Word: thakin
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...been a reckless and mischievous youth somewhat overfond of the bottle. On his graduation from Rangoon University in 1929, he became a devout Buddhist. Later he joined the Thakins (masters), a party of young intellectuals dedicated to throwing the British out of Burma. A student of Marx, Dale Carnegie, Bernarr Macfadden and Havelock Ellis, he also" dabbled in yoga. In 1939, as co-founder of a book club with presently jailed Communist Leaders Thakin Soe and Thein Pe, he translated into Burmese How to Win Friends and Influence People...
...whole, Dale Carnegie seems to have made a deeper impression on Thakin Nu than the stern tenets of Marxism. Nu tells a little story to explain his attitude. "The rebels," he says, "remind me of an actor playing the tiger in the famous Burmese drama Mai U. While waiting for his cue to chase the villain he fell asleep, only to wake up suddenly in the middle of the next play, where Prince Siddhartha (Gautama Buddha) was setting out on his charger to follow the life of an ascetic. Thinking he was still in the previous play, the sleepy actor...
...villain in Nu's little story is, of course, the British Empire. Buddha is the Burmese nation. The noble horse is presumably Thakin...
...combat the rebels who are chasing him, Thakin Nu has an armed force of some 12,000 men, three Spitfires and two pilots (whom the rebels tried to assassinate last week). Fortunately for the outnumbered government forces, personal animosities and the wide gap in principles separating the rebel factions have so far prevented any lasting military mergers among them. Each group is forming its own island of resistance, from which it strikes in sporadic attacks...
Oddest attack of last month was reported from Thakin Nu's own home town of Moulmeingyun. A band of Red Flag Communists led by a fair-skinned, 25-year-old girl named Bo Moe Kyi (Officer Clear Sky) swept down at dawn and quietly took over from the police. In the presence of the town elders, Clear Sky removed 60,000 rupees from the government treasury, burned all legal records at the courthouse and emptied the jail...