U Kyaw Tun. This is the a story of my mother's childhood days in Moulmein (maw la. myaign) Written in Deep River, 960101.
All the children of the Chu's house called him Ah Shok. He must have passed his sixtieth birthday many years ago, but he didn't really know and he didn't really care.
Years ago Ah Shok had come from China as a young lad of about twenty. Strong in body, with a smile on his lips all the time, he could befriend all those who came his way, and some said that was quite rare a quality in a Cantonese.
Many more years ago Mr. Chu who himself had come from Canton to seek his fortune in Moulmein. Now that he had become a wealthy merchant, Mr. Chu had taken this young immigrant under his wings as was the custom of oversea Chinese.
How Mr. Chu called Ah Shok, or what the real name of Ah Shok was, I don't know. My mother had not told me. Maybe she didn't know, for she was still a child of ten or so at that time.
First Mr. Chu had tried Ah Shok as a general help in his general stores. After a time, thinking that Ah Shok had enough native intelligence, he had been asked to do simple bookkeeping. After a while Mr. Chu had to give up. Ah Shok, in spite of his pleasing demeanor, was lacking in intelligence. From that time onwards Ah Shok had been a general help in Mr. Chu's store.
Now, Mr. Chu had been dead many years, and Ah Shok had become old. Yet, Mr. Chu's family kept Ah Shok in their service doing almost nothing. He had been given quarters in the shed on the hill at the back of the house. Ah Shok was given enough monthly allowance, so he could live in relative comfort.
The children loved Ah Shok, which meant "Uncle". He did not interfere with them when they came to play in the shed. There were about two dozens of them, all related to Mr. Chu, and some more from the neighbourhood. There were Chinese children, Sino-Burmese children, and even Indian children.
When, the children asked Ah Shok to keep a monkey to play with, Ah Shok spent some of his own money to buy a young monkey. They named her "Sun-na", and they had lots of fun playing with her, until one day when Ah Hpwa Ma Nyein found out. That was the end of the "ill-luck bringing" monkey. Not that Sun-na had brought any ill-luck. It was the Burmese and the Mon superstition about monkeys.
It had been raining for weeks. And when, it rained in Moulmein, it really poured. Every thing inside the house smelled moldy, and every thing felt clammy and limp. Today, the rain had let up a little, and the children in twos and threes started gathering in the shed.
First to arrive was Annie and Mary. They were used to the smell of Ah Shok's cooking. The smell they got as they approach was extremely pleasing. Ah Shok must have been barbecuing or roasting some dried beef strips - a. me: chauk. hpok. /. (a. me: chauk. - dried beef strip. hpok. - roasted.) They hurried inside. Yes, the pleasant odour was coming from the fire-place. But, what they found made them burst out laughing.
Then came the three brothers, Ah Waing, Ah Foo and Ah Mein. They were younger than Annie and Mary. As soon as they got they smell, they rushed in.
"Where's a. me: chauk. hpok. ? Where's a. me: chauk. hpok.? Leave some for us!"
"There's your a. me: chauk. hpok. , have your fill".
The brothers laughed out in turn. What they saw was a pair of old shoes of Ah Shok smouldering in the fire!
Notes:
Lui Chu, husband of my
mother's younger aunt Ma Yin. My mother's mother, Ma Kyin (the eldest) had two
younger sisters, Ma Yin (wife of Lui Chu), and Ma Hsin (a spinster). Ma Kyin's
mother was Ma Mei Ma.
Ah Shok (a. shoak)
Cantonese for 'uncle'.
Ah Hpwa Ma Nyein
(spinster?), sister or cousin of Ma Mei Ma. Ah Hpwa (a. hpwa:) was
'grandmother' (a. hpwa:) to my mother.
Annie and Mary. Annie
was school name of my mother's first-cousin Ma Than and Mary was my mother's
school name.