by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

Top Paulian Matriculates

Peter Wun

SPHS63

IM (2) Students

Half Moon Bay

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

• Smart is an adjective.
• Smarter and Smartest are the comparative and superlative forms.

Conventional and Unconventional Wisdom

• Thomas Edison said, “Success is due to 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”.
• Newer thinking : “Work smarter. Not harder.”

General

ဝတ်စား နေထိုင် လုပ်ကိုင် ဆောင်ရွက် ရာတွင် သေသပ် / သေချာ လျှင် Smart စမတ်ကျသည် ဟုဖေါ်ပြတတ်ပါသည်။

SMART Goals

SMART is an acronym for setting Objectives.

• S : Specific တိကျ
• M : Measurable တိုင်းနိုင်
• A : Achievable / Achievable ပြီးမြောက်နိုင် / ရနိုင်
• R : Realistic / Relevant အမှန်မြင် / အသုံးတဲ့
• T : Time-bounded / Timely အချိန်ကန့်သတ် / အချိန်မီ

SMARTER (which extends SMART) is a lesser used acronym.

Smart Card and Devices

• I worked for a Defense Contractor.
  My assignment was at DMDC (Defense Manpower Data Center).
  Every employee and contractor was issued a Smart Card, which has a processor and memory to hold Biometrics (e.g. fingerprint), Photo ID, and Cryptographic Keys.
  One has to use a Smart Card to (a) enter specified areas of the building (b) logging on to a computer system.
  Smart cards were not cheap at that time, and there were limitations in the resources (e.g. memory on the card)
• Smart devices (e.g. smart phones) are ubiquitous.
• Smart cars (e.g. driver-less) are available.
• Smart Car / Autonomous vehicles
• Smart Monitors

SMART Group of Companies

• Founded by KK (Kyaw Kyaw Hlaing) about 25 years ago
• Started with Technical Services
• Currently 7 companies in the group

SMART Sar Pay / Publishing

• published several award winning books
• latest : reprint of Maung Aung Mon (U Win Aung Gyi)’s collection of short stories from the 1950s : to celebrate RU Centennial

SMART Media

• Talk shows
• Interviews
• Documentary

• Sponsor for 5th ILF (Irrawaddy Literary Festival) in November 2019
• Diamond Sponsor for PSA 2020 Tour to six (or so) cities in Upper Myanmar in January 2020

U Aung Myaing added:

Work smarter. Not harder. ဆိုတာနဲ့ပတ်သက်ပြီး ကျနော့်အမြင်ကို လက်တွေ့ ဥပမာနဲ့ ပြောချင်ပါတယ်။

လုပ်ဖေါ်ကိုင်ဘက် ၂ ယောက်။
တစ်ယောက်က တချိန်လုံး အလုပ်ရှုပ်နေတယ်။ သူ့ KPI ( Key Performance indicators) ထဲမှာ ပါတဲ့ အလုပ်တွေကို အဓိကပြီးမြောက်အောင်မလုပ်ဘဲ ကိုယ်စိတ်ဝင်စားရင်ဖိလုပ် မဝင်စားရင် တော်ရုံတန်ရုံလုပ်။ နှစ်ကုန်လို့ KPI ကို assess လုပ်တဲ့အခါကျတော့ ပြီးတာပြီး လိုတာလိုနဲ့ score ကောင်းကောင်းမရဘူး။

ကျန်တစ်ယောက်ကတော့ KPI ကို အကျအနပြင်တယ်။ အပေါ်က approval ရပြီဆိုတော့ အဲဒီ KPI ထဲက အလုပ်တွေကို ပီပီပြင်ပြင်လုပ်တယ်။ both hard and smart, but not as hard as the first one.
နှစ်ကုန်တော့ scores ကောင်းကောင်းရတယ်။

သူတို့နှစ်ယောက်က
hard က မတိမ်းမယိမ်းဘဲ။
Smart ကတော်တော်ကွာသွားတယ်။

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

Redundacy

• There are two kidneys, but some people can live with one kidney.

U Khin Maung Maung

• U Aung Zaw Maung (Pet78, ex-UCC) mentioned that his father lived for 40 years with one good kidney.

Daw Kyawt

• Daw Tint Tint Wai (Daw Kyawt) donated a kidney to her spouse U Aung Zaw. She is doing fine. After a decade, U Aung Zaw passed away. The kidney that she donated was still doing fine.

Dialysis

U Tin Hlaing

Saya U Tin Hlaing (M59, GBNF) was Head of the Agricultural Engineering (sub-department of Mechanical Engineering). Had kidney problem, but he did not have access to the two dialysis machines that were for VIP in Burma. Applied for passport and visa to have medical treatment abroad, but he did not receive them in time.

Cases

Based on the severity, the frequency and number of dialysis sessions.

Most patients have to visit a hospital or clinic.

A few had to perform dialysis at home.

Transplant

U Aung Zaw

Saya U Aung Zaw (ex-UCC) is indebted to his spouse Daw Kyawt, who donated her kidney. The love story can be read in Saya Zaw’s first book “Dhamma and Bawa ဓမ္မနဲ့ ဘဝ”. I wrote the Foreword.

He published a second book “Cetana Thi Thar Kan စေတနာ သည်သာ ကံ” which has a section written by me based on his ideas.

Henry Lim

U Aung Myint (Henry Lim) served as Chief Editor of the BAPS Newsletter and an Associate Editor of the commemorative issue of “RIT Alumni International Newsletter” for SPZP-2000. He founded the “Golden Padauk” and “Durian” magazines in the San Francisco Bay Area, but at his doctors’ advice, he stopped publishing the magazines to preserve his health. Luckily, he found a match for his kidney transplant. He had a renewed life full of oversea travels.

Aung Khin

U Aung Khin (SPHS 63, GBNF) is the second son of Dr. Ko Gyi (MS of EENT hospital). He had two kidney transplants and succumbed while he was trying to have a third transplant.

Related Posts

• Advice from Sayas & Friends
• Medical Reports by Dr. Khin Maung U
• Medical Advice by Dr. Kyaw Nyunt (Robert)

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

Believe it or not

Ripley’s “Believe it or not” named U Khanti Kyauksar (inscriptions) of the Fifth Buddhist Council (Synod) held in Mandalay as the “Largest Book” in the world.

Guinness Book of World Records

The Guinness Book of World Records listed Tipitakadara Sayadaw Ashin Vicittathara as having a phenomenal — the best at that time in 1954.

In the First Buddhist Council, Ashin Upali served as the Reciter of Vinaya (Rules of monastic conduct). Ashin Ananda served as the Reciter of Sutta (Buddha’s Discourses) and Abhidhamma (Ultimate Reality).

In the Sixth Buddhist Council held at KabaAye (World Peace) Pagoda in Rangoon, Burma from 1954 – 1956 Ashin Vicittathara served as the Reciter of Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma. He also recited the selected Commentaries.

Sayadaw could memorize, recall, and give exposition on 8000+ pages of the Buddhist Scriptures known as Tipitaka [“Three Baskets”] : Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma at the second to fifth Tipitakadara examinations. He passed with distinction in both oral and written parts.

Sayadaw served as an examiner for the first Tipikadara examination. Sir U Thwin requested him to take the examination. The rest is history.

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

In our younger days

Our grand parents & parents had workers who were non-Buddhists. They gave us sweets (for Diwali), dan bauk (for Id) and presents (for Christmas).

During our younger days, we had classmates who professed different religions. We lived in perfect harmony.

Christians

Saya U Pe Maung Tin

• He was a Christian, but he helped with the translation of Buddhist texts.
• Translated the two sermons (Dhammacakka and Anatta Lekkhana Sutta) into English at the request of U Tha Win (who published the two sermons in Pali, Burmese and English).

Teacher Kywe (PPBRS)

• Karen Christian teacher who transformed me into a “life long learner”
• My mother asked me to pay respect to her every year.

Rev. Bernard Taylor

• SPHS classmate
• Missionary to the Philippines
• After retirement, came back to Myanmar

Rev. Edwin David

• SPHS classmate
• GBNF
• Priest of St. Mary’s Cathedral

Steeve Kay (EC70)

• Multiple Golden Sponsor of SPZPs
• Donated $200000+ to RIT-related activities
• GBNF

Benny Tan

• Multiple Golden Sponsor of SPZPs
• Co-chair, SPZP-2000

SPZP

• Several RIT alumni are Christians, who embrace SPZPs.
• The term Saya Pu Zaw Pwe was chosen over Saya Ga Daw Pwe (which had religious connotation) so that all students can pay back the metta and cetana of their mentors.

Sikhs

D. S. Saluja

• Classmate at SPHS, I.Sc(A) & 2nd BE
• Left RIT to form “Rama Enterprise” in Bangkok with his elder brother
• Had a mini-reunion twice : the last time in April 2024

A. S. Soni

• SPHS classmate

RIT alumni

• Surinder Singh (EE69er) — Australia
• Uttam Singh (M71) — NASA
• Meenu Singh (ChE72) — CS Prof
• Jagjit Singh (EE73) — UIUC

Muslims

Arzani U Razak

• Early Graduate of National College
• Principal of National School in Mandalay
• Was nominated by several Sayadaws to be Education Minister in Bogyoke Aung San’s Cabinet
• Sons : U Tin Myint (RUBC, MOC), U Hla Kyi (helped solve the foundation problem at Shwe Dagon)

U Raschid

• Student Leader for RUSU and Ba Ka Tha
• Minister

U Khin Maung Latt

• Minister
• Sons : Khin Maung Gyi (RIT English), Khin Maung Lay (Principal, ILO Training School)

U Pe Khin

• Diplomat
• Negotiator at Pin Lon Conference

Bohmu Ba Shin

• Burma Historical Commission

Paulians

• Edward Hla Shwe I and II

RIT Alumni

• Saya Allen Htay (C58) : President of RIT Alumni International; SPZP-2000 Organizer

• U Khin Maung Lay (T68) : Past President of BASES; Organizer & emcee for 2015 RIT Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles

• U Thein Ngwe (Ko Thein Tokyo, ChE76) : Co-founder of RITAJsent
• RIT Muslim students in 1971

Men on the Moon

For the last stanza of my poem “Men on the Moon”, I wrote

“Are we not brothers here on earth?
So let us all unite.
There will be heaven here on earth
If we all cease to fight”.

Updates

• Several conflicts in the world due to extremists
• Discrimination in some places

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

Salim Dawoodjee

• Currently lives in Canada
• His brother (also Paulian) has passed away

Bertram Si Oo

• He attended De La Salle Twante and St. Paul’s High School.
• He was Physical Training Instructor and Assistant Soccer Coach.
• He later completed Dip Ed and became a Class / Subject teacher.
• Before his death, he gave his manuscripts and photos to his son Ronald.
• A few of his children have psssed away.
• His spouse Rosie Samuel is alive and well. She will be 97 years old.

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

At SPHS, we had a “Morals and Manners” class for students who are not Catholics. We learned some poems from the book.

The following is a modernized version of the poem which used “Thou”, “Thee” and “Locks”.

Be kind to your father — for when you were young
Who loved you as fondly as he
He caught the first accent that fell from your tongue
And joined in the heavenly glee.

Be kind to your father — for now he is old
His hair intermingled with grey
His footsteps are feeble, once fearless and bold
Your father is passing away.

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2026

NorCal RITAA 2024

Life Savers

Kyaw Win’s Birthday Gathering

Paulian Mountaineers

Old Paulians’ Association

RIT Reunion & Saya Pu Zaw Pwe in Oct 2000

Award from Toastmasters International

Appreciation Awards

Souvenirs

Dr. Khin Maung U & Dr. Nyunt Nyunt Wai

Maung Maung Kyi

by Hla Min & Friends

Update : Apr 2026

Slow Down

• U Aung Min (M69) was worried that I might burn out. He asked me to slow down.
• Completed five decades as a Volunteer. Spent 26 years as an Organizer & Messenger for the RIT Alumni. Want to slow down, but have things to do.

Take Rest

• Some said, “You write more & faster than we can read. Take some rest”.
• Paying back to my benefactors, mentors & alma mater while I am physically & mentally OK.

Find Young Helpers

• Some suggested to find young volunteers to help.
• Easier said than done. Not easy to find even paid volunteers. Much difficult to get unpaid volunteers.

Memory

• Some friends & even young people had memory lapses. My young cousin said, “I forgot what I wanted to say”.
• Saw people with various levels of memory problems. At first, one could not recall names & faces of friends. Then, he could not remember his children. Finally, he could not recognize his spouse. Some time later, he passed away.

• Compared to geniuses with phenomenal memory, I am at a lower rung. I am glad that I recall people & events more than the average person. I know thousands of names & people.

Story Tellers

• From Thin Sayas, Myin Sayas and Kyar Sayas, I learned interesting episodes that cannot be read from the history books. Sadly, many good story tellers are GBNF.

Dream

• If one can dream, others can (help) fulfill.
• My first dream was to get sayas and alumni get reconnected physically & virtually. RIT Alumni Newsletter and SPZP-2000 are some realization of that dream.

• My second dream is to compile and publish Oral & Written Histories. As a member of the HMEE project, I was able to realize a part of that dream.
• Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint, Dr. V Nyunt Wai, Dr. Khin Maung U, U Khin Maung Zaw & several others have added valuable insights to my posts. I hope the “Tumbleweed effect” will help turn my raw thoughts and writings into memorable articles and may be even e-books and books. It will be a fuller realization of the second dream.

Worry

• Someone wrote in my autograph : “Worry is like sand in an oyster. A little produces a pearl. Too much kills the animal”.
• I do not worry about Longevity.

• I have seen some people live long lives, but a few were not physically or mentally active for some time. I prefer to have quality of life for our moment on this earth.

Last Journey

• I was emcee for the Last Journeys of Dr. Htay Lwin Nyo and Sayadaw U Silananda.
• There will be no service for my last journey.

• I gave several Eulogies. I prefer to acknowledge the good deeds of people while they are still alive.

Sharing is Caring

• I am delighted to share my thoughts and experiences — with mentors, colleagues, friends, former students & those who value dissemination of knowledge.