The world built with fidelity (သစၥာတရားျဖင္႔တည္ေဆာက္ထားတဲ႔ကမၻာ) Mandalay University ေနာက္ခံ ဇာတ္လမ္းေလးတစ္ပုဒ္

THE WORLD BUILT WITH FIDELITY
by Khon Set (Tampawady)  

In the University of Mandalay, one of the melting pots of Myanmar society, colorful students from different parts of the country meet and say good-bye annually. Of course, that’s where some love stories bring about happy endings and some breed sad endings. That’s where the strongest friendship and love are formed and the bitterest hatreds and the deepest hurt may be encountered during the life of a student. And, whatever aim we have, whatever sentiment we feel, and to whatever extent we have achieved our goals, it is for sure for all of us to face a certain day, certain time, and certain moment ahead of us waiting, this is, parting. Yet, some of them get together again at an unexpected place. On the other hand, parting doesn’t mean reunion for the rest……

Part A

With the last breath of today, everything is going to be silent and the stream of the bicycles steadily flowing here and there is going to disappear in this main campus. Unknown hunger and anger of certain groups of students spread like an infectious disease and it has caused all the universities to shut down unexpectedly in December, 1996. So, students have to pack their bags and go back home with no idea of when to return to continue their education. Some students are ready to head their native towns with no difficulty. However, some are not. They don’t find it very easy to do so. They wish time passing by could be stopped or stretched out so that they can spend more time with friends or someone special, and have some more fun and hang out with them. Because, it is an abrupt parting. Anyway, they have to accept it after the very early sunlight of tomorrow. They have to…

Scene 1

The morning is shrouded by the early-morning fog in Mandalay. At Unison Teashop, on 73^rd street, near the northern entrance gate of the University of Mandalay, ambient music is played. The teashop is full of students as usual. Some students are having a chat sitting around the respective table and some lovers, sitting at the table on the lovely small bridge built across Yee Ni Myaung (narrow ditch). However, defying the freezing cold weather of the winter, the two lovers are at their rendezvous, the University Damma Yone, where he usually waits for her. They are sitting closely side by side with hands held tight. There are very few passer-by in front of them today.

“Ko Min, don’t get too upset. There must be a certain future for us to meet again and then we’ll spend the rest of our life together – till the end of this world, I promise.” A few words of consolation breaks the cold silence between them.

“I believe so, but I wonder when it will be.” He says while looking into her watery eyes.

She leans her head on his broad chest with a heavy sigh and he puts his left arm around her shoulder.

“I am leaving for home early tomorrow. My parents are arriving this afternoon to pick me up.” She says, looking up at him in his arm. And he eyes her face as if he were a student who is trying to memorize the lessons for the exam. In fact, he has already printed her appearance on his heart.

“I see. Anyway, I’ll be watching this girl called Poe Ei Phyu leave from a distance since I can’t see her off in front of her hostel.” He says with a benevolent simile and continued. “And I’ll be missing that girl so much.”

She tweaks his cheek and replies.

"Me too, I’ll be missing this naughty boy called Min Pyae Sone Win, with long hair and an earring, but smart enough to be mine.”

Cold chuckles of the last date take place/linger for a while before a quick exchange of kisses.

 

Scene 2

The way they became lovers was not very different from that of the others. They simply met each other at a spoken English class, where there were learners of English woken up by the deep relalization of the importance of the English language for the upcoming year: ‘The visit Myanmar year 1996’.

Po Ei decided to continue staying in Mandalay for that summer holidays. So, she asked for their permission. As soon as she was given the green light, she tried to get some information about the computer and language centers. Finally, she made up her mind to do those courses at the nearest centers from the hostel she was staying in on the main campus. She chose Summit for English class and KMD for the computer course.

In the spoken English class, there was a regular unit activity that all the students had to take part in after each unite had finished. The activities were designed to cover the main themes of each unit. Min Pyae was feeling like a fish out of water during the activity being carried out. It was the very first day for him to start the course and there was no one he knew. Moreover, he was supposed to engage in the activity of introducing himself to others, like every student was doing. They were directed to walk around the classroom, to introduce themselves and to talk about themselves to other students. It was not a difficult activity. He felt very shy to speak in English, though. While watching his classmates talking, he heard someone trying to get his attention from behind.

“Excuse me, Excuse me!”

He turned around and looked at where the voice came. And there he saw a girl with glasses, standing behind him. She was wearing her hair in two plaits which were placed on her chest. She was a beautiful girl in a tartan skirt and white T-shirt. The girl smiled at him and introduced herself in clear voice.

“My name is Poe Ei Phyu. But, everyone calls me Poe Ei.”

He still couldn’t find suitable words to respond. Anyway, she continued.

“You must be a new student here. I haven’t seen you in this class before. By the way, what’s your
 name?”

Even though he couldn’t catch all her words, he knew how to tell his name.

‘Ah…. Yes. m-my …n-name … is..Min Pyae Sone Win.’ He stuttered a bit.

“Where do you live?”

‘Mandalay,’ he gave her an incomplete answer.

“I see. And I am from Taung Gyi in southern Shan state. It is very famous for its festival of flying fire
balloons called Ta Saung Tai festival. I really enjoy it and I’m proud of that. You see?”

Not fully understood, he nodded his head quickly and said,

‘Yes… yes… I see.’

She kept on talking about this and that. He kept on listening to her. He understood some of what she was talking about but did not understand the rest. While talking about herself, she asked him some questions that they had studied in the unit. It was going to be time to stop the activity. He was really impressed with how fluently she spoke English. Choosing the right words in mind to highly praise her skill, he was listening and looking at her rosy cheeks. ‘What a beautiful girl!’ He thought.

Time was up. She stopped practicing with him and said good-bye. As she was on the point of turning around to leave, he tried to compliment on her fluency in English.

‘Excuse me.’

She looked back at him sideways and waited for his words.

‘Well…’   ‘Well….you…are…very beautiful.’

He put his foot in it! It finally made her face red with shyness … however, without a trace of embarrassment, she said to him, “Oh, I can’t help it. I know I was born beautiful.”

It was a very beautiful evening for both of them!

Scene 3

She retold her friend all about what had happened in the class that evening when she got to the hostel. She was really surprised at why she was so friendly to a boy she just met and was angry with herself for having told him about real facts of her life. Did she really want him to know that? Why, then? Besides, she couldn’t forgive herself for not being able to avert her eyes from his piercing black eyes. Anyway, the conversation she had with him in the class was blissful. She couldn’t easily erase the memory of that evening.  In her mind, she kept seeing the way he looked, the way he smiled and the way he talked to her. “Is it called Love?” she wondered. Finally, she accepted one of her friend’s comment that she had already found a love she was not looking for.
            That night, she dreamed about him!

Scene 4

            Starting from the following day, they became friends. Even though the summer English course was over, they were still together as best friends in the University campus. They spent their time together. After the class, they usually hung out at “Pan Lay Pyae” teashop that was situated on 73^rd street, northern edge of the Army market near the University. But, sometimes at Ruby.

She was a first year honorary student, majoring in English and, she went to the library to study in most of her free time. On the contrary, he was a second year student and was doing an English course. But for him, the library seemed to be located out of the world; he had never been there. However, there was a custom strongly lied between them; the one who finished class earlier than the other had to wait at ‘the University Damayone’ near Yadanabon College (It used to be MUFL.).  He very often got there earlier to wait for her.

            There she came. He smiled at her as a greeting. She was making a long face. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked while they were about to sit on the fourth step of the stair of the University Religious building.
“OK with tutorial. But, I am not very well. I feel very cold and my hands are very icy, I think.” She let him touch her right hand. But, he held it in his hand and said, ‘yah, it’s very cold! Why don’t you see a doctor?’ he said without releasing the hand. “It’s OK. I will take some medicine when I get to the hostel.” With shyness showing face, she pulled her hand back from his and leered at him. Then, she talked about how much she was missing her parents and how much she was feeling homesick. While listening to her, he felt like holding her hand again. That’s why, he suddenly tugged the hand and said, ‘Let me see if it’s still cold.’ She was trying to pull it back but he kept gripping until they made eye contacts. They were looking at each other for several moments. He finally got what he had hidden in his mind off his chest.

‘I love you, Phyu. I’ve loved you since I first saw you looking at me with those eyes in the spoken English class. I love you.”

            After love was confirmed, they didn’t run or walk around the university campus like the lovers in films. Furthermore, there was no background music playing for those newly proclaimed lovers except glances of passers-by and loud jokingly comments from a group of girls who passed by. “Hey, let the handsome boy alone!”
            Anyhow, autumn leaves, which were twirling on the ground from the trees near them, was a beautiful and unforgettable memory for their life together. 

Scene 4

But for now, the streets, which were usually crowded with students, in the university campus is clear. The tables, where couples sat, at the small shops are empty. The shady trees in the university campus are lonely.  The classrooms with no teachers and students are looking forward to their children coming back to their warm bosoms.

Part – B

The world built with fidelity

            The winter of Mandalay elapsed when March comes with its intense heat of the summer of 1997. Everyone in town is as usual; they go to work, have fun with their friends, and spend time with their family. He is now helping his parents’ business at home. His parents has run a traditional arts and handy crafts sales and woodcarving production center at where he usually works during school breaks. In the evening, he goes to the spoken English class where he has found his other half to brush up on his English skill. There is another thing he does, too: sending love letters to and looking forward to receiving a letter from her. The endless reminiscences of the days he was with her encroach on him every second and keeping a diary to let her read on the day they get together again has been part of his daily routine. However, a reunion with the one he loves is still standing in the far-off future!

Scene 5

1998-1999

Almost all the university students are all ears to find out when the universities may reopen. Most of them are suffering from a thirst of student-life and want to get a degree as soon as possible. Some have been working toward the engineering diploma at Government Technical Institute in Mandalay for two years in hope of having a better living with it. The ones who have jobs during the day take the evening sections. On the contrary, some don’t pay too much attention to any degree for their own. Some of the students are working as salespersons at stores, and on farm in their village. Some have started devoting their lives as tuition teachers for secondary and high school students. Some got married.

A trace of reopening all the universities starts with the exam all the students missed in 1996.  The exam is held at the high schools. The students must go and sit exam at the particular schools in the region where they live.

Two weeks after the exam, he receives the letter from the one he was dying to hear from. It says all about how effectively she has been spending her time lonely and expecting to meet him again as in the old days. Besides, she wishes him good luck with his engineering course he is taking in the evening. He wonder how she knew about him!

In December 2000, all the universities reopen. But, students have to continue studying at newly opened universities. The students and educational staff of Mandalay University are transferred to Yadanarbon University situated in the southern part of Mandalay and the eastern part of the famous wooden bridge, called U Pain Ta Tar in Amayapura Township.

The life of the Yadanarbon students starts with wave of dust following after the school bus along the way from the Yangon-Mandalay high-way to the University and the cloud of dust rises in the air and enters into the school bus when it stops and another bus roars past. However, it is not able to cover and hide the smiles on the faces of students. The rural scenery of the neighborhood around the Yadnarbon University has become perfect and more alluring with laughter of students and the sound of teaching and learning, coming from the classrooms … However, that there lies in the deepest heart of all the students is their Alma Mater – The University of Mandalay…

Scene 6
            Poe Ei Phyu, a second year honors student of English, arrives at Mandalay one week after the University reopens. "Mandalay has not changed a lot within four years." She whispers. But, she accepts that there is only tremendous upheaval to all the university students is that no student is allowed to board at university hostels. So, Poe Ei manages to live in a private hostel where two of her friends are staying. She is very excited to meet some of her old friends in school and is buzzed-up about the unexpected reunion with her one and only. After settling at the hostel, she plans what to do tomorrow. Po Ei and her friends have a long chat about this and that, including someone who has been looking for a girl coming from Taung Gyi. She discusses her great plan with her friends. Finally, they decide to visit Yadanarbon University since they have never been there…
The next morning, she registers for the new course at the student affairs at Mandalay University. After that, she and her friends take No. 3 bus and head for Yadanarbon University. On the way, she is feeling shy to meet him and wondering.
"What if he has a new girl with him?"
The thought strikes her and worries her a little bit.
Scene 7
            Min Pyae cannot stay focused on the lecture given in the class this morning. He keeps pretending as if he was paying attention to it instead. Sometimes, he glimpses the womb of one of his classmates, sitting beside him. She is pregnant now. She got married the year before the universities reopened. According to her, it is her second pregnancy! ‘What if Poe Ei is like this?’ his neighborhood, the pregnant student, gives him a thought. He sighs and shakes his head, ‘It’s impossible.’
            He wishes the lecture finished as soon as possible so he can go to Mandalay University to meet his other half if she has arrived. Last week, he went there. He did not see her, but got some information about her from her friends that she would be there in one week.
The first lecture of the day is over. He gets out of the classroom before another lecturer comes. He walks on the corridor in front of his classroom and takes the right turns into the connecting way to the Main
building. A lot of students are heading for the classroom. Only he is heading for different direction – to the bus stop. Suddenly, his attention is drawn back when he gets to Rector Office.
"Excuse me. Ex…cuse… me!"
He stops and turns back. To his surprise, there she is!
"My name is Poe Ei Phyu. But, my boyfriend calls me Phyu. And I hear a poor student of this University is looking for me and dying to see me. So, I am here to take him by surprise and tell him that it is the future of the last four years he has been waiting for."
He is absolutely amazed at what is happening now. He can’t believe his ears and eyes. While gaping at her face, his eyes move to her womb…… She is also keeping her eyes on the girl going past them as if one of them might take him away from her……
‘Yes, ma’am. This is the future I have been waiting for!’ he takes one step closer toward her and grasps her hands, slipping his mind on two of her friends and the passer-by…….

 

The world built with fidelity

            The beauty of the U Pain Bridge is reinforced by the spectacular scenery of Min Own ranges from the west, Shan ranges and the village covered with toddy trees from the east, the indistinct shape of the Mandalay hill from the north, and vast area of fields from the south for the visitors.
            Reunion of the long lost lovers is taking place in the middle of the U Pain Bridge. Two of her friends keep walking to the other side of the bridge and leave them alone.
"Say, what did you do during last four years?" Poe Ei asks, swaying her legs backwards and forwards which are hanging down from the bridge.
            ‘Well, I did a lot of writing, especially keeping a diary to prove how difficult it was to forget a girl with glasses, long black hair and a girl called Poe … Ei… Phyu.’ He tries to look into her eyes. She still averts her face from his black eyes and hangs her head down in shyness. So, he puts his left arm around her shoulder and she leans her head on his shoulder. This is the very first time for them on a date since they last met.
"What a coincidence! Me too. Let’s exchange diaries for our reunion!" she enthusiastically says.
They look into each other eyes. But, she couldn’t stand his piercing black eyes for long. So, she hangs her head down in shyness again.
"Actually, I have a lot to tell you about how I missed you and how I felt lonely during the last four years. But, I have no idea where to start now." She says.
‘Do you know why?’ he asks.
"No, I don’t know. Why?" she wants to know.
‘It is because you are now mesmerized by a very … very handsome and caring guy… called …….’
"Min Pyae Sone Win, right?" she interrupts, looking into his eyes and pinches his stomach.
‘Ouch, that’s what you might have missed, right? But, I thank you for not substituting another belly!’
"Never, ever since I have this poor stomach to pinch as hard as I want till the end of this world!" she does it harder for several times……
‘Ouch’ … ‘Ouch’
"Hey… stop torturing the handsome guy!"
            Playful shouts from a group of girls passing by make them remember the very first day of their romantic life. They look at each other and smile. While he puts his arms around her, she pinches his stomach again! "Ouch!" Chuckles scatter into the cool breeze blowing across the Taung Tha Man Lake.
  

THE END
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