What a hot day! The hottest time in Yangon.

Water Festival, New Year celebration of Myanmar had begun. Although I welcomed the fourth Water Festival for me, I felt really hot. I was about to be glad to feel the wind blown in the evening, but it was hot. There was not an air-conditioner in my flat. I had the air-conditioner installed in my flat where I lived three years ago. But I never used it. When I moved into this flat, I gave it to a Myanmar acquaintance of mine. What a hot one this year is! It rained during water festivals in last year and the other year. It was very cold at my previous place (The place where Sanay Office is located.) And the place was like a river with rainwater. Was it a really hot time in Myanmar?

But, it was rather cold at dawn. But you can’t underestimate it. If you fell asleep without wearing anything on upper part of the body, you would have a cold or a stomachache. But, how could I get to sleep in the evening when hot air blown. The answer to this problem was very simple. Stay without sleeping.

I heard before that there was electricity blackout very often in Tamwe where my flat is located. But I had never thought that it would be bad to that extent. Electricity blackout became more. There were also programmes to cut out electricity in townships by turns. There was eight-hour blackout in a day. But, the time was fixed. For example, there was blackout in the morning in a day. Then, there would be a blackout the next day. But their ways of lives depended on time. We could gather water with our own electric pump and charge the battery when electricity was on in the previous flat in 51st Street. We could manage to watch TV with the use of battery.

But this year, the light went out suddenly without any warning. It would last at least five hours. The fridge became useless when it lasted longer. On the days when we could not manage to charge the battery, we had to stay with candlelight. But, sudden blackout and length of time also had a regulation. The light came from 11 pm to 5 am when it was not used much. And then people became night-men.

So I happened to sleep during daytime. After putting down the curtain that changed hot air to cool air, I could what I wanted to do. First, I started to face a hot night drinking plain tea (brought from Japan by a friend of mine). But, I could see Myanmar people get over such a hard period in a relaxed and calm manner.

Most households had TV and videos. But, they haven’t got fridges. A bulb can be used with the battery and TV can be watched. When I looked at the town from 13-storey new apartment, I can see small bulbs giving light and family members are chatting under the light in flats. And there are loud shouts of happiness when the light comes back. The entire Tamwe becomes luminous with light from the apartments. I became to like Tamwe only three weeks after the move as I thought before. There were still sounds of water festival outside.