Escape to Pagan (26 page)

“Your grandmother picked you up and gave you a good whacking with her slipper for running away. The Japanese soldiers laughed at the painful faces you pulled. Looking back we were lucky in the sense that
the Japanese troops we met were front line soldiers. However, with the wrong officers or NCOs, all Japanese soldiers were dangerous and capable of terrible atrocities.

“The soldiers at the check point were fresh from battle and were enjoying a rest from their forced marches. The Japanese were now surveying their new domain and stationing troops in most big villages. These troops were the new law and order. They were also here to control the hostile Hill tribes
[mostly Karens]
who often ambushed both Japanese and the Burmese troops. Even with the help of the Burmese, the Japanese never fully conquered the tribes that lived in the hills.

“One day a British truck arrived full of dead Japanese bodies. The headman of the village was ordered to collect wood by Sergeant Enoda. While this was taking place, the bodies were left in the truck. The smell was terrible. Any py-dogs attracted to the rotting corpses were shot. The young Japanese soldiers loved killing dogs; it was terrible to hear the yelps.

“The hard-working Japanese could never understand the Burmese lackadaisical attitude to work and lamented the time it took for the wood to arrive for the cremation. In the beginning bodies were burnt separately but as the war continued and casualties mounted, they burnt bodies communally. The smell was so strong that many of the Burmese vacated their huts and cursed the Japs. The burning bodies would sometimes move, sit up or raise an arm in salute to their emperor, as the Japs loved to believe. It was probably the contraction of sinew and muscle. All the ashes were then reverently placed in small wooden boxes with much bowing and scraping. These were to be sent back to the shrine at Yasukuni; on hearing the news their families would then proudly fly a black flag above their house.

“The one thing my mother and I dreaded was the strong winds that sometimes accompanied the heavy rain. Our hut used to sway and the walls used to bulge with the force of the wind. We would rush to the bellowing wall and support it with our bare hands. Even though you were young, you used to help us and think it was great fun.”

I can remember these incidents; on many occasions both my guardians would be praying loudly to God and all the saints to save the hut being blown away like Dorothy's house in the Wizard of Oz. The loud praying and beseeching used to scare me more than the high wind. However when the wind stopped, they would sometimes lose their balance and almost go through the flimsy wall; their prayers would turn to curses.

“The monsoon attracted many different species of frogs and toads. They seemed to be everywhere; this was their time to breed. The calling from these amphibians in the evening not only came from the ground but also from the trees. Frogs and toads were never harmed by the Burmese, as they were considered to be auspicious. They also kept down the insect population in the paddy fields.

“Another problem was the rat population
[the black rat]
forced from their burrows they entered the huts. Both amphibians and rodents attracted snakes, mostly rat snakes and sometimes cobras. If cobras were detected during the day by the village dogs, they were dispatched by the villagers and were then quickly devoured by the dogs. It was never safe to walk at night without a lantern and a stick.”

In Burma, large quick-moving rat snakes were always left in peace and were sometimes allowed to live in the rafters of some of the huts, from where they would happily watch the goings on below with interest. These rat predators can grow up to nine feet long. At night, when everyone was asleep, these efficient snakes would descend to hunt.

“Second class privates up to the NCOs and junior officers always had a strong desire to learn about the world at large. Many Japanese lower -rank soldiers had no idea where England, America or Portugal was exactly. They were confident the Japanese Army would soon conquer these countries and that they would be garrisoned there: ‘Were America
and England cold?' ‘Could rice be grown there?' ‘Did the people there understand Nippon Go?' This thirst to learn covered a wide spectrum.

“When not selling cakes to the Japanese soldiers my mother would sit and knit woollen items. As keen knitters themselves, Jap soldiers would approach and ask what stitch she was using. The bull-necked Sergeant Enoda would sometimes wander over in the evening and sit with my mother and knit, sometimes he would bring her wool and small food items. Many Jap soldiers used converted chopsticks as knitting needles.

“The monsoon was now in full swing and saved us the trip to the well at the Japanese checkpoint. The next water well was some way away in the middle of the village, not far from the Pagoda. We avoided using this well in case we were questioned by the Pongyis. We would soon have a more immediate reason for not using this well; people more dangerous than Buddhist Pongyis also lived there hidden away. Although we did not know it at the time the monks were looking after another type of human that also dwelled in Pybaw: lepers. We had hoped to stay in Pybaw for as long as possible; these people would eventually force us to leave after the monsoon.

“It was a great shock to us when we first saw them. One late evening after the rain had stopped, my mother and I were at the market for our evening meal. Wood was becoming scarce. With most of my mother's time taken with making cakes she had little time to cook for us as well; you see, fuel was not easy to collect in the wet weather. It was not safe to wander far into the jungle to find it. My mother had to buy wood fuel from village men who went into the jungle with their bullock carts. That night as we walked around the market, we noticed a line of lanterns coming from the Buddhist monastery. We thought this was some kind of religious procession, as the Pongyis were in the lead. It was not until the Pongyis had passed that we saw who was behind them. Poor people, some who could barely hobble on their stumps that once were feet, others who crawled on the ground. But it was not until we could see their eaten-away faces that we were really shocked. My mother whispered that we must leave as soon as the monsoon stopped because the lepers were suffering from the most contagious form of the disease. Wet leprosy!

“The leper colony was hidden behind the Buddhist temple which was near the second water well; this was the well we were sometimes forced to draw our water from when the Japs were bathing at the well near out hut. This must also be the well the lepers used. From now on my mother said we would have to walk a long way to the third water well, which was on higher ground, the first well on the underground conduit.

“The villagers believed that leprosy was a spiritual affliction of some kind and lepers would be reincarnated as healthy people in the next life. Many of the Burmese villagers in Pybaw had relatives in the leper colony. As lepers are sensitive to the sun it was now more comfortable to leave their sanctuary as the evenings were cooler. According to my mother many of the lepers in Pybaw were also opium addicts; it alleviated their pain.

“It was here in Pybaw that we believed you picked up a serious external parasite infection by sitting on the damp mud with the other village children. This infection would only manifest itself at the internment camp months later.

“Soon after the chicken incident, many different garrison troops arrived and camped in tents on the cattle pastures just outside the village. These garrison troops would be taking over from the front line soldiers, conducting anti-guerrilla warfare in the hills against the Karens, Chins and Kachins who were pro-British and attacking and killing Japanese troops. The hill tribes were expert jungle fighters. We prayed that my brother Cyril was safe with them. But the worst news of all from Sergeant Enoda was that many Burmese National Army troops and a detachment of Kempeitai would soon be resident in Pybaw to conduct anti-guerrilla and -dacoit operations. My family was well known in Rangoon and Mandalay, and Mother was concerned that some of the Burmese officers in the BNA would recognise us. Soon after, Sergeant Enoda suggested to my mother that we should move to the internment camp at Tada u, which was also a transit camp for Japanese troops. My mother was convinced that Sergeant Enoda had seen through our pretence of posing as Mons Burmese. This was confirmed when we reached Tada u and found it was an internment camp for foreign aliens.”

We must have remained in Pybaw for some time after the monsoon waiting for the muddy bullock tracks to harden before travelling. I must admit I don't remember much about this period except for one incident: my first toy, a giant grasshopper with colourful wings. The new grazing had encouraged the sudden emergence of locusts and large grasshoppers.

As the first locusts appeared all the women would go out to collect them. Initially locusts are only capable of crawling on the ground in swarms (until their wings grow) and are easy to scoop up in large bamboo baskets. Locusts are cannibalistic. Each locust, if given the chance will eat the one in front. This and the search for fresh vegetation kept them constantly moving forward. If a locust or cricket was placed on bare skin it would bite. At this time of year their bodies were soft; ideal for frying in ground nut oil. This harvesting of locusts provided an annual food supply and was always eagerly anticipated. The Burmese and Khmer always harvested the locust swarms at this soft stage of their life. Collectively, throughout Asia, this practice seems to suppress the numbers of locusts to below plague proportions. I have often wondered why only a few African tribes collect and eat locusts; they are after all a good source of protein and if cooked correctly, very tasty.