The Lotus that Bloomed in Laydaung

The Lotus that Bloomed in Laydaung

Tun Min (YUOE)

It was one fine day in October of the year 1999.

Mg Kyaw Zaw, a Standard Eight student, was in the classroom of BEHS Zaratprin which is located on a triangular plot of land on the edges of Zaratprin and Kwan-aing Villages of Laydaung Administrative Unit (currently known as Laydaung Town), Yanbye Township. He had to come to attend school without much enthusiasm today since it was too cold in the morning as the winter had set in. Two class periods had already passed. The next period would be that of Myanmar. As the students had free time, some students were studying while others were killing their time by doing different things.

At that very time, the students came to take notice of a new teacher – of brownish complexion, medium build, short stature and of around 40 years of age – entering the classroom with a book in her hand. Their eyes were fixed at her with curiosity.

“She’s Myanmar teacher! She moved here only yesterday,” murmured Zaw Win who was very inquisitive.

When the teacher had already reached the front of the class, the students who were now already on their feet greeted her by saying in unison, “Monglarpar, Sayarma!” When they had been seated again, she introduced herself. She said that her name was Daw Tin Tin Yee, that she had been born in Mrebon, that she had reached Laydaung for the first time only the previous day and that she would teach them Myanmar for the time being although she was a senior teacher by position. The students were enchanted by her serenity, integrity, honesty, politeness, and the attractiveness of Mrebon Rakhine accent which was still new to them. When she asked tem whether they had ever heard of the town Mrebon, they replied in unison with a grin that they had heard of it. Mg Kyaw Zaw was among those who happened to grin at such a question. How could they suppress the urge for grinning? Though they had never been to the town before, they had been familiar with the name.

When Mg Kyaw Zaw was at Standard Seven, his class was taught history by a witty teacher. Since the history teacher usually admonished his students in a funny and persuasive way, they liked him dearly. The memory they had had concerning Mrebon goes thus: regarding the disadvantages of drinking alcohol, he often said, “A drunkard reaches the town of Ann (being bloated) when he has drunk much for quite a time. Well, he finally gets to the town of Mrebon when he has drunk too much for a long time! That’s why I want to suggest that you shouldn’t drink any alcoholic drinks. Otherwise, you’ll succumb to Mrebon pretty soon!” In fact, he wanted to admonish his students by an implied meaning that drinking alcohol does not benefit those who drink it, that heavy drinkers will eventually die in a horrible way and that all of them should keep away from intoxicating drinks. Since many students who had a chance to hear him say so happened to burst into laughter, it was not surprising that a simple single question of Daw Tin Tin Yee, a Mrebon native, made quite a few of them grin broadly.

The Myanmar period that day was a collection of unforgettable moments for Mg Kyaw Zaw and his classmates. The teacher taught them one of the episodes from Mahosada Jataka Story written by Mongbu Saradaw U Awbasa in an interesting way by taking turns in reading the text and telling a part of the story. She also asked the students to read part of the episode by turns or at random, thus making them pay their attention to the text. She patiently taught them practically how to write a summary of the whole episode within a specific word limit. Then she concluded her Myanmar period by asking them to write a summary of the episode at home. Because of her good teaching skills and mastery of the subject, the students including Mg Kyaw Zaw seemed prepared for writing a summary of the episode. In fact, all of them were now active.

Mg Kyaw Zaw who had grown up under the aegis of his mother who had been well acquainted with folktales, Jataka stories, poems and Rakhine folksongs as a result of her reading hobby despite the fact that she had barely completed her primary schooling found it highly interesting and pleasant to experience that a Myanmar teacher had instructed the students how to write up and then asked them to create their own pieces of writings. In fact, he had wanted teachers, especially language teachers, to teach in such a way so that the students would have more creative and critical thinking which are highly important for an individual’s life. What he likes most about Daw Tin Tin Yee was that she taught her students to be more creative and critical thinkers.

However, the Standard Eight students that year were unlucky although it looked fortunate at first. The reason was that Sarama Daw Tin Tin Yee had to teach them only for about two months before she was assigned to teach Myanmar to Grade 9 and Grade 10 students. The students who liked being taught by Daw Tin Tin Yee were upset but could not help with it. Anyway, the thought that she had not yet moved to another school was a little soothing for them.

*****

Today, Mg Kyaw Zaw and his friends had to start attending Standard Nine. Notably, this year marked the academic year (2000-2001) when the new curriculum was first prescribed. It was like the raising of a generation – the students who were introduced to the new curriculum at Standard Nine would be exposed to the brand-new textbooks for the very first time again when they reached Standard Ten. In other words, Mg Kyaw Zaw and his classmates belonged to the first batch of those introduced to the new high-school level curriculum. According to the new system, there are 7 different streams. Generally, the three streams, namely, Science Stream, Arts Stream and Science-Arts Stream are the main streams of specialization. Myanmar, English and Mathematics are the compulsory subjects while Science and Arts subjects are optional.

Mg Kyaw Zaw who was weak in English and Mathematics chose Arts Stream. Sarama Daw Tin Tin Yee did not teach Myanmar at Standard Nine this year; she had to teach the subject to Standard Ten students.

Anyway, since he would be able to study Myanmar under her next year, he was feeling happy looking forward to that time. Other classmates might have the same feelings as him. Whenever they met her on the way by chance, they greeted her by saying “Monglarpar, Sarama!” in a cheerful manner. To this, she always responded appropriately with a smile on her face.

*****

This year, Mg Kyaw Zaw and his classmates had to attend Standard Ten also known as Matriculation Standard. He liked Arts Subject-combination because he had a chance to study history, geography and economics. At present, he became quite good at English because he had tried to study English from several books on English grammar and compositions during the previous summer when he had holidays. Yet, he was still weak in mathematics. Anyway, one of the most exciting things for him about attending Standard Ten was that he would be able to study Myanmar under Daw Tin Tin Yee. On top of that, he was also thrilled by the news that she would be the class teacher of the Arts Subject-combination class this year.

Now he was able to study under his beloved teacher! She was still calm and serene, teaching the students with full compassion like before. The Arts Subject-combination students had also become not only more familiar with her but also better aware of her personal life.

Despite the fact that Sarama Daw Tin Tin Yee stayed at the school guard’s house with the family for a month or so when she had reached the school, she later rented a newly-extended house which belonged to Kwan-aing Village but was located next to the football playground in front of the high school. As a devout Buddhist, she kept Sabbath by going to Kwan-aing Monastery every Sabbath day. She communicated with other people respectfully. In this way, she could not only win her students’ love but also embrace the loving-kindness of many community members. She was interested in music and literature. She occasionally contributed her manuscripts of poems, short stories and articles to the locally-issued magazines in Rakhine State.

Regarding her personal life, she was a spinster. She had a younger sister and her mother who lived in Mrebon. Sometimes, her sister visited Laydaung where her sister was posted. On December and summer holidays, Daw Tin Tin Yee went back to her native town to spend time with her family.

Now it was only three months away from the Matriculation Examination! Sarama had tried her best to teach the different textbooks of Myanmar – Myanmar Poems, Prose, the Water-seller Play, Grammar and Essays – without skipping any period since the beginning of the academic year. However, the time for teaching essays was not enough and the students still found difficulty with essay-writing. Especially, they were not yet skilled at the techniques of writing and thinking about essays. Knowing that, she asked the students to come to school every Saturday so that she would be able to teach them how to write essays for two hours free of charge. The students who were fully aware of her great compassion even felt proud of having a chance to come and attend class on Saturdays. Because of her teaching, the students were no longer worried about writing an essay. Instead, they began to love writing essays.

The examination was drawing nearer and all the students including Mg Kyaw Zaw were getting more excited. Mg Kyaw Zaw was confident that he would be able to do well in most of the subjects except mathematics in which he was still weak in.

Now the students had to sit for the Matriculation Examination. He was able to do well in all the subjects except mathematics. He would be sure about whether he passed or failed the exam only when the results came out. He felt heavy-minded, though!

*****

Today, the examination results were out!

Mg Kyaw Zaw went running towards BEHS Zaratprin to see the results. Many people were struggling to reach the noticeboard where the result sheets had been pinned. Mg Kyaw Zaw also pushed through the crowd to see the noticeboard. He browsed the list for his name. But he did not find it and his candidate number was missing along with his name. It was sure that he failed the exam this year!

Mg Kyaw Zaw pushed out of the crowd, feeling ashamed and upset. Zaw Win, his friend, called out to him but he could not hear him. With great discontentment in his mind, tears welled up in his eyes and then rolled down his cheeks – he could not hold back his tears any longer!

“I’ve failed the exam although I tried my best. Other people will mock at me now. How should I inform my widowed mother of my failure?” he thought.

On his way back home, his steps seemed feeble. When he reached home, he told his mother that he had failed the exam. At first, she looked sad but soon she said, “Study hard this year to pass the exam with flying colours, son.”

Mg Kyaw Zaw was surprised! Although he had thought that he would be scolded for his failure, it was the reverse. He knelt down in front of her saying his words with partial apology and partial promise: “I’m sorry, Mom. You were extremely tired for me. This year, you’ve got to be exhausted again. I’ll try very hard to pass the exam with high marks. I’ll attend school starting from tomorrow. I’ll try my best!”

“Okay, son. I understand how hard you had studied. May your wishes be fulfilled!” said his mother calmly.

Mg Kyaw Zaw, who was uttering apologetic words while paying his respect to her, felt his tears flowing down his cheeks. Happening to glance at his mother through the tears, he saw her blinking quickly to hold back her tears.

*****

On 21^st July 2002, Mg Kyaw Zaw re-attended BEHS Zaratprin – in the same class but with a different batch of classmates.

As a person who suffered from first-ever failure in the examination, Mg Kyaw Zaw found it rather bitter. In fact, he felt quite ashamed because he had to attend the class as a repeater among the new students with the new faces. Some new classmates looked at him with contempt whereas others encouraged him orally. His teachers also encouraged him. The words of Daw Tin Tin Yee, his class teacher, were highly motivational for Mg Kyaw Zaw:

“You don’t need to feel down-hearted as you failed the exam. You can’t be regarded as inferior for that. You failed this time because of some weakness of yours. You can try to better yourself. But if you carry on without overcoming your weakness even though you identify it, if you just give up or if you don’t try any harder, you’re an inferior person indeed! If you fall down, you must get up! What you have to remember is this: One backward step is not a retreat but it is just nurturing a person’s strength in order to take two or three forward steps!”

These words of hers would encourage Mg Kyaw Zaw to work harder. He happened to make the silent proclamation: “Yeah! One backward step is a way of nurturing my strength! I must pass the exam with distinctions!” His state of mind resonated with Sarama Daw Tin Tin Yee’s forceful words so continuously that he was constantly motivated to study hard throughout the year.

*****

About a week or so after Mg Kyaw Zaw had re-attended the class, 7 repeater students including him were asked to take private tutoring for Myanmar and English free of charge at her rented house. Besides, she devoted her time to helping them as a study guide for Geography, History and Economics. For such tiresome services, she did not want to collect any money from them. But she expressed her idea that she would accept only a small amount of their money as tutoring fees lest they would not value what she would offer. Only when she taught them other subjects, did they realize that she was also skilled in English.

Soon a selection of students was made at the school level in order to represent the school for different subjects in the Selection of Outstanding Students’ Examination at the township level. For Myanmar subject, Mg Kyaw Zaw was selected as a school representative. Hence, under the care of some teachers, all the selected students had to go to Yanbye to sit for the exam. However, he started suffering from malaria after he had taken English and Myanmar exam papers. Consequently, he could no longer do the other papers. In this way, he had to return home still with malaria.

*****

It was one of the days of November, 2002.

On reaching school, Mg Kyaw Zaw was greeted by a bad piece of news: “Sarama Daw Tin Tin Yee will have to move to BEHS Mrebon by order within a matter of days!” Virtually all the students from Arts Stream class looked sad – their faces looked like the clouds that were about to make a downpour!

Three days later, a farewell party was held for her at the spacious school hall. It was found that not only many female students but also some male ones were crying. For Mg Kyaw Zaw, tears were flowing down his cheeks as a signal of his sorrow. As a matter of fact, the students should feel happy for their beloved teacher who had an opportunity to move back to her native town. However, rather than feeling such a delight, they were stricken with sorrows. Through the tears, all the students paid their homage to her. Afterwards, she uttered her wishes as follows:

“... Well, although I’m not here any more, you’ve got to do your best in what you’ve got to do. The Buddha has taught that only we ourselves are those we must rely on. Only if you study hard, will you be outstanding! That’s why, you must always try your best. I wish you excellence and success with your constant great perseverance!”

In fact, she would be feeling sad at that time. But looking calm, she finished her words of farewell. That was the day when Mg Kyaw Zaw saw her in Laydaung for the last time.

The calm and serene teacher who had reached Laydaung along with the cool climate of November had now left the region calmly and serenely with the cool climate of November!

*****

About one month later, Mg Kyaw Zaw sent a letter to his teacher via a chance messenger. In the letter, he mentioned that he remembered her, that he was studying hard, that he hoped he gained a distinction in Myanmar and that he wished to be a writer like her. Soon he received her reply letter mentioning that she was glad to hear that I was trying my best and that she wished me excellent achievement through continuous hard work.

Now Mg Kyaw Zaw had to do the Matriculation Examination at BEHS Zaratprin. He was able to do well in all the subjects. It was certain that he would gain distinctions in several subjects – even if not in all the subjects!

*****

It was on the 20^th of July, 2003 that the results of the Matriculation Examination were out. Mg Kyaw Zaw went running towards the school.

“Hey, Kyaw Zaw, you gained three distinctions!”

He was about to enter the school compound when he heard his friend Zaw Min call out to him. He went running towards the noticeboard.

Yes! Next to his candidate number and his name were the names of the three subjects: Myanmar, Geography and Economics. He had now passed with three distinctions! In fact, he had expected more distinctions than this. But he had to be content with the result.

Anyway, on his way back home, he felt as agile as a monkey because he was eager to inform his mother of the good news. Reaching home, he informed her of it enthusiastically. She was overjoyed.

“I didn’t get as many distinctions as I had expected. But I’m satisfied with gaining a distinction in Myanmar. It’s like paying back Sarama’s gratitude. If she learns about it, she’ll be overjoyed!”

Saying this, he came to remember her. At that very time, she would be looking forward to the good news of her old friends from Laydaung while she was happy for her new students from Mrebon who passed the exam.

*****

Nowadays, quite a few of her old students from Laydaung have already become successful in their respective fields. Even Mg Kyaw Zaw has now become an assistant lecturer in Yangon University of Education.

About 8 years ago, he visited his beloved teacher’s house in Mrebon for the first time in order to pay homage to her personally. Her appearance at that time was quite different from hers during her stay in Layadaung. Her age had made her look older. In addition, he had been suffering from high blood pressure. However, she had been teaching her students with full compassion, as usual. She still looked energetic if she met her old students.

“Throughout my teaching career, the period of three years when I was posted in Laydaung was the most joyful one for me. I remember all my old students.”

Mg Kyaw Zaw still remembers the above-mentioned words of hers that she uttered while talking to him in Mrebon.

*****

Mg Kyaw Zaw often thought that Sarama Daw Tin Tin Yee looked like a lotus to her old students in Laydaung. Lotus has its own worth in its different parts: flower, bud, stalk and fibre. Even its leaves which seem useless look magnificent to the viewers. She was also precious for her students.

Although it was said that a lotus looks beautiful only if the water level is high, the analogy in this situation is the reverse: the powerful beauty of the single lotus called Sarama made the water level including Mg Kyaw Zaw higher and more graceful.

“She is ...

like a lotus in a shrine vase,

that is beneficial while in bud,

and valuable in bloom.”

Mg Kyaw Zaw happened to orally compose and quietly utter a piece of poem. In his mind was a heartfelt wish that a lotus which had been graceful in full bloom in the region of Laydaung would always be beautiful and unwithered.

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(With this short story, I pay homage to Sarama Daw Tin May Yee, a Mrebon native.)

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Tun Min (YUOE)