- Hla Min (EC69) wrote an article for the Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for Shwe YaDu, 2014.
- Thanks to Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War) & Team for publishing the article.
Blog
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Memories of a 69er
Hla Min -
Mother’s Day
- In the USA, the second Sunday of May is celebrated as Mother’s Day.
- Some countries celebrate Mother’s Day on a different date.
My beloved mother 
Three Mothers Mother
- Mother is also known as Mater, Mum, Mom, Mummy, Mommy, Mah Mah, May May, … and “the hand that rocked the cradle”
- Mother’s unbounded love is honored in many real-life stories (e.g caring for children during disasters)
M-O-T-H-E-R (Famous song)
Sample verse (may have variations)
M is for the Million things she gave me
O means Only that she’s growing Old
T is for her Tender sweet caresses
H is for her Heart of purest gold
E means Everything she’s done to save me
R means Right and Right she’ll always bePut them all together
They spell MOTHER
A word that means a world to me -
Fond Memories
Paying respect to Saya U Aung Khin
- Ivan Lee (M69) provided his car and gas for the whirlwind trip to Canada and East Coast of USA.
- Fred Thetgyi (M69) drove most of the trip and also took photos.
- We visited Saya U Aung Khin (Former Professor of Mechanical engineering at RIT).
- Saya not only prepared breakfast for us but also gave us mementos.
Saya U Aung Khin & Saya Allen Htay (GBNF)
- Saya U Aung Khin gave the go-ahead signal for SPZP-2000
- Saya Allen is founder and President of RIT Alumni International, which hosted SPZP-2000
- In memory of Saya Allen, Daw Mu Mu donated saya’s books to YTU Library.
She also provided financial assistance to eligible YTU students
Saya U Aung Hla Tun (GBNF)
- Saya served as Chief Editor of RIT Annual Magazine, Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering, and Resident Elder of the Church of Holy Christ.
- He published two books. He won National Literature Award for the first book.
- Despite failing health, he completed the second book and most of his three-year plan.
My Souvenirs
- Alumni Appreciation Award
presented by NorCal RIT Alumni Association - SPHS63 Scholarship Winners
Invitation to attend OPA (Old Paulians’ Association) Annual Dinner
Photo taken after the Award ceremony at SPHS
Souvenirs - DTM Award received in 2017
DTM - Electronic greeting card was printed by Ko Maurice Chee
and given to me at the Soon Kwyay gathering at Dhammananda Vihara, Half Moon Bay, California - Father’s Day gift from my Myees
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Life Long Learner
Hla Min 
NorCal RITAA Award Learning
I believe and practice the Pillars of Learning:
- Learning to know
- Learning to do
- Learning to be
- Learning to live
- (Finally) Learning to let go
Objectives
I have published about 3000 posts. I have revised them. You may search using an appropriate category.
Primary Objective
Pay back to my beloved land, my alma mater, my mentors and colleagues.
Secondary Objective
Provide topics of interest to scholars and historians about Burma / Myanmar
Tertiary Objective
Request Subject Matter Experts to join me in the dissemination of knowledge, experience & wisdom.
My Background
I am a
- Jack of all trades and Master of some
- Lifelong learner
- Freelance author, editor, translator & interpreter
- Distinguished Toastmaster
- Amateur Historian
- Editor of newsletters & books
- Software engineer
- Consultant
I have studied and/or taught at
- Private Primary Boundary Road School
- St. Paul’s High School
- Rangoon University
- Rangoon Institute of Technology
- Universities Computer Center
- Department of Computer Science
- Institute of Computer Science and Technology
- ICL ETC in UK
- Rice University in USA
I wrote and/or reviewed articles, translations and poems for
- National Foreign Language Center
- Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife
- RIT Alumni International Newsletter
- Dhammananda Newsletter
- Homage to Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa
- BAPS Newsletter
- Moe Ma Ka
- Guardian Newspaper
- Working People’s Daily
- Forward Magazine
- High School Mathematics Project
- Team of System Specialists
- Rangoon University Boat Club
- Set Hmu Thadin Zin စက်မှုသတင်းစဉ်
- Hlyat Sit Sar Saung လျှပ်စစ်စာစောင်
- Veda Magazine ဝေဒမဂ္ဂဇင်း
- Pan Magazine ပန်မဂ္ဂဇင်း
- Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung စွယ်တော်ရိပ်စာစောင်
- Swel Daw Yeik Magazine စွယ်တော်ရိပ်မဂ္ဂဇင်း
- Poetic Art Series
- U Jotalankara ဦးဇောတကလင်္ကာရ၊ Masoyein Sayadaw မစိုးရိမ်ဆရာတော်၊ Dhammaberi Sayadaw ဓမ္မဘေရီဆရာတော်၊ Beelin Sayadaw ဘီးလင်းဆရာတော်၊ Oakland Sayadaw ဥက္ကလံဆရာတော် …
- U Aung Zaw (UCC) ဦးအောင်ဇော်
I have volunteered for
- Computer History Museum (CHM)
- San Francisco Bay Area ACM Chapter
- Toastmasters International
- RIT Alumni International
- Saya Pu Zaw Pwe (SPZP)
- NorCal RIT Alumni Association
- Tathagata Meditation Center (TMC)
- Theravada Buddhist Society of America (TBSA)
- History of Myanmar Engineering Education (HMEE)
- 2010 Census Count Committee
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Khin Maung U / Oo
Khin Maung U (SPHS 63, IM1 70)
- First in Burma in the Matriculation examination of 1963.
Had perfect scores of 100 in Mathematics and Chemistry and a score of 99 in Physics.
Grapevine says that one point was deducted from the initial score. - Selected as “Lu Ye Chun” from IM (1)multiple times.
- Due to changes in the Education System, he had to do his Masters locally.
- His persistence paid off in getting Fellowships from UK and Australia and an MD.
- Retired from FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the USA.
- Volunteered as translator/interpreter for dhamma courses and meditation retreats.
- Young Khin Maung U can be seen standing from left in the second last row in the photo taken in Std. VIII(A) at SPHS.
- A newspaper clipping shows the top Matriculates from SPHS in 1963 led by Khin Maung U.
Khin Maung U 
SPHS VIIIA Khin Maung Oo (Ivan, M69)
- Did his MS in the USA.
- Completed two PEs (one for New York and another for New Jersey).
- Successful entrepreneur.
- Multiple Golden Sponsor for SPZPs.
- Hosted annual gatherings at his New Jersey home for RIT and UCC Alumni (with Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi and Saya U Soe Paing as Honored Guests).
- Co-founder and Patron of MASTA
- See Family Photo
Ivan 
Ivan & Family Khin Maung Oo (Master Mariner)
- PBRS Alumni
- Taught in Burma and Malaysia.
- Lives in Houston.
He and his spouse Daw Tin Tin Win are helping the Burmese sea men visiting the Houston port.
- First in Burma in the Matriculation examination of 1963.
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Poetic Art Project
Collaboration of sayas and alumni
Poets
- Tekkatho Moe War : Saya U Moe Aung (EE63)
- Maung Sein Win (Padeegone) : Class of M72
- Okpo Maung Yin Maung : Saya U Aung Myaing (ChE72)
- Maung Nyunt Htay (Ah Htet Min Hla) : Saya U Nyunt Htay (Met73)
- “Ka Byaung” : U Win Myint (M72)
Illustrator
- Bagyee Myat Myo Myint : U Myo Myint (Class of M73)
Translator
- U Hla Min (EC69)
U Aung Myaing & U Myo Myint 
U Moe Aung 
U Nyunt Htay -
NorCal RITAA in 2023
Saya U Myat Htoo (C68)
- He was re-elected as Chair of BOD (Board of Directors) of NorCal RITAA (Northern California RIT Alumni Association) at the AGM (Annual General Meeting) held at Mudita Shwe Kyaung, Hayward, Northern California.
- He is a founding member of RIT Alumni International and NorCal RITAA and a Core Organizer for SPZP-2000.
U Tin Maung Win (C86)
- He was elected as President.
- He is a Past Secretary. He gave a presentation on the history and activities of Norcal RITAA.
New Blood
Several new EC members (Maung Maung Moe Zaw, Bo Ni) are young, enthusiastic alumni who have passion to keep the RIT Spirit alive and well.
Communication
The full list of EC and BOD, and details of forthcoming events are provided on the NorCal RITAA web site by the Communications Officer and the Secretaries.
Thanks to
Past Presidents: Saya U Maung Maung (George Chan, ChE66), U Kaung Kaung Oo (Gordon Kaung, M83) and U Aung Myint Oo (EC84)
Past Chair of BOD : Stan Liou (M67)
Photographer : Richard Khoo (Dhatu Kyaw Lin, ChE76)
Former EC and BOD
Sponsors and Donors
Volunteers and Helpers
Members— past and present
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Memory
Mingun Sayadaw
U Vicittasarabhivamsa (GBNF)He was listed in the “Guinness Book of World Records” for his phenomenal memory. When Burma hosted the Sixth Buddhist Council in 1954 – 56 to commemorated the 2500th year of the “Sasana Calendar”, Sayadaw acted as the “Reciter” of the Tipitaka (Triple Basket : Vinaya (Monastic rules of conduct), Sutta (Discourses), and Abhidhamma (Ultimate Reality)) and selected Commentaries. According to the Kaba Aye Edition, the Tipitaka covers 8000+ pages.
To prepare for the Buddhist Council, Sir U Thwin requested Mingun Sayadaw to take the Tipitaka examination. Sayadaw passed the Oral and Written tests for the Three Baskets with Distinction. He was the first Sayadaw to be conferred “Bearer of the Tipitaka & Treasurer of the Dhamma”. The Oral tests will fail a candidate if he needs five (or six) prompts. Sayadaw did not need a single prompt. The Written tests cover in-depth topics. During the recitation, Sayadaw amazed the examiners by pointing out the variations of the text and highlighted the preferred version.
Sayadaw received requisites. He distributed them to the monks (in the town where he received them). To help ease the monks trying to pass one or more Baskets in the [later] Tipitaka examinations, Sayadaw set up a monastery in Mingun and accepted monks who had finished their Dhammacariya.
Mahasi & Mingun Sayadaws Memory Types
We have a short term memory and a long term memory.
When people age, most retain their long term memory, but they often experience decline of their short term memory.
My young cousin approached us and then uttered, “I forgot what I was about to say”.
My high school classmate would abruptly stop in the middle of our walk and pondered, “Did I lock the door?”
Ko Tun Aung’s uncle (GBNF) could recall his primary classmates but could not recognize his beloved grand kid.
There are books and courses about memory.
According to some authors, we could use “chunking”, “association”, “reinforced (non-blind) repetition”, … to move important and worthwhile items in the short term memory into long term memory.
Memory is not static. It is elastic. There is restructuring (reorganizing, indexing, …) every time we use it.
There are techniques (mnemonics, visualization, …) to train and improve our memory.
Thanks to the sayas and colleagues who complimented for having a good memory. I was a mini-dictionary, a micro-encyclopedia, and a reliable proof-reader & spelling checker. May be it was partly because I was born before the pervasive use of Internet and on-line tools, and there was not too much diversion.
There are a few who want to down play the importance of memory by saying, “I can Google …”
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History
Background
During our school days we had to learn World History (Feudal system, Renaissance) and Burmese History (called “Yazawin”and renamed as “Thamaing”).
Later, after hearing from the Thin sayas, Myin sayas, and Kyar sayas, I became interested in some aspects of history : History of computers and computing, History of Myanmar Engineering Education, “Truth or fiction?” about historical events, …
Burmese History
After the first Anglo-Burmese war (in 1824), the British annexed Rakkhine (Arakan) and Tennasserim (Taninthayee).
After the second war (in 1852), the British annexed Lower Burma.
After the third war (in 1885), the British annexed Upper Burma. Burma became a British Colony.
For some time, the British Governors would base their office in India and rule both India and Burma.
ICS (Indian Civil Service) examinations were held in India and UK. It was succeeded by BCS (Burma Civil Service).
Formal history of Burma has been written by British scholars (Harvey, Luce, …) and later by native scholars (Dr. Kyaw Thet, Dr. Than Tun, Bohmu Ba Shin …).
Informal accounts of Burma can be found in the works by Indians (Tagore, …), British (Maurice Collis, George Orwell, …) and Burmese (Dr. Htin Aung, U Po Kyar, …).
The conventional wisdom is that our neighbors entered the country in three phases.
Burmese archeologists and geologists found “ancient sites and quite old fossils and bones” to indicate that there were early inhabitants, but they could not completely counter the “migration theory” proposed by the British historians.
Pyu is an ancient civilization, and some Pyu sites are “preserved” as UNESCO Cultural Heritage Sites.
Dr. Than Tun Some sayings
History repeats itself.
We should learn history so that we may not be stupid or dumb.
There is usually no single correct history. Often there are parallel, competing histories.
“Pazat Yazawin” and “theories” should be evaluated with the help of kyauk sar (stone inscriptions).
Even in the peer-to-peer refereed papers, there are discrepancies and [unintentional] errors.
National Archive, Burmese History Commission, and Burma Research Society used to hold artifacts about Burmese History.
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Casualties
Ko Aung Kyaw
He was struck by a baton on December 20, 1938 during the third RU student boycott. He is an early casualty in the struggle for Burma’s independence. He was named “Bo Aung Kyaw”. Sparks Street was renamed as Bo Aung Kyaw Street. December 20 is known as “Bo Aung Kyaw Nay”.
Ko Harry Tan
He was a Seventh Student from SPHS. He was hit by a stray bullet. In 1956, there was a leakage of the Government Seventh Standard examination causing a protest close to Ko Harry’s house. All those who took the “Harry Tan Khun Hnit Tan” were declared to pass.
Ko Aung Khin
He was on his way back from RUBC (Rangoon University Boat Club) to his house in Windermere Road when he was hit by a stray bullet. He was listed in the Government newspapers as the 17th casualty of 7th July 1962.
Ko Phone Maw
He was hit by a stray bullet on March 13, 1988. Ko Soe Naing and Ko Myint Oo were also hit and hospitalized in not-so-humane conditions. Ko Soe Naing succumbed to the gun shot wounds. Ko Myint Oo survived. The “Burma Human Rights Day” and “Phone Maw and Soe Naing Nay” became milestones in Burma’s history.
Phone Maw
