and asked him questions while holding my two daughters in my arms.

“Yes, brother, when I suddenly saw him, he looked like a Shan, like a Kachin, with a fair complexion, and was very strong, so I didn’t think he was even a Burmese. Then, when Bo Pe Aung told me that he was a genuine Burmese and had lived in Kachin and Shan states, I learned his true status. He could speak Kachin, Shan, and Chinese fluently, brother. He sounded like a mountain man from the beginning. He seemed to really want to see you. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. If I ever see you, I’ll hug you tightly and say goodbye to my revolutionary comrades and friends who I love so much...”

My wife told me as much as she knew.

Bo Pe Aung was the eldest son of a forest ranger who had migrated to Pyinmana during the British era and studied with me from grades 7 to 9 at the beautiful Buddhist High School in Pyinmana. He not only became a close friend but also a passionate supporter of the path we believed in for Burma's independence from British rule.

In the year he completed the 9th grade, his father was transferred to Myitkyina for a promotion, and we were separated. However, soon after, he received a letter from him informing him that we were continuing the independence process, and he and I sat for the 10th grade exams, and I gave up my studies and threw myself into politics. While my father continued his university education, about 3 years later, due to the Second World War, I was one of the Thirty Comrades who led the fight for Burmese independence with General Aung San, and I served in Central Burma with great responsibility, while Aung also served in the Burma Independence Army with the rank of captain in Mandalay Division. During the Burma Independence Army’s period as the Burma Defense Army, Father Aung continued to serve as a lieutenant in the military headquarters that was opened in Pyinmana, so we became close friends as if we were schoolmates. Every Sunday, Whenever they had free time, they would go hunting in areas with abundant game, such as the western part of Pyinmana, Aikya Mon, and Bo Khon Taung.

When the British government returned, he no longer served in the newly formed Burma Rifles but returned to his original training at the University of Rangoon, where he continued his studies in science. He became interested in geology and was reported to have successfully obtained a Bachelor of Science degree.

Then, I heard from my old comrades in Upper Burma that Pe Aung was pursuing his hobby of hunting and prospecting for minerals in Shan State, Kachin State, and along the Chinese border, along with his geological work.

However, recently, the news that he and his team were ambushed and killed in the jungle by a Chinese guerrilla group made me feel like I couldn't help but feel a sense of camaraderie.