Maung Sein Win (Puti Kone) - The Sky of Birds

(1)

Once, when I returned to Sha, the fields were being plowed at the beginning of the rainy season. They said that because the rains were good that year, they were able to start working in the fields quickly.

My relatives in the village are all farmers. When I arrived in the village, they would meet at my mother's house and talk about farming.

“I even had to drive three machines. The cost of the machines was too high.”

U Kyi Thar Myat laments that he has run out of money because he has to plow his fields with machinery.

Needless to say, my village has become modern. There is no electricity, and there is no road to the city. The village has a rice mill and a lot of tractors, and they have become mechanized farmers.

"Uncle, can't we plow with oxen and not with machines like before?"

"Hey, what will you get?"

"U Kyi Tha Myat said, looking at me."

"Why, Uncle?"

"The sacred scriptures are sacred"

"Why is the grass growing more than before?"

U Gyi Thein laughed as if he liked my question.

"I don't know about the writer's field yet," he continued.

"Like this," he continued.

“The fields are used for summer rice production.

When we grow summer rice, we leave the tributaries of the canals open all day.

" The fields are flooded, and the grass is growing because of that water ."

"Even after driving three or four machines, some fields cannot be plowed with oxen. The oxen cannot fight."

They are not.

"I have to use a buffalo because it's so muddy."

U Gyi Thein continued to explain.

“Isn’t it good to make milk and summer rice, Uncle?”

"They bite, they bite."

There are good and bad things. If you can work from home and do it yourself, it will be better. Otherwise, the wages are high. In the southern fields, you have to carry the sheaves to your house in a cart. The cost of carrying them is a lot per acre. It is also more tiring than working in the rain. It also costs more money. So, you can only plant as much as you can afford.”

"The grass is so thick..."

While pouring hot water into a bowl of hot water in front of U Kyi Thein and U Kyi So Myat, I spoke up, “That’s right, as I said earlier, as much as I can, we can only grow summer rice in the fields that are not available, and some of the midlands where the water is late are also not available. The fields that are left without summer rice are like grass fields. With the water all summer, the grass grows as much as it wants and then goes into the forest.”

"Aw... aw..."

"I understand. There is grass in the fields where summer rice is grown. But it is not as bad as the fields that are left unplanted."

“Didn’t you see the fields of Phoe Htun’s emeralds at the entrance to the village?”

As U Gyi Thein finished speaking, U Gyi Tha Myat approached me and asked me a question.

“I don’t know what Uncle Htun Mya’s field is. Isn’t it the field near the village school, Uncle?”

"It's cold. It's a forest there."

“Wait, Uncle Lay Thein, I think you planted something.”

As I entered the village, I noticed the fields near the village where plants that were not rice plants, about waist-high, had grown.

I figured I'd ask anyway, since I didn't know anything.

"Where do you have to plant something?"

“That's 'Wat La Taew Le',” said U Kyi Tha Myat.

"It's a pig, isn't it, Uncle?"

"Yes. Fenugreek is a type of grass that grows in the fields."

"Is this land safe, Uncle?"

“Where did the sugarcane come from? My brother grew very fast. Back then, there was no water in the summer, so these guys couldn’t grow whenever they wanted to. When the rains started and the water started to fall, the fields where they were supposed to grow would be plowed, and they would disappear while plowing. Now, the water is abundant all summer, and they grow whenever they want to. Uncle Tun Mya is in trouble.”

"That's because Uncle Tun Myat didn't plant the summer rice and let it go."

"It's okay, Tun Mya said that since his house is small, he can do as much summer rice as he can, so he left this field without doing it."

“You have to tell me,” U Gyi Thein said.

“Tell me, Uncle.”

"How fast the wattles grow, you can clear an acre of land with a knife, and... even after an acre is cleared, the wattles that were cut down at the beginning will sprout again."

“Is that all, U Gyi Thein?”

"Hehe... I'm just saying it in metaphors, what about you?"

“So... So, Uncle Htun Mya, are you going to leave these fields like this, Uncle, with what machines can you drive them away, can’t you just remove them?”

“Ha- What can we do with a machine? The machines in this forest are not up to the task. We have to clear it with people first. If we cut it with a knife, only stumps will remain. Only when those stumps are left will we have to mow it again. If we mow it with a machine, the roots will fall off.”

U Kyi Tha Myat said to me as he drank and put the bowl back down.

“Uncle Tun Mya is waiting for the day when people and machines will be strong enough to do these things. By the time you return, I think this wild boar forest will have been cleared.”

“We have to clear it, writer. A field is a place to plant rice. It is a place to plant useful crops, and the wild boar is not his place. In order to plant rice and beans, no matter how thick the forest is or how many wild boars there are, we have to clear it.”

The words of U Lay Thein took root in my heart. I began to imagine a large forest of wild boars growing and taking up residence in the fields.

(2)

On the way back to Yangon, I couldn't see the big tree in U Lay Htun Mya's field, which I had left from the village. I could see U Lay Htun Mya plowing the field from a distance.

I believe that if I return to Sha next fall, I will see green rice fields instead of the forest of Wat La.

New Thought Journal, 2000.