An Egg on a Bike

For those allies who are not in Myanmar, and are not Burmese themselves, sometimes it can be tough to get a deeper, underlying feeling as to how life on the ground is progressing as the military tightens its grip. This is especially true for those who do not speak the language or understand the cultural references. One Burmese activist recently translated and shared one joke that is now going around, being told in response to the latest draconian law that the military is trying to pass. The joke speaks to the resiliency being shown by the Burmese now, and more than that, to the role that humor plays in being able to respond to even the most difficult of circumstances.

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From the perspectives of humour, our people are really good at joking about the evil guys' funny actions and commands. The junta announced a command for the motor cycle drivers and riders recently. They wanted to pass four rules:

1. No two men are allowed riding on a motor bike.
2. No man riding in the back when there is the woman driver.
3. But, a woman can ride in the back of a man when driving.
4. Two women can ride on a motor bike, is ok.

To joke at these evils' funny commands, people are writing many jokes and poems on social media while the artists are drawing cartoons, etc. The poem I just found this morning when I went on Facebook, is as below:

The poem's title is "Eggs' Trouble".

Motor-cycle travelers,
Carefully note this.

Four eggs (two men),
So don't ride a cycle.

'Flat' at the front, 'egg' at the back,
So, don't ride a cycle.

Two 'flats' are safe
To ride a cycle.

One 'Egg' in the front,
'Flat' in the back.
So it's safe to ride it.