Female voices are generally missing from twentieth century accounts of life in Burma. George Orwell's Burmese Days is the go to account, but Ma Ma Lay's novel Not Out of Hate (1955), is the perfect counterpoint. It was the first Burmese work to be translated into English and published outside of the country, and beautifully depicts life as a Burmese woman living in British-influenced Burma. Married to a hardened anglophile, the protagonist, Way Way, lives a secret, parallel life which resists his favoured Western ideals of dress, diet, religion and medicine, and holds onto her beloved Burmese tradition and culture.
A journalist and tireless advocate for women, both intellectually and politically, Ma Ma Lay worked relentlessly to fight injustice, systemic corruption, and hypocrisy. Her writing is beautiful and provides an alternative to the male, often foreign perspective.
So of course we had to make a product named after her. I have our Ma Ma Lay desk tray and pen pot on my desk, and love the idea of her sharpening her pencil and carefully choosing her words, looking out at the shadows moving across garden through the window.
Here it is being made. The green detail references the lush green landscape of Burma.
