[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.50,0:00:14.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I never knew my mother,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.78,0:00:19.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for she died seven days\Nafter giving birth to me.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.100,0:00:25.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was born in a small town\Ncalled Myaung in Sagaing division
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.47,0:00:29.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when the Second World War\Nwas coming to an end.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.64,0:00:32.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My paternal grandfather
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.62,0:00:37.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gave me an uncommon\NMyanmar name, Nay Oke,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.12,0:00:40.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which means "ruler of the sun,"
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.100,0:00:46.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I was born at a time\Nwhen the Japanese fascists,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.91,0:00:49.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with their emblem\Nof the sun on their flags,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.54,0:00:51.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were being defeated in Myanmar.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.97,0:00:55.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And also because I was a Saturday born.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.100,0:00:59.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After the war, the family\Nmoved back to Yangon,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.72,0:01:01.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my schooling began
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.20,0:01:05.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at a Catholic missionary school\Ncalled St. Paul's.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.40,0:01:08.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From the first year of primary school,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.51,0:01:12.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we had to study the nursery songs
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.63,0:01:16.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,written by our national poet, Min Thu Wun.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.51,0:01:21.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He is the only Myanmar poet
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.64,0:01:26.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who is listed among\Nthe world's greatest 100 poets.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.88,0:01:31.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He wrote altogether 13 nursery songs,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.77,0:01:36.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they were very popular then as now,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.32,0:01:42.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all Myanmar school children\Ncan sing them from their hearts.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.15,0:01:45.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here is my favorite:
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.08,0:01:48.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"သပြေသီးကောက်
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.26,0:01:54.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ဝါဆိုဝါခေါင် ရေတွေကြီးလို့\Nသပြေသီးမှည့် ကောက်စို့ကွယ်။\N
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.03,0:01:58.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ခရာဆူးချုံ ဟိုအထဲက\Nမျှော့နက်မည်းကြီး တွယ်တတ်တယ်။\N
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.74,0:02:03.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,မျှော့နက်ဆိုတာ ချိုနဲ့လားကွဲ့\Nမြွေနဂါးတောင် ကြောက်ဘူးကွယ်။\N
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.45,0:02:07.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,တို့လည်းကြောက်ပေါင် အတူသွားစို့\Nအုန်းလက်နွားလေးထားခဲ့မယ်။
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.79,0:02:10.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,သွားကွယ်၊ သွားကွယ်။."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.35,0:02:16.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Professor G.H. Luce translated [this]\Ninto English as "Rose Apple Gatherers":
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.98,0:02:21.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"July, August, rain and flood,\Nlet's go pick the ripe rose-apple.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.71,0:02:27.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hi, take care in thorns and mud.\NThat's where big, black leeches grapple.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.36,0:02:33.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Leeches? Pah! The hornless things.\NI'll fight snakes or serpent-kings.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.28,0:02:38.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who's afraid? Let’s all go now.\NI'll just leave my coconut cow.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.58,0:02:40.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Come on! Come on!"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.33,0:02:48.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All these songs we had to study\Nby heart and sing in class.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.26,0:02:52.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was - one day\Nwhen I was in grade two,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.84,0:02:55.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my Burmese teacher asked me,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.81,0:03:00.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Do you know the poet\Nwho wrote this nursery rhyme?"
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.37,0:03:03.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I replied, "Yes, of course.\NIt's Min Thu Wun."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.44,0:03:07.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He said, "No, no. I mean,\Ndo you know him personally?"
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.87,0:03:11.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I said, "No," he said,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.52,0:03:16.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The poet is your mother's\Ncollege sweetheart."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.40,0:03:20.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was, I was totally flabbergasted.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.20,0:03:25.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The whole class went silent,\Nall eyes staring at me;
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.50,0:03:27.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt so embarrassed.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.66,0:03:33.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As soon as I got home, I asked my sister,\Nwho was seven years my senior,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.61,0:03:36.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and she explained everything to me.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.58,0:03:42.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My stepmother, a very kindly lady\Nwho looked after me so fondly,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.53,0:03:46.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had always thought her\Nto be my biological mother.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.96,0:03:48.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was shocked, yes.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.80,0:03:54.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I was also quite pleased\Nto find out who my real mother was.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.11,0:03:59.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I reached middle school,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.90,0:04:06.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I found both the poems\Nof my mother and of Min Thu Wun
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.36,0:04:08.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in my textbook again.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.48,0:04:12.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By that time, all the teachers\Nand students already knew
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.94,0:04:16.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about the two poets\Nand their relationship.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.54,0:04:19.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt quite comfortable learning them.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.41,0:04:23.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I found my mother's poems to be -
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.12,0:04:30.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well - sensitive, personal,\Nsometimes romantic, sometimes melancholy;
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.50,0:04:36.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whereas, Min Thu Wun's poems\Nwere always very charming and delightful,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.13,0:04:38.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sometimes philosophical
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.51,0:04:44.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because he mostly composed\Nabout rural life and traditions.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.62,0:04:50.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only after studying my poems,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.17,0:04:54.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,did I - could I visualize my mother.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.51,0:05:01.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, I have beautiful paintings\Nand portraits of my mother at home.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.26,0:05:04.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But they look quite lifeless.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.77,0:05:09.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Her poems resurrected her in my mind.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.94,0:05:15.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was young, every time\NI was introduced as Khin Saw Mu's son,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.81,0:05:17.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's the name of my mother,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.92,0:05:20.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the first compliment I heard was,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.91,0:05:24.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Oh, your mother was a real beauty."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.93,0:05:28.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Although I'd never seen her in person,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.80,0:05:32.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I gathered she must have been\Nquite beautiful.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:33.63,0:05:39.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what about her thoughts,\Nher emotions, her feelings?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:40.27,0:05:42.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Her poems revealed to me
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.06,0:05:47.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there was more than\Nbeauty in my mother.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:47.61,0:05:53.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I found that she was a charming,\Ngentle, affectionate and kind person,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.58,0:05:58.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a devoted mother, an obedient\Ndaughter, a loving sister,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.88,0:06:03.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and above all, a dutiful wife.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.10,0:06:07.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt very gratified
Dialogue: 0,0:06:07.95,0:06:12.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that she composed all these poems,\Nthese wonderful poems.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.79,0:06:14.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For without them,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.43,0:06:18.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would never have known\Nmy mother intimately.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:20.18,0:06:24.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My maternal grandparents\Nbrought up their children
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.93,0:06:30.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,strictly adhering\Nto the customs and traditions
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.17,0:06:33.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a Myanmar aristocratic family.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.35,0:06:39.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My grandfather was a senior official\Nin the British colonial service.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:43.42,0:06:49.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he passed on his legacy\Nto his seven children.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.23,0:06:55.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Amazingly, all seven of them,\Nfour sons and three daughters,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.24,0:06:57.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,turned out to be brilliant scholars.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.33,0:07:00.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When my grandfather passed away,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:00.94,0:07:05.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my eldest uncle took his place\Nas head of the family.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.21,0:07:09.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He was even more strict\Nthan my grandfather.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.88,0:07:16.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The three sisters had to spend all their\Nschool and college holidays with him,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:16.77,0:07:18.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wherever he was posted.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:19.56,0:07:24.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was no chance for my mother\Nto communicate with her friends -
Dialogue: 0,0:07:24.18,0:07:26.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or for that matter, her sweetheart -
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.11,0:07:28.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during the long summer holidays.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:28.37,0:07:33.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, they communicated\N[with] each other in poetry
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.26,0:07:39.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through a very popular journal\Nof that time called "Gandha Yatha."
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.80,0:07:47.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The poems that they wrote during\Nthe summer holidays became classics,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:47.28,0:07:53.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they are now included\Nin our school and college textbooks.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:54.32,0:07:58.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here is an excerpt from one\Nof the poems my mother wrote
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.71,0:08:01.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during the long summer months.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:01.68,0:08:04.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"လိပ်ပြာနဲ့ ကြာကုမုဒ်
Dialogue: 0,0:08:04.47,0:08:10.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,မြကန်သာဝယ် သင်းပျံ့ကြွယ်သည်\Nသွယ်သွယ်ကနုတ် ကြာကုမုဒ်တို့
Dialogue: 0,0:08:11.09,0:08:17.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,လဲ့လုတ်လဲ့လီ ဖူးဖွင်ချီသည်\Nဒေဝီနတ်မိ တို့နှယ်တကား။\N
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.10,0:08:23.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ဖူးလိပ်ပြေစ ရွက်ညိုမြတွင်\Nရွရွနားကာ ပန်းလိပ်ပြာသည်
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.18,0:08:28.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,သက်လျာနှမ ကုမုဒါငယ်\Nစောင့်ရနောင့်ကို ချစ်ကြည်ညိုက"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.00,0:08:31.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, this is is just an excerpt.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:32.29,0:08:34.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the poem,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:35.12,0:08:41.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the butterfly and a particular lotus\Nnamed Kumudra can never meet
Dialogue: 0,0:08:42.17,0:08:46.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the butterfly\Ncomes out only in the daytime
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.93,0:08:51.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the lotus blooms\Nonly with the moonlight.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.42,0:08:56.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the butterfly would sit gently\Non the leaf all day
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.90,0:09:00.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and beg the lotus
Dialogue: 0,0:09:00.36,0:09:04.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but to bloom until the sun sets.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:05.57,0:09:11.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When night falls, the lotus\Nwould bloom under the moonlight,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:11.33,0:09:16.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,looking for the butterfly\Ntill dawn breaks again.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.56,0:09:20.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is an emotionally moving poem.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:20.08,0:09:23.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think when my mother wrote it,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:23.53,0:09:27.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she was longing to see\Nher sweetheart, for sure.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:28.54,0:09:33.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And here is another delightful poem\Nwritten by Min Thu Wun.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:34.11,0:09:40.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a poignant but very delightful\Npoem called "Nhinsi Pwint":
Dialogue: 0,0:09:41.38,0:09:43.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"နှင်းဆီပွင့်။ \Nလယ်တောက ပြန်
Dialogue: 0,0:09:43.22,0:09:46.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ပန်ချင်တယ် ခရေဖူးဆိုလို့\Nမောင်ခူးကာပေး။
Dialogue: 0,0:09:46.92,0:09:49.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,မနက်တုန်းဆီက\Nကြော့ဆုံးကို မောင်မြင်တော့\N
Dialogue: 0,0:09:49.92,0:09:53.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,သူ့ဆံပင် နှင်းဆီပွင့်တွေနှင့်\Nဂုဏ်တင့်တယ်လေး။"
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.91,0:09:57.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And U Khin Zaw
Dialogue: 0,0:09:57.63,0:10:01.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rendered [this], very concisely,\Ninto English as "Roses":
Dialogue: 0,0:10:01.61,0:10:06.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Last eve her ladyship fancied\Nsome flowers we saw on the wild-wood way.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:06.95,0:10:10.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I plucked them for her,\Nthose forest flowers.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:10.58,0:10:14.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alas, today in her hair are roses, roses -
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.59,0:10:17.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,very pretty she looks with roses!
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.57,0:10:22.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think the poet dedicated\Nthis poem to my mother, again.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:24.26,0:10:29.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When my mother finished\Nher final year in college,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:29.49,0:10:32.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she had to spend\Nthe summer vacation as usual,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:32.45,0:10:35.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with her eldest brother, my uncle.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:35.94,0:10:38.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,During the summer holidays,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.64,0:10:45.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my uncle hastily arranged a marriage\Nbetween my mother and my father.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:45.22,0:10:49.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My uncle was then\Nthe district commissioner in Pyay,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:49.34,0:10:53.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my father was\Nthe deputy district commissioner.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:54.37,0:10:58.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Both my father, U Ba Tint,\Nand my uncle U Tin Htut
Dialogue: 0,0:11:00.87,0:11:06.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,belonged to the very elite\NIndian Civil Service,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:06.57,0:11:08.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called ICS.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:08.98,0:11:14.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The British chose the outstanding\Nscholars in college
Dialogue: 0,0:11:15.04,0:11:18.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sent them to [the] UK\Nfor further studies
Dialogue: 0,0:11:18.54,0:11:24.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and trained them exclusively to be part\Nof the British colonial service.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:24.76,0:11:29.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In those days, they were \Nthe crème de la crème.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:29.06,0:11:35.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My mother, always an obedient sister,\Ndid not make any protestations
Dialogue: 0,0:11:35.73,0:11:42.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but accepted her fate as wife\Nof a senior government official.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:43.89,0:11:46.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,During the same period,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:46.47,0:11:52.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Myanmar literature was enriched\Nwith an immortal short story
Dialogue: 0,0:11:52.01,0:11:56.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,written by Min Thu Wun\Ncalled “ဘကြီးအောင်ညာတယ်,”
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.46,0:12:00.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which means "Uncle Aung\Nbroke his promise."
Dialogue: 0,0:12:00.14,0:12:06.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ii is a touching story\Nabout a ten-year-old village lad
Dialogue: 0,0:12:07.34,0:12:12.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who fell in love with\Na wooden statue of a maiden.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:12.85,0:12:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He loved art, and he visited\Nthe village sculptor U Aung frequently
Dialogue: 0,0:12:19.99,0:12:22.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and watched him create
Dialogue: 0,0:12:23.57,0:12:28.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beautiful pieces of sculpture\Nout of figureless blocks of wood.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:29.01,0:12:33.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He thought the figurine\Nof the maiden was the prettiest
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.44,0:12:37.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he had set his eyes upon.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:37.47,0:12:39.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So one day,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:39.91,0:12:45.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he could not help but ask,\Nvery timidly, the sculptor,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:45.58,0:12:50.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"How much it will cost \Nto purchase that statue?"
Dialogue: 0,0:12:50.95,0:12:56.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When the sculptor said, "One rupee,"\Nit nearly broke his heart,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:56.46,0:12:59.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for he never had that kind of money,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:59.29,0:13:04.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he was getting just\None paisa a day for pocket money.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:04.72,0:13:06.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the colonial days,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:06.65,0:13:12.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we had to use the Indian currency\Nof rupees, annas and paise.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:12.50,0:13:16.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One rupee meant 64 paise.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:17.76,0:13:23.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nevertheless, he begged\Nthe sculptor to keep it for him,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:23.30,0:13:28.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for one day he would come back\Nwhen he had saved enough money for it.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:29.50,0:13:35.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The sculptor gave him his solemn promise\Nthat he would not sell it to anyone.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:35.90,0:13:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the poor lad stopped eating\Nhis favorite snacks
Dialogue: 0,0:13:40.54,0:13:45.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and started saving his pocket money\Nin a bamboo container.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:46.07,0:13:48.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every evening before he went to bed,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:49.10,0:13:53.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he would take out\Nall the coins and count them.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:53.82,0:13:55.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was such a slow process,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:55.98,0:14:01.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so he decided to supplement\Nhis income by doing menial jobs,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:01.05,0:14:05.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like fetching water and\Ngathering firewood for his neighbors.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:05.67,0:14:10.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When he had saved enough, almost enough,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:10.01,0:14:12.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he went to inform the sculptor
Dialogue: 0,0:14:12.91,0:14:16.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that in a few days' time, \Nhe would be able to buy it.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:16.70,0:14:21.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But alas, the sculpture was there no more.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:21.53,0:14:26.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The sculptor told him, apologetically,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:26.12,0:14:32.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that a high-ranking government inspector\Nhad just taken it away.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:32.97,0:14:36.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The poor boy was so brokenhearted;
Dialogue: 0,0:14:36.13,0:14:41.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he didn't eat or sleep\Nor talk to anyone for days.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:41.60,0:14:43.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No one knew why.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:43.88,0:14:50.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Soon a severe fever inflicted him,\Nand he lay dying in bed.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:50.41,0:14:51.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Before he died,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:51.83,0:14:57.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he asked his mother to donate\Nall his savings in the bamboo container
Dialogue: 0,0:14:57.53,0:14:59.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the village monastery.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:00.47,0:15:04.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His last words were “ဘကြီးအောင်ညာတယ်,”
Dialogue: 0,0:15:04.74,0:15:09.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which means “Uncle Aung \Ndid not keep his promise.”
Dialogue: 0,0:15:09.16,0:15:14.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A very poignant, yet human story
Dialogue: 0,0:15:14.59,0:15:17.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that created classic literature,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:17.88,0:15:24.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the likes of which usually outlived\Nthose who poured their emotions into it.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:26.43,0:15:31.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The writer, my mother,\Nmy father, my uncle -
Dialogue: 0,0:15:31.78,0:15:35.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all the mortals have passed away.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:35.57,0:15:42.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The poems and the stories -\Nthe immortals - still live on.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:42.50,0:15:46.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The short story\Nbecame a very popular play,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:46.07,0:15:51.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is still performed\Nat pagoda festivals all over the country.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:51.98,0:15:59.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The village folk and the kids\N[have] known this story for many decades.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:59.10,0:16:03.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Last year, I think, at a Yangon -\Nat a literary festival in Yangon,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:03.79,0:16:07.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was presented\Nby a famous stage director,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:07.40,0:16:12.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it was the main attraction\Nat the festival.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:13.34,0:16:17.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, that's the story of my mother,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:17.95,0:16:22.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,long-gone but immortalized by her poems
Dialogue: 0,0:16:22.58,0:16:26.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the poems and stories of Min Thu Wun.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:26.22,0:16:31.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To this day, the Myanmar literati\Nstill argue and debate
Dialogue: 0,0:16:31.33,0:16:36.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about who the poets were referring to
Dialogue: 0,0:16:36.10,0:16:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when they wrote these masterpieces.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:38.90,0:16:42.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that matter is irrelevant now.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:42.15,0:16:45.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because what [does] matter is that
Dialogue: 0,0:16:45.07,0:16:51.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they have become truly masterpieces\Nin Myanmar literature
Dialogue: 0,0:16:51.45,0:16:56.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that will exist long after\Nall of us are gone.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:04.68,0:17:07.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the electronic devices
Dialogue: 0,0:17:07.44,0:17:14.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that can make it more accessible\Nto readers are not helping at all.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:58.98,0:17:04.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People's love for literature\Nis dying globally.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:14.12,0:17:20.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because the present generation feels that\Nthere are better uses for these devices
Dialogue: 0,0:17:20.13,0:17:23.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than reading classical literature.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:24.24,0:17:28.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Education today has become job oriented.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:28.97,0:17:35.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The world has become a place where\Nyou need vocational skills to survive.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:36.15,0:17:40.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,True, jobs feed your stomach.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:40.05,0:17:43.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what about the heart?\NWhat about the soul?
Dialogue: 0,0:17:43.54,0:17:49.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is literature, it is poetry\Nthat feeds the heart and soul,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:49.66,0:17:52.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and also makes you human.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:53.08,0:17:59.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In conclusion, I would like to quote \Nan adage of Lord Buddha.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:59.40,0:18:01.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Lord Buddha once asked,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:08.60,0:18:14.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He said, “When you\Nlike a flower, you pluck it.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:01.80,0:18:08.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“How can you distinguish\Nl-i-k-e, like, from l-o-v-e, love?
Dialogue: 0,0:18:15.34,0:18:20.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But when you love a flower,\Nyou water it daily.”
Dialogue: 0,0:18:20.35,0:18:26.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He said, ”If you understand this,\Nyou will understand life.”
Dialogue: 0,0:18:26.24,0:18:27.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you very much.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:27.78,0:18:30.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)