Under the Dragon (2013)
“The shortwave radio lay on the smooth floor at her side. There was no one else to overhear her recollections, apart from the old monk who leaned against a wooden pillar eating rice and beans. The stray cat circling his low table probably had better hearing.
‘My house was very old,’ Ma Swe remembered, her features serious, her inflection light. A Citizen ‘Electronic Big Ben’ quartz clock chimed the quarter hour. The year in prison had marked her, yet her voice remained polished and thoughtful. ‘...It was Grandmother’s Grandfather’s house.’ ‘Your family had lived there so long?’ asked Katrin. We were still dismayed that a whole village and its people could vanish.
Ma Swe dipped her head in a nod. ‘When I returned to Pagan the house – and my mother – were gone.’ Immediately after the 1988 uprising the government had begun to promote tourism, in part to resurrect its tarnished image abroad, but primarily to earn itself hard currency. The generals and their allies had confiscated hotels, requisitioned bus franchises and built airlines with the profits from opium sales.MoreLess
‘My house was very old,’ Ma Swe remembered, her features serious, her inflection light. A Citizen ‘Electronic Big Ben’ quartz clock chimed the quarter hour. The year in prison had marked her, yet her voice remained polished and thoughtful. ‘...It was Grandmother’s Grandfather’s house.’ ‘Your family had lived there so long?’ asked Katrin. We were still dismayed that a whole village and its people could vanish.
Ma Swe dipped her head in a nod. ‘When I returned to Pagan the house – and my mother – were gone.’ Immediately after the 1988 uprising the government had begun to promote tourism, in part to resurrect its tarnished image abroad, but primarily to earn itself hard currency. The generals and their allies had confiscated hotels, requisitioned bus franchises and built airlines with the profits from opium sales.MoreLess
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