Thawtar Swe - A hundred years of memories and nostalgia

Golden Peacock

In 1946, I moved from Wetlet to Mandalay and was staying at the house of Tu Win Maung in Khand Tan Rak when a young man came one morning. I had never met him before and I did not know what he was doing, so I sat him down in a hurry, and he did not act boldly, but rather reluctantly came in and sat down. When I asked him about it, he said that he had written a novel and wanted me to look at it and edit it.

I have often met monks who have come to me with this kind of matter, and when I read their manuscripts, I have often encountered that they are not good enough to be printed, so I became very angry. (Later, Thaw Ta Swe, in a conversation about this, said, “When I first met U Gyi, I didn’t think much of him. But gradually, as time went on, I began to like him.”)

After asking about his occupation, residence, age, etc., and having a few words, I asked him to take his manuscript. The next time he came, Phoe Kyin Maung brought a sack of rice with the manuscript. I confessed my hobby of wanting to get paid for a time-consuming task, and I was suddenly happy to see the sack of rice, but I also remembered that I should not say that a poor manuscript is good because of this sack of rice, and I honestly refused the sack of rice. However, Phoe Kyin Maung insisted, saying, “I am giving it to you so that you can eat it.” I accepted it. Although I did not have time to read his manuscript right away, Phoe Kyin Maung came to talk to me from time to time, and although I did not know about the manuscript, I began to like the man more and more. One thing I noticed was that Phoe Kyin Maung was not a young man who wanted to be admired, boasted, and made a show of it. I think he is a simple, easy-going guy. This suggests that he is a young man who could have a long and fruitful relationship with me. One of my hobbies is catching and exposing people who brag (not a good hobby). If I catch them, they often get angry and start drinking.

Mutual understanding 

Phoe Kyin Maung and I had some similar interests (not intended to be a joke) and became friends over time. One day, Win Maung and I went to the Sagaing Mountains with him. I also took Phoe Kyin Maung’s manuscript. At first, when I read his manuscript, I immediately realized that it was a detective story, and I was quite worried. My worry was that my brother San Sha’s novels were based on the world-famous Sha’lock Home, and I thought that if he wrote a detective story, it would be difficult to make it an enjoyable novel. However, as I continued reading, I was happy to see that it was an enjoyable detective story. I told Phoe Kyin Maung about this, and he was happy too. That night, Phoe Kyin Maung and I talked about a hundred and eighty thousand words, and in one night we became very close and understood each other.

They came to a state of being. I have never experienced a situation where people can understand each other like sleeping together for a night and talking about what they want to say. I say that they can understand. I do not mean that they can like each other. Some people have also experienced situations where they only know each other and do not like each other. It seems that Phoe Kyin Maung recognized me as a teacher from that night, but he could not tell me what he taught me. (In fiction, there are also different groups. However, he did say that there are things about my writing that he liked. Although I am a famous translator, I advise Phoe Kyin Maung and Phoe Gyi Maung, who admit to being my two students, to give up early if they have intentions of becoming my translation students. I am very happy to hear that I wrote an introduction to Phoe Kyin Maung's detective novel and that it was successfully published by Shuma Wa.

One of a kind, one of a kind 

One day, Phoe Kyin Maung came to my house and said that he had brought a large bag of rice from his place (Pawngthing) to sell rice on the upper river, and that he would rent a motorboat and take the rice to Katha. I wondered if someone with such a good fortune had any intention of becoming a writer. In any case, on the day he was leaving, I went down to the wharf and greeted him, wondering if he was a rich man's son. Then, when Phoe Kyin Maung did not appear, I went to his house and inquired. When I heard nothing for eight months, I learned about the Aung Taw, which had just been completed and was still in a state of confusion, and I was worried that a rich man had taken over a camp. Meanwhile, I was moving from Kandyan to Gontan, and one day, Phoe Kyin Maung appeared and told me all about his rice merchant adventures, and I realized that his role as a rich man was just my imagination. One evening, as I was about to eat, I asked Phoe Kyin Maung to take me to the market to buy some fried rice. He returned after more than two hours and told me about his affair with a woman when he went to sell rice in Katha and how he had met her. We waited patiently, but when we were very hungry, we had dinner, so we had to eat the fried rice he had bought for lunch. Phoe Kyin Maung told me various stories about this woman and read various articles in magazines. I asked, “What is your name? You have been saying this and that, and which one is true?” He said, “The last one is true, sir.” When he changed his story again, I said, “Hey, Phoe Kyin Maung, you are making up another story. Which one should I believe?” He said, “This one is true, sir.” Finally, I said, “I don’t believe anything you say in this matter.” Phoe Kyin Maung’s great thing about writing about this girl is that he can only catch mistakes because he compares them with each other. If you read it alone, you will find that it is written in a logical way that makes you think that it is true, no matter what you read. What I am not satisfied with is this. In one of the stories, when Phoe Kyin Maung was being attacked by bad guys on the train, the girl was said to have covered herself up and protected him, so I thought of her as a heroine when I saw her. When I talked about this again, I said that the heroine's behavior was not consistent with the rest of the story, and that covering herself up was not the point. As a reader, I can't help but feel like I'm being ripped off after I've made an impression, so I said, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I don't trust your stuff anymore."