Remembering the beautiful place called Burma

Burma or Myanmar? Yes, they are the same country. The name was never an issue until 1989 when the ruling junta officially changed the name of the country in English to Myanmar. The reason given was that the name ‘Myanmar’ incorporated all the indigenous peoples.

I prefer Burma and will continue to refer to it as that in the rest of the blog. The place is close to me because the country reminds me of this story I was told by my mother. A true story. My grandfather walked from Burma to India during the second world war during the Japanese occupation. He was not the only one. Many Indians worked in Burma and the evil of man forced them to leave everything behind and flee the country. But this story is not about my grandfather. It is remembering the beautiful place.

Back in 2019, I got the opportunity to visit Burma for a work trip. During my entire time there I kept wondering how life would have been for my grandfather who worked in Rangoon (now known as Yangon). The city has a mix of British colonial architecture, modern high-rises and gilded Buddhist pagodas.

With apartment buildings, colonial buildings, and a dense population, Rangoon’s unique look is nothing like any city I’ve seen before. Here, buildings, trees, and electricity cables seem to live in harmony and close to each other.

The Shwedagon Pagoda is Rangoon’s most famous landmark. The 99-meter high gold plated pagoda with the diamond-studded spire set on top of a small hill dominates the area and is visible from much of the city.

The Shwedagon Pagoda, also known as the Golden Pagoda, is Burma’s most important Buddhist pilgrimage site.

The streets are humming with activity. Pop-up market stalls inhabiting the sidewalks peddle everything from fruits, to raw fish, and a local favourite– tofu.

A lady sells tofu on the streets of Yangon.

In India, we see a tea stall on every street. But in Rangoon that is not the case. Tea shops are licensed shops and they take it seriously. Also, the tea there was unlike anything I’ve tasted before. It was dark, strong, and served with a spoonful of mind-numbingly sweet condensed milk.

A licensed tea shop in Yangon, Myanmar.

During my stay in Rangoon, I kept wondering how it would have been for my grandfather who had to leave everything behind. It was just a feeling of bliss to visit this place that has some family history.

But the recent developments in the country have just shocked me. Starting with the Rohingya genocide and now the recent coup d’etat on 1 February. The military has announced it has taken control of the country, a decade after agreeing to hand power to a civilian government. The coup was a reminder of the country’s grim past, which endured almost 50 years of rule under oppressive military regimes before the move towards democratic rule in 2011.

Burma (Myanmar) on March 27 witnessed the killings of more than 100 people including children by security forces on the bloodiest day since the military coup on February 1.

I would love to go back to Burma and see more of the country. But first, the hope is for peace to prevail again in the kite-shaped nation.