Maung Tha Cho - Shadow and Color Short Stories

Two hundred and fifty li

One

If I asked you how many numbers you could multiply by 100, I don't know how you would answer. There's one thing. You don't say it out loud. For example, "One hundred li is one hundred and one hundred." If you only said that, I would be very good at saying it. Yes. One hundred thousand li is one hundred thousand, one hundred two li is two hundred thousand, one hundred three li is three hundred thousand, one hundred four li is four hundred thousand. Now, how would you disagree if I said that you could say it out loud? So, I had to give you the floor because you didn't say it out loud.

Now... let's get back to my question. How big a number can you get when you multiply ali? Tell me. I only get up to twelve ali. Thirteen ali, fourteen ali, and fifteen ali are a little bit bigger. Fifteen one ali is fifteen, fifteen two ali is thirty, fifteen three ali is forty-five, fifteen four ali is sixty, fifteen five ali is seventy-five, easy. I don't know how big thirteen ali is. Thirteen one ali is thirteen, thirteen two ali is twenty-six, thirteen three ali is thirty-nine. Well... the next one is a little bit harder. I'm talking about me. You should get it.

I think most people finish their multiplication tables by the time they are twelve.

Aw... So, while talking about the Athulu Ali, I remembered the story of the two-year-old Ali. "Phoe Khaw". A Karen child. With red hair and red skin. Yes, of course. When I was assigned to the village children around the Sittaung River. Well.. If you count back from the year 2013, it would be almost ten years.

2 years

Have you ever been to the towns of Shwe Kyin and Kyauk Gyi on the border of Bago Region? They are small towns on the banks of the Sittaung River. Nothing is too far. It takes about an hour and a half to two hours to get there from Nyaung Lay Pin. If you have a good car, it is quite a journey.

I will say Nyaung Lay Pin. Thirty or forty years ago. Don’t ask if a bomb exploded along the Yangon-Mandalay railway line. That was Nyaung Lay Pin. That was Kanyut Kyan. That was Payne Kone. Then there was Phyu. These are all adjacent to Karen State. If you go east from the Yangon-Mandalay railway line, you will see the Sittaung River flowing from north to south. The forests, mountains and places east of that river are Karen State. .. Discontent, revenge, revenge. The bomb exploded. Come in the mirror, come in the light of Myanmar. Broken legs and arms. Leave it, let me continue my story.

I asked if you had been to the towns of Shwe Kyin and Kyauk Gyi on the border of Bago Region. I said Shwe Kyin, and the Shwe Kyin Stream that flows into the Sittaung River, and the villages of Pade Kaw, Ma Bi Lay, Ma Bi Gyi, Sue Tin, Baw Katha, Swe Maha Myaing, Shu Khin Thar, Kon Myint Thar, Kaw Tha Say, Pan In, and Phoe Pein. I will never forget those villages where Karen and Burmese live together. Whenever the sound of gunfire echoed, the children would shout in unison, “Way!” and become very happy. The school was about to close. .

Aw... I think I spent four or five years working as a teacher in a village where children were living, day and night.

Three

It was the day I first entered the classroom as a teacher in one of those villages called "Day and Night Villages". The rain had already started. It had been pouring all day and all night. To the west, the Sittaung River was flowing in a dark, muddy way. To the east, the Karen Mountains. It was dark and gloomy.

The village I'm in isn't just one. It's three or four villages that have been added together. In that area, for security and military reasons, some villages have been destroyed and merged with one village, so what do you mean by "village"? Leave it alone.

That day, I went to the first grade. I also wanted to get to know the new students better, so instead of just talking about "you" or "me," I introduced myself and asked each student by name.

Most of them are Karen children. Their parents plant, cultivate, plow, and weave.

As we got a little closer, I asked my sons and daughters if they were getting two-year-olds. Yes. Since they were in first grade, it would be appropriate to start asking them about two-year-olds. Children's nature is to get one or not. The children's words are so vague and confusing. The previous teacher had already taught them.

So I kept the class quiet and asked each of the two Ali questions. The person who asked the question answered. I didn't ask Ali the same question from beginning to end. I interrupted him and said, "I'll ask him," but the whole class fell silent.

It was the same when we were young. I was very afraid to ask for Ali. I had already got the four Ali. The teacher asked me to ask for four and seven Li, and it was a mess. I had to sing from the bottom of my heart to get to four and seven.

The child I asked that day was named Po Khue. When I asked him his name, he said Po Khue. I asked him his name was two or five. His eyes were wide open. He was a child's nature. That's why I said, "Kae."

I was so clever that I gave him the answer that he would have known on his own, but he ended up falling for the five tricks.

"Now... son.. how many legs does a person have?"

"Two sticks"

The child held out two small hands from where they were folded. They were worn out, wrinkled, and their nose was wrinkled.

" Okay... Now... How many legs do five people have? Easy."

Yes. The answer is easy. But the child's answer, which was never easy, was one word.

"There are eight sticks in our house."

Ha... Yes. I was shocked. Something happened, and I, a graduate school teacher, know that it was a coincidence.

" Yes, sir, his father has only one leg."

"Their older brother also has only one leg, sir."

Come on. Come on. Come on. I really did shout at the kids, "Come on, come on!" and then looked at the old man who was sitting down again without asking anyone for permission, and his face turned red.

It's true that I didn't return to Ye Ali that day, but left the classroom with a smile on my face.

Four

When I returned to the office with a damp atmosphere, two or three teachers said, "Yes, sir." My grandfather, father, and brother were all on the verge of landmines. The landmines were planted on their own side, so they often stepped on them in that area. They were looking for vegetables, feeding buffaloes and calves, cutting bamboo and cutting wood. The worst time was during the rainy season.

But.. in the Kanayin Range, there are tannin forests, tannin forests. Tannin trees are climbing to pick tannin fruits. Stories of stepping on landmines while climbing tannin trees.

Fish

Oh my.. you can get as much as you want from your own money. I will never forget the villages on the banks of the Sittaung River between Shwe Kyin and Kyauk Gyi, nor will I forget the old man who asked me how many li I had. I wanted ten answers, so I tried to ask five people to lift me with two legs, but I ended up with eight legs and had to go around the circle.

The villages of Padekaw, Ma Bee Lay, Ma Bee Gyi, Sue Tin, Baw Katha, Swe Maha Myaing, Kaw Tha Sae, Shu Khin Tha, Pan In, Phoe Pein, and Kon Myint Tha, the village children.

Don't make eight out of five li. Don't make three out of two li. Don't make six out of four li.

But... I don't know how many years it's been since I left the village. I've been to the forest, I've been to the field. As a teacher, I still learn from the years.

New Fragrance, April 2013.

A note on shade and color

My first published manuscript was the poem “Modern Love” which appeared in the December 1973 issue of Thaung Mai Kha La La Magazine, so I have been writing for 46 years now, as of December 2019.

During those years , I wrote a fair amount of poetry, a few short stories, and a fair amount of nonfiction.

This is a collection of short stories. This collection includes the pain of landmines. The pain of a young school teacher. The pain of climate change. The pain of writing a long story and having a bad character and a bad character. The pain of those who work and eat in the river, the pain of those who graze on buffaloes and cows, the pain of children who pick golf balls on the golf course, etc., is a collection of the feelings of the people.

A novel is a shadow and a color that can express the life and feelings of the people of that time. That is why the title of the short story is “Shadow and Color.” Not “Ayaw.”

It is a risky proposition to publish a collection of short stories in an era when people are reading less fiction and more nonfiction. However, I still believe that nonfiction enriches people's thinking and that fiction enriches human emotions.

The reader will find all the short stories in their mouths. Just pick up what you like and discard what you don't.

The short stories are listed in chronological order, not chronologically.

I would like to express my gratitude to the editors of Moe Wai Sapay Magazine, Pe Phu Lata Magazine, Sapay Kyaung Magazine, Sam Pae Phyu Magazine, Sandar Magazine, Sittaew Magazine, Yaan Thit Magazine, Kyid Yaan Magazine, Aka Khun Magazine, and Iyin Cho Cho Bookstore.

With eternal respect to the readers,

Maung Thar Cho, Yangon