Thawtar Swe - The End and the Crossroads

( 1)

“Ko Htun Oo... May I apologize to you again? It's time to think about the future of your children. You should cut ties with these people and focus on your business.”

"Hey.. Tin Tin Cho, come on, even if you don't want to help, don't interfere with what I believe in and what I'm doing. When the whole country is starving, I'm the only one who can help."

"Is it okay to be rich? The children are still young. They will grow up to be like that. Don't be idle and get hot."

Ko Htun Oo replied as he closed the thick book he was reading, took off his glasses, and wiped them with the cloth he was wearing.

The two-story house in a suburb of Mandalay is not modern, but it is neat and tidy. The flowers in the yard are always in bloom because they are cared for and cared for. The owner of the two-story house is a journalist named Ko Htun Oo. However, his wife, Daw Tin Tin Cho (BA BED), a high school teacher, is better known than Ko Htun Oo, so people call it the house of Daw Tin Tin Cho.

The teacher, Daw Tin Tin Cho, is about 35 years old, fair-skinned, and not too tall. Although she is a little plump for her height, she looks good. She is a teacher who likes to be disciplined in everything she does. She grew up in an English-speaking school, and in addition to teaching her students, she also taught them social skills, health, and home crafts in her spare time. She gave her two children, Maung Sein Tun and Maung Tin Tun, time to grow various vegetables in the small plot of land behind the house, according to the season, and she herself supervised the cultivation of flowers. That is why, even though there is no garden, the flowers are blooming in abundance.

Maung Sein Tun and Maung Tin Tun, two brothers, like other students their age, would not have time to go to the cinema or the market on school days. They would do whatever they wanted, read, and sometimes listen to the radio when they had time, before going to bed early. Sometimes they would sell vegetables and flowers from their garden to an old woman who would sell them, and then they would earn money.

Daw Tin Tin Cho would divide the money equally between the two brothers. The market woman would give them money in special praise, but they would say, “I don’t want to get it for free.” Both brothers would refuse and refuse to accept it. Even the money they received every day would never be used up. Sometimes, when visitors from the countryside came, they would give half of it back to their father, who was in need of money, and they would spend the extra money on books and magazines. Both brothers learned to rely on themselves from an early age.

Ko Htun Oo is about 40 years old and works as an associate editor at a newspaper. He is dark-skinned, tall, thin, and has good eyebrows. He wears glasses, is very quiet, and lives with a modest family. Although he works as a newspaper editor, his real life is that of a secret organizer of a jungle party.

Ko Tun Oo and Tin Tin Cho were a married couple who had been married for two years before World War II. At that time, they had both just left school. Ko Tun Oo had been an important student political leader during his student days. However, he did not want to be in the limelight and only later took up active roles. The way Ko Tun Oo and Tin Tin Cho were married was not unusual. Tin Tin Cho’s parents were middle-class brokers and were quite wealthy. Ko Tun Oo’s father was a retired city official, and both parents agreed to marry.

It was only a couple. His in-laws wanted Ko Htun Oo to join their business. However, Ko Htun Oo did not try to fulfill his in-laws' wishes. As soon as he left school, he plunged into politics. Although both of them had entered university in the same year, Ko Htun Oo gave priority to student activities, so Tin Tin Cho managed to pass his BA and B.Ed exams in the same year, and he passed the BA exam.

At that time, the whole country was protesting against colonialism, and although Tin Tin Cho was not interested in the politics her husband was involved in, she did not object and helped in any way she could.

The salary she earned as a school teacher was used only for her husband's political expenses, until her husband finally joined the Burmese Army (BDA) for the fascist revolution.

After the war, Ko Htun Oo resigned from the Burmese army and settled in Mandalay. As an only child, his parents died during the war, leaving him with a small house and a small amount of his father’s life insurance money. Tin Tin Cho also got a job as a schoolteacher in Mandalay and they lived together. Tin Tin Cho’s parents also died, so Tin Tin Cho wanted her husband to run their parents’ brokerage business. Although the broker had passed away, he still had a reliable manager and skilled workers, and some business acquaintances were ready to lend him capital if needed.

However, Ko Htun Oo joined the communists during the revolution and studied Marxism during his student days, becoming a true communist. Therefore, after the fascist revolution ended and he resigned from the army, he participated in the communist movement again. However, he did not want to be in the limelight, so he only participated later, so no one knew that he was a communist. Very few people even knew that he was involved in politics. Therefore, the entire communist party went into hiding, armed

He was able to carry out his organizing duties from the ground and provide the necessary assistance secretly, without having to go with anyone. His current editorial job also provided him with support from one side. However, he was also ready to go with him to the jungle if necessary. He kept this secret, not even from his wife.

Daw Tin Tin Cho was naturally very worried about her husband not only not being able to encourage him to enter the business world, but also because he was once again in contact with a dangerous jungle revolutionary. Therefore, Daw Tin Tin Cho often used various methods to persuade her husband to change his mind, as mentioned above. The couple did not use the titles of "Khin" and "Maung" like other couples, but they called each other "Ko Htun Oo" and "Tin Tin Cho" just like they did when they were students.

"It has to be hot, can I live without it? It's not like you're doing it, but if you can't live without politics, why are you doing business on the other side? Now I don't want to talk about it anymore. It's just unnecessary."

"That's not true, you can never do both jobs effectively. What, you're just talking about business and sitting around doing nothing?"