U Kyaw Tun. Unfinished story of my father and his cousins. Written in Deep River, 951231.
My earliest memory of my uncle ULay Thaung (u: lay: thaung:) was when I was about seven years old. He was one of my father's younger cousins, the son of U Po Thaw. U Po Thaw was my grandmother's Daw Chok's (daw choak) elder brother.
Though U Po Thaw whom I'd not seen had no Indian blood, U Lay Thaung was so much like an Indian, with dark skin, straight long nose, and hair on his chest, that he was asked at one time whether he was born in India. I believe he got his "Indian" genes from his mother whom I'd not seen either. The area where my ancestors came from, near Pagan the ancient capital of Burma, had a sizeable population with Indian features. These people would vow they had no Indian blood and that they were pure Burmans. Yet my guess is that they were descended from ancient Manipuri prisoners-of-war captured by the Burmese kings and allowed to settle in that locality.
U Lay Thaung at the outbreak of the World War II had not finished high school and so he must have been in his late teens or early twenties. Since, people in that area send their children to school only after the age of six or seven, and since it takes nine to ten years normally to finish high school (nine years to get "School Leaving Certificate", and ten years to pass "Matriculation Exam" set by the University of Rangoon), he could be in his teens. But as U Lay Thaung was not fond of serious work and got himself involved in political movements against the government of British-Burma, it was probable he must have spent more than one year in each class (or grade). So he could be well into his twenties when I met him.
It was early 1941, in Pauk, a small town west of Pakkokku about 100 miles east of the India-Burma border. My father was still in Kungyangon under orders from the British-Burma government not to evacuate his post. My mother heading a small party of refugees from war was in Pauk, staying under "the protection" of her husband's cousin U Kyi Zin. Babagyi U Kyi Zin (ba. ba. kre: u: kye zin) and father, whom I called Daddy, were very close -- more like brothers than cousins. It was my father's wish to put us under the protection of his "elder brother". (The Burmese do not differentiate between a brother and a first-cousin.)
U Lay Thaung had also been put under the protection of U Kyi Zin, to be away from the police who were not kind towards those who were involved in political movements.
U Lay Thaung was not very comfortable with young children, and I was by everybody's standard a difficult child. But because my father was away, my father's cousins took extra care to befriend me.
U Kyi Zin, the eldest of my father's cousin, was a well respected man in town. Probably there was a tinge of fear by men of the neighbouring district. He was much older than my father, whom as I've said before were considered to be one of the brothers by his cousins. According to the Burmese custom, the younger must always "obey" the "elder", and the "elder" must be fair, kind, and loving towards his or her younger. There is complete equality among the gender in respect to this order. Thus, my father would obey his elder "brother" U Kyi Zin, and U Kyi Zin would show utter fairness, kindness, and love in dealing with him.
When eventually my father arrived in Pauk, there were: U Kyi Zin, Daddy, U Tha Hsin, U Aung Myint, and U Ba Thaung - five brothers in all living near each other. And so U Lay Thaung was literally in the shadows all the time.
U Kyi Zin had served in Mesopotamia fighting for the British Empire in World War I. He was a marksman. After WWI was over he got a job with the Excise department - a government department that controlled alcohol and drugs. There was a tradition in my family that my great-grandfather U Yan Shin had a "pee-say" (pe: hsay:) cast over his body.
The Burmese believed that by certain magical charms hung around the neck or worn around the arm, amulets incorporated into one's body, magical concoctions tattooed into various parts of the body, the body came to be "protected" or "pee". A person can be "dah-pee" (da pe:) -- cannot be wounded or cut by a sword, "dok-pee" (doak pe:) -- cannot be harmed when beaten by a cudgel, "hlan-pee" (hlan pe:) -- cannot be pierced by a spear, etc. It was said, when you strike a dah-pee person with a sword, the sword would bounced back without leaving a cut. It was like striking a piece of rubber. The person would still suffer, but the injury would be the injury inflicted by a stick not a sword. Repeated strikes with a sword would finally do fatal harm to the victim due to internal bleeding, but as long as the victim did not give up his will to live, he would not die. Yet he would have no chance to live, and so finally even a dah-pee person had to die when he let go his will to live. However, those trying to harm a dah-pee would not dare to inflict a second blow, for the dah-pee could still have unused powers with which he could retaliate.
I don't know whether U Yan Shin tattooed his grandson U Kyi Zin or not. But he did tattooed my father on both the wrists.
The bad elements of the neighbourhood feared the descendants of the U Yan Shin for their "pee-says", for their fairness, and for their bravery. In case of U Kyi Zin, they thought they had a proof.
Sometime before the outbreak of WWII, as the Sub-Inspector of Excise, U Kyi Zin with only one assistant raided a nest of moonshiners. One of the waiting moonshiners struck him with a thick bamboo stick as he entered. U Kyi Zin fall, his right arm broken. With his left he unholstered his revolver, shot dead the person and apprehended the whole gang. (In those days firearms were scarce and U Kyi Zin was the only one who had a firearm). This episode earned him a promotion, and put fear into the hearts of all the bad hats, who true to their Burmese character respected a person of courage and extraordinary powers for it was said, the blow from the bamboo stick could easily kill an ordinary man.
(Years later, the younger daughter of U Kyi Zin told me the sequel to that raid. One of the sons of the moonshiners, joined the insurgents in the early 1950's, and vowed that he would kill U Kyi Zin. As the whole country was falling under one insurgent group or another, the compound in Ye-za-gyo (ray sa. kro) , where U Kyi Zin was living was surrounded by 500 hundred armed personal. The insurgents sent only about 100 to secure the town proper. U Kyi Zin and his eldest daughter, Ma Khin Oo defended from inside the house. A fire fight ensued. The daughter escaped, but U Kyi Zin was captured after he had shot his last bullet. Bounding him head and foot, the captors tested whether U Kyi Zin really had supernormal protection. They shot at him at point blank range. The gun failed to fire. Next, they struck him with swords, and the swords just bounced off. They beat him. And in order to nullify his pee-say, the women insurgents urinated on his head. Still, he would not die. They spent over four hours or so trying to kill him. But he would not die. Then came a Buddhist monk, who used to come for daily "soon" (rice) to his house. The monk reminded U Kyi Zin, that even the Buddha had to die, and there was not reason why U Kyi Zin should be enduring pain when it was absolutely sure that he was already dying from internal injuries. U Kyi Zin asked for a drink of water, and gave up his will to live. He died instantly. -- You may or may not believe the story, but I'm sure there still remained those who believe in the legacy of U Yan Shin.)
I remembered my Babagyi U Kyi Zin very well. Soon after our arrival in Pauk, he took me to his favourite toddy plantation. (The frond of toddy palm when cut would give out a thin clear sweet liquid, which on fermentation over several hours would give an intoxicating beer - known locally as "htan-ye-ga" (htan: ray hka:) or "bitter-toddy-liquid". Note: the Burmese word "ye" is spelled in two ways: when spelled one way it means "water" and the other "liquid".) The Burmese Buddhist were not adverse to alcoholic drinks, and Babagyi on learning that his nephew from Lower Burma (i.e. me) even when only six or seven was fond of "English" beer would not hesitate to let me taste his favourite "Burmese" beer. Of course, true to my "difficult" nature, I would reply "the T-beer is still superior".
Did U Lay Thaung came with Babagyi and me to the toddy plantation? I don't remember. Even if he did, he would be too scared of his eldest brother.
(U Kyi Zin, unlike his father U Po Thaw or his brother U Tha Din, had only one wife - Daw Twe. They had three children: Daw Khin Oo (Mama U to me), Daw Khin Than (Mama Than to me. She married U Tin Myint of Chauk Burma Oil Company), and Maung Ye Swe (who died soon after we left Pauk in 1942).)
Though my father was a cousin and not a brother to U Kyi Zin, all my father's cousins considered him to be one of their siblings. There are probably more than one reason how this came about.
U Yan Shin, the maternal grandfather of my father, had at least three children by his first wife Daw Htaik, and several more by his second wife whom he married after the death of his first wife. Daw Htaik was a Upper Burman (a. nya thu) whilst his second wife was a Lower Burman (auk thu).
In the area of Kyuakpadaung-Gwegyo (kyauk pa. daugn: - gway: cho) in Upper Burma, U Yan Shin was one of the local heroes being the son of Po Tagaung or his brother Po Mintha. U Yan Shin's family owned a large area of toddy palms, owned many horses, wielded administrative power under various Burmese kings, and had a large body of free men to serve under him in times of danger. (By a stretch of imagination, the Westerners might call him a "war-lord", but I must emphasize that unlike the war-lords of other countries, people like U Yan Shin never terrorize the people under their control.)
My father also described his grandfather as a horse-trader and said his grand-father had led down packs of horses from Upper Burma to Lower Burma many times. U Yan Shin had extraordinary memory, and he knew his way in the forest even in darkness by feeling the trunks of trees along the way. This very memory saved his life when he had to flee the wrath of the last king of Burma - but that is another story.)
U Yan Shin had moved his wife and two children (he had only two at that time) to Gyobingauk (kro. pin kauk) in Lower Burma when he came to know that he had to flee Upper Burma. Of the two children, my grandmother the younger, was about six years old.
The two children of U Yan Shin, the first U Po Thaw, and second Daw Chok were very close throughout their lives. And thus U Kyi Zin the eldest son of U Po Thaw, and U Tun Pe (my father) the eldest son of Daw Chok had very strong attachments to each other.
My father's father was an Indian, a Punjabe Muslim. How my grandmother came to meet him, and how they got married is never clear to me. (My first-cousin Gracie or kyaung-ma (kraugn ma.) or Miss Pussy-cat related to me that Daw Chok (our grandmother) told her how Daw Chok met our grandfather. He was one of the soldiers who came with the British troops during the Third Anglo-Burmese War. My grandfather was very tall, fair and very handsome. She immediately fell for him.)
My grandmother's family was typical Burman -- very fond of pork, whereas a Muslim would not even sit down to a dinner table that had a dish of pork on it. Because U Yan Shin was a fugitive from Upper Burma which was under the Burmese king, and Lower Burma was under the British, U Yan Shin probably had to deal with police in Gyobingauk. According to my uncle U Aung Myint, U Yan Shin known locally as Bo Yan Shin, led a body of armed men against the British for a time after the British annexed Upper Burma in 1886(?). Whatever the case may be it's clear U Yan Shin and British-Burma police always had a relation of sort which probably led to marriage of his daughter to my grandfather who eventually became a policeman.
Naturally, the Burman side would like to win over my father. And U Kyi Zin probably felt sorry for his younger cousin-brother who was only partly Burman.
Notes:
ULay Thaung. ULay (u:
lay:) in Burmese means younger brother (or cousin-brother) of one's mother.
BaDway (ba. dway:) means younger brother (or cousin-brother) of one's
father. However since, the word PaHtway (pa. htway:) meaning step-father
and the word BaDway are very similar when loosely pronounced, the word BaDway is
being dropped out of use. Thus, ULay now means the younger brother of a parent.