by Hla Min
Updated : June 2025
Class of 1972
U Thein Aung (M72) presents the differentiation with U Thein Aung (Met72).
- I am Set Hmu — Maung Thein Aung စက်မှု — မောင်သိန်းအောင် (I am Maung Thein Aung — Mechanical Engineer.)
- He is Set Hmu Maung — Thein Aung စက်မှုမောင် — သိန်းအောင် (He is Thein Aung, who won Mr. RIT award and Sa Lwei Thaing in 1968).
Transformation
During his RIT days, U Thein Aung (Met72) was “Ba La Gyi ဗလကြီး “ full of strength and prowess).
Lately, he has become “Ba Lar Gyi ဗလာကြီး” nothing notable left).
Sargalay
At a 69er gathering, Daw Saw Yu Tint (T69) greeted U Khin Maung Win (EP69, GBNF) as Sargalay (စာကလေး “sparrow”).
He replied, “I am no longer Sargalay. I have become a La Da (လဒ “vulture”).
Cartoon
Saya U Aung Myint (Pet69, Kyant Ba Hone, GBNF) drew a cartoon:
“Ah Ba, Kar Ku La Thin Char (ကာကုလသင်္ချာ Calculus) is fascinating.
If you differentiate a La Da, you get a Sargalay.
If you integrate a Sargalay, you get back a La Da.”
Palindrome
It reads the same when read forward or backward.
There are palindromes in languages, music and art.
The Pulitzer Prize winning book on Escher (Painter), Godel (Mathematician) and Bach (Composer) discusses threads that are common to Mathematics and Computer Science, Arts and Music. One such thread is a palindrome. For example, a musical composition (which is a palindrome) can be played from the front to back, and vice versa.
Palindrome #1
The earliest palindrome supposedly occurred in the Garden of Eden.
MADAM I’M ADAM and the reply EVE
Palindrome #2
Napoleon Bonaparte is the first Corsican to attend the French Military Academy. He rose to be a young General, and then an Emperor. He supposedly lamented as follows: ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA .
Palindrome #3
There were two early Canals (Suez and Panama) to shorten the sea routes. The degree of difficulty was not the same. It took meticulous planning to build the Panama Canal. It gave rise to the palindrome :
A MAN, A PLAN, PANAMA
Palindrome #4
Ashin Pannagavesaka wrote :
Parent #1: My son’s only four and he can already spell his name backwards.
Parent #2: Oh? And what’s his name?
Parent #1: Otto.
Jokes
In our younger days, there were Newton jokes. Later, there were Einstein jokes. It is possible that someone created a joke about an absent minded professor and then attributed to a famous person.
Joke #1
It was raining. Einstein took off his hat and hid it in his coat.
A student asked “Why?”
The reply : “My hat is new and can be damaged. But my head cannot be damaged by the rain.”
Joke #2
A ticket inspector boarded a train. Einstein searched for his pockets.
The inspector said, “You need not show me the ticket. You are Einstein.”
The reply : “I do not know which stop I should get down.”
Joke #3
Einstein was carrying a stack of books. He collided with a lovely student.
The books fell down.
The student collected the books and returned them to Einstein.
Einstein asked, “Which way was I going?”
The student replied, “You were going towards the school.”
Einstein felt relieved and said, “Then, I must had my lunch at home.
HlaMin 