From: New Exodus
EMail: bookwormz_99@yahoo.com
ThinGyan Pwe in the past....
May be some people might have known this. But some may not be. I would like to say that this was a great water festival that I had ever enjoyed in my lifetime and there would be none like this coming back again.
It was in 1989. It was in April. And it was just after the historic moment of our time of 1980's. The army just took back the power from the socialist government with by all means as they could, shooting down the demonstrators, an eye for an eye, a drop of blood for a pool of blood. And come April 1989, just 7 months after the tragic coup in Burma. Who would dare to have the spirit of ThinGyan festival after being suffered the great pain of losing your friends, a family member, a people or a blood of a new generation or let's say, freedom of people's government? But it was one and only one organization that could dare to provide the water festival for the people to cool down the sorrow and pain inside the heart and to bring back the courage to stand against the will of mis-rulers from the brain. Yes, it was NLD and it was Aung San Su Kyi and they are preparing the Water festival for the people, of the people, by the people with all their party members, youth members, young or old, with student's unions and fronts.
In front of the garden-house of her home in University Ave, they built the ThinGyan ManDatt. Then for the whole period of ThinGyan holidays, people came and watched the groups of party members, entertaining and participating in the variety show of traditional ThinGyan Festival called " Than Gyatt Pwe ". I hope now you could get the clearer picture. The groups of dancers, jokers, artist and presenters joining together on the stage performing their best of their ability to exercise the freedom of expression and speech to represent the feeling and wish of the people in their variety show to the so-called SLORC army government pointing out their weakness, faultfulness, mis-ruled, injustice and inhuman bad deed in various point of view, the provoking way. Well, it was a success in deed. All the people loved it, enjoyed it and they got back their ThinGyan spirit and their true spirit of mind from that one and only one ThinGyan Festival in 1989.
Now, people tend to forget, I presumed. Now where is that same ThinGyan coming back to you again? When the New Year comes around when every calendar repeated, I still think of it, remember it. You know what? Aung San Sun Kyi, until now under restricted house arrest, people under unconditional house arrest and many members of that ThinGyan Pwe under long term jail arrest costing them 3,5 to 10 years.
However, I had heard the unlasting & undying jokes on the SLORC still alive behind bars in my flesh back memory when I think of them while my eye shut..... in the darkness of my past. That is why, I won't be joining you in this Y2K ThingGyan. It won't be all the same at least for me.
Hey man, why you ask me to write this ThinGyan story? It was not still happy ending or romantic either!!!