A Memorable Dinner in Sydney

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

A friend called me last Monday
To get a date for his dinner, he says
I was busy checking my things in array
But I gave him the nearest Wednesday.

The dinner was to be held in the City
There is no need to be freakish and giddy
He invited his closest friends as company
We have to start it at six thirty.

(L to R: Sitting: Mary, Nan Ommar, Rose Wong;
Standing: Raymond Tint Way, MMN, Dr Thomas Wong)

We’re ready by six O’clock in the evening
Nan and I were well dressed for the chilling
The Sydney weather has been changing rapidly
The fine weather was gone unexpectedly rabidly.

Dr Tint Way fetched us in time to the shop
His wife Mary was driving non-stop
She is daring and dexterous in driving
We’re awed at her expertise and felt liking.

Dr Thomas Wong was waiting for us
He was standing fast on the front porch part
Of the Golden Century Seafood Restaurant by name
It’s an established food emporium in Sydney acclaim.

Dr Rose was already sitting at a table
She has reserved it for us to be able
To sit and dine on arrival in style in time
People queue outside to get a table to dine.

Dr Tint Way introduced us to each other
We became fast friends in less than an hour
Thomas was a renowned photographer before
It’s the Central Photo studio in Yangon years of yore.

They left Burma after graduating as doctors in 1970
Practicing as practitioners together without frenzy
Two daughters were born and raised in Sydney
One has become a psychiatrist and married recently.

Both are pious Buddhists donating many
Money, materials and monastery plenty
Rose is now organizing meditation session
She offered one for Nan for Dharma fashion.

Food was darn delicious and good
Fried crabs, fresh abalones, seafood soup
Pork ribs in turnips, steamed broccoli and roast chicken
Steamed rice and Chinese sauce we enjoyed thickened.

Hot sweet seaweed and fried Chinese sweets
Fresh water melon slices to be eaten pleased
A dessert of pure Chinese invention and treats
You can only eat it I you order right in Chinese.

We talked, took photos and ate all the food
With feeling of joy and satisfaction so good
Reunion of long lost friends and family members
We promised to meet again if opportune whenever.

It’s indeed a memorable dinner in Australia
It will remain as part of a great memorabilia
Even the cold feeling disappeared from us

Warmth in our body and mind crept up
We value new friendship and fraternity
We hope it’ll last for ever with dexterity.

Dr Maung Maung Nyo
20.5.2010 (Original)

The Family Reunion 2010

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

We come to Sydney every year
Sometimes twice or thrice so dear
Thank the UNIMAS for supporting us
It has paid us to travel enough.

Sydney is far away from Malaysia
We have to fly about seven hours
From Kuala Lumpur to Sydney
We enjoy it without any timidity.

We have flown for about eleven times
Our daughters welcome us with warm smiles
Our hearts leap up whenever we see them agile
Children make the parents' lives worthwhile.

This time Ei and hubby saw us at the airport
They drove us in their car past Kingsford
To reach Yupar’s house in Maroubra
She was waiting by cooking Mohinga.

It’s the second of May we arrived here
It’s sunny and warm the weather is clear
Although cooler than in Kuching where we live
We’re comfortable with the weather as it is.

Nan and I went to the East Gardens the next day
The sun was shining and weather fine to feel gay
We’re no strangers to Sydney as we stay
We’ve been here since early 2000 without fail.

Yupar has bought everything in her kitchen
May May has only to clean and cook them
In Burmese-style cuisine they like since young
All of them join the dinner to cheer us with fun.

Nan Ommar cooks most of the time
I cook sometime one in nine
Once I cooked the crabs bought by Yupar
They applauded my curry as being super.

They would take us to nearby malls and marts
For strolling, speaking and shopping not to idle us
They would buy scarves, shoes and souvenirs as gifts
They give us generously forgetting the word thrifts.

One day we went to the East Gardens
It’s a magnificent mall so big and grand
Many marts, movie theatre and all utility offices open
It’s a one-stop shopping mall complex to commend.

We went to the Circular Quay on the third Sunday
We had to take a taxi as no buses ran that day
As the half-Marathon contest was done that morning
We enjoyed our trip around the Opera House fawning.

It’s a wonderful view to see the Harbor Bridge
At the backdrop of the Opera House on the cliff
Clear blue water and sky sandwich the sailing ships
We’re happy taking photos with high spirits.

We then went to a Chinese restaurant in Kingsford
Where Yupar and Ei have lived together with comfort
Ei and hubby still living though working elsewhere
Food is plenty and neighborhood is good there.

Yupar foots the bill for feeding us today
Aung orders all kinds of food for her to pay
Roast duck, pork ribs, fried fish, prawns and broccoli
Watercress, warm watery soup completes the meal.

Ei had already paid for our lunch in the Bagan Shop
A Chinese Burmese Restaurant at another stop
All dishes there were sweet like the Chinese
They bear the Burmese name only to be Burmese.

But the decorations there were authentic Burmese
From a water color painting to a gold-embroidered piece
That has an elephant and people renowned as Buddhists
They’re roaming the country before they robe on as novices.

A friend or two spoke on the phone
They wish to see me at their homes
But I have no time for such luxury alone
I’m enjoying my family reunion only at home.

Dr Maung Maung Nyo
17.5.2010 (original)

Note: UNIMAS = Universiti Malaysia Sarawak in Kuching, Sarawak,
Malaysia

What is This Life or Forum?

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

“What is this life if,, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?”

I learned it in a poem for ever first
When I was in the premedical class
At the No.1 State High School in Mandalay
That was in 1954 in its heydays.

Now there is a forum here
That we like it so dear
Reading it daily near
Blogs and blots blur or clear

Written in English or Pidgin
In prose poem fact or Fiction
That we try to understand its meaning
We’re Burmese capable of gleaning or interpreting!

Bloggers’ ages vary from eighteen to eighty
From undergrads to postgraduates of lately
From singles and spinsters to newly weds and granny
Posting personal things to political themes plenty

Some supporting ASSK and NLD so obvious
Others claiming neutral and NGOs but
Dancing delicately with the demonic regime
They claim they are the true benevolent beings.

Some suggest us to start simple solutions
To raise the standard of medical education

In Burma by collecting money and books
From abroad and donate them to look
Like replacement for lost books at IM 1 or updated about
It’s like sprinkling sesame seeds to elephant’s mouth.

When the Nargis Cyclone hit Lower Burma
It was the most severe natural disaster ever
More than a Lakh died and many more missing
Properties destroyed and earth inundated within
Foreign governments and NGOs offered to help
But the government sat still doing nothing else
Some in the forum were furious demanding action
They forgot the forum is a forum and not an organization!

There are no office bearers on this forum
Except the moderators or coordinators as locum
But they wield quite a lot of lethal weapon or power
They may stop, delay or withdraw a blog for ever
Without ever telling the reason why to the author
It’s not here- say but personal experience to abhor.

Although professional in its statement and design
Non-medics and others can join without any sign
Some pseudonyms are really funny they can claim
Anglo-Pali or Pali-Burmese combination names
Sometimes animal and bizarre Burmese nomenclature
It really chuckles me to see them as doctors in this endeavor!

Some people became doctors because of their matric marks
Or because their mothers have money from the marts
They just don’t know what a doctor, degree or diploma means
They think every qualification is a higher degree in the profession
Some think his specialty is the most special in the whole world
I remember Ledi Sayadaw ridiculing D.Lit. of the RU offered!

A university has its vision and mission
It also has a logo emblem and diction
The peacock is the emblem of RU and Burma
Red Cross is emblem of the society all over the world

Only the snake and staff represents medicine
Asclepius is the owner of that serpent-twined staff scene
One reader told me a doctor claims Nightingale
To be the epitome of physicians in the hilarious way!

Oh, Dear me! What can I say?
When people have their way
Right or wrong they don’t care
They don’t have time to stand and stare
In that situation they are not to blame
They are not seeking their fame
Or they probably don’t care their name
After all, life is too short and no one is to blame!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo
12.5.2010 (original)

On the Eve of the Mother’s Day Today

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

It’s a bright sunny day in Sydney
Nan Ommar gets up early itchy
To celebrate the Mother’s Day
With her two daughters as Amay

(Mother Dr Nan Ommar)

But Yupar has to go somewhere else
She remembers Ingyin for help.

(Miss Ingyin in front of the Pacific Square Building)

Ei and her hubby invite Ingyin to our dinner
To come and enjoy the Yaun Cha a winner
At the Golden Unicorn Restaurant near Pacific Square
She readily agrees to honor the fair.

( L to R: Dr Nan Ommar, Ingyin , Dr MMN)

Ingyin is the granddaughter of U Kyaw Shein
An old friend of mine with good name
He was president of the Mandalay Hall fame

(L to R: Aung Myo Kyaw, Ei Sabai Nyo, Dr NOM)

Now a Patron of the Old Students of the same
Working as president of the Hninsi Gone
That’s famous as an old-aged home.

(L to R: Ingyin, Ei, NOM, MMN)

We arrive early at the Yaun Cha place
Having to wait for them with grace
Seeing,greeting, speaking with each other
Photographing and poking fun at one another
Recalling and reveling the past mother’s day
It makes us happy, hilarious and gay.

( L to R: Ingyin, Aung Myo Kyaw, NOM)

Ei and Aung Myo Kyaw come first
They walk leisurely towards us
Speaking, smiling and greeting

(Ingyin and Dr NOM)

Then Ei climbs the stairs wishing
To have a dinner table reserved for five
The restaurant is fully packed tight.

(The Pacific Square Building in Sydney)

Fortunately Ei could reserve a table
We all are happy as horses out of the stable
As Ingyin also galloping from the Pacific Square
We all shout in joy to greet her with fun fare.

(The Golden Unicorn Chinese Restaurant)

We photograph each other and in group
Like taken by a news reporter for scoop
Restaurants is crowded and tables close
We eat Yaun Cha of variety that we chose.

(An Old Building with Clock Tower near the Restaurant)

Ingyin is sweet and smiling
Capable of speech and replying
To whatever is asked by us
She is alert, ambitious and smart.

( Ei Sabai Nyo and Aung Myo Kyaw)

We have a very delicious dinner
We eat with chopstick, fork and finger
Prawn, fish, chicken, pork and veggie green
With sticky rice and Chinese tea in between

( L to R: Ei, Aung, Ingyin, NOM, MMN)

The waitresses come one after another
With baskets of steamed edibles under cover
But our stomachs cannot take any more
We have to leave the table and go!

(Dr MMN and Dr NOM)

It’s a memorable Mother’s Day
As we could no longer eat and stay
At the Yaun Cha shop the whole day
All expenses whatever Nan Ommar pay

(A Chinese Statue in the Restaurant)

Health and happiness to Nan Ommar
May all mothers be happy and healthy like her!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo
May 8, 2010 (Original)

Note: Mother's Day in Australia falls on the 9th of May 2010 tomorrow.
The Yaun Cha Restaurant will be fully crowded then. So we eat today.
Yaun Cha = Chinese food in dishes covered in steamed baskets, and
the customers choose what they like that was served in series.