Pao Oo Thit - The White Clouds I Passed Through

When I think back, I don't remember much about the days I spent at university.

My brother, who was a year early at Mandalay University, said, “My brother, you are allowed to live in the government dormitory. At 37 Yadana Phonsaung,” and I was happy that my parents were able to save money and that a friend was helping out.

The rights of a student who is allowed to live in a dormitory are as follows: a monthly living allowance of ten kyats per year, two (2) meals served by the dormitory, access to water and electricity, and basic rights.

There is a parallel bar for sports in the winter. You can pull up bars. There is a weight room. There is a television in the living room. In addition to the dormitory library, there are also conditions that only government students can experience.

They are representatives of the Frewell and Spedal Drne dormitories that are held from time to time.

In order to foster friendship among students at Mandalay University, the school administration committee has organized government offices into sister offices.

At that time, Shwe Pyi Aye Saung and Shwe Man Saung Aung Mingalar Saung and Myakama Saung Zeya Saung and Thitthi Saung were sister saungs. Representatives selected by the saung to attend the seasonal festivals held in the saungs were allowed to attend.

I studied at Shwebo College for two years as a college student and then transferred to Mandalay University, but as a fresher at Mandalay University, I became a blind boy in the countryside.

I think almost all students who transferred from college like us would feel the same way when we first arrived at Mandalay University.

Those who are working hard without losing their temper at Mandalay University

Most of the students at Phatthalaphone School were from the Yadanar Bhumi area. Among them were students who specialized in English, international relations, geology, and psychology, which were not available at our local college. I wanted to know the nature of these students.

Mandalay University's Yadanarbonsaung Room No. BH7 (B-7) is a four-person room. I was an early arrival at the school and was given the opportunity to choose my own bed and place in the room. I was assigned the corner bed, which was the firmest of the four beds and had a window in front of the room.

Room number (B-7) is a four-person room, and my room partners are Ko Win Htut, Ko Khin Maung Swe, and Ko Saw Lwin.

Ko Win Htut is a native of Yamethin and moved from the Yadanar Bhumi area with a major in psychology. Ko Khin Maung Swe is a native of Pyay Township and moved from Meiktila College with a major in physics.

My three roommates, Ko Khin Maung Swe and Ko Wai Lwin, were students who had transferred from a local college and were already calm and collected. They made new friends in their new environment after arriving at Mandalay University, but they only socialized with the friends they had made at Meiktila College, such as going to school, sitting in tea shops, and going out on weekends.

In the early days of school, Ko Win Htut, a psychology major who lived next to me, had left a box in his place and disappeared without anyone even noticing. I think he arrived at the dormitory 40 days after school opened.

Meanwhile, Ko Win Htut came to pay the fees, took out the meal card, and left it on the table by his head.

Among my group of friends and I who graduated from Shwebo College and entered Mandalay University in the third year, only Ko Soe Tint and I were allowed to live in government dormitories.

Ko Soe Tint is from Kan Pauk Village, Ye U Township, and has lived with me in a dormitory near the mountain gate off Mandalay Road since Shwebo College.

Our group consisted of me, Ko Soe Tint, Maung Way, Soe Myat Than Kai, Swe Aung, Mya Aung, Phoe Lone (B), Myo Min Aye, and others. The rest of our friends had to rent dormitories because they could not find a dormitory. Like the students who had transferred from other colleges, they were still unable to socialize with new friends and only shared rooms with those they had shared rooms with at Shwebo College.

Most of my friends didn't enjoy being in the dormitory. They only came to my dormitory and my room as soon as the morning dawned.

Then we went to the tea shop. If someone came to my dorm before meal time, they could take the meal card of someone who didn't eat in the room and pretend to eat. In particular, Ko Win Htut, who didn't eat in the dorm, often had the meal card of one of my friends.

Our government dormitory students can eat at 7 am, and while the students in the outer dormitory get up and sit down for tea, our students in the inner dormitory sit down for tea after eating and during their free time before school.

Among my friends, Maung Wai, who used to rent a dormitory, even lived in a monastery in Bogon Township while he was at Shwebo College and attended school.

Even though I live in a monastery, I only go back to the monastery once or twice a month. I usually stay in my dormitory, in my bed, with only one piece of clothing. I wear my shirt and my blanket. I

They share half of the rice bowl. They share the money that his family sends. When he sends money, his parents often send more money to the people in the village. For more than a month, two months, the money doesn't come.

My parents are employees, so they send money once a month.

You have to pay your tuition fees and other expenses at the same time as you receive the money. Otherwise, if you spend it, it will not be easy to find more money.

Now, when Maung Wai arrived at Mandalay University, he left his iron box at the monastery near the pagoda and came to my room in the campus with a piece of cloth and a bag as usual.

There must have been something else in his bag that wasn't related to school. That thing was none other than a toothbrush. Thus, Maung Wai took up residence in my room and began teaching university studies.

Than Khaing, who occasionally stays in the same room as Maung Wai, is Than Khaing. Than Khaing is from Htaman Thi village, upstream of the Chindwin River. Due to his circumstances, he lived at his aunt's house in Shwebo, studied at college, and then entered Mandalay University after completing his first year.

Than Khaing and I have a special connection after that, which is about poetry. Than Khaing and I are both friends who read and recite poetry.

At that time, Than Khaing was a member of the group of Min Lu, Tha Gyi Maung, and Zeya.

I remember that he used to recite poems from the Golden Heart poetry book, and I used to recite poems from the German poet Bertolt's Poems for the Future. When Than Khaing arrived in Mandalay, he left his suitcase of clothes in the student room of his fellow citymate, and came to my room with one piece of clothing and one bag.

Among those who were with me at Shwebo College was a young man named Soe Myat. Soe Myat was a bookworm. He slept on his stomach when he didn't have money, but when he had money, he ate well.

He is a voracious reader of large books and is naturally a man of few words. He rents a room in a dormitory in Bodhi Hill and usually spends the afternoon in my room.

We, like university students who came from other regional colleges, did not make new friends, but only kept in touch with friends from the regional college.

Thus, my third-year student at Mandalay University was conceived in room number (B-7) of the Yadana Pon Ason.

Ko Soe Tint, who had lived in a dormitory at Shwebo College near the southern gate of Shwebo, was also allowed to live in Zeya Hall, the government building, when he arrived at Mandalay University.

Ko Soe Tint has two brothers, one of whom is older than Ko Soe Tint. They are said to be divorced and have moved to northern Shan State. Ko Soe Tint's parents are farmers who own a lot of land and are able to support Ko Soe Tint's school expenses as much as he needs.

In our group, Ko Soe Tint was the coldest person, he didn't talk much, and if he wasn't satisfied, he would tell the person he wasn't satisfied with the same thing. However, since he had been here for a year, he rarely spoke to them.

This chaotically organized group of us, when we first arrived at Mandalay University, happily spent our days going to school with our friends from the countryside and visiting famous places as a group during the holidays. I think we became even more united than when we were at Shwebo College.

We get up early in the morning and walk. From the dormitory to (73) Street, then (73) Street to Mingalar Bridge, then (80) Street, then (35) Street to (35) Street, then (73) Street, then (73) Street, then (73) Street, then (73) Street, then (35

In this way, when there was money to go around, people who had been active when they first arrived in Mandalay, eating and drinking, settled in the dormitory after about a month of school.

In my room, Than Khaing and Maung Wai slept in Ko Win Htut's empty bed, and Soe Myat and I slept in mine. Ko Soe Tint was the oldest among us and was not shy, so his friends would only occasionally sleep in his room.

However, after breakfast, Ko Soe Tint from Zeya Hall, located on the west side of Mandalay University's campus, arrived at Room No. (B-7) of Yadana Phon Hall, located on the east side of Mandalay University. After gathering in my room, we went to the tea shop.

One day I earned some money. I wanted to buy a guitar. But I didn't have enough money to buy a guitar. Soe Tint often had extra money and he himself was taking guitar lessons on (37) Street, so I

"Let's save up some money and buy a guitar, Ko Soe Tint," he said, his voice cold as usual.

"Buy it," he said bluntly.

I said, “Okay, let’s go,” and we rode our bikes to a music store on 78th Street. At the guitar store, we bought an eight-string guitar that both Soe Tint and I liked for 230 kyats.

I told him to leave the guitar in his room for a week to make him happy, and he replied bluntly, as usual.

Ko Soe Tint learned to play the guitar when he was a college student, and I started learning to play the guitar when I was in the 6th grade in late 1979, before I could even get used to the guitar.

We've been pretty consistent in our dorms since we bought the guitar. Maybe because we have to play the guitar? As soon as we open our eyes, we'll play the guitar.

I could pick it up. The guitar was an eight-string guitar, so playing rhythm was quite "easy".

The golden-crowned crane that came to my room with that guitar

I made my friend Aung Moe from the tea shop and the friends around the room happy.

The guitar saved us from loneliness. It changed the situation of being alone as a small group of children.

Our little guitar was in the arms of Ko Aung Myint and Ko Hmwe in the Yadana Phonsaung (B-2), in the arms of Ko Than Myint and Ko Zaw Lin, who were also Meiktila residents, in the arms of Khin Maung Oo in the room of Leway (A-9), in the room of IR Ko So Win Aung, and in the room of Monywa poet Maung Yin Naing to sing Khin Wan songs. Our little guitar was a silent ambassador in the Yadana Phonsaung.

As school begins to reopen, students are preparing for the Fresher Welcome event, also known as Maung Mae Thit Lwin, by subject.