Min Kyaw - My teachers

1. U Ba Hlaing

If I were to write about my teachers, I would have to start with U Ba Hlaing. This is because U Ba Hlaing was my first teacher.

In Burmese, there is a saying, "Pubbasariyya Mi and Pha." So it is not surprising that my father, U Ba Hlaing, was my first teacher. However, when I describe U Ba Hlaing as my teacher, I mainly want to describe him as a school teacher rather than a father.

He was of a fair height. He was very handsome, five feet and a half. He had dark skin. He had a square face with a prominent jaw.

The era he worked as a teacher was during the British era. The school he worked at was BOC Reosin School in Chauk. The subject he taught was English.

I have never seen him teach in class. But he often teaches his younger brothers and sisters at home. I have seen him teach me from time to time. When he teaches, he is precise.

It's clear. If he is careful, he likes it. If he is careful, he likes it. If he is not obedient, he gets angry. When he is angry, his jaw seems to stick out more. When he gets angry, he uses his hands. If he can't use his hands, he uses a stick.

Compared to modern educational concepts, one might say that the method of punishment he used was wrong.

But in his time, in his school, U Ba Hlaing was indeed respected by many students. His students loved, feared, and respected him.

This is because. The first thing is his dress. He is neat. He wears a Mandalay silk robe almost every time he goes to school. He is neat. He does not even let the collar fall. For a teacher, being neat and tidy can be a role model for his students, right?

The second thing is the relationship. His house is next to the school. Every student can always go in and out of his house. He is very close to the students. As much as his face is fixed in class, his face is always sweet outside the classroom. He is happy when he is with the students. That is why he wants his students to be united until they leave school.

The school opened by BOC was really important for BOC to serve their own interests. At that time, not every oil worker could send all of his children to school. Even if they did send them to school, they could not complete their studies. Therefore, many of them entered the workforce with only a partial education.

U Ba Hlaing wants his students to stay together no matter how they leave school, and even after they leave. That's why he runs the alumni club.

Not far from the school is the alumni club building. The club has a gym and a library.

That was the period after 1930. It was a time when nationalism was at its peak. U Ba Hlaing was a BOC employee, but he had political talent. He had a national spirit. His experience of studying for two years at the university, his national political spirit (the highest political spirit at that time) that grew out of his being a disciple of the late Ceylonese Ambassador U Tint Swe, helped him to rise higher in the BOC world.

He was a regular reader of the magazine "Progress". He first contacted the Nagani Book Club. Mr. Boh Hla Gyi was always coming and going to his house. His wife did not like him talking about politics. But he could not stay. He asked his friend U Kyaw Thein to open a bookstore. He contacted Nagani. Nagani books were distributed in Chauk Town. He kept Nagani books in the library of his alumni club.

In Chauk, there is a festival called Aye Zedi Pagoda, which is held at Tsangdaing. On this festival day, young people from various urban associations and neighborhoods go to the pagoda to offer offerings with dances. These dances also promote anti-colonialism and nationalism. Some of the dances were even taken down by the British government.

At that time, the Red Dragon team was gaining momentum, and Khin Maung Yin's Red Dragon song was also famous. U Ba Hlaing sang the Red Dragon song. He held a sword in his hand and danced while singing the Red Dragon song. At first, the reason was unknown. Later, it was revealed that he was training to intimidate his former students.

That year, he personally led a group of former students of the Yeo Osin Chaong School to Aye Zedi Pagoda on a red dragon chariot.

"I will guide you to freedom from poverty."

"The Seven Jewels are truly perfect, our nation is one."

His music, his singing, and his disciples are all gathered together.

In this way, U Ba Hlaing gathered his disciples and established a close relationship with them.

He was also the leader of the scout team, and he was the leader in sports. He always enjoyed working with the students. That is why he earned the trust of every student. He earned their love.

Therefore, I think no one was upset that he beat them.

He seems to hold fast to the idea that a teacher should be a role model for his students. He doesn't smoke, doesn't eat betel, and stays away from alcohol.

There are some incidents I remember about him.

The first thing is a little bit of discipline for my children. I think I was only four or five or six years old at the time. He used to take me wherever he went since I was a child. I must say that I had developed a habit of following my father wherever he went. At one point, my father seemed to want to break that habit of his. So, one day, my father was going to the market and as usual, I wanted to go with him. My father didn't want to take me. I wanted to go with him. I protested. My mother was with me. Then my father laid down a rule.

"Okay. If you want to go, go. But the rule is that you have to go if you don't want to bother me in the market or if I don't ask you to buy anything."

I accepted the rule easily. So I was allowed to go to the market. In a shop in the market, I saw a toy for children. I wanted it. But I didn't dare. There was a rule. I had already made a promise. I wanted that toy too.

I didn't say anything. While I was buying something from my father at the store, I accidentally stole the toy I wanted, which was worth nothing at the time. My father didn't know. The store owner didn't know either.

When I got home and found the stolen toy that I had brought with me, my father was angry at first. He was about to hit me. Then...

"Oh, in this case, the father is wrong. A one-time order that says you can't force your child to buy what they want is like forcing the child to commit a crime. If your son becomes a thief like this, who would be a more foolish parent than your father?" he asked his cousin who was coming to the house.

They took me back to the market. They made me go to the store where I stole the toy and apologize.

I dare not go suddenly.

"It's not scary, son. It's only scary when someone steals someone else's things. This time I went to buy it. I'm apologizing so that my sins will disappear. It's not scary." That's all my father said. However, when I think back today, I realize that I shouldn't be ashamed to apologize for a crime I committed without knowing it.

Another incident was about sports. My father was interested in sports. He was in charge of the school sports program. He wanted his son to be an athlete too. But I was not interested in sports. My father tried to persuade me to participate in sports in various ways. I couldn’t. Finally, he ordered me not to participate in any of the competitions in the upcoming December sports competition. And his son tried to find out which sport would suit him best. My son, who was not very interested in sports, was not very good at sports. But he didn’t give up. He decided to participate in the pot-fighting competition.

The essence of the pot-fighting competition is to go to the pot-hanging place with a cloth covering your face and hit the pot with a stick. It is not a difficult task. So the father seems to think that his son should be able to participate in this sport.

So, I started practicing in advance to participate in the pot-fighting competition. I practiced many times. I never got the right result. But I had to participate in the competition.

The competition director had covered my face with a cloth. But it was only one layer. So I could see the pot clearly. So I went straight to the pot. I smashed the pot hard. I came first in that competition. My father was overjoyed. He ran to the competition area. He praised me. He seemed quite surprised that I could hit it straight in a real match, despite all the practice I had done at home. At that moment, I couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"First of all, Dad. I'm just looking at the pot."

My father immediately lost his face. He pulled me away from the crowd. When we were far away, he asked me in a whisper.

"Son, is it true what you saw?" I answered truthfully.

My father was not happy. When he got home in the evening, he asked me to call the tournament supervisor. When the supervisor arrived, he asked me about the incident that afternoon. I told him the truth.

"It's not good to be like this. Why are you covering the baby's face with a thin layer of cloth?"

"I see my father and son practicing every day, and I know how tired both the teacher and the student are. If this child doesn't get the award despite all this hard work, the teacher will be disappointed. The child will be depressed. So I did it to make the teacher happy and the child happy," the supervisor replied with a smile.

But my father was not impressed.