The photographer in Rangoon

I was invited to write a guest blog about Lt. Col. V.S. Ranganathan's book, "Burma to Bangalore", published by Locksley Hall Publishing. I have known the Colonel for many years, and one of the reasons I visited Burma was to explore the area where he was born. When I heard about the book and he read my travel blogs, this guest blog was a natural outcome.

"Are the Japanese still in Singapore?” asked the old man. I said, "What do you mean?” "Are they still occupying Singapore?” he enquired. I was in Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) talking to an old photographer, Ahuja, in his studio. 

The year was 1995. I had just landed in Yangon from Singapore and was standing in a long line at the immigration counter. The weather was hot, humid and the airport was non-air conditioned. Singapore was hot and humid too, but everything was air-conditioned. The immigration officer asked me, "Do you have US$400?” I said, "Yes". He said, "Show it". I took out the money and showed it to him. He then asked, "Are you staying in an approved hotel?” I said, "Yes" and showed him my hotel reservation. Foreigners were not allowed to stay in all hotels. They could only stay in certain government approved hotels, which charged in U.S. dollars not Burmese kyats. 

There was a counter next to the immigration counter. The guards refused to let me go past that counter. They pushed me to that counter. They were pushing every visitor. The man at that counter asked me for $400. I took out the money and gave him it to him. In return, he gave me 400 Kyats. In the black market, I could have got 400,000 Kyats. Those 400 Kyats were equal to just 40¢. I had just been robbed of US$400 legally by the Burmese government. I had asked if I could give S$400 so that I could at least save 15%, but they had refused. This "tourist tax" was imposed on every foreigner and I had been aware of it. So, I had come prepared to shell out. 

There was another long line for the customs check. They were opening and checking everyone's, Burmese and foreigners, bags. My bag was opened and thoroughly checked.  The customs duty on imports at that time was around 400%. If you could manage to smuggle in anything, you could make a lot of money. The Olympus camera that I was carrying was entered on my passport. I couldn't exit Burma without showing my Olympus camera. I also had to declare all the foreign currency that I had. It was entered in a currency form. I could not exit Burma with more foreign exchange than what I had entered with. 

There were no ATMs in the airport or in the whole of Burma, so I could not withdraw any cash. In any case, there was no point in withdrawing cash at the official exchange rate. With 400 Kyats (40¢) in my pocket, I walked out and got a taxi. The taxi fare to the hotel was 900 Kyats. I walked into the hotel and asked the receptionist if I could change some money at the black-market rate. One of the hotel staff members did it for me. I gave him $100 and he gave me a pile of money - 100,000 Kyats. I went out and paid 900 Kyats to the taxi driver. I switched on my Motorola phone with a Singapore SIM card, but there was no cell phone connection. Mobile phones did not exist in Burma in 1995. 

I walked into a café to have breakfast. The only other people in the café were a man and a woman having breakfast together. The man asked me, "Where are you from?” I said, "I am from India. But I live in Singapore". He said, "Singapore is a nice place to live. Very comfortable". "But there is no freedom there. It's not really a democracy", I said. He said, "There is more freedom in Singapore than Burma". In 1995, Burma was under a harsh military dictatorship. Aung San Suu Kyi was still in prison. I asked the man, "Where are you from?”. He said, "I am from Australia. I currently live in Bangladesh". I asked, "What do you do in Bangladesh?”. I was curious. He said, "I work for the Australian High Commission (Embassy) in Dhaka". 

He was the Australian High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Bangladesh! He was travelling with his wife on vacation to Burma. I asked the Ambassador, "How do you compare Bangladesh with Burma?”. I hadn't been to Bangladesh at that time and still haven't. I had planned a trip to Bangladesh for April 2020, but I had to cancel it due to COVID. The Ambassador said, "They are neighbouring countries. But they are incomparable". "Bangladesh is frenetic. Everyone is busy and rushing about. Burma is quiet and laid-back. Nothing much happens here", he said. 

I could see that. The café faced a major road. It was a Monday morning at 9 a.m. I finished my entire breakfast with two cups of coffee and the only traffic that I saw on the road was one man wearing a longyi (a sheet of printed cloth worn around the waist, running to the feet) who lazily cycled past. He also said, "Burma is very clean. People here are very conscientious". I could see that too. There was an old lady with a cart selling fruits, in front of my hotel. She would peel the fruits all day into a basket. At the end of the day, she would meticulously take the peels away with her. She would leave the road the way she found it in the morning.

The Colonel had asked me to meet a photographer in Rangoon. He was born in Mingaladon, near Rangoon and had grown up there, when Burma was a part of British India. He gave me an old address of the photo studio and wasn’t sure if it still existed. He used to frequent the photo studio as a small boy, accompanying his father, who was an avid photographer and would go there to develop his rolls.

The hotel receptionist said, "Mingaladon is the new airport. Everything has been destroyed to make the airport". Another person in the reception said, "The photo studio is still there on one of the main roads of Rangoon”. He took out a sheet of paper to draw a map. I took out my paper map of Rangoon and asked him to point it out on that. I always used to buy a Rand McNally printed, paper map and carry it with me while travelling. Google as a company did not even exist. Yahoo Maps had just then started.

I reached the road and was wandering around there. I walked into a small restaurant selling cuisine of Shan state. I ordered chicken noodles and a bottle of the quintessential "Myanmar" beer. The cuisine of Shan state is very different from that of Rangoon. The noodles were thin, flat rice noodles cooked in garlic oil with roasted dry chillies. I asked the owner if he knew of the photo studio. He said that he is aware of an old studio nearby and he gave me accurate directions. I walked towards the studio and it was the same photo studio that the Colonel had asked me to visit!

The building was dilapidated. The photo studio had an old, rusted sign board at the top of the building, with the paint peeling. The studio was on the first floor. I climbed up the steps and walked into the studio. The walls of the studio were adorned with old black & white photographs. There were two old men in the studio. Both were Indian. Most Indians in Burma had fled to greener pastures during World War II. A few of them had decided to stay back in Burma. I told them that Col. V.S. Ranganathan had asked me to meet them. They could not recollect or place the name. I then told them his father's name. They said, "Yes. We remember him now. His father came often to our shop when my father was running it. He was a young boy. Ranga". 

They gave me a glass of water and asked me, "Where do you live?”. I said, "Singapore". They then asked, "Are the Japanese still in Singapore?”. I said, "What do you mean?”. "Are they still occupying Singapore?” they enquired. The military government had completely cut off Burma. They had no idea about what was happening in the rest of the world. On television, there was only one state-controlled channel. There were no private newspapers. There was no internet access. The government had jammed the BBC Burmese broadcasts on short-wave radio. It was no wonder that these two old photographers thought that Singapore was still under Japanese occupation fifty years later. 

One of the old men said, "My brother was posted by the British, to Singapore during the war. He was in Kallang airport". I said that Kallang is full of high-rise buildings now. I told them, "The Japanese now legally own a lot of land in Singapore. The largest mall in Singapore is owned by the Japanese". But they did not know what a mall was. They said, "So, Ranga is a Colonel now?”. I said, "He is a retired Colonel". "How much is his pension?” they asked. I said, "I do not know his pension. But my father is a retired government officer and his pension is ₹12,000 ($160) a month". They asked, "How much is that in Burmese Kyats?”. I said, "160,000 Kyats". They almost fell off their chairs and exclaimed, "That's almost one year's salary in Burma! India must be very rich".

As I said goodbye to them, they gave me a small envelope with the name and address of the photo studio printed on it. They did not have a business card. They asked me to give the envelope to the Colonel. There was one more job left to do. The Colonel had asked me to send a postcard. I bought a postcard, went to the post office and mailed the postcard to him with a Burmese stamp on it. With my mission accomplished in Rangoon, I made my way to Bagan, a landscape dotted with more than 10,000 Buddhist temples and stupas (a dome-shaped Buddhist shrine). But that's another story!

Have you, your parents or your ancestors ever been forced to flee permanently from a country? If so, from which country?

Comments please! Thou shalt get a reply! 

Afterword

The situation has dramatically changed in Myanmar in the last 25 years. There is no longer a "tourist tax" of US$400. There is no "black-market" for foreign currency. You can stay in any hotel you want to and pay in Burmese Kyats. Uncensored Internet access is widely available. Their problem before COVID was of over-tourism. If you visit Yangon and see the studio there, please do post your comments here.

I enjoyed reading Lt. Col. Ranganathan's book, "Burma to Bangalore". It is an engrossing and compelling read that chronicles his life and his travels across the entire Indian sub-continent and the world. He has been to Lahore and Pakistan, a dream destination for me, since I can no longer go there with my Indian passport. I have also never been on a voyage across the sea on a ship, so it was an interesting read for me. Do buy the book and read for yourself, perhaps on your next travel. Click on the link to check it out and buy it. https://www.amazon.in/BURMA-BANGALORE-LT-COL-V-S-RANGANATHAN-RETD-SANDHYA/dp/8194660114/ or  https://www.pustakmandi.com/Burma-to-Bangalore

Copyright © 2020 by Shyam Kodavarthi. All rights reserved.