Centenary in Phana

On the 5th day of the new moon of the 12th lunar month, the year of the cockerel, which was Wednesady the 17th of November 2452 (1909) around 6 pm, I was born to my mother Nang Nin. The place was Ban Phanan which is now known as Ban Phana, Tambon Phana, Amphur Phana (then) in the province of Ubon.

 

That is how Ta Rin, my father-in-law, began a memoir of his life. His memoir continued like this:

In the year 2524 (1981) my age was exactly six cycles (72 years).I had a strong desire to do something meaningful with my life story. I had spent 43 years, almost half a century, as a primary school teacher. During those years Thai primary education was changing all the time, and so did my own working life. I worked for all sorts of departments, and my work involved me in nearly all aspects of primary education for such a long time. I met a tremndous number of people, taught thousands of pupils. I have led my life sometimes with wisdom and sometimes with ignorance. I hope my experience will be useful to primary school teachers of the younger generation and interesting to readers in general. The story you are reading now is the story of a poor illegitimate child who was successful in life.

Ta Rin had, as is the custom for civil servants, retired at the end of October 1969, and in the middle of the next month I became his fourth son-in-law. He had been a teacher, a head teacher, and an education officer in the District Offie. He was also a farmer and the father of eight girls and having no sons of his own he adopted two boys who came from large families. He was chairman of the Village Development Committee and he continued in this role for another fifteen years. link to history page

 

For Ta Rin, education, education, education was not just an empty phrase. Education was his life. He taught just about everyone I know today in Phana over the age of fifty. They still talk about him. Every one of his daughters got degrees, an amazing achievement at any time and particularly so for young women from  Isan in the 1960s and 70s.

 

A few days ago I met a monk who as a young novice in Phana had known Ta Rin through another senior monk who Rin met with frequently for discussions and advice. This monk told me that Ta Rin was an exceptional man because he was honest, straightforward, caring, and treated everyone the same.

 

My mother-in-law, on the other hand, saw him as a totally impractical person and his daughters saw a man whose good ideas needed a good wife to help him put them into practice. But everyone, me included, remembers him with enormous affection.

 

In a book published to mark his sixth cycle he wrote an article entitled 'Living a Hundred Years'. He did not do so, he died on 10th November 1997. And yet today, a hundred years after he was born, it seems as if he did indeed live a hundred years. And more in the memory of many people still.

 

Rin Mahanil: 17 November 2452 (1909) -- 10 November 2540 (1997).

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Ashley Wright]

Great blog Lawrence! Good to see your keeping Mr Rin's legacy alive. It makes sure generations to come will know just how important and influential he was for Phana's future (and further afield of course). Keep up the good work.

[Lawrence]

Wow! High praise indeed, Ashley. Thanks for your comment. I don't think he could have imagined anything as far afield as Loughborough, though it's great that his influence now reaches such remote parts.