In the most unlikely of places, one meets clowns and jesters.
Who would expect that the waiter in a Burmese restaurant would turn out to be a jester –Lu Shwen Taw, or Mintahamee- in a local traditional Burmese Anyeint performance group.
Perhaps that is something that only happens in San Francisco. The magical side of the story is that I did not go looking for a jester, or for that matter, a Burmese restaurant. It just so happened that the restaurant was right in front of my face after securing the hard to find, snag it quick parking space on Clement Street.
As I spent close to 4 weeks in Myanmar this winter, I have a certain affinity for things Burmese, and the decision to go into the restaurant was a no brainer. I felt it important to share my visit to the Delta area with my waiter, that I had been in his country recently, politically and otherwise challenged as it is. He took in my comments with a light acknowledgement, as he suggests more expensive dishes than the fishcakes I want to try.
I didn’t expect the conversation to go much further, and was a little surprised when Ken came back later after serving food to ask “What were you doing there?” By the time I had explained the nature of Clowns Without Borders work and the specifics of this journey, he was no longer standing, but stooping with his arms leaning into the edge of the table for support.
Our conversation took a few expected turns around children, last year’s big Nargis cyclone and relief efforts. My heart warmed as he described a fundraising effort his restaurant led for the cyclone victims-$200 000 raised with a food booth. Quite incredible really.
I am surprised when Ken tells me that he is the jester in a local Burmese performance group. What are the odds of my meeting a Burmese jester in San Francisco? He explains that the Anyeint tradition, a form of dance, goes back 800 years to the king’s court, and that jesters started appearing at the intervals between traditional dances. The jester offers jokes and satire reflecting the current political situation. Unfortunately in Burma, this activity can quickly put you behind bars as a quick internet search will lead you to the difficulties faced by such comics as the Moustache Brothers, U Pa Pa Lay and U Lu Zaw ( of the Anyeint troupe called Myo Win Mar); and the well known comic and film actor Zaragnar, who is now serving a 35 year sentence for speaking to the foreign media about the situation following the Nargis cyclone (2008).
A pause at the keyboard, everything now seems trivial in comparison…
Ken wants to know what other CWB trips I have taken in Asia. I talk about my trips to the Bhutanese refugee camps in the Southeast of Nepal. Like most people, he knows nothing about the camps or the ethnic cleansing that took place in the early 90’s. He surprises me with his theories about the Bhutanese king being connected to the CIA through his four wives. “Why do you think no one knows about the refugees and the ethnic cleansing” he asks me.
What a world we live in.
