စိတ်ထဲရှိသမျှ

The truth is we are not alone in this long winding revolutionary journey, and we never were from the beginning. There may be a time when we can’t support each other physically, in the worst cases financially, however, have no doubts that we keep each other in our thoughts and prayers and are always with each other in spirit.  Allow me to quote the line the lady used in her collections of essays: letters from Burma:

The other day a taxi driver asked me how to say ပျောက်ကျား in English. “You meant camouflage?” I asked. Obviously I misunderstood his question.  “No no” he quickly replied. “You know Che Guevara, the revolutionist? I wanna know the strategy that he used?” He explained.  “Ah Guevarism” I said. “Well he used hit- and-run tactics, you know short surprise attacks, and withdrawing before the enemy can respond in force”  He said no more and I wasn’t sure he was satisfied with my answer or disappointed.  Still I have a trouble understanding

I got to know a young man named Robert a day before he got arrested.  We happened to share a free ride together that day.  He was full of beans and the happiest chap among 11 of us in the car. He told us that he was getting a tattoo that afternoon. Next day he showed off his new tattoo which read "Spring Revolution" in Burmese script to us.  We teased him that that tattoo would grant him at least 3 years sentence in a jail. He laughed that joke off and walked away.  It was lunch time when the news broke out that he was reportedly arrested. We all were worried about him and tried to

အကယ်၍ ဆိုသော်  နောက်ဆုံး  ဆုတောင်း ကဘာ ဖြစ်မလဲ။ What would be your last wish when you thought the finial moment had come for you?  Mine was fucking craving for Neapolitan ice-cream.  First mistake, ran into a dead end road. Second mistake, ran into a house on a dead end road.  Six soldiers showed up in the backyard, probably not knowing we were hiding in the

18th March 21: (memorandum) I woke up this morning to the news that shootings had started in Thamine township, near the flyover at 8:00 am. It saddens me that how Yangon has now turned into a battlefield without even me realising it.  At about 8:40 am I took a bus to Sanchaung and happened to share a seat with a woman, probably in her late 40s.  As the bus drove past Yangon University, we together saw even more people queueing in line in front of KBZ bank, Kamayut brunch.  All of them I reckon were waiting to

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to”, said the cat.  “I don’t much care where —” said Alice.  “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go”, said the cat — Alice in wonderland.

It had been about 3 and a half weeks.  Went out for dinner with Jess for the first time since I arrived back in town.  We talked about our travels mainly on Oceania and French Polynesia, then religions and wars.  She was a good to talk to. She explained to me about the differences between Christian and Muslin. I just listened to her, kept my mouth shut.  I was realising I knew nothing.