Myanmar - A Forgotten Neighbourhood
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Why Myanmar? I was asked by several friends. Why not a holiday to some other exciting place with a lot more to see and do? And so I searched for reasons for my interest in Myanmar. Was it just the physical proximity of a neighbouring country I didn’t know at all, or the fascination Amitav Ghosh’s book `The Glass Palace’ had generated in me. Well, it was actually a curious mix of the above two.
Honestly, I find the name Myanmar emotionally distancing. Its `Burma’ we are used to. The picture of the yellow shell logo of `Burmah-Shell’ oil companies, instantly comes to my mind. Growing up in a family involved in the business of servicing of trucks and tankers, I could identify that logo on oil tankers even before I could read. Unfortunately, the many decades of political turbulence has kept investors and visitors out of Myanmar. There is nothing rich or glamorous about this country. It’s more like stepping into the house of an old and poor relative, whose courtyard is filled with a confused array of things forgotten and lost. In fact, the only thing about Myanmar that blinks in peoples mind today is the face of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate for Peace, undergoing house arrest since 1989 in her own country.
Besides fascinating references to the regions in the 14th century accounts of Marco Polo and other travelers, British Raj prodigies like George Orwell and Rudyard Kipling has also left interesting accounts and references of their life and times in Myanmar. Yes, I was excited about exploring this country. I could picture myself sailing across the Irrawaddy, the life line of Myanmar even before I set off.
Although I was headed to the countries centre and cultural heart, which is Mandalay, I had two important visits in Yangon. First, a visit to the golden landmark of Myanmar - the Swedagon Pagoda also known as the Golden Pagoda. The initial glimpse of its golden spire brings images of the 19th century litho prints. However, now it’s minus the wild vegetation around its vast expanse. Except the awesome glitter of the Pagoda, the entire place is a maze of old and new, small and big freshly whitewashed shrines on a newly marbled floor. Originally founded and built in the 6th or 7th century AD by the Mon rulers, this monument and its surrounds has seen a series of additions and renovations, besides withstanding numerous earthquakes. The monument is like a zedi or stupa park, bustling with devotees, offering prayers, eating lunch or taking a siesta. I actually wanted to escape the heat, the heady smells of incense and Burmese lunch. And stop hopping from one marble tile to the other to save my feet from getting roasted. Unfortunately the original entrance to the Pagoda is crowded with offertory and souvenir shops, making it impossible to appreciate anything.
Although most of Myanmar’s past history is no more than sketches of regional feuds by different ethnic groups, its Myanmar’s recent 200 years of history that has shaped the nations glory and doom. It was the Pyu’s and Mon’s of Tibeto-Burman and Eastern-Indian origin respectively who were responsible for the first states in Myanmar since the 6th century AD onwards. The Bamar or the Burmans are said to have come down the Eastern Himalayas in 8th cent AD and occupied Central Myanmar and sustained it as the cultural capital if not the political capital. The vast temple complexes of Pagan dating from the 9th -12th century are remnants of a Golden Period or the `Pagan Era’ in Burmese history. But once again conflict among native groups weakened the political system and the invasion of Kublai Khan’s army in 1287 AD ended the `Golden Era’ completely. Chaos continued among rulers of different ethnic groups. Finally in 1752 the Mon took complete charge of regions around Mandalay and even defeated the neighbouring Thai kingdom. This victory motivated them to take on the British forces in the west. Well, their confidence just proved too wrong.
The British began occupying Myanmar from the 1820’s till it officially became a part of the British Raj in 1886. The same year the last of the royals, King Thibaw and Queen Supalaya and their children were taken prisoners to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, Indians and Chinese were encouraged by the British to populate urban centres like Yangon and Mandalay so as to facilitate trade and political administration. And most importantly, as workforce for the much needed rail and road infrastructure. Phenomenally large patches of teak wood forests were razed to ground for building rail carriages and laying tracks. Large tracts of swampy delta region were leased out or sold to Indian merchants who managed rice farming and its trade. Indians also had high stakes in the gem trade. It is estimated that in the 1930’s the number of Indians in Myanmar amounted to half of the nation’s total population.
Myanmar was always a resource rich nation and during the Raj it came to be considered the rice bowl of the world, also rich in teak wood resources, and precious stone deposits. The discovery and mechanized drilling of oil in the second half of the 19th century near Mandalay deepened the British interest in the nation’s wealth. Even today, in Yangon it’s the grand colonial structures of these prosperous times that grace the city streets laid out in a well planned grid system. Most streets and markets still retain their British names.
Myanmar hasn’t changed much since the British left them in total chaos to fend for themselves, after squeezing out most of the natural resources it had. The nation is in a time warp. There is an uneasy feeling of neglect and isolation about Yangon.
My Bangladeshi friend in Yangon took me through various streets seeking out the best of Burmese food and tea. And I was thrilled when she herself suggested a visit to the second most important purpose of my Yangon stay. A visit to the tomb of our last Mughal Bahadur Shah Zafar, who died in exile in Yangon in 1862. But the visit proved depressing. Not that I was expecting a grand monument. But neither did I expect to see a durgah so common, like the tens of them you find in the streets of Delhi. Definitely not for the Last Emperor of a dynasty that ruled most of India for 300 years. Except for the visits by Muslims and Sufis the durgah goes unnoticed even by the occational visitor to Yangon. But isn’t that what happened to the Burmese Royals in exile in Ratnagiri too? This was getting too depressing. I wished to get out of Yangon. I remembered the lines from Emperor Zafar’s poem that he wrote in last years “lagta nahi hai ji mera is ujade dayaar mein”. I felt the same way. I was glad to board the overnight bus to Mandalay.
