My Benefactors, My Saviours!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

Looking back into seventy years of my life

I found several people saving me from strife

Some saving my life in the nick of time

Some paving my life for the bliss of sublime

I won't be what I’m today without them

I always feel grateful to their helping hands.

(Dr Maung Maung Nyo M.B., B.S. (Rangoon), Ph.D.(London)

Once I was swimming in the Chindwin River

I was eight or nine years old trying to be fitter

I was not an expert swimmer and drowned

My elder sister on the bank panicked and howled

A strong brown young man grasped my hair along

I was saved from drowning to live long till now

My sister always helps me whenever I’m near drowning

I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to her now that I’m grounding.

(My Elder Sister and Her Husband: L U Bo Kyin, R Daw Khin Yee)

I’m a studious student with scholastic sentiments

I was always in the top of the class since enrollment

But I used to waver whenever persuaded by faulty friends

I slipped from top positions in 5^th standard as being deviant

Playing frolicking and being truant from class with classmates

Saya U Soe Pe pinched my ear in the class for being half baked

I began correcting my behavior to better myself under his tutelage

That led me to my success to clinch 7^th standard scholarship accolade.

(My Sister's Family: L to R: Soe Min Oo, DawKhin Yee, Chaw Su,

U Bo Kyin, Myo Min Latt)

I studied seriously at the premedical class in Mandalay

It was highly competitive with scholars from near and away

But there were also temptations to be truant and seductive ways

Saya Khin Maung Nyo corrected my behaviour whenever I swayed

He taught, he tamed and he trained me to be an all round smart scholar

I always watched my step when I was going to leap to be spectacular

I therefore owe him a lot of gratitude for my sobering mood and manner

I thus became cautious and considerate in all decisions I made thereafter.

(Colonel Dr Ko Ko Gyi, M.B.,B.S.(Rgn), American Board Certified Internist,

American Board Certified Psychiatrist; Rector of IM 2, CO No. 1 BMH,

General Secretary of Burma Red Cross Society in His Days)

Meeting with Dr Tun Hla Pru paved my profitable way in life

It transformed me from a slumbering soldier to scholar overnight

Dr Ko Ko Gyi changed my life in such a fashion with might

These two people are my benefactors visible brightly in sight

I always pay homage to them when I pray to Buddha day and night

I think I owe a debt of gratitude for their sincere help that was right.

(Professor Ruth Bowden in the middle in India)

Of course the role of Colonel Hla Han could not also be forgotten

He was at the time Director of Medical Services commanding then

He was recruiting as many doctors as possible to join the Burma Army

Yet he let me go from the army to the medical college lost to academy

Besides he had to look for WHO scholarship for me to work for Ph.D.

Only foresight fortitude and vision enabled him to study for such degree

He took care of me during my study in England and afterward in Burma

He ignored military attaché to send me home for not spying on state scholars.

(Dr Maung Maung Nyo and Dr Nan Ommar)

Needless to say Professor Bowden was a great benefactor

She taught me the A to Z of research to be a Ph. D. scholar

Coupled with mature thinking right reasoning and correct behavior

What I’m and what I earn as an anatomist owe a gratitude to her

I’m blessed with her methods of systemic reasoning and clean living

My wife praised me for keeping clean even in the kitchen during cooking

Besides being determined in pursuit of justice and dedicated to work

I'm always a defender of truth, developer of justice and demonstrator of the heart.

(My Family: L to R: MMN, Yupar Nyo, NOM, Ei Sabai Nyo)

Last but not the least is one of my greatest benefactors

She looks after my health she takes care of my life and letters

She may not be as educated as I’m or as the great professors

None the less she knows what I read what I write and consider

She helps me in getting out so many literary works and books

She fends of my dangers she protects me from con men and crooks

(My Parents: Daw Aye Sein and U Hla Maung)

She saves whatever is savable from my earnings for good use and purpose

Without her wise efforts and vision we would be poor and have starved

Besides bearing and giving birth to two darling daughters our eye sights

I therefore hail her as one of the best if not the best benefactors of my life!

(Our Daughters at Graduation for Master of Computer Science Degree)

There are many other benefactors too

Some may be better, some equally true

But the aforementioned are salient few

They changed my life through and through

Some saved my breathing life away from death

Some saved me to change behaviour for success

Professor Maung Maung Nyo M.B., B.S.(Rangoon). Ph.D. (London) and

Dr Nan Ommar B.Sc. (Anatomy), M.B.,B.S.(Rangoon), M.Sc.(Anatomy)

Others still steered me from bad to good or better

There is no need to mention the debts of Anandangapa

Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, parents and teachers

I pay homage to them daily in my prayers for ever.

(The Great Shwe Dagon Pagoda)

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

29.03.2009 (original)

Note: Anandangapa = Five Great Benefactors for Boundless Benefits viz.

Buddha, Dharma (doctrine), Sangha (Monks), Parents and Teachers