Maung Ko Ko (Amarapura) - 12345 in Yangon

Friday

A pale yellow carport has been built in a fairly large courtyard.

The two-story building is built against the brick wall on one side of the courtyard, and the island boarding house is built against the barbed wire on the other side of the courtyard. Behind the island boarding house is a small hut-shaped house. Between the two-story building and the island boarding house is a large brick pond. The brick pond is long and smooth, and it is well-shaped. There is a guava tree near the brick pond. The guava tree is a Thai species of kilo guava, and it bears fruit.

The Great Lake is full of water and looks beautiful during the rainy season in Yangon, when it often rains heavily. Isn't the beauty of a great lake also that it is full of water? If it is not the rainy season, the Great Lake is like a woman who does not feel beauty, and there are days when she cannot hold even an inch of water in her stomach.

A bird perched on the edge of a pond and leaned down to drink.

"A lake with no water in it is a pitiful lake of refugees."

The bird said to the lake.

"It's true that I am pitiful. I feel sorry for the people in this hostel who live with me."

The lake replied. The bird said, "I am thirsty" and flew away.

The two-story building and the boarding house are surrounded by a high brick wall. There is a large gate for cars to enter and exit, and the iron gate with its sharp iron spikes protruding upwards is both beautiful and a protection against thieves, making anyone who sees it feel sick.

The owner of the apartment lives on the top floor of the two-story building. The lower floor is vacant because a family has moved out and is renting it out.

Sitting on a deck chair on the veranda of the upper floor, the owner of the building was the one who was watching the gate of the courtyard the whole time while he was praying. The man was over sixty years old. He was thin and small. He kept looking at the iron gate of the courtyard, wondering who would open it and come in. He kept looking at the iron gate, the sound of the iron gate opening and closing, and he kept praying while he was praying.

Auntie, the wife of the owner of the hostel, was driving her white Sony Super Sedan roughly on the road, heading towards her house. Auntie was also in her sixties. But she drove the car roughly.

A man with a red bag and a frog was walking briskly along the side of the road. He was heading towards the boarding house and was trying to get a room so that no one else would get it first. He was walking around the pond. At that moment, the Sunny Super Sedan driven by Auntie honked loudly and the wheels of the car went over the small pond with a loud bang. The water in the pond was splashing and splashing, and some of the muddy water splashed on the side of the road, and the man with the red bag and the man continued on the path of the Sunny Super Sedan.

Auntie's Sunny Super Sedan arrived at the gate of the compound in no time. It honked its horn.

A girl ran out of the two-story building screaming.

"Come here, auntie, come here, my daughter is here."

She was a young girl, about the age of a virgin. The girl opened the iron gate on both sides, holding one of the iron gates with her hand, and watched as Auntie drove in. Auntie drove the car into the garage. The girl pulled back the two iron gates that were next to her. When she reached the two gates, she pushed the iron gate open with a javelin.

At that moment, the man with the red bag arrived at the iron gate. He arrived just as the girl was about to move her back to the gate.

"Hey.. hey baby"

The girl looked at him with a mischievous look, like a housekeeper...

"What's the matter?" he replied coldly.

"I heard there's a room available in this dorm, I wonder if I can get a room?"

"Oh... but there's one empty room. I don't know if anyone has left."

The girl opened the iron gate and let a man in. A man with a red bag had already entered the courtyard.

"Come upstairs with me. If you talk, you'll only be talking to Aunty. I'll finish the dormitory business with Aunty in this house."

When Uncle saw someone coming into the yard from the veranda, he ran downstairs and turned on the water pump at the corner of the stairs. Soon, water was pouring from the faucet into the pond.

The people living on the wooden dormitory heard the sound of the water.

They were furious.

"Hey, the sound of water in the pond is not coming at the right time. There's a new person in our dorm."

They opened the windows. They looked towards the second floor.

The man with the bag was sitting on a bench on the veranda. Uncle Gyi was looking back at the veranda.

"Uncle, I want to live in Uncle's dorm."

Uncle Big remained unmoved and cold.

"Okay, sit and wait, Auntie will come."

Not long after, Aunty arrived.

Auntie Gyi wears glasses and has a strong body.

"That old lady driving the Sunny Super Sedan who passed me earlier, she must have seen the mud dripping off my shirt."

He is speaking from his heart.

"What do you mean, you want to live in this dorm, right?"

Auntie didn't seem to notice or care about the mud dripping from his shirt.

"Yes. I would like to stay in your dorm."

Aunty glanced at his face and his shirt.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I am a columnist"

He raised his head and said.

"What... columnist... is that a Chinese martial artist... you

"Myanmar"

He patted his chest..

"I am a journalist."

"What... are you stealing journals? No... no. I don't have any pickpockets or shoplifters in my dorm."

"You can come back."

“No... Auntie, a columnist... a journalist is someone who writes big articles for business magazines. I meet and interview real big business people in Myanmar and then write business articles for the magazine.”

"Oh, is that so? How much do you earn per article?"

“A few thousand per piece, Auntie.”

He answered arrogantly.

"Hey... You're a wise person, you write letters that give people wisdom. It's good to give wisdom back to a wise person, but it's not good. But about the rules of your dorm..."

"Wait, Auntie.., I'm missing something from what you're saying. Let me correct something early so that you don't continue to make the same mistake."

"What are you.."

Auntie didn't seem very pleased that she had to stop her speech in the middle. She seemed a little embarrassed. However, Auntie took out a cigarette to keep herself in check and lit it. Auntie's voice was sharp and firm, she had the attitude and behavior of fully taking her own rights and doing her own thing and not giving a grain of salt to others.

Aunty Gyi didn't look at him, puffing on her cigarette. "That's right. I don't write articles because I'm an intellectual. I meet and interview intellectuals, experts, and business people on a point-by-point basis, record them on a small Sony cassette, listen to them when I get back to the room, and then write articles based on what they say. My opinion, my wisdom, is not in those articles."

Even though he was saying such things, Aunty was still puffing on her cigarette.

I could hear the sound of water dripping into the pool. The old people in the hostel were tired of the habit of bringing water to the new roommates so that they would think that there was no water problem in the dormitory. When it rained, the old people in the hostel would come out to the pool with their own cups of water and soap, and take a bath. They would drink and drink water. Hey, everyone was happy.

Auntie glanced at him.

"Wait a minute... I don't understand columnists and journalists. They call me a writer no matter what I write. You're a writer, right?"

“Yes, Auntie, I write short stories as well as poems if I have feelings. In the past, my collection of short stories narrowly missed out on winning the National Literary Award.”

"What's your name, by the way?"

"My real name is Yankhu, my pen name is Yankhu"

"Here it is, Maung Kyan School, if there is a room available in our dormitory, there are thirty or forty people waiting in line to stay here. You give your name. You take our phone number."

"If you have a phone at work, Auntie won't answer. You just call and ask. Auntie will choose a person who is worthy of this dormitory from among the people who want to live here within a week."

He didn't like Auntie's words and behavior at all. He wasn't in a good mood either. He thought it would be better if the man, like a doll, told her firmly that he wouldn't be here anymore and went back down.

The dormitory he still lives in is on the top floor of a wooden house on Kyee Myint Daing Taw Road. There are four rooms, and he has the farthest room. The owner is an old woman. It is comfortable to live in. If you take the bus to go to the city, you can either take the Kyee Myint Daing Upper Road or the Lower Road, and you will reach the city. If you have ever climbed Shwedagon Pagoda, you just have to take the bus to Varkala Road. However, the house is going to be sold. The price is right. It will be vacated in a few days. He also wants a spacious and neat room. He also looks around the Hledan and finds that it is all full. Aunty Gyi exhales cigarette smoke.

“Hey, only those who follow the dorm rules can live in this dorm. That’s the most important thing. You can’t drink alcohol at all. Do you drink alcohol? I’m not saying that you can’t drink alcohol in the dorm. We don’t accept people who drink alcohol at all. We don’t accept people who drink outside and then come back to the dorm. If you drink alcohol sometimes, you have to sleep outside the same day. Also, you can’t use drugs. Also, the courtyard gate is locked at 9 p.m. You have to return to the dorm before 9 p.m. My aunts will be watching from the top of the building. Anyone who enters the courtyard gate will be immediately expelled from the dorm. You can’t go under the barbed wire like a dog. The north side of the dorm is fenced with barbed wire. Also, you can’t cook with electricity. You can’t use a stove. You can’t boil water. You can’t sleep with the lights on. The dorm fee must be paid before the third day of the new moon of each month. Okay?”

Aunty Gyi sat on the chair, commanding, puffing on her cigarette, as if exhausted from talking.

"Yes. Then I'll have to come next week."

"Okay, okay. Call me next Friday and ask for my business card, Rob."

Auntie handed him a card from her purse. He took it and quickly read it.

Daw Kengkel Moe Thet Tant

The dormitory is clean and comfortable.

Yangon

Phone: 000777

"I'll go, Auntie. I'll call you on Friday."

“Hey, you want to live in a dormitory. You need to be diligent. I have a room in a quiet place in Yangon, and I think it would be easy to sleep comfortably on a single bed in that room, without any fuss.”

As he was descending the stairs, Auntie's words pierced his back like arrows.