A Monk

A MONK is a story about an experience of a novice who tried to escape the life of a monk. Zawana (15) is a novice who was brought up by the abbot, U Dhama (65) since he was 5 years old. When the monk and the other novices leave for the city because they cannot keep staying longer with U Dhama (the abbot who is old, formal and highly disciplined), Zawana stays alone in the monastery and he also tries to leave. All of a sudden, U Dhama catches a serious physical disease and Zawana is no longer able to leave. U Dhama needs to go to Yangon to get the treatment and Zawana has a chance to escort him there. U Dhama does not have any money to get cured in Yangon. So he has to ask for the cash donation from the village which does not have a fair relationship with him. Zawana helps him collecting the donation from the villagers. Then they both leave for Yangon. U Dhama aims to cure his disease while Zawana hopes to escape from the monastery. Once in Yangon, U Dhama´s health gets worse eventually and he is found getting close to his death. Zawana realizes he is losing the chance to live there gradually. Zawana as the close intimate sees U Dhama is challenged with the approaching death and he helps him. Finally, U Dhama gets ready to accept the coming death and decides to go back to the village and the monastery. At last, Zawana finds out that the best place to live for him is at U Dhama‖s side in the monastery. U Dhama continues with the meditations as his only key domain. Zawana takes all the responsibility and duties for every task of the monastery. The village is busy and noisy as before.