Paper Plane

“Aung, stop throwing down the paper planes from the above.”

What harm does a paper plane inflict on the environment. No air pollution. No fuel consumption. No noise. No injury even if hit by it. Only just a waste of paper. Just a piece of rubbish.

His thought boiled as he sat at his usual seat on the ledge of the corner of the building. He was also angry. “Why are they making these restrictions even to this?” The more he thought, the angrier he became.

In this country, throwing paper planes was the only outlet he had.

o o o o o o o o

Aung Min was one of the lowest level workers at the construction site of the-would-be highest building in this country. His colleagues were all Myanmar and their supervisor was a foreigner who had some knowledge of Myanmar language.

Restricted. For them, they felt restricted in a country where the religious background was different from their own. There was no fun for them. Except for the workplace and their boarding place, he had been to nowhere in a country where there were many places for the entertainment. Though the wind was breezing at 36^th floor where he was working, he felt suffocated.

Look. Congested buildings. Congesting cars. Congesting people. Disgusting wherever you look. Smokes rising.

o o o o o o o o

While having lunch at his corner seat of the building, he looked at a faraway place where smoke was continuously rising.

“Oh”

He put the lunch box down. After rubbing his eyes, he looked again carefully. No mistake. There was no smoke. That was sure. There were no tall buildings. In their place are green fields, lakes, sparsely built houses, white washed pagoda.

“This.. this”

That was his village. The strong wind was touching his face.

“Huu..”

He took a deep breath and then exhaled. That was the fresh and soothing air. Only this view could brighten his views and lightened his ever heavy mind. But it did not last long.

“Hey, they are calling for line-up. Get up.”

That day, though he did not had a full lunch, it was worth it.  How long he had been away from such air and such view.

o o o o o o o o

Since he arrived in this country, he had to work not like a human being but like a motor, nonstop. No room for brooding. If you brood and make mistakes, the fine was huge.

No rest at night even. He had to go to factories and warehouses to look for any overtime work. With all these works, he is still in debt to the agency. He even thought in disgust that because he sold two cows for the expense to come here that he had to work this hard bearing the workload of two cows.

Now, he had his getaway. At lunchtime, he went to the corner of 36^th floor. He did not know why but he could see his village scenes from there. Whatever, it was not bad even in fantasy. So beautiful.

“Oh”

Now only he remembered. He could see his village scene like this as, almost all days, he used to climb the tallest tree at the village and sat at the top to look the whole village from above.  Same as it was now.

Paper plane.

At the same time, he remembered throwing the paper planes from the tree top. He looked for a paper and folded it into a paper plane.

“Foo…”

He blew twice into the tail end of the plane and threw it with all his might. Fly. Fly to the farthest.

o o o o o o o o

How far can a paper plane go? Who can definitely say that this paper plane with right wind current will not reach his village?

When he was young, he had found one of his paper planes he had thrown from the tree top in a far away forest while accompanying his father to the forest. Now, where he was throwing the plane was not from a tree top but from a higher place of 36^th floor of a building. It could reach his village if there was right wind current. He had seen in the map he had frequently looked at that his country and this country were not far.

Later when he threw the paper planes, he did not just threw them but wrote down short notes about his feelings. “Miss my village”. “Want to go back home”. Such things. Sometimes “The appetite is not good.” “The manager scolded me”.

Every time he threw these paper planes, he felt that his anger, tiredness and homesickness all vanished completely and he felt refreshed.

o o o o o o o o

 “Aung, stop throwing down the paper planes from the above.”

The voice of the manager was echoing in his ears. He felt angry too.

“Why they want to forbid such things?” The more he thought, the angrier he became. In this country, throwing paper planes was the only outlet he had.

Yes, the getaway was the paper plane. Why should I listen to the commands of those guys? I threw the paper planes. So what?

He angrily threw down a paper plane. It was floating in the air, to the left, to the right. It did not fall down out of view for a long time. He watched it satisfactorily till it went out of view. How come? Why should he listen to them?

“It is not that we fear them. Since we live under their command, we must follow their rules.”

Ko Myo Gyi, the eldest among his colleagues, warned him.

“Jobs are becoming scarce. Make sure that you do not cross them. There are many Bangladeshis and Filipinos queuing to take our place. They (the owners) won’t care much for daily wagers like us.”

Though Ko Myo Gyi cautioned with good intention, he did not take heed. He threw the paper planes at lunch breaks. He even wrote on a paper plane that the manager had forbidden him from throwing paper planes.

Whenever Ko Myo Gyi saw him throwing paper planes, he warned him. Later as his words had no effect, Ko Myo Gyi let him be.

It did not last long. He was dismissed for playing around during duty hours. He did not feel sorry. Nor angry. He had his paper planes for his solace. Whenever he felt sad, angry or downhearted, he went up a tall building and threw paper planes and it had refreshed his body and mind.

He had not found a new job yet. As Ko Myo Gyi said, there were scarce job opportunities in this country. There was influx of many foreign workers from other countries as well as Myanmar. He did not care. He economized with the money what is left of his savings. Some of his former colleagues treated him with meals sometimes. Some bought his paper planes for a petty sum and asked him to write their feelings and throw the planes for them.

As long as he could throw his paper planes, he was satisfied and did not care where he was or how his condition had become.

o o o o o o o o

I had heard about him for quite some time. As there were many Myanmar workers here, though we might not meet each other in person, we heard the news. You would hear ear full of news like his strange case.

When I met him in person, I was surprised. He was same age as mine. Strong and fit. He talked as a normal person. Softly. Only that his pockets and his backpack were full of paper planes.

Even I bought one paper plane from him paying him some coins. As usual, he asked me to write down notes on the paper plane. It did not count much to me but I wrote some notes anyway.

He pushed my paper plane into his bag and, pointing to me the tallest building which was on its last final touch, he told me that once that building was finished, he would throw paper planes of all Myanmar workers here, including me, from the tallest point on that building. The funny thing was he said he would send my paper plane to my family.

o o o o o o o o

“It all happened with his parents passing away one after the other shortly. His dismissal was also not as usual. His site manager kept his passport so he became overstay as well as jobless. It all accumulated and he became like this. We look after him so that he won’t be unfed.”

It was not funny. I felt truly sorry after listening to my friend’s account of Aung Min’s background. But I could not be feeling sorry for long as usual for people in this country. Once I got back to work, I forgot everything. Later, I did not think about Aung Min at all. I had my own worries.

o o o o o o o o

The construction of the tallest building in this country was completed three months after meeting with Aung Min. The building was amazingly beautiful. It could be seen from anywhere. It was lighted at night and the opening ceremony was grand. We the workers were given half day leave. If we wanted to take pride, we could because Myanmar workers also contributed to the construction of this historic building.

It was not long that the sad bad news came out among our Myanmar workers. That a Myanmar fell down from that tallest building. Instant death. One strange thing was that paper planes were scattered around his body. I knew who he was.

“Oh”

As I was thinking about him, my heart missed a beat. His words. His words about sending our messages with paper planes to our families once this building was completed.

“My God”

As he promised, has he gone to carry our paper planes to …

o o o o o o o o

Say suppose a paper plane from nowhere landed near you. Please don’t ignore it. It might carry messages from your relatives from faraway places.

Open it and read it.

Translated to English by WMH