Nelogikaj, nekoheraj pensoj

La koro estas maltrankvila. Esperanto donas al mi rifuĝon.

Esperanto estas drogo. Legante verkaĵon "Libro de Humoraĵo" (Paul de Lengyel) mi forgesas pri morgaŭ kaj postmorgaŭ – la tagoj kiam mi veturos dum kvin horoj kaj laboros dum 10 horoj.

La stimulaĵo de Zamenhof ankaŭ faras ke mi forgesas pri libroj, kiujn mi volas legi hodiaŭ. Mi volas legi eseojn de Jonathan Franzen kaj mi volas legi libron pri arto de reklamoj. Parte legitaj libroj de eminenta verkisto Isaac Asimov kaj fizikisto Richard Feynman kuŝas trankvile – unu sur tablo kaj dua sur seĝo. Mi ne scias kiel mi legos tiujn ĉi librojn antaŭ la malleviĝo de suno, kiu nun brilas malforte en la nuba ĉielo.

Stuporo, kiun mi spertas nun, verkante tiun ĉi mesaĝon en nia kara lingvo, estas pli forta ol stuporigaj pornografiaj filmoj kaj alkoholo.

Malkovron de la ĉi universo mi deziras. Almenaŭ mi havis tiun deziron, kiam mi estis infano. Nuntempe mi zorgas pli pri trovi mian lokon en moderna socio; inter reto de parencoj. La esploro de universo estiĝas malgrava tasko, kiu malfeliĉe kuŝas sur la malproksima bordo de mia pensujo. Konstruaĵo de domo kaj daŭrigo de nuntempa laboro estas soldatoj, kiuj jam puĉis la regnon de infana kaj esplorema princo.

Ŝi diras ke ŝi ŝatas honestajn kaj fortajn homojn. Tio maltravkviligas min. Mi ne kondukas min honeste al miaj infanaj ambicioj. Mi ne strebas studi naturon. Mi ankaŭ ne estas forta. Mi jam akceptis malvenkon, ke mi neniam sukcesos efektivigi miajn revojn.

Ŝia diraĵo ankaŭ stimulas min. La diraĵo estas spegulo, per kiu mi kapablas vidi mian nuntempan malbonegan situacion. Per la spegulo, mi ankaŭ kapablas vidi ke mi jam ne perdis tutan forton. Mi ankoraŭ kapablas efektivigi la revan vivon, kiun mi imagis infanaĝe. Kuraĝon donas ŝia diraĵo al mi.

Mi promesas min ke ekde tiu ĉi momento, mi diligente studos. Mi studos Esperanton, korean, anglan, panĝaban, kaj hindustanan lingvojn dum la venonta jaro. Mi ankaŭ studos logikon, komputilan sciencon, matematikon, fizikon, biologion, ĥemion, historion.... mi studos ĉion. La jaro 2014 estos la tempo, dum kiu mi fiere daŭrigos vojaĝon aŭtodidaktan kies celo estas alveni al la domo de polimatoj.

Ĝis la hieraŭa tagmezo, Thomas Young estis nekonata nomo. Leginte kelkajn frazojn pri li kaj lia vivo, mi nun certas ke mi volas esti kiel li – polimato. Mi ankaŭ volas esti "polilegosciulo" – laŭ vorto, kiun kreis poligloto Alexander Arguelles.

Fine mi volas anonci al la mondo ke ekzistas virino, kiun mi amas. Almenaŭ mi pensas ke mi amas ŝin. Ekzistas diferencoj inter niaj vidpunktoj. Tiuj malsamoj ne estas gravaj. Ŝi zorgas pri mi. Mi zorgas pri ŝi. Tiu estas sufiĉe fidinda kaj solida fondaĵo, sur kiu ni povas konstrui domon de amplena kaj feliĉa vivo. Neniu el ni jam konfesis sian amon. Distanco, malsamaj kulturoj, kaj ekonomia diferenco en niaj situacioj estas tri grandaj muroj, kiuj staras forte inter ni. Ĉu nia amo kapablos konkeri tiujn ĉi murojn?

Mi volas publikigi tiun ĉi mesaĝon sur Facebook. Sed mi ne volas ke aliaj, precipe ŝi, legu tiun ĉi mesaĝon. Tiu ĉi blogo estas pli bona loko por kaŝi miajn hodiaŭ matenajn pensojn.

ਕੋਰੀਅਨ ਨੋਟਸ

누구세요? = ਤੁਸੀ ਕੌਣ ਹੋ?
저는 학셍이에요. = ਮੈਂ ਇੱਕ ਸਟੁਡੈਂਟ ਹਾਂ।
그럼, 누가 선생님이세요? = ਤਾਂ ਫਿਰ ਅਧਿਆਪਕ ਜੀ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਹਨ?
저분이 선생님이에요. = ਉਹ ਅਧਿਆਪਕ ਜੀ ਹਨ।

학생 = ਸਟੁਡੈਂਟ, ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀ
그럼 = ਤਾਂ ਫਿਰ
선생님 = ਅਧਿਆਪਕ, ਟੀਚਰ
저분 = ਉਹ ਬੰਦਾ ਜੋ ਉੱਥੇ ਹੈ

누가 와요? = ਕੌਣ ਆ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ?
누가 책을 읽어요? = ਕੌਣ ਕਿਤਾਬ ਪੜ੍ਹ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ?
누구를 춯아해요? = ਕਿਸ ਨੂੰ ਪਸੰਦ ਕਰਦੇ ਹੋ?
누구한테 돈을 주었어요? = ਕਿਸ ਨੂੰ ਪੈਸੇ ਦਿੱਤੇ ਹਨ?

오다 ਦਾ ਮਤਲਬ "ਆਉਣਾ" ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਇਸ ਵਿਚ 오 ਧਾਤੂ (verb stem) ਹੈ। ਜਦੋਂ ਧਾਤੂ ਦਾ ਆਖਰੀ ਸ੍ਵਰ (vowel) 오 ਜਾਂ 아 ਹੋਵੇ ਤਾਂ -다 ਹੱਟ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਉਸ ਦੀ ਥਾਂ -아요 ਜੁੜ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ। ਕਿਉਂਕਿ 오아 ਬੋਲਣ ਵਿਚ ਅਟਪਟਾ ਜਿਹਾ ਲੱਗਦਾ ਹੈ, ਇਸਲਈ 오아 ਨੂੰ ਜੋੜ ਕੇ 와 ਲਿੱਖਿਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ।

누가 = ਕੌਣ
오다 = ਆਉਣਾ
책 = ਕਿਤਾਬ
읽다 = ਪੜ੍ਹਨਾ
춯아하다 = ਪਸੰਦ ਕਰਨਾ
한테 = ਨੂੰ
누구한테 = ਕਿਸਨੂੰ
돈 = ਪੈਸਾ
주다 = ਦੇਣਾ

한국말로 기탄이에요.

저는 기탄이에요. 인도 사람이에요. 코그니터 테크놀로지즈에 테크니컬 라이터예요.

여기 가족사진이 있어요. 

이분이 아버지예요. 아버지는 가게 주인이에요.  저분이 어머니예요. 어머니는 재택(在宅) 어머니에요. 이(二)분여동생가 있어요. 누나는 Kidzee 학교에 코디네이터예요하고 누나는 판자브어 대학교 파티알의 마힌드라 칼리지에 학생이에요.

Manto stories for modern Hindustani speakers 2

Here is the second story in the series. You will find the original text without annotations here at Pakistanica. 

اصلاح (reform, change)

"کون ہو تم؟”

“تم کون ہو۔”

“ہرہر مہادیو ۔۔۔۔۔ ہرہر مہادیو۔”

“ہرہر مہادیو۔”

“ثبوت کیا ہے؟”

“ثبوت ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ میرا نام دھرم چند ہے۔”

یہ کوئی ثبوت نہیں۔”

“چار ویدوں میں سے کوئی بھی بات مجھ سے پوچھ لو۔”

“ہم ویدوں کو نہیں جانتے ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ ثبوت دو۔”

“کیا؟”

“پائجامہ ڈھیلا کرو۔”

پائجامہ ڈھیلا ہوا تو ایک شور مچ گیا۔ “مار ڈالو ۔۔۔۔ مار ڈالو۔”

“ٹھہرو ٹھہرو ۔۔۔۔ میں تمھارا بھائی ہوں ۔۔۔۔۔ بھگوان کی قسم تمھارا بھائی ہوں۔”

“تو یہ کیا سلسلہ ہے؟”

“جس علاقے سے آ رہا ہوں، وہ ہمارے دشمنوں کا تھا۔ اس لئے مجبوراً مجھے ایسا کرنا پڑا ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ صرف اپنی جان بچانے کیلیے ۔۔۔۔۔۔ ایک یہی چیز غلط ہوگئی ہے۔ باقی بالکل ٹھیک ہوں۔”

“اڑا دو غلطی کو۔”

 غلطی اڑا دی گئی ۔۔ دھرم چند بھی ساتھ ہی اڑ گیا۔

इस्लाह (reform, change)

कौन हो तुम?"
"तुम कौन हो।"
"हर हर महादेव ।।।।। हर हर महादेव।"
"हर हर महादेव।"
"सबूत किया है?"
"सबूत ।।।।।।।। मेरा नाम धर्म चंद है।"
ये कोई सबूत नहीं।"
"चार वेदों में से कोई भी बात मुझ से पूछ लो।"
"हम वेदों को नहीं जानते ।।।।।।।। सबूत दो।"
"किया?"
"पाजामा ढीला करो।"
पाजामा ढीला हुआ तो एक शोर मच गया। "मार डालो ।।।। मार डालो।"
"ठहरो ठहरो ।।।। में तुम्हारा भाई हूँ ।।।।। भगवान की कसम तुम्हारा भाई हूँ।"
"तो ये क्या सिलसिला है?"
"जिस इलाक़े से आ रहा हूँ, वो हमारे दुश्मनों का था। इस लिए मजबूरन मुझे ऐसा करना पड़ा ।।।।।।। सिर्फ़ अपनी जान बचाने के लिए ।।।।।। एक यही चीज़ ग़लत होगई है। बाक़ी बिलकुल ठीक हूँ।"
"उड़ा दो ग़लती को।"
ग़लती उड़ा दी गई ।। धर्म चंद भी साथ ही उड़ गया।

Manto stories for modern Hindustani speakers 1

Sadaat Hasan Manto was born in British India. He thrived in Bombay. When the English left India in 1947, Manto moved to Lahore, where he drowned himself in alcohol and died from cirrhosis. He has written moving short stories on partition, depicting how new borders turned turned humans into beasts, that turned on their neighbours - devouring one another.

Manto's writing is grisly and shocking. He does not bother to insert euphemisms. He paints the cruelty that befell displaced people in all its horror. His stories make readers face the worse side of human nature.

I have read the most popular Manto story - Toba Tek Singh. It was an English translation. I now plan to read his works in the original language of composition - Hindustani.

Manto's Hindustani of 60 years ago is different from modern Hindustani. He uses plenty of Persian words in his writing, which was common at that time. It was a hallmark of erudition. 

As much I want to read his stories, I want my friends and other people to appreciate him. So I have decided to post here his stories along with the meanings of archaic Hindustani (Persian) words. I hope it will make reading Manto easier for anyone who speaks Hindustani.

Here is the first story in the series:

اشتراکیت (socialism)

وہ اپنے گھر کا تمام ضروری سامان ایک ٹرک میں لدوا کر دوسرے شہر جا رہا تھا ، کہ راستے میں لوگوں نے اسے روک لیا۔ ایک نے ٹرک کے مال و اسباب (stuff) پر حریصانہ (greedily) نظر ڈالتے ہوئے کہا۔ "دیکھو یار کس مزے سے اتنا مال اکیلا اڑائے چلا جا رہا تھا۔"

اسباب کے مالک نے مسکرا کر کہا۔ 「جناب یہ مال میرا اپنا ہے۔"

دو تین آدمی ہنسے۔ "ہم سب جانتے ہیں۔"

ایک آدمی چلایا۔ "لوٹ لو، یہ امیر آدمی ہے۔۔۔۔۔۔ٹرک لے کر چوریاں کرتا ہے۔"

इश्तिराकीयत (socialism)

वो अपने घर का तमाम ज़रूरी सामान एक ट्रक में लदवा कर दूसरे शहर जा रहा था , कि रास्ते में लोगों ने उसे रोक लिया। एक ने ट्रक के माल-ओ-अस्बाब (stuff) पर हरीसाना (greedily) नज़र डालते हुए कहा। देखो यार किस मज़े से इतना माल अकेला उड़ाए चला जा रहा था।

अस्बाब के मालिक ने मुस्कुरा कर कहा। जनाब ये माल मेरा अपना है।

दो तीन आदमी हंसे। हम सब जानते हैं।

एक आदमी चलाया। लूट लो, ये अमीर आदमी है।।।।।।ट्रक लेकर चोरियां करता है।

The text of this story has been taken from Pakistanica Literature.

Mallonga teksto en korea lingvo

Ekde kelkaj tagoj mi lernas korean lingvon. Mi uzas senpagan retan kurson de Sogang-Universitato. Bona amikino el Sud-Koreujo helpas al mi. Mi elkore dankas al ŝi. Dank' al ŝia helpo, mi jam ellernis tri elementajn lecionojn. Hodiaŭ mi verkis mallongan tekston en korea. Mi publikigas la tekston sube.

저 건물이 도서관이에요. 도서관에 전화있어요. 전화는 의자 위 잆어요. 전화는 책상 앞에 있어요. 책상 옆에 우유도 있어요.

Tiu konstruaĵo estas biblioteko. En la biblioteko troviĝas telefono. La telefono ne kuŝas sur seĝo. La telefono kuŝas antaŭ tablo. Antaŭ la tablo ankaŭ kuŝas lakto.

Se vi regas la korean lingvon, vi trovus erarojn. Mi dankos al vi se vi montrus al mi la erarojn. Tiel, mi povos bonigi mian scion de la lingvo, kaj vi povos praktiki.

Free online resources to learn Indian languages

I have found courses to learn six modern Indian languages. The people at the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) have designed these courses. The scholarship of the institute is undisputed. You can safely jump into their learning materials and come out conversant in the language of your choice.

These courses are available for Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Marathi, and Kannada.

 

Bhartiya Bhasha Jyoti hosts courses for five languages, other than Kannada. The language of instruction is Hindi. The course for Kannada is found on this web page: CIIL Learn Kannada. They teach through English here.

Pala blua punkto de Carl Sagan

Revidu tiun punkton. Tio estas tie ĉi. Tio estas hejmo. Tio estas ni. Ĉiu iam amita de vi, ĉiu iam konita de vi, ĉiu iam aŭdita de vi, ĉiu homo kiu estis, vivis sian vivon sur tio. La sumo de niaj ĝojoj kaj malĝojoj, miloj memfidaj religioj, ideologioj, kaj ekonomiaj doktrinoj, ĉiu ĉasisto kaj furaĝisto, ĉiu heroo kaj timidulo, ĉiu kreinto kaj detruinto de civilizo, ĉiu reĝo kaj kamparano, ĉiu paro de geamantoj, ĉiu patrino kaj patro, esperanta infano, eltrovisto kaj esploristo, ĉiu instruisto de moraloj, ĉiu korupta politikisto, ĉiu "famegulo", ĉiu "supera gvidanto", ĉiu sanktulo kaj kulpulo dum la historio de nia specio vivis tie – sur tiu polvero pendiĝanta en sunradio.

La tero estas tre malgranda podio en vasta kosma areno. Pensu pri la senlimaj kruelaĵoj faritaj de loĝantoj de unu angulo de tiu ĉi bildero al malfacile distingeblaj loĝantoj de iu alia angulo, kiom oftaj iliaj malkompreniĝoj, kiom avidaj ili estas mortigi unu la alian, kiom fervoraj estas iliaj malamoj. Pensu pri la riveroj de sango disverŝitaj de ĉiuj ĝeneraloj kaj imperiestroj por ke ili, grandioze kaj triumfe, povu estri frakcion de punkto.

Niaj pretendoj, nia imaga graveco pri ni, la ensorĉo ke nia loko en tiu ĉi universo estas privilega, estas defiataj de tiu ĉi punkto de pala lumo. Nia planedo estas sola loketo en la granda envolva kosma mallumo. En nia senfameco, en tiu ĉi vasteco, ne estas konsileto ke helpo alvenos al ni de ie por savi nin de ni.

Ĝis nun la tero estas la sola konata mondo kiu ŝirmas vivon. Nenien, almenaŭ dum proksima estonteco, nia specio povas migri. Viziti, jes. Enmigri, ankoraŭ ne. Ŝatu aŭ ne, tiu ĉi momente la tero estas kie ni staras.

Oni diras ke astronomio estas humila kaj karaktero-boniĝanta sperto. Eble ne ekzistas pli bona montro de la eraro de homaj vantecoj ol tiu ĉi malproksima imago de nia malgranda mondo. Al mi, ĝi emfazas nian respondecon konduki pli bonkore al unu la alian, kaj savi kaj zorgi la palan bluan punkton, la sola hejmo pri kiu ni konas ĝis nun.

Imago akirita de Wikimedia. La fonto estas tiu ĉi TTT: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/PaleBlueDot.jpg

Time to invade Korea, bombard Argentina, and annhilate China

I have come a long way since as a child I had to wait for a whole month to save INR 20 (US $0.40) to photocopy a Spanish course from the 1955(?) edition of Practical Knowledge for All. I have the internet for more than three-and-a-half years now. Despite a wealth of language learning materials available, I have failed to learn any language. I have tried Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, French, and what-not! The results have always been disappointing. So I have come to a decision: let's start a battle on several fronts, and see where it goes from there.

Learning from past mistakes, I am not going to give up on Chinese  for some other language. I have have a bad habit of quitting languages I am learning and lap for new ones. Chinese is going to stay. I am merely going to attack on the Korean front and the Argentine border. 

My goals are quantifiable - to finish Assimil Spanish without Toil before January 1, 2014. To learn all the material in Novice Korean 1 and Novice Korean II during the next three months. As to Chinese, the goal is to finish all the 105 lessons of Assimil Chinese with Ease (paid).

Overwhelming though it is, I think I can do this with perseverance. I have learnt some time management techniques from Alexander Arguelles - a hyper-polyglot, autodidact, and my new hero. He provides invaluable advice on language learning.

I have been learning Chinese using his time management techniques for the past five days, Spanish for three days, and Korean for just one day. The technique is simple - stop studying before you yawn. I am studying in intervals of 15 - 30 minutes. I woke up at four today and learnt Chinese for 30 minutes and Spanish for 10 minutes. A lesson with a native Korean speaker took three-and-a-half hours. It was an exception. I will study Korean everyday for 45 minutes, Spanish for 20 minutes, and Chinese for an hour. 

The key is to divide this time into smaller and shorter intervals. It has twofold advantages - (a) I do not get bored, (b) a bad day cannot ruin all day's study because the study period has been divided into three or four parts.

One more change that I have incorporated into my study habit is to forgo computers and turn to paper. I am writing Chinese characters, learning to put the grave accent on the right vowel, and practising the stroke order of Korean jamo. I am using this laptop only passively - I read from an ebook and practice on a notebook.

In addition to these three languages, I am also thinking of spending 15 minutes each on Esperanto, Punjabi, and Urdu. Although I am not sure if I can do that. 

As for English, my whole day goes with this language mostly reading. I will have to cut down on useless browsing, porn, self-pity, day-dreaming and sleep and focus on writing (in English), literature, philosophy, mathematics, logic, computer science, programming, and languages! I want to be polyliteratre, not just polyglot.

Finally, I will publish my weekly progress report here.

Uzantoj de angla Google pli zorgas pri raso ol uzantoj de E-o Google

Mi serĉis frazon "kio estas mia adreso" per usona (internacia) angla versio de Google kaj Esperanto versio de Google. La usona versio donis al mi sugeston ke ĉu mi temis pri mia "raso" anstataŭ de "adreso." La Esperanto versio fide obeis min, kaj montris rezultojn laŭ teksto tajpita en serĉbreto. 

Jen estas fotoj: 

(La klavo de ekrankopio funkciis strange. Tial la supera foto estas iom malklara.)

La elektoj, kiujn Google montras, kiam funkcias ĝia tujserĉilo, iel montras psikon de tuta socio. Tion ne estas hipotezo mia, sed estas de spertuloj. Laŭ tiu ĉi pensmaniero, parolantoj de Esperanto, almenaŭ tiuj, kiuj uzas Esperanton version de Google, zorgas malpli pri raso de oni ol Esperanto parolantoj kiuj uzas usonan (internacian) anglan version de Google.

English in Chinese characters and Hangeul

作天我去투他임투說으바우트天文學。

That's how English written with a mixture of Chinese characters and Hangeul will look like. I just created this new script. What I have done is I have written prepositions in Hangeul. To make 他임 (him) of 他 (he) I have added 임 (-im) to 他.

作天 yesterday
我 I
去 went
투 to
他임 him
투 to
說 talk
으바우트 about
天文學 astronomy

Hindi link removed

Thank goodness! An administrator said that link to Devnagri conversion was spam. It's no longer there. I am happy. I was getting angry for no reason. Hehe!

More foolishness on Punjabi Wikipedia

You fools! You pinheads! You bastards! How could you? When I suggested attaching a Gurmukhi-Shahmukhi converter to the Punjabi Wikipedia you acted as if I had inserted a ten-feet long rod covered in spices into your anus! No, you shouted, Western Punjabi and Eastern Punjabi are two separate languages. ARGHH! You same fools are now experimenting with an automatic Gurmukhi-Devnagri converter! The machine is still in beta and it does not function. But that is beyond point! How dare you think you can impose a script on Punjabi? Shahmukhi has been in use for over eight centuries, Gurmukhi has been in use for nearly four centuries. And Devnagri! You stupid Hindu nationalists! First you took away "jugrafiya" (geography), "klas" (class), "student" (student), khla (universe), and hundreds of other words and replaced them with Hindi/Sanskrit words. Now, you want to impose a script no one uses to write Punjabi! That is insane! But why should I care? Yeah!

Men jailed for having sex with goat

Methinks we care more about things that are more essential and nearer to us than abstract objects and far off wars. Disinterest in mathematics is one example. 

Another example is the popularity of a recent interspecies experiment in which the members of more advanced species imprisoned one of their own for not discriminating against other living beings.

Goatosapiens will remember today's humans as we remember yesterday's apartheid South Africa.

By the way, please leave a message if you find a video of this historic endeavour to create a new species on xVideos or some other legal pleasure-giving website that does not discriminate against living beings just because they were born in the wrong species.

क्या विभिन्नता सिर्फ भारत में ही पायी जाती है?

एक किस्सा सुनाता हूँ। फिर आप खुद फैसला कर लीजीयेगा।

लोग कहते कि अमरीका में अमरीकी, बरतानीया में बरतानवी, और फ्रांस में फ्रांसिसी रहते हैं। लेकिन हिन्दुस्तान में पंजाबी, मराठी, तमिल, और पता नही कौन कौन रहता है। मैंने भी बिना सोच विचार किये इस बात को मान लिया। 

अमरीका गया तो चांटे पड़ते-पड़ते बचे। पता चला काला अमरीकी, गोरा अमरीकी, लातीनो अमरीकी, और ना जाने कहाँ कहाँ के अमरीकी हैं। ये तो वही बात हो गयी कि तमिल बंदे से हिन्दी में बात कर ली। जूते पड़ना तो लाज़मी है।

अमरीका से जान बचायी तो फिर बरतानीया भागा। वहां पता चला सकाॅटलैंड वाले बरतानीया से अलग होने की त्यारी कर रहें हैं। इस से पहिले कि फिर से जूते पड़े मैं चीन की तरफ हो लिया।

मैंने सोचा कि चीन में सिर्फ चीनी मिलेंगे। लेकिन मुझे क्या पता था कि तिब्बती मुझे किडनैप कर लेगें, वीगर मुझे थपड़ मारेगें, मंगोल मेरे साथ बात करने से इनकार कर देगें, और कानतोनी मुझे गालीयां निकालेगें क्यों कि मैनें सब को मैंनडारिन (चीनी) समझ लिया था। और तो और मालूम हुआ कि चीनी नाम की कोई भाषा ही नही है। लगभग 70 फीसद आबादी मैंनडारिन बोलती है।

Photocopying at Musafir Memorial Central State Library

For all the ills of India, I am glad it has given this city a big library. I love the library. I am a library member. I even remember my library card number - 19527. But this love is not blind. I can see the library is not heaven, at least when you want to photocopy something.

Here is a short guide to photocopying in the Musafir Memorial Central State Library:

Write an application on a piece of blank white paper with a blue ballpoint pen and get it signed from the chief librarian, who looks down on you because she does not comprehend why someone will waste their time in a library.

You are awarded the owner of being looked down only if the short lean person sitting on a wooden bench just beside the door of the chief librarian's office lets you in. 

Then you have to bring that signed piece of paper to a junior librarian who tells you to call the person who operates an old photocopy machine. 

You call him. He comes with you, chats with the junior librarian, examines the application before returning to the machine and start photocopying. 

After he has photocopied, he sends you to another room to collect photocopied papers because he is not allowed to hand them over to you. 

You go to that other room to find four-five employees chatting over tea on rickety chairs. One of them nods you to wait. You wait for a few minutes. One of them finally stands up from his or her chair and makes your a receipt.

Process over! You are a free man now!

taksīm = division

A story of Sadaat Hassan MANTO in Roman Urdu / Roman Hindi with definitions of difficult words.

taksīm

ek ādmī ne apne liye lakṛī kā ek baṛā sandūk muntakhab kiyā jab use uṭhāne lagā to vo apnī jagāh se ek iṃc bhī nā hilā

ek śakhs ne jise śāyed apne matlab ki koyī cīz mil hī nahī rahī thī, sandūk uṭhāne kī kośiś karne vāle se kahā, "maiṃ tumhārī madad karūṃ?"

sandūk uṭhāne ki kośiś karne vālā imdād lene par rāzī ho geyā. us śakhs ne jise apne matlab kī koyī cīz mil nahī rahī thī apne mazbūt hāthoṃ se sandūk ko jinbaś dī aur uṭhā kar apnī pīṭh par dhar liyā.

dūsre ne sahārā diyā, dono bāhar nikle.

sandūk bahut bojhal thā. us ke nīce uṭhāne vāle ki pīṭh ciṃkh rahī thī, ṭāṃge doharī hotī jā rahī thīṃ. lekin inām kī tokā ne us jismānī maśakat ka esesās nīm mardā kar diyā thā.

sandūk uṭhāne vāle ke mukāble meṃ sandūk muntakhab karne vāla bahut kamzor thā. sārā rasta vo ek hāth se sahārā de kar apnā hakk kāyam rakhtā rahā. jab dono mehfūz mukām par pahuṃc gaye to sandūk ko ek taraf rakh kar sārī maśakat bardāśt karne vāle ne kahā. bolo is sandūk ke māl meṃ se mujhe kitnā milegā.

sandūk par pehelī nazr ḍālne vāle ne javāb diya, ek cothāyī.

bahut kam hai.

kam bilkul nahī, zeādā hai. isliye ki sab se pehele maine hī is par hāth ḍālā thā.

ṭhīk hai, lekin yahāṃ tak is kamar toṛ bojh ko uṭhāne ke liye kon hai?

ādhe ādhe par rāzī ho?

ṭhīk hai. kholo sandūk.

sandūk kholā geyā to us meṃ se ek ādmī bāhar niklā, hāth meṃ talvār thī. bāhar nikalte hi us ne dono hisedāroṃ ko cār hisoṃ meṃ taksīm kar diyā.

muśkil alfāz ke matlab

muntakhab karnā = cun nā

imdād = madad

jinbaś karnā = hilānā

tokā = umīd

nīm mardā karnā = kam karnā

How is Manmohan Singh related to me?

It turns out the current Indian prime minister is a distant relative of mine. He is the son of the sister of father of the father of the husband of the sister of the father of me. This image will help you visualise.

Updated photo

 Old photo (when I did not know the names of three missing relatives.)

EDIT -

Unnamed one is Kalyan Das Chadha.
Chaddha is a typo. Please read Chadha.

A little on keyboard layouts

Most of the time I type in English. Rest of the time I type in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Esperanto, and Chinese. I occasionally want to type Korean, Russian, and Japanese. I have got all these keyboard layouts install on Fedora Linux. 

The keyboard layout I use most is English QWERTY. I occasionally try to learn Colemak and Dvorak, but that does not count. You are all familiar with Qwerty, so I will not talk about it. 

Next comes Gurumukhi (Punjabi). I use Inscript. Some people use a phonetic layout. Inscript is more efficient. Here is what it looks like:

I forgot to add Inscript has a big advantage over any other typing method for Indic scripts. Because I can type Punjabi, learning how to type in other Indic script languages is easy, because they all use the same layout with minor changes. Adjustment is as easy, as it is for an English speaker to learn how to type German. The umlaut characters are a nuisance at first, but never a big problem.

Here is the Inscript Devnagari layout.

I have beginning to like the National Language Authority (NLA) Pakistan's Urdu layout because of its efficiency. It is better than the phonetic layout that some other agencies in India and Pakistan support.

I do not know what it is called. Try pronounce "Ŝĝertŭ" and I can excuse you for thinking Esperanto is unlearnable. 

Chinese has a ton of keyboard layouts. Let me name a few - Pinyin (qwerty), Bopomofo, Cangjie, Wubi, Array, Boshiamy, Erbi, and Dayi. This is just the tip of a massive iceberg. I use Cangjie. It is the oldest layout. Chu Bong-Foo created Cangjie in 1976 and made it open source a few years latter. It is popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Unfortunately, as I discovered, many people in China may not even be aware of its existence. What a pity! 

First e-mail in Punjabi

"Yago told truth! This day will always be remembered."

A shocked Genie tells Aladdin. That was a long time ago, when Disney Hour was my favourite television series. I do not watch television any longer - except for occasional play of BBC World or Al Jazeera. I am digressing! 

I will remember today because today is the day when I received an e-mail in Punjabi - for the first time. 

The sender is a scientist, a Wikipedia editor, a polyglot, and a Punjabi language lover. Here is what he says -

He says he is elated (his words, not mine!) to have received an e-mail from me. He says he used to have an inferiority complex - because he spoke Punjabi, but no longer. He is learning Russian and Arabic, and he speaks a little Chinese. He asks me if I can help in the improvement of the Punjabi Wikipedia. And, he talks about a rightist member who is making life difficult for many people.

Interesting! Isn't it? 

零

我學漢語。己經幾個月學習。過一年。現在，我會說得錯．好像，我不可學語言。那，我是不好的學生與人。自學者！哈哈哈！我不是一個自學者。我是不好人，不可以學得快與好、不可以學數學、不可以做工、不可以．．．．　我是零。哈哈。

Sexism and language

Does it make me sexist if I use "mankind" or "chairman" instead of "humanity" and "chairperson"? I think it does not and I have reasons to believe it. 

Hindustani is less sexist than English. "Vo hai." in Hindustani can either mean "He is." or "She is." Feminists may take delight in the fact that English "he" and "she" are translated as "vo" in Hindustani. So when I say "vo pagal hai." there is no way to know if I am questioning "his" or "her" sanity - unless there is a context.

Does the use of "vo" makes Hindustani speakers less sexist than English speakers? I do not think. The inability of men to consider women as their equal - even many women have been indoctrinated by this propaganda - points out to how sexist the current Indian (and Pakistani) society is.

Let me support this argument from these two true incidents: 

(1) Friend one: I saw your sister there.

Friend two: And?

Friend one: You are a man. You ought to know what women are doing.

Friend two: I don't care. They have got brains. I don't know where my cousin brothers are.

Friend one: I am not talking about boys. Your sister is a woman.

Friend two: So what? Don't you think they are equal to men?

Friend one: Of course they are, but women are easier to fool. They need constant guidance from men.

Friend one is a government officer.

(2) Woman one: You people like only used things. 

Man one: What do you mean by used things? 

Woman one: Zahil has a new girl friend. That woman was someone else girl friend a months ago. 

Man one: So?

Woman one: I don't understand why you people fall for second-hand objects

Man one: She is not a "thing" or an "object." 

Woman one: Whatever! Can't you people find something fresh? 

Woman one is a post graduate in econmics and a teacher. 

I am not using names even though I know all the participants in these conversations very well. They are normal people - and somewhat liberal. Friend one in the first conversation will gladly wear the robe of a communist if it comes to his salary. Woman one is a die-hard liberal, when it comes to her rights. This is stupid. Everyone wants freedom, but only for themselves.(Here I go again!)

Anyway, let's return to our topic - "does exclusion of sexist words makes a society less-sexist?" I think "no." I think it has more to do with education and development than some tweaking with language.

Until a hundred years ago, there was only one word - 他 (ta1) - in Chinese for "he" and "she." And I have read that society was so sexist a century ago that if a man were to knock at door, a woman would reply "There is no one home." Women did not even consider themselves human. I can still witness women saying the same thing here in this part of India - a part whose language does not even differentiate between "he" and "she."

Audio reference guide to Roman Hindustanti (Roman Urdu or Roman Hindi)

I wrote a post last month on informal Roman Hindi and Roman Urdu as it is used in the subcontinent. Today, I am going to post a video in which I am reading out the sounds. There is nothing no new information in the video. The only use I can think of is that this video can help you make sure you have got the sounds right.

Hindi dailies rule the newspaper landscape

16,370,000. That is the readership of the most widely read daily in India, Dainik Jagran. This figure comes from the latest  available data of the Indian Readership Survey. The data is for the fourth quarter of 2012. 

At more than 16 million, the readership of Dainik Jagarn is comparable to the population of the Nederlands. The second most popular Indian daily is Dainik Bhaskar (14.5 million). Trailing them both is Hindustan (12.2 million).

Malyalam is spoken in the tiny South Indian state of Kerala. So, Malyala Manorama is doing a great job. With 9.7 million readers, this daily newspaper is more popular than Amar Ujala (Hindi, 8.5 million) and The Times of India (7.6 million). This may be due to the high literacy rate (more than 90 per cent) in the state. There are two Malyalam newspapers in the top 10.

The Times of India is the only English newspaper to make it into list in which there are five Hindi newspapers. These five have a combined readership of 58.3 million. 

Besides the five Hindi, two Malyalam, one English, there is a Marathi and a Tamil newspaper in the list of ten popular Indian dailies.

Reference guide to Roman Hindustanti (Roman Urdu or Roman Hindi)

Here is a short guide to the Roman Hindustani (Roman Urdu or Roman Hindi) as it is used in sign boards, internet forums, mobile texts and for mostly casual written conversation in North India and Pakistan.

There are a few exceptions. They tend to show influences of the script one uses. Compare ahasaas (feeling) vs ehesaas (feeling). Indians (influenced by Devnagari) write it the former way, while Pakistanis (and some Indians like me) prefer the latter.

Consonants

Single consonants

b – as in boy. Bechna (to sell), Banaras (the name of a city)

c – not used, foreign words are an exception. (cola, not kola)

d – sometimes as "th" in "the", dadi (grandmother), dimag (brain, intelligence)

      at other times as "d" in "command", danda (stick, baton), damru (a musical instrument)

      There is also a third sound which does not have any English equivalent. Mod  (turn), tod (to break)

f – as in fish, faltu (useless), fir (then, again)

g – always hard as in go; gerna (to let fall), gana (song)

h – as in house; harna (to lose), holi (the name of a festival)

j – as in jam; jamun (Jambul), jija (brother-in-law)

k – as in quick (unaspirated); kela (banana), kala (black)

l – as in London; lamba (long, tall), litna (to lie down)

m – as in man; maal (money), mohit (enchant)

n – as in nanny; nana (mother's father), neem (a herb)

      as in French "pardon"; men (in), saans (breath)

      as in kan (grain). No English equivalent.

p – as in blip (unaspirated); Patna (capital of Bihar); papa (papa)

q – not used, except in some words of Arabic or Persian origin ("qaum", "qafila", "quran")

r – as in Russian; roshni (light), rasta (way)

     Sometimes used in place of "d" in words like "Mor" instead of "Mod"

s – as in sip; sona (to sleep; gold); saas (mother-in-law)

t – sometimes as "t" in Italian "alto"; tota (parrot), totla (someone who stammers, stutters)

     in other occasions "t" as in pit (never aspirated); tanki (water tank), tokna (to interrupt)

v – as in van; vasta (sake), vikna (to be sold)

w – Mostly to replace "v."; wasta (sake), wikna (to be sold)

x – rarely used. Pronounced "ksh" as in Lakshmi. Only a few names have it; Laxmi

y – as in yatch; yaari (friendship), yatri (traveller)

z – as in zoo; zameen (earth), zar (gold)

Digraphs

bh – aspirated "b". No English equivalent. Bhárat (India)

ch – unaspirated, as in "church"

dh – aspirated "d."

       There are two sounds neither of which has an English equivalent.  

      Dhám (a place of pilgrimage) 

       and dhol (an musical instrument)

gh – aspirated "g." No English equivalent. Ghee

jh – aspirated "j." No English equivalent. Jhánsi (the name of a city)

kh – aspirated "k" as in car, cap

ph – sometimes used in place of "f"

rh - No English equivalent. Used as "d" of "mod" (turn) at the end of the names of cities and states: Chhattisgarh, Rajgarh, Junagarh

sh – as in slush

th – two sounds.

       One is of "th" in "think"

       the second does not have an English equivalent. Thand (cold)

Trigraphs

chh - aspirated "ch". As in "church". Chhattisgarh   

Vowels

Single vowels

a – mostly as "u" in cut. Kab (when)

      sometimes long as in father. Kitab (book), sipahi (soldier)

      Mostly long when it comes in the end of a word. Gita (Gita), pita (father)

e – as in elephant. Jan-e-man (darling)

     sometimes as in academy. Ke (that)

     sometimes as in may. Akeli (alone; female), jhelna (to bear)

i – as in inch. Kitna (how much)

     Long as in machine at the end of a word. Pani (water)

o – as in hot. Langot (a trouser), mota (fat, obese)

u – mostly short as in put. Lutna (to be robbed), pul (bridge)

      sometimes as in cut. Hum (we)

Diaphthongs

aa – long "a" as in father. Saari (an Indian dress), maali (gardner)

ai – as in animal. Hai (is), main (me)

au – as in ought. Aur (and), Qaum (society)

ay – In Pakistan, "ay" is found instead of "ai." Hay (is), mayn (me)

ei – as in freigh. Mein (in)

ee – as in feed. Bijlee (electricity)

Sample

Kal jab ham vahaan ja rahe the to hame ehesaas hua ke is dunia men sab kuchh theek nahi hai.

We realised not everything in the world was well when were going there yesterday.

Kya maths ka ijaad hua tha, ya fir us ko khoja geya hai?

Has mathematics been invented, or has it  been discovered?

Kaash hamaare politicians bhi hamaari tarah samajhdaar hote. Ha ha ha!

If only our politicians were as wise as we are. Ha ha ha!  

YouTube video on "How to write Chinese or Japanese vertically in LibreOffice?"

Here is a short video I have made which shows how you can type Chinese or Japanese vertically in LibreOffice.

There is not much going on. Stupid life.

Cangjie and Yahoo! Taiwan

Here is something uber-interesting and I'm tres-excited! We all (at least those who have used 百度 and know a little Chinese) know Baidu is smart enough to understand your pinyin input and then convert that into Chinese characters before searching through its huge database of webpages. What at least I didn't know was, a similar functionality exists in Yahoo! Taiwan. You can input Cangjie codes of characters, and the search engine is so smart that it will present you with search options in Chinese characters. Here is a proof: 

Isn't this exciting? This is super exciting! I want to dance. I wish it rained now! 

By the way, in Cangjie niy ahqm o = 外星人, which literally translates into "foreign star person", or more colloquially into "alien or extraterrestrial." 

Ĉinujo, Barato, Sud-koreujo kaj Japanujo la plej avidaj nacioj en la mondo

Legante gazeton Global Times hodiaŭ meztage, mi eklernis pri opinisondado de Reuters-Ipsos. La demoskopio temas pri taksi valoron de mono laŭ diversnaciaj personoj. La demoskopiofarantoj demandis al pli ol mil da personoj el dekdu nacioj, kiom valoras mono. La surpriza rezulto estas ke orientanoj (Ĉinujo, Japanujo, Sud-koreujo kaj Barato) valoras monon pli ol okcidentanoj (Kanado, Meksiko, Nederlando kaj Svedujo).

Jen estas resumon de la opinisondado: 

(1) ĉu mono pli valoras al vi nuntempe?

Kie multaj konsentas: 

Sud-koreujo: 84%

Japanujo: 84%

Ĉinujo: 84%

Barato: 78%

Kie malmultaj konsentas: 

Nederlando: 50% 

Meksiko:  52%

Svedujo: 54%

Germanujo: 55%

(2) ĉu mono estas la plej bona maniero taksi sukceson de persono?

Kie multaj konsentas: 

Ĉinujo: 69%

Sud-koreujo: 69%

Barato: 67%

Japanujo: 63%

Kie malmultaj konsentas:

Kanado: 27%

Meksiko: 28%

Svedujo: 28%

Nederlando: 29%

Ĉinujo kaj Barato estas malriĉaj nacioj. Ke multaj personoj alte varolas monon tie, estas tute komprenebla kaj klarigebla. La rezultoj de Japanujo kaj Sud-koreujo estas konfuzaj.