Maung Kyi Shin - Marriage Cage

Father and son

I am the eldest son of my father's second marriage. My mother gave birth to a younger son and a younger daughter four years apart before having any more children.

My father's business flourished after he married my mother. Instead of the 7-room house that my parents had built, he built a 4-story, 3-room, two-story building in the city, making it a great place to live.

Before my father and mother met, when my father was about 20 or 21 years old, my father had to marry Ma Thin Nwe, arranged by his parents. Ma Thin Nwe was the niece of my father's biological brother on the female side.

My father did not marry Ma Thin Nwe because he fell in love with her. He had to listen to his parents and stepmother and take her as a good son after they had agreed to marry him. After they had been married, he would love her as much as he loved her. However, my father never mentioned this to me. I never asked my father either.

At first, I couldn't tell whether I loved her or not, but I could clearly see that my father didn't like Ma Thin Nwe. After Ma Thin Nwe and I broke up, my father no longer liked or disliked Ma Thin Nwe. He no longer loved or cared for her.

My father had two sons with Ma Thin Nwe. When the eldest son, Ko Phone, was about two years old, my father separated from Ma Thin Nwe, and Ma Thin Nwe took the child she had with her father. The second son, Ko Phone, went with his mother Ma Thin Nwe, while my father stayed at his parents' house. Ma Thin Nwe went to her aunt's and my father's uncle's house.

My father was 26 when he remarried. When I was born and knew I was human, my father's uncle lived in a large house across the street from our house, and Ma Thin Nwe, who lived in that house, had previously married my father. Ko Phone and Ko Pyone gradually learned that we were half-brothers, half-sisters.

I don't know exactly why my father and Ma Thin Nwe broke up. I didn't ask them. But from what I can tell, it's because they had different interests and personalities. Ma Thin Nwe is as rude and harsh as her name suggests. I think that's enough to tell you about my father's past.

When I was a teenager, my father told me a story. I will never forget it. Not only that, but I will tell my two sons, my grandfather's grandsons, the same story one day.

"I need to say a word to my son, father."

I was shocked and shaken by my father's words. I wondered if he would object to my love for Si Lay. However, I realized that his words were not what I thought, but only a warning.

“ My son has also grown up. If you see a young woman, my father tells you, choose carefully before you buy her. You are a rich man everywhere. If you choose a longyi and don’t like it, you can keep it without wearing it. If you choose a woman and don’t like it, you can’t keep it. You can’t give it to someone else. It’s not right to take it again. So think carefully before choosing.”

While my father was speaking like this, my mother, who was reading the Uttama Purisa Kita compiled by Leti Buddha, smiled and laughed and said to my father.

" My dear, my son is still young, why are you saying such things?"

Dad... "It's time to tell you," he said, interrupting Mom...

“ Oh... Dad, I don’t want to give you away, Dad also made a mistake by taking what his parents gave him. You should only be together. It’s important that you like him. If you like him, Dad will like him. Just choose carefully. Don’t change your mind every now and then. If you do, you’ll be with him for life.” I said yes. When I heard Dad’s words, I thought to myself, “I’m old enough to choose a woman.” However, at such a young age, I still didn’t know how to appreciate Dad’s immense love and kindness.

I am like my mother in person, but I am like my father in mind. I think I am not from my father's side. When I think about it from an adult's perspective, I no longer have that feeling. I have come to know that I should love and be grateful to my mother's side. In fact, my mother's side raised, taught, guided, and loved me more than my three siblings. This is the law of the world. In the world, only my mother's side loves me more.

My father and mother knew that I was in love with Si Lay. My mother did not show any sign of consent. My father, however, reasoned and rebuked me, saying, “My son, if you love me and want to marry someone, I will agree to marry anyone. I will not destroy you. I will beg you. Oh... You should learn to be wise until the end. It is best to give an inheritance. Even if you cannot live long, live until the end of your life. If you are old enough, you can think about it.”

Did I listen to my father? I was foolish. I did not listen to my wise father. I got married at the age of 23. I got married at that young age before the age my father had told me. I could not fully take the inheritance of knowledge that my father gave me. That is why I am very sad. Now my father will not give me the inheritance of knowledge. I am now sad because I could not take the inheritance of knowledge that my father gave me according to my father's wishes.

My father saved his own clothes. He saved his own money. He didn't let his three children down. He worked hard to earn money and sent me to college. After the Second World War, my father's business did not recover. He saved and saved to take care of his children. During the Japanese era, he traded raw materials by boat, amidst bombs and machine guns, and raised me. When I got to college, my father sold all his diamonds and gold, and sent me to school for a pittance. He didn't even give me a single kyat. Since I was going to get a wife from it, my father begged me to give him a fair share. I spent four years at Yangon University, but I was not able to get the degree that my father wanted me to get because I was interested in film and literature. I feel so sorry for my father.

I, who fell into the trap of marriage at a young age by disobeying my father, now have three children, just like my father. The two eldest are sons and the youngest is a daughter.

When I was faced with a financial crisis, I immediately thought of my father. I thought of how when my mother gave birth to a daughter, my father didn't want her and said, "If she's not a cow, I'll sell her." Then my father loved his daughter the most and lived with her.

I, like my father, didn't want my daughter. I don't know if I will still love my daughter as much as my father.

When my father and mother divorced, they built their own houses and lived independently. I was unable to get married, so we had to live in one house and another. When I left the village to start a business in Yangon, my