HlaMin

Blog

  • Talk — Six Questions

    Talk — Six Questions

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 4th October 2026

    Video Broadcast on January 7, 2021

    Hla Min

    Commonly Asked Questions

    မေးခွန်း ခြောက် ခု

    • Who
    • To whom
    • When
    • Where
    • Why
    • How

    Sixth Buddhist Council

    ဆဌသံဂါယနာ

    • Questions by Mahasi Sayadaw
    • Reply by Mingun Tipitaka Sayadaw

    Miscellaneous အထွေထွေ

    • How and Why I created the Site hlamin.com
    • Rudyard Kipling
    • Guideline for reporters
    • Feasibility studies
    • Plan of operation : Implementation
  • Talk — December 1920

    Talk — December 1920

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 4th October 2026

    Video Broadcast

    Rangoon University

    In December 1920, there were three significant events.

    • On December 1, 1920, Rangoon University ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ် was established with Rangoon College ရန်ကုန်ကာလိပ် and Judson College ဂျပ်ဆင်ကောလိပ် as the constituent colleges.
      The colleges are also known by other names (e.g. Government College, Baptist College)
    • On December 5, 1920, the First RU Students’ Strike ပထမ ရန်ကုန် တက္ပသိုလ် ကျောင်းသား သပိတ် took place.
      They protested the 1920 Rangoon University Act ဥပဒေ as too narrow and restrictive.
    • In December 1920, Saya U Ba Toke ဆရာ ဦးဘတုတ် was born as a Phwa Bet Taw ဖွားဘက်တော် of the above two.
      For some reason, there is a discrepancy between Saya’s official DOB (Date of Birth) and true DOB.

    Rangoon University (RU)

    • Initially had three Faculties မဟာဌာန and eight departments ဌာန (including Law)
    • Initially had six professors ပါမောက္ခ
    • RU gradually extended its offerings (beyond Science သိပ္ပံ and Arts ဝိဇ္ဇာ).
    • In particular, the opening of engineering အင်ဂျင်နီယာ classes was planned around 1923 and executed in 1924.
    • In 1927, the first batch of engineering students (who had Bachelors degree) graduated with the “accelerated courses” option.
    • In 1928, the second batch of engineering students (who joined after finishing the I.Sc.) graduated.
    • RU was closed from 1942 to 45.
      RU Silver Jubilee was not celebrated as a high-key event.
    • RU celebrated the Golden Jubilee (GJ) ရွှေရတု in 1970.
      Dr. Aung Gyi (ဒေါက်တာ အောင် ကြီး Professor of Civil Engineering မြို့ပြအင်ဂျင်နီယာပါမောက္ခ) and U Thet Lwin (ဦးသက်လွင် Burmese saya at the Institute of Economics စီးပွါးရေူတက္ကသိုလ်) were some of the GJ organizers.
      The RIT Ah Nu Pyinnya Shins ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတတက္ကသိုလ် အနုပညာရှင်များ took part in the GJ Entertainment Program as “Swel Daw Yeik Troupe စွယ်တော်ရိပ် အငြိမ့်” .
      The term “Swel Daw Yeik” became synonymous with RIT [its predecessors and its successors].
      Swel Daw Yeik Ah Nyeint (with Minthamees မင်းသမီး and Lu Shwin Daws လူရွှင်တော်) and Htee Yein (ထီး ယိမ်း RIT Belles with colorful Parasols) were hits at the GJ celebration.
      I was a volunteer member of the “Zay Nay Yar Cha Hta Yay စျေး နေရာချ ထားရေး subcommittee headed by Saya U Hla Tun Aung (ဦးလှထွန်းအောင် Geography ပထဝီ).
      Those who applied for stalls and/or stage included Actor Maung Maung Tar (မောင်မောင်တာ promoting his make up) and the then amateur band “Playboys” တီးဝိုင်း requesting a “high” stage (for security concerns).
    • RU celebrated the Diamond Jubilee စိန်ရတု in 1995.
    • RU celebrated the “Yar Pyie Ah Kyo” ရာပြည့် အကြို in December 2019.
      The opening song was “Mya Kyun Nyo” မြကျွန်းညိုညို composed by Tekkatho Maung Ngwe Hlinne (တက္ကသိုလ် မောင်ငွေလှိုုင်း Saya U Thet Lwin).
    • RU Centennial Celebrations were planned for November and December of 2020.
      Due to the pandemic, many events were held virtually.
      Kyemon ကြေးမုံ and Myanar Ah Lin မြန်မာ့အလင်း newspapers သတင်းစာ featured articles about RU.
      The TV stations featured interviews, songs …

    First RU Students’ Strike

    • Eleven “senior” students led the Boycott of the Rangoon University Act of 1920.
    • They were unhappy with the restrictions of the RU Act and decided to hold a boycott (strike) on December 7, 1920.
    • Due to a news leak, the protests were moved to December 5, 1920.
    • The strike resulted in the establishment of Amyotha Kyaung (အမျိုးသားကျောင်း National Schools) and Amyotha Kaw Leik (အမျိြးသားကောလိပ် National College).
      The event is celebrated as Ah Myo Tha Aung Pwe Nay (အမျိုးသားျအာင်ပွဲနေ့ National Day).
      The Burmese date (မြန်မာသက္ကရာဇ် 10th Waning day of Tazaungmon တန်ဆောင်မုန်းလပြည့် ကျော် / လဆုတ် ဆယ် ရက် is used for the Celebration.
    • Arzani U Razak was an early graduate of the National College. He served as Principal of a National School in Mandalay.
      He became Minister of Education in Bogyoke Aung San’s cabinet.
    • Prime Minister U Nu (ဦးနု), United Nations Secretary General U Thant (ဦးသန့်) and Ahmyotha Pyinnya Wun / Educator / Writer U Po Kyar (အမျိုးသား ပညာဝန် ဦးဖိုးကျား) are notable sayas from the National Schools.
    • The boycott was responsible for the amendments ပြင်ဆင်ချက် to the RU Act.
      e.g. opening of schools for engineering and medicine,
    • A pillar ကျောက်တိုင် was set up on Shwe Dagon Pagoda in memory of the Boycott.

    Sayagyi U Ba Toke (Dec 26, 1920 – Dec 2, 2020)

    • He is one of the oldest and senior sayas.
      Some senior sayas (e.g. Anne Sine) passed away in early 2020.
    • Received A.M (Master of Arts in Mathematics) မဟာဝိဇ္ဇာ ဘွဲ့ from Harvard University ဟားဗတ်တက္ကသိုလ်
    • Served as Assistant Lecturer လက်ထောက်ကထိက, Lecturer ကထိက and Professor ပါမောက္ခ of Mathematics သင်္ချာ at RU ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ် and RASU ရန်ကုန် ဝိဇ္ဇာ / သိပ္ပံ တက္ကသိုလ်
    • Promoted to Rector ပါမောက္ခချုပ်, MASU မန္တလေး ဝိဇ္ဇာ / သိပ္ပံ တက္ကသိုလ်
    • With his own volition, he transferred to RIT ရန်ကုန်စက်မှုတက္ကသိုလ် as Professor of (Engineering) Mathematics.
    • As a Saya of engineering sayas (e.g. Dr. Aung Gyi, U Min Wun and U Khin Aung Kyi), he was invited to attend SPZP-2000 ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ and give a speech.
    • Saya attended all SPZPs except SPZP-2002 (which he had to forgo due to Sayagadaw’s health).
    • Played Chinlon ခြင်းလုံး and Soccer ဘော်လုံး
    • Co-chair of RU Sports Council
      အားကစား ကောင်စီ Managed the Soccer program.
    • Headed the Burmese delegation မြန်မာအားကစားအဖွဲ့ to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo တိုကျို အိုလံပစ်
    • Until his 80s, Saya was active သွက်လက် လှုပ်ရှား
      (e.g. walk to Shwe Dagon Pagoda ရွှေတိဂုံ ဘုရား with his dhamma friends).
    • In his 90s, Saya had physical limitations, but his mental faculty was strong as ever.
    • Saya Dr. Khin Maung Swe (ဒေါက်တာ ခင်မောင်ဆွေ Tekkatho Maung Thin Char, တက္ကသိုလ် မောင်သင်္ချာ GBNF ကွယ်လွန်) interviewed Saya.
      Sayama Daw Myint Myint Khaing (ဆရာမ ဒေါ်မြင့်မြင့်ခိုင် daughter of Arzani Mahn Ba Khaing အာဇာနည် မန်းဘခိုင်) transcribed the tapes.
      The book covering Sayagyi’s Life Journey was published by the RU Thin Char Mi Thar Su ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ် သင်္ချာ မိသညးစု for Sayagyi’s 80th birthday.
    • Sayagyi gave me an autographed copy.

    Two Sayagyis

    U Ba Toke & U Ba Than
    • Pu Zaw Pwe (PZP) — paying homage to mentors — is a noble tradition.
      They are also known as Saya Pu Zaw Pwe and Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe.
    • There have been micro-PZPs, mini-PZPs and grand PZPs.
    • Saya U Ba Than (born on October 2, 1930) usually visits and pay homage to his saya Sayagyi U Ba Toke at least once every year.

    Paying homage to Sayagyi U Ba Toke

    • During my visits to Yangon, I paid homage to Sayagyi U Ba Toke.
    • On one visit, Sayagyi gave me an autographed copy of “Life Journey of Mathematics Professor Sayagyi U Ba Toke”.
      The book was written by Saya Dr. Khin Maung Swe (Tekkatho Maung Thin Char, GBNF) based on his interviews with Sayagyi U Ba Toke.
      It also covers the early Thin Char Sayagyis.
      The book was published by Rangoon University Thin Char Mi Thar Su for Sayagyi’s 80th birthday.
    • In January 2017, Pansy Ba Toke (Thynn Thynn, ChE 74) asked her son-in-law and daughter to pick up Sayagyi U Ba Than, Saya U Tin Htut and me at Winner Inn to see her father Sayagyi U Ba Toke.
      Sayagyi had some problems with mobility and vision, but his mind remains crisp and clear.
    • Pansy was a member of the Swel Daw Yeik “Htee Yein” at the Rangoon University Golden Jubilee in 1970. She has offered transportation to the Sayas who want to visit her father.
    • Sayagyi sometimes defer celebrating his birthday so that his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren — far and near — could join the celebration.
    • Sayagyi is pre-deceased by
      his beloved spouse, his second son (Soe Win, 6th out of his 8 children) and his second daughter (Kitty, 3rd out of his 8 children)
    U Ba Toke 1
    U Ba Toke 2
    U Ba Toke 3
    U Ba Toke 4
    U Ba Toke 5
    Book about U Ba Toke
  • Talk — Name 1

    Talk — Name 1

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 4th October 2026

    Broadcast on November 4, 2020

    Hla Min

    Early times

    • Christian Name
    • Surname

    Later

    • First and Last Names
    • First, Middle and Last Names — Middle Initial; Some systems use “X” for no Middle Name
    • Hyphenated Names —Spanish / Mexicans combine their parents’ name
    • Clan Name
    • Family Name
    • Religious Name
    • Name for Priest / Monk

    A name may have a meaning

    • AnandaThuriya အနန္တသူရိယ : Man of infinite valor
    • Thant သန့် : Clean / Pure / Pristine
    • Fitz, Mac, Mc : Son of

    Naming conventions

    vary with culture, place …

    My name has been mis-spelled and mis-pronounced as

    • HAL
    • LA
    • LAH
    • HALA
    • MINH
    • MING
    Talk / Video
  • Talk — Name 7

    Talk — Name 7

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 4th October 2026

    Hla Min

    Broadcast on November 10, 2020

    Naming conventions

    Disciplines
    Astronomy
    Biology
    Chemistry

    Towns / Cities
    Roads / Streets
    Examinations / Awards

    Talks on YouTube
  • Talk — Name 8

    Talk — Name 8

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 4th October 2026

    Broadcast on November 11, 2020

    Computer names

    ENIAC
    EDSAC
    EDVAC

    Company names

    IBM
    ICL
    Cisco
    Apple
    Google

    Product names

    iPod
    iPad
    iPhone

    Miscellaneous

    April
    May
    June

    Aryu အာယု
    Wunna ဝဏ္ဏ
    Thukha သုခ
    Bala ဗလ

    Kan ကံ
    Nyan ဥာဏ်
    Viriya ဝီရိယ

    Talks on YouTube

  • GBNF

    GBNF

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 3rd October 2026

    The following are some of our sayas, colleagues, classmates and schoolmates who are Gone But Not Forgotten.

    Additional information can be found in Related Posts.

    RIT Sayas

    Sayagyi U Ba Than (M)

    U Ba Than
    Ba Than

    Saya retired as Professor and Head of Mechanical Engineering Department at RIT. He passed away soon after his 94th birthday.

    Sayagyi H Num Kok (C)

    Saya H Num Kok

    He was a saya of our sayas. He passed away at the tender age of 98 in Oregon, USA.

    He was President of RIT Track & Field. He was Line Judge at RUBC Regattas.

    Saya U Tin Swe (EE53)

    U Tin Swe

    He played soccer for the Prome Hall team which won the Inter-Hall Trophy for two consecutive years.

    He was a Power User at UCC. He and his former students Dr. San Oo (EP67) and Ko Aung Kyaw Pe (EP69) developed programs for Electrical Power Systems.

    Saya Allen Htay (C58)

    Donation 1

    He a founding member and President of RIT Alumni International, which hosted SPZP-2000. Saya’s books were donated to YTU Library by Daw Mu Mu Kin. In saya’s memory, several YTU students have been provided scholarships (with the coordination of NorCal RITAA and volunteers from RITAA).

    Saya Dr. Win Thein (C58)

    Win Thein

    Saya retired as Professor and Head of Civil Engineering.

    In Saya’s memory, his sister has donated to selected Charities and Organizations.

    Saya Dr. San Tint (EE61)

    Dr. San Tint visiting Seattle

    He taught at BIT, RIT and YTU. He retired as Professor of Electronic Engineering. He attended SPZP-2000 and took trips to Seattle and New York to have mini-reunion with former students.

    Saya U Tin Shwe (EP66)

    U Tin Shwe

    He taught at RIT and Assumption University in Bangkok. After retirement, he became a monk. He passed away in Yangon. He is remembered in “To the Shwe Duo” poem.

    Dr. Chan Nyein (M67)

    Dr. Chan Nyein

    He is retired Minsister of Education.

    Saya U Myat Htoo (C68)

    U Myat Htoo

    Saya U Myint Soe (C68)

    • Need photo

    Saya U Ohn Maung (ChE68)

    U Ohn Maung

    Saya U Aung Myint (Pet69)

    Ko Kyant

    He drew “Kyant Ba Hone”. He was President of RIT Cartoonists. He also published educational books.

    Saya U Hla Shwe (T69)

    Hla Shwe

    He retired as Associate Professor. He passed away in Yangon. He is remembered in “To the Shwe Duo” poem.

    Saya U Aye Win Kyaw (C70)

    U Aye Win Kyaw & Madan Chand

    He passed away in Pyin Oo Lwin. He earlier lost his son due to a faulty water heater system at the medical clinic (where U Aye Win Kyaw was being treated). It was a double tragedy for the family. He taught astronomy and astrology at MARB.

    Saya Madan Chand (C70)

    He was 2nd in his class. He joined the Faculty. He moved to USA. He passed away in Illinois.

    Saya Dr. Saw Tin (RIT Maths)

    Dr. Saw Tin

    RIT Alumni

    Aung Moung (M73)

    At Winner Inn
    Last Journey of U Aung Moung

    Sayagyi U Ba Than lost his “right arm man” U Aung Moung (M73) in early January, 2018.

    Whenever Sayagyi asked for U Aung Moung’s help, he will be at Winner Inn as fast as time and schedule permit.

    I met him last year at Winner Inn. He was visiting Sayagyi U Ba Than as well as Daw Win Mar, younger sister of his childhood friend.

    U Aung Moung was active in RIT-related activities and in his neighborhood monasteries. The monks voluntarily offered to take part at his final journey at Yae Wae. Actions speak louder than words.

    Saya U Tun Shwe, Saya U Lin, Saya U Nyunt Htay, U Han Sein, U Tin Tun Aung, U Than Po, U Kyaw Kyaw and several alumni attended the last journey at Ye Way Crematorium/Cemetery.

    U Myint Lwin / Henry Chee (C63)

    U Myint Lwin

    He was from the Class of 61. He took sabbatical to get married. He is a good vocalist. He passed away in California, USA.

    Saw Lin (C71)

    U Saw Lin

    He had several medical problems, but he was active as a core organizer of SPZP-2012.

    Win Khaing (M75)

    Win Khaing

    Old Paulians

    SPHS
    SPHS

    Aung Khin, Aung Kyi, Aung Thu Yein, Aye Ngwe, Edwin David, Khin Maung Bo, Maung Maung Kyi, Richard Lim and several others are GBNF.

    Aung Thwin, Dr. (SPHS63)

    Dr. Aung Thwin

    He was a member of SPHS Hiking and Mountaineering team. He was Timing Stroke of IM(2) crew at RUBC.

    He was a successful OG. He passed away in Southern California. He is the brother of Dr. Khin Khin Thwin (Carmen) and Daw Yee Yee Thwin (Jasmine).

    SPHS63 Section A

    Of the former classmates who attended Kyaw Wynn’s birthday gathering at Aung Thu Kha အောင်သုခစားသောက်ဆိုင်, five have passed away.

    Aye Ngwe, Khin Mg Bo, Uzin Aung Chaw, Aung Kyi & Tin Tun

    Aye Ngwe (Edwin Ngwe, SPHS63)

    He wore nice Soccer Shoes even for Friendly Match against Section B. He passed away in Yangon.

    Aung Kyi (Arthur Kyi, SPHS63)

    He ride a Motorcycle to school. He passed away in Yangon.

    Khin Mg Bo (Allan Saw Mg, SPHS63, EP69)

    He was a Seafarer. He passed away in Yangon.

    Tin Tun (Phone Gyi, SPHS63, M69)

    He was Joint Secretary of RIT Thaing Association. He taught Naval Architecture. He passed away in Yangon.

    Uzin Aung Chaw (Victor, SPHS63, C69)

    He became a monk after retirement. He resided first at Sagaing Hills စစ်ကိုင်း and later at Thone Gwa သုံးခွ in the Irrawaddy Delta.

    SPHS64

    CO Hla Min (L T Gwan, Pauk Si, SPHS64)

    CO Hla Min

    He was Chief Operator at UCC. He passed away at an early age (in his mid 30s).

    Myint Sein (Bobby, SPHS64)

    U Myint Sein

    He is an alumnus of Private Primary Boundary Road School (PPBRS), St. Paul’s High School (SPHS) and the Institute of Economics. He is Past Principal of BARB (Burma Astro Research Bureau), Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of Indigenous Medicine (in Mandalay) and Founder of Idea Astrology.

    Aung Myint (Sonny, SPHS64)

    He joined RIT EE as Lab Technician. He transferred to UCC as Maintainence Technician. He was promoted to Maintenance Engineer. He lost his job after filling in the 1988-related questionnaire. He gave private tuition on PLA. He passed away at his breakfast table.

    Three SPHS & UCC alumni — CO U Hla Min (Pauk Si), U Maung Maung Gyi (Henry Than Htay) and U Aung Myint (Sonny) — are GBNF.

    Mg Mg Gyi / Henry Than Htay (SPHS64)

    He joined UCC as Operator. He succeeded Ko Pauk Si as Chief Operator.

    Sayadaw U Wara / Win Paing (SPHS64, ChE70)

    Sayadaw U Wara

    He became a monk after taking his final exam. He served as Taik Oke Sayadaw at Kaba Aye Sunlun Gu Kyaung. He succeeded Sayadaw U Vinaya.

    RIT 69ers

    Myint Thein (Kabar, M69)

    U Myint Thein (Kabar)

    He was a core organizer of the 69ers. He had medical checkup in Singapore and India, but he passed away in Yangon due to his deteriorating health. He is fondly known as Maung Kabar (a famous cartoon character of our younger days).

    Chit Tin (Bo Chit, EC69)

    Kabar and Chit Tin

    U Chit Tin graduated in 1969 with EC (Electrical Communications). He is the third member of the group to pass away. The other two are U Kyaw Soe (EC69) and U Aung Thu Yein (Brownie, EC69).

    Oo Kyaw Hla (EC69)

    He passed away in Canada. He is the fourth EC69er to pass away.

    Sai Aik Yee (EC69+)

    He took Sabbatical. He is the fifth EC69er to pass away.

    Mehm Ye Win (EC69)

    He was Secretary of RIT EE Association. He is the sixth EC69er to pass away.

    Khin Mg Myint / Shatstri (69er)

    Shastri and mostly 69ers

    He received the nickname due to resemblance to the Indian Prime Minister.

    Win Naing (Dicky Tan, M69)

    Win Naing (Dicky)

    He passed away in Singapore. He represented RIT in Rowing.

    Tin Myint (John Lee, M69)

    Tin Myint (John)

    He passed away in Union City, California, USA. He represented RIT in Table Tennis. He was selected RIT Luyechun for 4th BE.

    Myint Sein (M69)

    Myint Sein
    Myint Sein (M69)

    Win Khaing (M75)

    Related Posts

    • GBNF — Alumni
    • GBNF — by Calendar Year
    • GBNF — by Class
    • GBNF — General
    • GBNF — Sayas
    • Talk — GBNF
  • Talk — Name 9

    Talk — Name 9

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 3rd October 2026

    Broadcast on November 12, 2020

    Gold / Golden

    • Gold Reserve (to back Currency)
    • Gold Medal (First prize)
    • Golden Fleece (Mythology)
    • Golden State (California)
    • Golden Gate (Heaven, Bridge)
    • Golden Treasury (Poems)
    • Golden Boot (Top Scorer, World Cup)
    • Golden Ball (Goalkeeper, World Cup)
    • Golden Ball (Best player, Soccer)
    • Golden Glove (Boxing)
    • Golden Glove (Baseball)
    • Golden Touch (Midas)
    • Golden Goose / Egg (Fairy tale)
    • RUBC Gold (Club Selection)
    • Golden Sponsor (Saya Pu Zaw Pwe)
    • Life time Gold (Bridge …)

    University

    Usually has constituent Colleges

    Early universities in Europe and UK

    • Oxford University
    • Cambridge University
    • London University
    • …

    Universities in the USA

    • State sponsored
    • City sponsored
    • Private Universities
    • Stanford
    • Harvard
    • Yale
    • …

    Rangoon University

    • Rangoon College
    • Judson College
    • (later) Mandalay College — became Mandalay University

    Institute

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    • Engineering & Technology
    • later — many disciplines
    • Economics
    • Computer Science

    Indian Institute of Technology

    • Five (or so) campuses

    Asian Institute of Technology

    • Several Burmese are alumni

    Burma Institute of Technology

    • Faculty of Engineering, RU moved to Gyogone Campus in 1961 – 62
    • Became Rangoon Institute of Technology (with own Rector) in November 1964
    • YIT : due to renaming of Rangoon with Yangon
    • YTU : Yangon Technology University

    Institute of Computer Science and Technology

    ICST/UCSY Pu Zaw Pwe
    • Successor of UCC, Rangoon and DCS
    • Started offering B.Sc in Computer Science and Computer Technology
    • Evolved into UCSY (University of Computer Studies, Yangon)
    Talks on YouTube
  • Talk — Name 10

    Talk — Name 10

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 3rd October 2026

    Broadcast on November 13, 2020

    NASA

    Mercury Project : One astronaut
    Gemini Project : Two astronauts
    Apollo Project : Three astronauts

    Space Shuttle

    Sky Lab

    Nobel Prize

    Chemistry
    Physics
    Medicine
    Literature
    Peace

    Other Disciplines

    (Nobel Prize for) Economics

    ACM Turing Award

    Field’s Medal (for Mathematics)

    Miscellaneous

    Changes in Naming Systems

    Cinema / Movies

    Comics / Cartoons

    Ah Nu Pyinnya

    Talks on YouTube

  • Talk — October

    Talk — October

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 3rd October 2026

    Broadcast on October 5, 2020

    Calendar

    • 8th month in the old Roman Calendar. Oct stands for 8.
    • 10th month in the later Calendars
    • It has 31 days.

    World Teachers’ Day

    • Also known as “International Teacher’s Day
    • October 5
    • Celebrated annually since 1994
    • Some countries may honor teachers on a different date

    Saya U Ba Than’s birthday

    U Ba Than
    • October 2
    • For more than a decade, Sayagyi invited his former colleagues and students to the annual Birthday Soon Kyway at Tipitaka Yaw Sayadaw’s Kyaung
    • The mini-gathering was put on hold due to the pandemic. There were Zoom sessions organized by his nephew.
    • Sayagyi received Photo Album / Book compiled by his brother U Tin Htoon (A60) and U Htaik San (Henry Kao, M81). Due the pandemic, the USPS (United States Postal Service) failed to deliver the book and returned it to the sender (U Tin Htoon). Saya U Tin Htut (M60) offered to send the book by DHL. Sayagyi was extremely happy to receive the present from his three former students. He has read the book several times.

    Miscellaneous

    • Halloween : Trick or Treat
    • Pumpkin Festival in Half Moon Bay
    • Ocktoberfest
    • “October” Revolution
    • Occasional : Thadinkyut & Phaungdaw-u Festival
    Poem
    • Occasional : Diwali / Deepavali
    • October 1 : Dr. Aung Gyi’s birthday; U Myo Myint Sein’s birthday
    Dr. Aung Gyi
  • Table Tennis — Table Tennis

    Table Tennis — Table Tennis

    by Hla Min

    Updated : 3rd October 2026

    Video Broadcast on December 21, 2020

    Game

    • Players
      Singles : Men, Women
      Doubles : Men, Women, Mixed Team
    • Styles
      Hand shake
      Pen Grip
    • Points
      21 points (early period) : Best of 5 games (typical)
      11 points (later period) : Best of 7 games
    • Tournaments
      World Championship
      Olympics
      Asian Games
      SEAP / SEA Games
      National
      Inter-Institute
      RIT
    • Miscellaneous
      Also known as “Ping Pong”
      Ping Pong Diplomacy (credited to Henry Kissinger)
      Pong (Early Computer Game)
      Ping Pong Tables (available at Recreation Center and many homes)
      Other RIT selection : Tin Myint (M69, GBNF, 4th Year Luyechun), Nyunt Tin (M70)

    RIT Table Tennis team

    which won the Inter-Institute Championship

    Team Coach

    Saya Mao Toon Siong (M62)

    Saya Mao
    • Represented Burma in International Competitions
      (SEAP, Asian Games and World Championship)
    • Retired Burma National Coach

    Players

    • U Maung Maung – C67
      (aka Chin Kaung Hook – extremely good in Chess)
    Win Myint & Stan
    • U Win Myint – E67 (aka Hin Lok Kung)
      Retired engineer, San Francisco Bay Area
    • Stan Liou – M67
      Former Chair, Board of Directors, NorCal RITAA
    • U Myat Lwin – Ch67 (GBNF)