Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Burmese Days


The following excerpt from George Orwell's 1934 classic (he served with the Imperial Police in Burma before volunteering in the Spanish Civil War and writing one of my all-time favorite books, Homage to Catalunia) had me in hysterics the first time I read it...maybe it's memories of ordering ALL the Chinese food after swim practice with Julio and Hode - ¿quiĆ©n sabe? Anyway, I hope you get a laugh out of it, in particular those of you who recognize a little bit of yourselves in U Po Kyin. By the way, I have never found better Chinese take out than in St. Mary's county - represent!

"In the living-room behind the curtain a table was already set out with a huge bowl of rice and dozen plates containing curries, dried prawns and sliced green mangoes. U Po Kyin waddled to the table, sat down with a grunt and at once threw himself upon the food. Ma Kin, his wife, stood behind him and served him. She was a thin woman of five and forty, with a kindly, pale brown, simian face. U Po Kyin took no notice of her while he was eating. With the bowl close to his nose he stuffed the food into himself with swift, greasy fingers, breathing fast. All his meals were swift, passionate, and enormous; they were not so much meals as orgies, debauches of curry and rice..."

2 comments:

MrChris said...

Xander,
Great passage; didn't realize your blog was so extensive. I'll try to get up to speed with an entry or two on the EVF blogsite, inspired as always by your enthusiastic trailblazing!
Dad

MrChris said...

Obviously your father, aka "Dad" and "MrChris", doesn't know what he's doing computer-wise!