RIO, DIANA ROSE C.

FINMGT 1203
CREATING SUMMARY OF STORIES

Close Proximity by Kyaw Ma Ma Lay

It was U Po Sein's 75th birthday. To prepare the cooked rice to be offered to the temple
in celebration of his father's birthday, Ma Thaw, his daughter, rises early. The moist firewood
makes it difficult for her to get the stove hot. Yet again, her mother Daw Pan U rushed inside to
start cooking her own dinner on the stove next to the one Ma Thaw had been using. Ma Thaw
brought a flaming branch from the other stove to put on her mother since Daw Pan U's stove
wouldn't light up. However, Daw Pan U rejected it angrily and said she would never use
anything from that other stove. It turned out that Ma Thaw’s parents are already separated but
still living in the same house. They each have their own stove to cook their meals separately
and have separate earnings. They have not spoken to each other for 25 years and Ma Thaw
already became an old maid at age of 35. Ma Thaw cooked for her father and helped her
mother in the kitchen. In their small two-stored wooden house, her mother has a small grocery
in a room downstairs and Ma Thaw worked as a seam stress. When U Po Sein from the
upcountry arrived to treat a smallpox patient, the story of her parents' relationship began. The
disease spread quickly, thus U Po Sein was forced to stay for a longer period of time in order to
cure the entire town. Ma Thaw was born when her mother was already past forty because the
villagers decided to match him with the 40-year-old seamstress Dan Paw U in order to stop
forcing him to leave. Because he would treat patients in different towns and only return home for
three to six months at most, Ma Thaw was still unaware that her father was U Po Sein when she
was three years old. The marriage did not go well, and at first, they were too shy to visit a
pagoda or monastery with one another like the other couples. They remain reserved towards
one another even after Ma Thaw's birth. When she was a toddler, however, the shyness
developed into fighting. Dan Paw U was frustrated with her husband that he always spoke
abruptly, that he thought too much of himself, that he was selfish, fussy, unforgiving and
contrary. On the other hand, U Po Sein was frustrated with his wife that she was stingy did not
get along with anyone, had too many things going on and was stubborn, ungrateful, self-
centered and unhelpful. It was when Ma Thaw was 10 years old that everything exploded. It was
the day that U Po Sein returned home after about three months of treating patients from the
countryside. Early one morning, he returned home carrying a wooden box with his clothes and
stuff, two baskets he had bought to use at home and a whole bunch of bananas. Upon arriving
home, he expected that his wife would help him carry the things inside the house. As soon as
Daw Pan U saw his husband, she went into the bedroom. When U Po Sein saw that, he
dropped everything in the door. While resting, he got up from the chair and shouted loud
enough for Daw Pan U, still in her room to hear, “Hey box, hey baskets and bananas, go into
the house now, get inside!” He was speaking as if these things were live entities. Dan Paw U
was determined to see who would give up first and knew that he would continue being snarky
until she went outside and began to take things in. Two clients arrived just then, and when they
overheard the doctor screaming, they rushed to the monastery to get Ma Thaw and inform her
of the happenings in the house. Back to her home, Ma Thaw rushed like the wind. Ma Thaw
walked into the house as U Po Sein was still shouting. Ma Thaw looked for her mother and
finally found her in bed with a blanket pulled over her head. When U Po Sein came back, he
was carrying pots and pans together with rice, salt, fish, dried chillies, onions and bottle of oil.
That was the day that U Po Sein, with deep bitterness against his wife, declared himself no
longer married to her and set up a separate kitchen. He cooked for himself until Ma Thaw was
old enough to do it for him. When Ma Thaw realized that there were no longer any sugar pellets
in her father's tin when she was preparing to deliver the offering to him in the present, she
asked her mother. Dan Paw U started off by telling Ma Thaw the tale of her struggles with his
husband, which her daughter had already heard a couple of time. Ma Thaw didn't fully
understand his mother. She was fed up with her life being the buffer between her parents, not
even getting married and she no longer wanted to listen to the same things over and over again.
Ma Thaw hurried to bring the offering tray to his father. U Po Sein noticed the sugar slabs.
Although Ma Thaw acknowledged getting it from her mother, she insisted that she had to pay for
it and had not received them for free. U Po Sein has told Ma Thaw to dispose of it since he is
still certain that he will not accept anything from his wife. Although Ma Thaw is too busy
counting and making sure she gets 75 spoonsful of water, U Po Sein has his own story of
struggle with his wife. Additionally, she had heard the same story over a hundred times, so it
was nothing new. She felt even more miserable reading these words as she was a spinster and
lived with a battling parent. Ma Thaw hurriedly came down stairs because she must prepare
her mother’s offering tray. She was surprised when U Po Sein appeared in the door way
looking for his Zatar. He was going to place the Zatar in front of the image before he can begin
praying as he has done on every birthday but had failed to find out this morning. Ma Thaw
hurriedly came downstairs because she must prepare her mother’s offering tray. She was
surprised when U Po Sein appeared in the doorway looking for his Zatar. He was going to place
the Zatar in front of the image before he can begin praying as he has done on every birthday but
had failed to find out this morning. It turned out that the roofs were leaking due of a storm the
day before, and Dan Pan U moved several items, including the tin can. U Po Sein maintained
that the items that were moved should have been placed back where they belonged. They
continued expressing their ideas, but not directly to one another; rather, they did them through
Ma Thaw. U Po Sein quickly discovered the Zatar on the bookcase. When Ma Thaw overheard
his father starting his prayer, she continued to chastise him about the entire thing. One line that
made her tears welled up is this “may all creatures have neither hatred nor enmity, may they
have neither anxieties, nor fears, may they keep themselves in well-being and prosperity
 The Kindergarten Teacher by Aung Thinn

I was a lecturer at the University of Yangon and a middle school teacher in my

hometown of Taungdwingyi. At the risk of being thought boastful, I must say that I was
considered quite a good teacher at both posts. However, what I encountered on my trip home in
1963 shook me. Inspector U Nyan Sein's five-year-old class drew cartoons and made-up stories
on the blackboard. When I asked why he wasn't teaching, he said he could do so at any time.
One boy sat crying in the front row, unable to look at the drawings or listen to the stories. U
Nyan Sein, the teacher, smiled as he looked at the crying boy. The other kids went into a loud
pantomime of crying: they sobbed earnestly, rubbed their eyes, and howled in glee. There were
no more tears from anyone, real or fake, after that. The teacher drew a round circle clockwise
on the blackboard. "And a rotten plum is this," he said, drawing the circle anti-clockwise. The
five-year-old were having the time of their lives, and the plum picking session was a great
success. The Myanmar alphabet is based on the circle, and the letters are in that sense
deviations from the sweet plum. The kids set to with a will, drawing "plums" on their slates. "Now
that this is sour, I won't buy it next time," he'd say, "but this time I will," and make a mark.