The Making of Modern Pagan (Bagan)

The Making of Modern Pagan (Bagan)

Just February this year
We returned to Burma
To pay homage to Shwedagon pagoda
To donate our belongings to monasteries
And to visit Pagan, the ancient country.

We flew to Pagan by Yangon Airways
From Yangon International airport the next day
After our arrival from Kuching by Silk Way
That was luxurious and most comfortable
It provided food drinks and refreshments all day.

We arrived in Pagan in the afternoon
Too soon to sleep and too late to tour
So we wandered in the Thiripyitsaya Hotel compound
Until we found a pony cart to take us around
We dined at famous Shwe Myan Mar food court
That is clean, cheap and hospitable with tourists aboard.

After the dawn the next day
We hired a sedan with daily pay
We went from pagoda to pagoda earnestly
Kowtowing, photographing and buying every thing
That is interesting, mesmerising and exciting.

All the children are there
From nine ten to twenty years
Selling statuettes, postcards and pictures
Telling us to purchase them as souvenirs
To help them eat and enroll at school this year.

We went to gourd pagoda (Bu Phaya) on the Irrawaddy
That is the handwork of legendary King Pyu Saw Hti
It was once lily white and a conspicuous Ceti
But now it is golden and unrecognizable for me
I wonder where is history.

We paid homage to Shwezigon and Abe-yadana
We offered gold and money to Thatbinnyu and Anandar
The Cetis are clean and gleaming with gold colour
But, we observed the modern bricks and mortars there
In repairing the old pagodas these and others
There were new Cetis here and there too.

We saw a new wall with a new gate
Just outside the Tharapa gate
It makes an eyesore as it is brand new
It has no historical value apart from guides’
And it guards a new unfinished palace inside.

As you go further out of old Pagan
You saw a modern tower among the ruins
A lift, a restaurant, a cinema and all modern within
It’s a spit clean shiny showcase it seems
But clearly it is unfitting in ancient Pagan.

There is a gleaming retreat village near the tower
Buildings are large, massive and in all splendour
Asphalt roads, canopied trees and auto cars
Swimming pool and a golf course not very far
It’s a dreamland like Disneyland in America!

It’s modern Pagan in the making, but
It’s making us moan for our ancient Pagan!

Composed by Dr Maung Maung Nyo (2.4.2007)

Dr. Maung Maung Nyo composed this poem for AMIM first anniversary.
AMIM = Alumni Myanmar Institutes of Medicine