Burma is a beautiful country, I had the good fortune to visit twice, once in 1984, was little more than a child, and the last time in 1994.
Both times I was left with an impression due to the tremendous beauty of the place and the kindness of people encountered.
the first time in particular, since I was little and almost no child traveling in paesi come questo, i birmani, quelli delle guest house, dei ristorantini, ma anche i passanti che ci avvicinavano, mi 'adottavano' immediatamente e mi coccolavano facendomi dei regali: un pezzo di jaggery -zucchero di palma cristallizzato in dolcissimi cubetti- un cestino di bambù, una statuetta di legno.
La seconda volta ricordo il bisbigliare furtivo di qualcuno che ci chiedeva cosa si sapesse del loro paese in Italia e in occidente.
Mi ricordo in particolare una 'guida turistica' che ci scarrozzava su un carretto trainato da un cavallo gracile per la valle dell'Irravaddy a visitare i templi buddhisti di Pagan, che dopo essersi guardato attorno, ci chiese se Pagan a distanza di 10 anni ci sembrava lo stesso posto.
No, it was just like 10 years before: there were no hotels and shops, tea stalls no more. Just a couple of choices of government (a luxury and a decidedly not).
was deleted everything, and the families who ran the business for themselves transferred somewhere.
I also remember having met in Kalaw, a small town near Lake Inle an old missionary, Father Angelo, who in '94 had to have something like 85 years, who told us to be in Burma for 60 years, he saw with his own eyes the dramatic changes of those years and the repression of young students of Rangoon, killed by the regime to have been open their dissent. Father Angelo
but still want to resist and had to laugh ... and to give travelers a powdered Nescafe Osvego with cookies!
Knowing that Aung San Suu Kyi , after years of imprisonment and house arrest, has been released is a wonderful news, it's like to know that Mahatma Gandhi was brought out from prison obtuse British 100 years ago or that the Dalai Lama was included in its Tibet.
The background to this decision by the Burmese military government will come to know them one day, maybe, but now let's enjoy this memorable moment. Who knows what would have written
Tiziano Terzani, who he knew was always in right place at the right time ...
No comments:
Post a Comment