Sunday, July 15, 2018

Adaibi Tricia Nwaubani, MyGreat Grandfather was a Slave Trader, 5 AM.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/my-great-grandfather-the-nigerian-slave-trader Amazing, but also not so amazing. A timber trader (Danish), business friend of my husband said, "In Africa, my host had human flesh in the frig." In Burma, there are descendants of royalty, who killed their siblings, and descendants of pagoda slaves, there are still sandarhla who work in cemeteries and are like untouchables. In Princeton, I met an Indian man who our mutual friend said was from the Untouchable caste. His name was a combination of Radha and Krishna, (R was K's consort) I didn't know him well but I could understand why he would become a Christian. At the time I think he was studying at Princeton Theological Seminary, bc the mutual friend was. I have found that the ethnic groups believe more in ghosts than mainstream Buddhists, and uneducated people esp. the military junta is more superstitious. I should have buried my children's umbilical cords, but I was not particularly interested in their coming back to Burma, since I wished to leave myself. I didn't like anything that the junta did after their first coup in 1962, and I still don't believe it has a real democracy. Many people went back to visit after so-called opening in 2011. Some jumped the fence entirely and moved there. Some went just in time to see a parent who was hanging on and died the day they left. These are all true stories told to me by the persons themselves, sometimes on social media. My umbilical cord is buried in Burma, but I have never gone back. I asked writer Nien Cheng Life and Death in Shanghai if she went back to China. She shook her head "Maybe if my daughter had lived." (Read Life and Death--) I asked my friend from Rumania, she said, No. She went on holiday to the Almafi Coast where she said she had relatives. I asked a Sino-Burmese woman, who has since died: "What do you do when you feel like eating durian?" (Durian is a rich and very smelly fruit with big sharp spikes on the outside). She said, "I go to Vancouver." Maybe Chinatown there. She said of Burma, "Once is enough." Now you can buy durian frozen or even fresh. About 2 years ago I bought a small slice of jack fruit, which is about the size of a small pillow whole. I paid $5 for less than 5 fleshy pods. The "strings" they are encased in are not edible.
I wanted the seeds to plant. I got indigestion after I ate it. In a pot, the seeds sprouted, but the seedlings died when about 6 ' tall. Same with royal poinciana and the look alike. Same with mango. So I have given up buying and trying seeds, and most on Amazon (seeds) are a scam. My uncle re-created a small-scale version of his Rangoon garden, complete with the scaled down version of the flame of the forest (royal poinciana). I once went to National Botanical Garden 2 days in succession in mid-winter, to see a dendrobium orchid, sin ma myet kwin nyo (she elephant's dark ringed eyes.) It was worth it. kmk Kyi May Kaung Words Sounds and Images

Paris Opera--The Magc Flute--note Chagal paintings on ceiling--

https://www.google.com/search?q=the+magic+flute++complete+opera&client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=b96b654b27910a87&sxsrf=ACQVn082xiph...