Nyunt Way (Katha) alias the William Carlos Williams of Burma

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

Preamble

There were very few Burmese doctors that write before 1964 when

the Revolutionary Council or the Burma Army took over power in Burma

for the simple reason that only a handful of Burmese were admitted to

the medical college and those admitted had to study the premedical

subjects very hard. I heard that biology subject was very hard to pass

not to say to get the qualified marks for admission to the medical college.

(Nyunt Way (Katha), Doctor, Writer, Award Winning Poet)

Hence students of those days said “Bio Htaing Ngo (Cry for Biology)”.

I once met the Goldflake U Tun Shein who was a lecturer in biology or zoology

at a reception in the US Embassy. He told me that biology in his days was difficult

for the Burmese students as it was taught in English mostly by the Indian teachers

and the professor and head was usually a Briton who thought Burmese could

not learn biology and hence many Burmese students failed in this subject.

He left the Biology Department of the Rangoon University when he was not

given the chair although he was fully qualified having being elected as a

Fellow of the Zoological Society (FZS) of London. (Dr Hla Kyaw MRCVS,

Ph.D.London, BL Rangoon was given the chair.)

(Dr MMN and Nyunt Way (Katha)

So, expecting Burmese doctors of those pre- and post- war days to write in Burmes

for the laymen was impossible and hoping to find a poet among them would be

more than impossible. I can just recall a few names of medical writers that wrote

in those days; one is Dr Tun Shwe of Mandalay who wrote medical novels,

Dr Sein Ban or Thuria Kanti who wrote health education and some short stories

and Dr Maung Maung Thin or Maung Thin who was an accomplished artist.

(Htilar Sitthu, a Contemporary Poet of Nyunt Way (Katha)

But none of them were poets. Only in the post war periods we have a few

medical poets.The first is Kyi Aye. I have already written about her.Now

the second is Dr Thein Nyunt or Nyunt Way (Katha). He graduated in 1958

having joined the Rangoon University in 1950 matriculating from Katha,

Upper Burma.Hence his pen name has Katha though born in Taungdwingyi,

Magwe Division. He is the only medical poet who won the national literary prize.

Literary Career of Nyunt Way (Katha)

Thein Nyunt wrote short articles and poems since the age of 13 or 14 years

in the middle school in Katha State High School. Some of his short stories and poems

were published in the annual magazines besides being used in the school wall papers.

He was also a sport man having won prizes in short distance running. He wrote

poetry continuously when he joined the Rangoon University in 1950.

(MMN and Dagon Taryar, Doyen of Burmese Poets for

the New Literature)

He belonged to the group of progressive students and he wrote about the

social injustice and political oppression prevalent at that time. His poems became

more mature and class conscious when he was in the medical college. I remember

one of his poems depicting the emotion of a young man in love as follows:

A Beautiful Ghost

(Hla Pa Thaw Tisse)

Arising from bed in the morning

I saw her face smiling;

When I go to school

She follows me too;

In the class I don’t hear the teacher

I’m hearing her voice loud and clear;

I do not see what is written on black board

I’m seeing her face white and shining afloat;

When I come back from school

She accompanies me with no clue

She is glued to me like a child

Yes, I see her smiles all the time;

While I’m playing football too

She appears in my dream true

Oh, she is haunting me like an apparition

But she is as beautiful as any beauty queen!

This poem portrays the feeling of a young man in love probably a high school or

university student who met his girl for the first time. He is overwhelmed by her

whatever he does. The words were vivid and strong, the rhymes are right in the

ration of 4-3-2 or its variations of Burmese Linka rhyming like Minthuwun's.

It’s a nice love poetry. The second poem is different.

The Cadaver on the Mortuary Table

(Khwe Setkhon Pawhma Ahlaung)

There is a cadaver on the table

It was covered with white apparel

We were interested to know

What disease let it go?

Professor of forensics entered elegantly

He greeted all of us cheerfully

“Guess what lies underneath this white sheet?”

He played with us Sherlock Holmes techniques!

He removed the white sheet carefully

Lifting it up from the head end to appear fully

It was a beautiful girl that died lately

She was fair, well proportioned and sedately.

Professor cut her chest symmetrically

He noted the skin muscles and bone carefully

Nothing abnormal was detected grossly

So were the heart and lungs on autopsy.

On opening the abdomen by incision

Liver stomach and intestine bore no abnormality

So were her kidneys and ureters on inspection

But the uterus was enlarged with three month pregnancy.

It must be the cause of death on contemplation

She was unmarried housemaid and seventeen

The professor told us she died of barbiturate poisoning

He had already tested blood for its composition

The chemist department had supplied the information

It’s a case of suicide for unmarried conception.

This poem tells the story of downtrodden people who resort to suicide when

they cannot solve their problems. She is a poor girl working as house maid in

a wealthier home and she got an unwanted pregnancy either by her lover or

by another person. But as an unwanted pregnancy is a social stigma and

disgrace to her family she resorted to suicide as an escape. How tragic!

(Standing Linyone Maung Maung, Sitting Dagon Taryar and Dr Nan Ommar,

Another National Literary Award Winner)

Dr Thein Nyunt writes about these social problems even after his graduation.

He is a social-conscious doctor poet.

I remember the themes of some of his later poems depicting the life under

the BSPP regime or Myanmah Socialist Programme Party rule. Enjoy.

(1) " People say the weather is hot,very hot;why so hot?

Because the environment is destroyed

The ozone layer is broken on the spot

but why the cost of living in Burma is so high

Why always high?"

( Sitting from L to R:Paragu, a Respected Author, Yupar, Ei Sabai

and Min Yu Way, a Contemporary Poet of Nyunt Way (Katha);

MMN standing at the back)

(2) " Thief, thief, people shouted in unison,

They followed a hollow man and arrested

He has stolen two skirts (Htami) and a few shirts:

People hurt him in the face and on the back,

But there is a rich man in the quarters,

Living on the bribes he got from his office:

Is he not a thief too, my Dear?.."

(3) "I could buy dolls with money

I could buy cakes with it too plenty

So are flowers i admire;

But in the government shops

I cannot certainly buy any smiles

I asked why? "

(4) " My teachers, they are so kind

They feign deaf when people tell ills of mine

They feign dumb when people ask my bad things

They venture to protect me when someone tries

To hurt me with bad intentions;

They venture to teach me the right and the wrong

They teach me how to choose them all along
Oh! My respected teachers, I kowtow to you with love now!"

(5) "Oh! She was a young lovely girl

Unmarried with a beautiful face and curly hair
Her breasts are white, well-formed and round

So is her belly and pubic mound;

She died of barbiturate poisoning, so they said
It's stated in her case write-up;

But, alas! when we open her abdomen to look at

We found a foetus (child embryo) in her uterus!"

Here is a poem he writes for the Old Mandalay Hall Residents Association

Magazine at the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Rangoon University in 1995. Enjoy.

Our Alma Mater Day
(Doh Mi Khin Ei Nayh)

People, time and years
Flow together to form a river
Their roots still attached float thereafter
Strand or collide with rocks anywhere
End on any island et cetera.

New and newer men
Time and water then flow even
They study and end but our Alma mater
Rangoon University flourishes ever
Many generations of students she caters
For her pride, her honour and her world
Educational excellence she delivers
Bringing further accolades and glamour.

Brilliant like a sun in Asia
Crowded with scholars from afar
Our varsity welcomes all knowledge seekers
Warmly, intimately and sincerely
Fondles like a mother, nurturing so kindly.

In her sincere and sympathetic sky
Myriads of moons shine
Countless stars shine
Fame, name and honour she enjoys
It's approaching her Diamond Jubilee's time
Our Alma mater day is so sublime
Let's pay homage to her and join.

Nyunt Wai (Katha) (1995)
Translation Dr Maung Maung Nyo (29.3.2007)

He also wrote about Burma-China Friendship when we went to Yunnan headed by

Htilar Sitthu 1991. We went there as delegates of the Burma Writers and Journalist

Association at the invitation of the Yunnan Writers Union. He was always composing

poems whenever he had spare time. He wrote in the hotel, he wrote on the bus,

he wrote on the ship and he wrote before going to sleep. All his poems were

published in a special number of the Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association

Publications in 1992. Yes, it was the year he was awarded the National Literary

Prize for Poetry. He was the only medical poet awarded that prize so far.

There have been other doctors awarded for other prizes like for novel (Dr Tun Shwe),

Short Stories (Dr Maung Thin, Dr Maung Maung Nyo), Science Knowledge

(Dr Aung Khin Sint, Dr Maung Maung Nyo, Dr Nan Ommar, Dr Tin Shwe),

Belle Letters (Dr Sein Ban or Thuria Kanti), Biography (Dr Ohn Maung of Mogok).

Brief Biography of Dr Thein Nyunt

Dr Thein Nyunt was born in Taungdwingyi, Magwe Division in 1933. He studied

at Katha State High School until matriculation in 1949. He joined the Rangoon

University in 1949 but there was country wide insurrection and he could restart

his university education only in 1950. He joined the medical college in Rangoon

in 1953 when he was involved in the Rangoon University October Holiday

Student Strike. He was expelled with other students for one year, but readmitted

in 1954 and he graduated M.B.,B.S. in 1958.

He had worked in Sao San Htun Hospital in Taunggyi from 1959 to 1982

during which he was sent to Moscow, Russia for oro-facial maxillary surgery

training. He was awarded a Ph.D. by the Moscow State University for that subject

and was appointed as consultant plastic surgeon at RGH since 1982.

He retired as professor of oro-facial maxillary surgery in 1995.

He is an avid golfer but still writes poetry. His wife died in Taunggyi before

he moved to Rangoon in 1982 or 1983.

He is a close friend of mine and we live in the same Parami Quarter, Yankin

Township, Yangon, Burma. We visit each other house very frequently and

we share common friends like Paragu, Dagon Taryar, Htilar Sitthu, Minyuway,

Linyone Maung Maung etc.

He had published two collected books of poems called (1) Seit Pyadin

(Window of the Mind) and (2) Si Sin Nay Thaw Myit Da Zin (An Eternal River).

The first book won the National Literary Prize in 1992. He has also published

some belle letters and short stories like Mee Yaung Auk Ka Lunar Myar

(Patients under the Operating Table Lights).

Conclusion

Dr Thein Nyunt is an accomplished writers. He writes both prose and poetry.

He mostly writes on health matters but composes on social problems too.

Although he was a progressive student in his student days he no longer indulges

in politics nowadays. He enjoys golf and good food as well as company of literati.

I compared him with William Carlos Williams of USA as the latter was also

a medical doctor who wrote continuously during his medical career.

He wrote both prose and poetry and he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for poetry too.

May Nyunt Wai (Katha) be remembered and honoured as well in Burma.

Dr Maung Maung Nyo
11.04.2009 (original)