by Daw May Saw Lwin

Much water has passed under the bridge and there were the usual as well as the unusual ups and downs! We were in Pyay during the turbulent times of 1988, which was under Section 144 and therefore relatively quiet while the rest of our country was undergoing the trials and tribulations of the “four eights…. 8-8-88 ” ! We were very fortunate, our family, as well as the staff and students of Pyay College as we all managed to get by unscathed by the turn of events which had caused so much turmoil and heartbreak throughout much of our beloved country!

Our return could be termed triumphant. … our elder son Aung had done well in Pyay in the Matriculation Exam of 1988, the younger son, Nyi, would soon be attending high school in Yangon, having lost one year of study as had all the other students in Myanmar! And to top it all, personally, after many mishaps ( perhaps to be expanded on later), after what definitely was an extremely lengthy twenty seven years as an Assistant Lecturer, I was returning in high spirits as I had been promoted to be a Lecturer in Chemistry at the prestigious University of Yangon!

We were back in Yangon by the beginning of the month of May 1990 and we stayed for a short while at a place nearby the University. To work again at a place which I could call my second home was really special, but to get to live there, on Campus, was to propel me to seventh heaven! (As all Buddhists know, there are only six levels in the abode of the Nats in the thirty one planes of existence!) And that was what really happened! My better half and the head of our household (actually ‘ head of the family ‘ has a better ring to it) had applied for accommodation / quarters on Campus and Number 4, Short Road, just a few steps from the famed Judson Church, was assigned to be our home.

And so it was, we moved there on the 7th of July 1990, (mindful of the seventh of July, that unforgettable day in 1962), thirty years ago today, and we lived there happily, not ever after, as in the fairy tales, but for fifteen long fruitful years, each member of our family enjoying the shelter, shade and comfort that happy and (for us,) huge house gave us and in return contributing to society as best as we knew how .