Funny Things Happened in Mongton

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

Prologue

My wife told me that it’s inspiring to read about my experiences in Mongton and she marveled at my memory for remembering the details. She thought I was so serious with my duties and jobs in Mongton. I told her,” It was not all works and no play, there were lighter moments in Mongton and beyond too.” Let me recall them for fun.

(The First Burma's Independence Day Celebration on 4th January 1948;

Governor Sir Hubert Rance and President Sao Shwe Thaike)

Bolon (Bogyi) is the most senior

Colonel Mya Din arrived in Mongton 3 or 4 months after me and we became fast friends as we played billiards and Hollywood Poker at times. He was a jolly good fellow having being in the Army since the Burma Independence Army (BIA) days in 1942. He was now a Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 5^th Buregt and Major Tin Shwe was still the 2 I C (2nd in Command) before being promoted to the Lt-Colonel and CO of another battalion.

(General Khin Nyunt and Kokang Leader in His Heydays)

One day we walked on the roads of Mongton to show Colonel Mya Din of the town and its people. Captain Ko Lay led the way as he could speak Shan smattering and he knew the town’s people. After all, he had married a daughter of the town and a Shan girl. The Mongton people politely welcomed him by nodding their heads. Captain Ko Lay said,” Colonel Mya Din is the most senior officer here. He is a Bohmugyi!.”

(SSA Rebel Commanders with Various Ranks Imitating Burma Army)

But the town’s people shook their heads and said,” No, Bolon (Bogyi) is the most senior officer here. Look at Doctor Bolon!” I was shocked. Colonel Mya Din and Major Tin Shwe were bewildered and asked,” What’s it?” Captain Ko Lay did not know how to answer. Then Maung Lu, my interpreter, came forward and explained,” In the Shan language Lon (Lone or Long) is the biggest or largest. So Bolon means the most senior of the Bo or officers. The Shan here are not familiar with the Burmese ranks. They think Bohmu (Major) and Bohmugyi (Colonel), even Bogyoke (General) are junior to the Bolon (Bogyi or Captain)!. Then Colonel Mya Din laughed and said,” Captain Ko Lay, you demoted me in the Shan language. Compensate us by buying ice-cream for us now!” It was a hilarious day.

Ice Creams in Mongton

Mongton was very hot in summer and in the rainy season if it was not raining. It means Mongton remained hot for most of the year except from October to February winter seasons. Once, I was playing billiards in the 5^th Buregt Officers Mess and junior officers from the Thai-Burma outposts were watching us played. Captain Khin Hla, Company Commander from Mongyawng liked to play against me as a friendly game, but his junior officers shouted,” Bogyi, play with a betting. We like to eat ice creams.”

I said, “OK, I’ll buy ice-creams whether I win or lost, but I’m not sure ice cream is available here as there is no electricity supply.” The Mess Sergeant Tin Shwe Lay said,” We can buy ice creams in Mongton. They did it with kerosene Frig. (Refrigerator). If you wish I will go and order it now.” “OK, then order 20 servings. I’ll foot the bills”, I replied. Tin Shwe Lay said,” One serving means 4 ice cream cubes. One cube is sold at 75 Pyas. So, give me money for 80 cubes.”

“OK, then order 100 ice cream cubes. Take money here.”

(Typical Ice Cream Cones, but Not in Mongton)

Yes, it was ice cream made by putting the preparation into the ice making chambers of the refrigerator run by kerosene. They first mixed flour with butter, egg yolks and milk powder in a bowl and then put the scent either strawberry, Durian or chocolate. Then the mixture was put into the chambers of an ice making tray of the refrigerator and left for about 2 or 3 hours. The mixture became solid gel-an ice cream. It was expensive and improvised, but in a frontline place like Mongton it was very delicious.

Out of Bound to Soldiers

One day before lunch time I asked Captain Ko Lay to walk around Mongton including the Mongton stream (Nang Yin). “Saya, this is lunch time and bath time for the girls. It’s not wise to look around”, he said.” Why? It’s good for us. I’m just free from patients. Let’s walk the main road and see the water resource, stream. I’ll call Maung Lu for interpretation, “I replied and asked Muang Lu to accompany us. We then walked from the 5th Buregt Officers Mess, passed through my hospital and called Maung Lu. We then strolled into the town looking at the shop houses selling Burmese and Thai products.

(Diverse Peoples of the Shan State; Shan, Lahu, Lisu, Ahar, Kokang etc.)

It’s ironic that the Burmese bought the Thai Batik Longyi and the Thais bought the Burmese printed cloth. The Burmese also bought Thailand imported shirts. Some shoppers greeted us and offered us discounts. There were no fresh vegetables or fruits sold in Mongton. We then walked towards the stream.Bogyi Ko Lay said,” Saya, this is the out of bound place for soldiers during this time here.” “Why?” I asked him and continued. Then I saw girls naked in the stream. One or two girls came up to the shore covering their bodies with their hands and said,” Kadawt, Kadawt (Respects, Sir)” before changing their dress. I said,” OK, Captain Ko Lay, I understand what you meant by out of bound for soldiers” and stopped going near the stream and retreated backwards.

(A Beautiful Shan Scenery Showing Streams and Rivers That May Be

Out of Bound to Soldiers)

Yes, in the Shan State, people took bath in the streams or rivers naked. It was their custom and the Shan girls so fair went into the water without any clothes and came ashore without clothes. Burmese soldiers would watch this event with curiosity at first, but the senior officers knowing this custom prohibited soldiers not to go to the streams and rivers at their bath time. In Mongton and other villages in the Eastern Shan State, Brigadier-General Kyaw Zaw prohibited the soldiers from peeping by designing the public water resources “Out of Bound to Soldiers”. Later on, many Shan girls and women wore Longyi like the Burmese women to take bath. It’s gratifying that no cases of rape or molesting occurred by the streams or rivers as far as I know.

Fifty Kyat is More than Sufficient

Maung Lu once requested me to allow him to resign from his job.” Why do you want to resign, any problem?” I asked.” No, Bogyi, I have enough money and I would like to go back to my village”, he replied. “What’s for? Do you wish to marry? Take leave, marry and come back”, I told him. “No, Bogyi, I just like to rest”, he answered. I left it like that and continued my work.

Then, a few days later my WO Nyunt Maung told me he was finding difficulty to get civilian workers to carry water from the Mongton stream to the hospital daily. “Why? Is it due to low pay? I asked. “No, Bogyi, Shan people do not wish to work regularly. They hate government jobs as tiring.” “Why is it so, Maung Lu? Are they rich or what? Are they Lazy?” I opined.

(Two Novices Collecting Alms in Southern Shan State)

” No, Bogyi. The Shan people like leisurely job, they want to work when they need money. Then they want to stop work when they have enough money. That’s their habit.” “But, Maung Lu, how much money is enough to stop working? It’s not enough for every body. I have to work through out my life to live” I replied him.” His answer nonplussed me! “Here in Mongon, fifty Kyat is more than sufficient for a year. So, if he gets it he no longer needs to work. I have ten times that amount. That’s why I also like to resign from my job!”

My Wife is Bread Earner

One day Captain Ko Lay took a tall brown man to me. “Saya, I like to introduce one gentleman to you. He is U Kun. He has been here for over 4 or 5 years now.” “Oh! Nice meeting you. Please let me know if you need any medical help?” I told him and shook his hand. He smiled and said,” Thank you, Doctor. I’m also from Monywa. Bogyi Ko Lay told me you are from Monywa.” “Really? Which part of Monywa are you from? I was born in Kadoh North Quarter”, I told him cheerfully. “I was born in Salingyi, west of the Chindwin River. I passed matriculation from the Monywa Buddhist High School and went to the Forest School in Maymyo. Now I have been here for over 5 years now”, he replied. I gave both of them tea as I was having one.

(A Traditional Shan Keinari Dance)

“Doctor, can you give me some tonic as I feel weak, sometimes?” said U Kun. “OK, I’ll examine you first and then I’ll give suitable medicine”, I concurred. I examined him after tea. He was about 6 foot tall, weighed about 80 Kilograms. He was about 55 years old. His heart, lungs and liver were normal. “Every thing OK, U Kun, but I’ll give multivitamin tablets. Any thing else you want?” I asked. “Can you give some injection? My wife is coming back from Taunggyi soon?” he requested with a smile. “Of course, I will give you an injection of B Complex today and next week. Eat plenty of meat and fresh vegetables. Do exercise!” I advised him and complied his request. “By the way, what do you do for your living now” I ventured.

(A Traditional Shan Toenaya, Yak, Dance)

“I’m retired and looked after my house. My wife does business, trades goods between Mongton and Taunggyi. She is the bread earner now”, he answered. I gave him regular injections of vitamins and an injection of testosterone. He was happy when his wife came back. We played Hollywood Poker in his home and had dinner there. His wife was about 40 years old, fair, well built, sociable and sexy. She was in Mongton only a few months per year. She was doing business most of the time outside of Mongton. U Kun would then indulge in Hollywood Poker game, smoked opium and cigarettes and slept. He would recoup his health and energy before she came back to Mongton. What a life! He is dead now.

A Captain’s Wife

Nang Ngwe Khin was about 30 years old, fair, good looking and lived alone in Mongton although her husband was in Loilem. Her husband was a Captain in the army and he seldom came to Mongton. She traveled to Loilem and came back every 3 or 4 months enjoying the plane ride from Mongsat to Namsan. The other parts of the distance were covered by Dodge Jeeps or trucks. It was just an hour or half an hour drive from Namsan to Loilem, when her husband usually welcomed and accosted her. But, the trip from Mongsat to Mongton on her return journey was perilous and long as the Dodge or truck carrying her usually broke down midway between Mongsat and Mngton. She had to lie under the car to get shade and to avoid rain, but the driver or his superior usually joined her. This way, her car stayed long on the road.

(An Overcrowded Obsolete Truck Transport in the Shan State)

Once she came and said,” Saya Bolon, I’m the wife of Captain Tun Sein in Loilem. I’m having white discharge, pain and fever. Could you please examine and treat me?” “Of course, Yes”, I said and examined her calling the Staff Nurse as a witness. I found her to be suffering from acute gonococcal as the discharge is white, she has fever and there are enlarge inguinal lymph nodes besides a painful solitary ulcer in her genital organs. I gave her intra-uterine douche and penicillin injection. She was cured after 3 or 4 days but she would come to me again whenever she came back from Loilem. Where did she get the frequent infection? I examined hr husband, about 50 years of age for medical categorization and he was fit and free from any disease.

A Militant Monk

This episode happened in Mongkaung about 100 miles away from Lashio after I was transferred from Mongton. It was during a military operation to flush out the Shan and Kokang insurgents from the Tanyang area. We arrived at a small Shan town called Mongkaung. It was hilly and forested. It was cold and gloomy. The infantry had camped inside the Mongkaung camp and in hilltops surrounding Mongkaung. The commander of the Operation Column asked me to find a place near the stream and their old camp to camp for the night. The best place was the Shan monastery.

(A Buddhist Monastery Complex in the Shan State)

But, the presiding Shan monk openly said, “ Soldiers were unwelcome”. No Burma Army officers had succeeded to persuade him to allow their troops to camp inside the monastery. They said,’ Saya, you won’t succeed. The monk is a very militant Shan. He used to shout and encourage the Shan insurgents when they were fighting us around our camp.He always talks ill of us soldiers. Of course his compound is ideal, with shady trees, a well, and Zayat (Rest House). Good luck if you try.” “OK, I’ll try.” Then I asked my sergeant to change to civilian clothes as I also did. “Saw Lwin, take one bottle of Malt Extract ( About 2 Kilograms), two bottles of multivitamin (100 tablets each) and One tin of Horlicks. Let us go to the Sayadaw (Presiding Monk).

(A Shan Ahlu for Initiating a Novice, in Southern Shan State))

We then entered his monastery, kowtowed him respectfully and said,” Sayadaw, I’m a doctor just arrived here Sir. I pay respects to you and donate some medicine and tonics for your health. Please accept them.” The monk smiled and said,” Sadu, Dagagyi. You may sleep in my monastery if you have just arrived. Ko Yin, help the Doctor Dagagyi”. I replied,” Thank you very much for your permission to settle temporarily in your monastery compound, Sayadaw, but I have about a dozen people assisting and accompanying me.” He said, ”It’s OK. I give my permission for all your men too.”

(Buddhist Pagodas and Monastery in Homomg, Shan State)

I thus won over the Shan monk to allow me to camp in his compound. Besides I cooked and supplied him with Swoon (Rice Meal) in the morning for his meals. He was very pleased with me and we had a cordial talk later on the parts of human body and all related subjects as he was meditating. When he knew that I was a Burma Army doctor he no longer talked ill of the Burma Army. My army colleagues congratulated me for my success. But in reality I was following the example of my Saya U Khin Maung Nyo in Mingun when we had to sleep in the monastery for one night due to our inability to return to Mandalay. Being a Burmese Buddhist in a Buddhist monastery makes your life easy if you follow the Buddhist routines conscientiously.

I Followed Your Instructions to the Letter

It was winter in Mongton and quite cold. I had to have a local made charcoal stove in the OPD to keep warm. A Lahu man about 30 years of age came to me complaining of backache. It occurred suddenly after a fall from the mule about 2 days ago. I examined him and found no sign of fracture or dislocation in the vertebral column. There was not even abrasion probably due to thick warm clothes he was wearing. I told him,” I found no bony injury. But I’ll give you Belladonna Plaster to apply on the back daily for 7 days. I patted his back on his leather jacket to indicate the place for applying plaster as he had re-worn it. Apply it after warming. I’ll give pain killing tablets too. Come back after a week if no improvement.” Then I washed my hands and let him go.

(Typical Shan Long Drum, Shan O Si)

He came back after 3 days and said through my interpreter Maung Lu,” There is no improvement at all doctor. Change your treatment. Give me another effective medicine”. “Why was there no improvement? How did you apply the plaster?” I asked. He replied,” I warmed the plaster of peppermint until it gives odour and became sticky. Then I applied it on the coat covering the area of my painful back”. “I laughed and said,” You are mistaken. You must apply the warm plaster on the skin of your painful back, not on the coat. Repeat as I said now.” He replied,” I did exactly as you said before. I followed your instructions to the letter. It’s your fault.” Perhaps he was right. It’s a case of miscommunication.

Yokekasoe Kaing Chin

One night at about 9.00 PM, WO Nyunt Maung came to my house with my batman while I was reading a medical textbook. “Please excuse us Tat-Hmu. May I come in”, he said. I said,” Come on in. Any thing I can do?” “Than Aung is running around the hospital compound several times shouting obscene things since the twilight. We could not handle him. He would not listen to us. You should see him”, WO Nyunt Maung said. Than Aung was a cooperative manager attached to our hospital. He was about 25 years of age and alcoholic. He had fever off and on and he lived with his Shan wife near our hospital compound. We all were friends.

(Big and Shady Trees Abound in Shan State)

“OK, let’s go and see,” I told him and followed into the gate of the hospital. I saw a man running naked followed by two men from our hospital unit. I told WO Nyunt Maung,” I think Than Aung is delirious. Catch him by any means with 3 or 4 men and take him to my OPD. I’ll examine and treat him.” So saying I went to the OPD room and waited. Four soldiers carried Than Aung to the OPD. He was now silent and dazed. He looked perplexed and listless. There was frothing in the mouth. His eyes were large and pupils were dilated. I asked him, “What are you doing Than Aung?” He did not answer. “His wife told us he pissed at the big banyan tree about a fortnight ago and he was now at temper tantrums being punished by the Yokekasoe (Tree Deva)”, WO Nyunt Maung told me. His wife nodded from behind him.

(A Leg Rower at Inle Lake, Southern Shan State)

”But he was drinking at that time, is it not?” I asked. “Yes, he always drinks alcohol and you treated him for fever and weakness”, Mr Mahmood said. “OK then. He must be suffering from Korsakoff Syndrome due to alcoholic Vitamin B 1 deficiency. I’ll examine and give appropriate treatment,’ I told them and prepared to give him Largactil and dextrose injection intravenously.

(An Inthu at Floating Inle Market on a Market Day, Inle, Southern Shan State)

Then I examined him. Except for his dilated pupils , responsive to light, loss of deep reflexes and pallor there was no other abnormality. He fell into sleep. I gave thiamine (Vitamin B1) injection intramuscularly as well as by mouth to be taken daily. I gave him nutritious foods and other vitamins too as Vitamin B1 deficiency is usually accompanied by multivitamin deficiency. I prohibited alcohol drinking. He recovered after a week. He said he did not remember what he did or said just before admission to the hospital. It’s not due to the wrath of the Yokekasoe, I told him and his wife. It’s due to Vitamin B 1 deficiency brought about by alcoholism and malnutrition. It may lead to death. He repented and stopped alcohol drinking.

(A Monastery at Inle Lake, Southern Shan State)

My Buffalo is More Worthy

One day I was driving the American made ambulance jeep from Hispaw to Kyaukme with 4 of my men. We’re going to Advance Medical Store Depot in Mandalay to carry cholera vaccines from Mandalay as cases of cholera were occurring sporadically in Upper Burma and Shan State. As a prophylactic measures we’re going to give cholera vaccination in the Northern Shan State where I was just transferred from Mongton in the Southern or Eastern Shan State.

(The Hsipaw Haw, Now Neglected and Ruined)

I drove the ambulance carefully, but very fast as the road was tarred, smooth and empty.Only a few vehicles were seen on that road that day. At one point I saw some buffaloes grazing by the road side and pushed my horn loud. Sergeant Saw Lwin asked me,” Why are you pressing the car horn loud, Bogyi? There is no car in sight.” “Yes, but I saw some buffaloes on the road side and I’m giving warning to the buffalo boy to be aware of our car coming”, I explained.

(Buffalo Market in Eastern Shan State; A buffalo Costs US$ 5000)

However, just as I finished talking a big buffalo stepped on the road and rammed my ambulance. The buffalo was just pushed away by a few feet and his head was sprung outwards, but it did not fall flat or die. I stopped the car and asked Sergeant Saw Lwin to look for the buffalo boy.He walked back the road with a soldier and came back with an old Shan man about 40 or 50 years of age. “Here, it’s his buffalo”, Saw Lwin said.

(A Young Shan Couple in the Southern Shan State)

I looked at him and said, “ Hey, be careful in grazing your buffaloes by the road side. They may cause car accident.See, your buffalo stepped on the road and bumped my ambulance.It’s lucky nothing happened.Otherwise you might have to compensate". Then he spoke in Shan and Saw Lwin and other soldiers laughed. I asked them, “ Why did you laugh? What did he say?” Saw Lwin said, ”Bogyi, he said that his buffalo is worth more than your ambulance. It’s Kyat 5000 on the market. You may have to compensate if it dies!”

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

14.02.2009