#amarpura

[trexph]

To Chase a Sunset.

U Bein Bridge, Mandalay, Myanmar.

[dipthebond007]

The Bag of Bones

How can one be very calm, tolerant and moreover modest? I often wonder.I have seen many people who are clam in nature, but they are not tolerant and not even modest. I also have seen modest people, however they are not clam and not tolerant. This is very rare combination to find in one person. If I talk about me, I’m calm in nature and modest too, but not tolerant. I cannot tolerate anything for a long. I react soon or later.

               This guy might have a different magical substance in his body which makes him Calm, tolerant and modest. These kind of people born once in a century as I thought. I have not been living for a centuries but have read much and never found such character in books or in any other information resource. I have also watched so many films and not seen such character on screen too and that is why I think these kind of people born once in a century. Some of us might think that this must be imaginary character and I’ve created it for self-interest. I can assure you that he is not mythical. This bag of bones lives in small town named Amarpura and people call him Umesh (of course! dummy name). I have not met him for a year now but heard from one of my friend that he is still alive there. I was glad to hear about his well being. He quiet not grown flesh on his body and looks the same skinny, my friend said. He tried to gain weight lots of time. I’m witnessed to his all efforts, I’ve seen it. Some years ago he counted on the protein powder and also take some other medicines to increase his hunger so that he can eat as much as he can and gain a weight as well as good fat body against the God’s wish.

               I have seen him running and doing push-ups, he was working very hard to achieve his extremely important goal in his life. I don’t know why he exactly wanted to do it. He was not a guy who wants to impress a girl. Also he did not want to fight with anyone, nor did he want to join a Force.  Nobody even try bullying on him as he is a decent boy. So why he is taking so much efforts to go against God’s law and want to gain weight? God made him skinny, there might be a good reason which would disclose someday. I didn’t stop him from doing these weird things after all he is my good friend and I thought if magic happened someday and somehow he achieved his goal successfully then it would a wonder for him. As per my opinion, workout is good only if it is done by the others. We offer our advice to others and ask them to do exercise but we hardly follow our own advice. Almost every day I met with different personnel who recommend me various type of exercise, however I don’t think they all are following the same in their own life. It’s very easy to give suggestions to others and hard to implement it in our life. Yeah yeah! I agree that it makes us healthier and make our physic strong. Everyone should do it. People who does and people who doesn’t work out those also promotes this thing.

Later on, we had seen some minor changes in his physic but didn’t find any big difference. He also left the hope and stopped exercise. He is well educated. Not only well educated, very well educated. Others complete their Degree after putting great efforts and this person has two Degrees with him, that’s why I said, very well educated. He is the specialist in History subject. He has great knowledge of history. You ask him anything about history and he will answer immediately. Which king born in which year? Or when and where did a king died? When was particular movement happened? These and there are many other questions which he can answer within a second. My other friend Ravi and Umesh often talk about history. How many wives Shahajahan had and why people says that he was the great lover as he build the Taj Mahal in the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaj. These were the prominent topics they used to discuss. I give them company in the discussion, however those discussions were a sort of bouncer for me. I was not a bit interested in the history. I had no business with Shahajahan and Mumtaj and their epic love story. So mostly I play a part of audience. Sometimes they show some courtesy and ask me whether I’m getting bore. I too show some respect and tell them that I’m okay with it, you guys can carry on. They take a pause for a while as they only checking for my permission to resume the interrupted discussion.

I always become an audience when Ravi and Umesh together, because I had nothing to talk between them. They speak on every common topic and I use to speak on very specific. Most of the time Umesh and I becomes audience because when Ravi start to speak, there is no end of his talk until he himself want to stop it.

Umesh is famous for his busy nature. He does lots of things and keeps himself quiet busy. We are close friends, but that does not make any difference still we need to schedule our meeting according to his availability. He has completed education and now rarely applies for competitive exams. He is one of the director of a private English School and that makes him damn busy now a day. Literally we need to buy his time now, some time we do fake call to him pretending as a parents and ask him to meet us and explain the admission process to us and that is how we meet. Now it’s not working anymore. He can’t say ‘No’ to anyone. If someone comes up with a problem, he helps them for sure. There are so many small and larger social works which he does for others and never expect anything in return. If you want to apply for any government job and don’t know how to apply then contact to him. He will guide you start to end procedure of government job. His helping nature keeps him busy all the time. We always hate him for not giving us time. There was a time when we used to meet every evening and now not even single call or message for months. What a tragic part of our lives! Why have we grown up? We were far better as teenagers than grownups. Ravi and I often thought that Umesh is wasting time but now we can understand in the course of time that he is not wasting time but he is earning people. The money is prominent part of living but that is not all, we can recognize it now. Money can buy you anything but not anybody’s time.  

I have started imaging now, a day when there would be hoardings and cut outs displayed in the Chowk of Amarpura which will illustrate his story and also appreciate his grandeur.

“Umesh Bhauncha Vijay Aso”

[shailendraahir]

winter time 2012

a trip to amarpura. i was a navodian that time. i liked to go daily to amarpura just for fun and enjoy the nature.

one day i found this at a wheat field.

[thesingingcyclist-blog]

Hello Burma...

Arriving in Mandalay….

It certainly doesn’t feel like a city as we know it. With the moated Palace as its centre piece sitting at the foot of Mandalay Hill, this ‘new’ city was constructed in 1861 when King Mindon moved it from Amarapura, the home of the beautiful U Bein teak bridge.

The road network is a criss cross of numbered streets, many dirt tracks, and home to street food, vendors, markets and entrepreneurs.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived in Mandalay was the friendliness of the locals. So smiley, helpful and nosey! From stopping me in the street (many times!) to ask me where I’m from and to take my photo (around ten times already!), to serving my food and sitting with me to watch me eat, the Burmese are inquisitive and are keen to provide company if you are travelling alone. It has been the perfect place to start my adventure. I’ve met some wonderful people. One of these is Margareta, a charming and worldly lady in her 70s from Sweden, who first visited Burma in 1998 and has been coming back ever since. She has many friends here, including Alice, the owner and grandmother of the family run guesthouse Peacock Lodge where I stayed for three nights. On my second night we had dinner together and she told me many stories of her travels. When she was 27 and had a child of just two years, she visited Nepal with her husband and they all lived together in a Tibetan village for 6 months, no electricity, took water from the well, really living the lives of the villagers. Her husband was researching and studying religious history at the time. Very poised and full of life, Margareta encouraged me to take the slow ‘local’ boat to Bagan when I found out the fast boat was full,”it will be more of an adventure and you are looking for an adventure aren’t you?!” As I left Mandalay for Bagan, she was taking on the role of ‘Project Manager’ and was expecting her 12 Swedish friends to arrive for a trip that she’s planned to visit all the sites she loves and knows so well. I’m just sad I never got a photo with her.

I also met a beautiful 20 year old girl called May when I visited Amarpura and the U Bein bridge by motorbike taxi. She came and sat with me and the Dad and two sisters from the restaurant I was eating at. They served my soup and chicken fried rice with an egg on top, and then sat down to practice their English whilst I ate!

May walked with me across the bridge, impressing me with her knowledge of the local history. We strolled to the sound of hundreds of ‘laughing ducks’ which really amused May, “I will always remember you now when I cross the bridge and hear the ducks hahahaha!” Next time you see ducks, listen!

We spent the whole afternoon together and she told me all about her life. Her mother sells vegetables to feed her and her twin sisters and she sells jewellery and hats (I bought one) to pay for her university. She hopes to become a tourist guide but is worried that there aren’t many jobs. She took me to a temple across the river deep into the village, it is a replica of one in Bagan. She has long shiny hair past her waist, it is her ‘second hair’ as it has only been cut once! When I left she said she wants to cry, she was so sweet and she gave me a present - a watermelon seed bracelet. I was sad to say goodbye.

Also that day I visited the Mahamari Pagoda, the biggest in Mandalay, and was lucky enough to witness a Shinbyu ceremony, one of the most important events in a Buddhist’s life in Myanmar. The ceremony allows boys to enter the Buddha’s order of monks as a novice after shaving their heads and donning robes, and Myanmar people regard their lives to be incomplete if they themselves, or their sons, have not been novices. It was a fascinating spectacle with the young boys adorned in fancy clothing and paraded around the pagoda.

On my last day in Mandalay I hired a bicycle and took to the streets! At last! I feel so free on a bike! I weaved with the crazy traffic, cycled up dirt tracks, got lost and stopped to talk to an 18 year old monk called Martin who took me into the monastery to have a look at his classroom. I trekked up Mandalay Hill to be greeted by a swarm of dragonflies and settled down to watch the sunset whilst listening to Peacey’s classic set ‘From Disco with Dub’ :-) I ate street food, tiny quails eggs fried in a batter dome and drunk an avocado smoothie, the largest avocado I’ve ever seen!

So now I write this on the slow boat to Bagan, packed full of locals on route to their villages. I’ve met a couple from Colorado, Melanie has travelled all over the world. I also met a Taiwanese man called Paul who has travelled for the last 12 years and he’s give me many tips and advice for staying safe. We’ve drunk Mandalay beer, played cards and stopped at four riverside settlements where the villagers came on board to sell refreshments. I even traded some of the school books and pens I bought at the night market in Mandalay for some watermelon!

Bagan here we come!