Discovering Northwest Myannmar 13 - To Burmese Days

In this leg of the journey, I had to turn around. I was saddened by this; no proper motorcycle loop includes parts where you return and head back down roads you've already come up. Alas, I was not allowed to continues northwards deeper into Kachin State. These were disputed lands - they were places no foreigner was allowed to go. 

The proprietor of the place I had breakfast was wearing a shirt with the Shan
flag on it. Here he is with his wife. 

As I discuss in the video, something that surprised me about my time there at Indawgyi Lake and its environs was the the people who lived there, the people who cooked that delicious beef curry; they were not Kachin people. No, that part of Myanmar has been inhabited by Shan people. The Shan are ethnically similar to the Thai people and they happen to inhabit the southern end of Kachin state all the way up to the India border. It may be the KIA contributing the ruckus up there, but the average Somchan round the lake isn't K. 

My backtracking was only a few dozen miles and then I was able to make a left. Over (what I thought would be) my last range of hills on the journey. Down into the valley of the mighty Ayeyarwaddy River, back to where I started, in the heart of the Burmese plains. 

And it was in the Burmese plains that I started to read Burmese Days by George Orwell. If you were to create a top 5 list for the best English writers of the 20th Century, Orwell would be in consideration for that list. Well, he certainly would be if it were for the most famous English writers of the previous century. In any case, Orwell is very much connected to Myanmar because he spent most of his 20's here, working as a policeman on the Imperial service. He was stationed at a medium-sized town in the Irrawaddy called Katha.

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Although he doesn't mention it by name, his experiences in Katha were his inspiration for his first best-selling book, Burmese Days. 

If you haven't read it, I would recommend it, but with the forewarning that you won't feel better after reading it. It's a thoroughly depressing tale of racism, impotence, incompetence and imperialism. None of the characters are relatable in any way. Every character in the book is despicable in one way or another. Even the protagonist disappoints you in every chapter. And how the book ends, then you get disappointed by the writer. 

Anyways, there I was in Katha, the place where this book was set. I sat reading it within a few hundred yards where Orwell had experienced it. I went to the tennis courts. I could picture where the old ex-pat club used to be... I bought a copy of the book and started reading it there in the town... and it was profound.



Profoundly disturbing.

When I teach English, I try to speak slowly and clearly. Students have commended me on being easily understood. When I'm talking spontaneously to the camera on a travel video, this isn't always the case, so, here on the blog,  the transcript of me talking about Burmese Days from 5:56 to __ in the video.  I'm transcribing it because I think it's an important revelation that I want to remember . 

So I'm sitting here in Katha, the place where this book, Burmese Days, was inspired by.  The place where the events took place... well.. it's a fictional story but Orwell was inspired by his time his time here, as a policeman, way up in Upper Burma, 

And it's funny, I'm only on page 28 and already I can see some of the attitudes, mannerisms of the white people in this book, who are, on the whole, a rather despicable lot, in how they treat the Burmese people. (mumble mumble)

But there are certain aspects, for example, I was out on the road today, and my throat was dry and I pull into a restaurant and I just want a beer. And I look and I say, bia shi la? Which, to the best of my ability is how you say, "Do you have beer?" and they look at me like... ???...

You can se the fear in her eyes.  

The girl was scared.. Intimidated by me. You can see it in her face. 
See, even now I'm mocking then in how afraid they were in having a white person in their establishment in this rural restaurant where no white people ever comes to, and OMG they're so different and Ohhh! (mumble mumble)

Anyways, I got a little angry. I got impatient. Barked at them in English, which of course they didn't understand. It was stupid. Yannow. You say you don't have beer and then look, I found it. OF COURSe you have beer! Beer! Give me one! MMerrr... 

I'd love to work somewhere that your could wear pajamas to work. 

It's like I was character out of this book.They would do something like that. And that's what I did today.

And I have to reflect. My role and attitudes and position, here, in what used to be called Burma.