Category: Skill

Talk — Caritta Bala
by Hla Min

Updated : Aug 2025

Video Broadcast on January 21, 2021

U Hla Min

Moral Strength / Courage

Practice of Sila (Morality)
- Refrain from doing unwholesome deeds
- Perform wholesome deeds
Primary school days
- Received Thermos Flask for reciting “Mingalar Kabyar” by Dago U Tun Myint
- Recite Mingalar “8-syllable verses” at home on Saturday nights
Middle school days
- Studied “Sanakya Niti” and “Pyithu Niti” at school
- Recite “Mangala Sutta” (Mingalar Thoke in Pali) at home and at monastery
High school days
- Studied “Morals and Manners” at school
Later days
- Ethics courses
- Contributing Editor for “Dhammananda Newsletter” and TBSA web site
- Editor for books by selected Sayadaws
- Interpreter at Meditation Retreats
August 8, 2025
Toastmasters International
by Hla Min

Updated : July 2025

Awards

I received the following awards from Toastmasters International in 2017.

DTM
- Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)
- Triple Crown
- Leadership Excellence
- Advanced Leader Silver (ALS)
DTM & Triple Crown

Hall 1

Hall 2

Clubs
- Member of several Toastmaster Clubs. Some were at the companies I worked for. A few were for the General Public / Community.
- Most clubs have seven EC members: President, VP of Membership, VP of Education, VP of Public Relations, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sergeant-at-arms.
- A Club belongs to a specified Area, Division and District.
- Public Speaking contests are held at the Club, Area, Division, District, and International levels.
Roles
- Served as Sergeant at Arms, VP of Education, VP of Membership, Club Coach, Test Speaker, Ambassador, Contest Chair
Halloween Theme Meeting
July 4, 2025
Comics and Cartoons
by Hla Min

Updated : June 2025

Sayings
- Laughter is the best medicine — feature in Reader’s Digest
- Need less nerves to smile than to frown
- A cartoon a day keeps the blues away
- Comics & Cartoons have no age boundaries
Comics

During our times, we read
- Beano
- Dandy
- Topper
- Beezer
- Film Fun
- Joke & Humor book(s) : D. S. Saluja had 200+
- Annual & Special Edition
- Can be bought from book shops like Smart & Mookerdam
- BSPP era saw the publication of Shwe Thway & Teza
Early Cartoonists
- Published in newspapers, magazines & books
To name a few
- Shwe Ta Lay
- U Ba Gyan
- U Heng Soon
- U Aung Shein
- U Pe Thein
- U Than Kywe
- U Ba Htwe
- U Kyaw San (“Ka Sa”)
  …
- The “Cartoon Festival” was held in U Ba Gyan Street (around Tazaung Daing).
- In the mid 1950s, there was a rift between the two factions of AFPFL. Some cartoonists took sides and a “price war” started. The cartoons, which sold for 60 pyas were then given away at bargain prices (any where between 10 and 50 pyas).
- About a decade ago, my spouse paid K10,000 for a copy of “old” cartoons published in the Rangoon Times.
  Some are political satire.
RIT Cartoon Box

Cartoon Box
- Started by U Myint Pe (M72) & team with the Patronage of Saya U Khin Maung Phone Ko (“Phone Ko”, C64) and Saya U Aung Myint (Kyant Ba Hone, Pet69)
Myint Pe (Center)
- “Phone Ko” was known for his Vietnam cartoons
U Khin Maung Phone Ko
- “Kyant Ba Hone” looked like “Nick Kelly”, but the contents are different.
Ko Kyant (3rd from Left)
- Maintained by three (or more) generations of Cartoon Boxers
- Cartoon Box was “ordered to close” after 1988
- History of the Cartoon Box is published in the Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for SPZP-2012
- Collection of RIT Cartoons was published in time for SPZP-2012
- Pamphlet of RIT Cartoons distributed at Shwe YaDu in 2014 and SPZP-2016
- Some (e.g. “Aw Pi Kye”) became professional cartoonists and exhibited their works in Myanmar and beyond (e.g. Asian Cartoon Exhibition)
- RIT Main Gate was named “U Lu Paw” (at the suggestion of Ko Win Thein (M67))
- U Myint Soe (C68, GBNF) & U Myint Thein (M69, GBNF) are fondly called Maung Kabar
Sample RIT Cartoons

Cartoon 1

Cartoon 2

Cartoon 3

Cartoon 4

Cartoon 5

Cartoon 6

Cartoon 7

Posts
- Cartoon Box
- Ko Kyant
- RIT Cartoons
- Swel Daw Yeik Magazine
June 19, 2025