Dr Tushar Shah, Ahmedabad has launched an unique endeavor on improving English-speaking skills of Gujaratis. He has created a group called Wordphil wherein every member gets an SMS of an English word, its meaning and usage in a contemporary context. It functions daily (no holidays) for an hour from 8 am—the service is free. Anyone keen to join him can send him a request SMS on 09825034142, giving him your name and mobile number. There are no forms to be filled up.
Cheers to a good cause.
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather to become a man of value. He who is considered successful in our day gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives.”
: Albert Einstein
Google launched Google Translate in Hindi. It allows users to translate text from English to Hindi and Hindi to English. One can view a particular English website in Hindi as well.
The service is good enough, though it can always be better. The perfectionists would not be happy. But let us treat this as a start. I am sure Google will improve the effectiveness of the translations in days to come. We should also report and contribute to the improvement by our feedback, as we should also be a part of this endeavor. We should not sit back. Let us be active contributors!
This is a first important step in the long journey. By the way, here are the results of my first attempt at Google Translate in Hindi:
Recently, I had written about the launch of Gujarati Software Tools CD release by Government of India.
Please find the link for snaps of the same public function.
A wonderful new website on Gandhi was recently launched : http://www.gandhibiography.net/
The site is for promoting the sale of Gandhi’s Biography but has a good collection of Gandhi’s quotes, wallpapers apart from a good design. Check it!
May 1, 2008 marked the 49th birthday of Gujarat. Government of India’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology celebrated the Gujarat Day by launching Gujarati Software Tools and Fonts in Ahmedabad.
Government of India’s Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) Programme and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) have worked with leading IT Companies in private sector under a unique Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for this initiative.
The launch was held at Gujarat Vishwakosh Trust Auditorium. The special function started with the Jay Jay Garvi Gujarat song and Lighting of Lamp. Shri. Bharat Bhushan, JS&FA, DIT welcome the guests and spoke on “National Roll out plan on language CD as a part of Indian Language Computing Initiatives”. Shri. S. Ramakrishnan – Director General C-DAC enlightened the audiences on work on Indian languages in his talk “Indian language technologies – Today & Tomorrow.”
Ms. Swaran Lata – Director, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology spoke on the Role of TDIL in language technology development. Shri Raj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat thanked the Union Government for the wonderful gift to Gujarati people on the auspicious day and requested for covering legacy system data as well.
Sushri Neeta Shah, Director – eGovernance, Gujarat Informatics Ltd recollected her long pending desire of programming in Gujarati and her experience of working on bi-lingual projects. She emphasized the need for content creation in Gujarati and requested CDAC to covering maximum software tools and investing in support for further proliferation of these tools. The audience was spell bound by her wonderful Gujarati speech.
Sushri Kirtida Shah, Head of Gujarati Department, Bhasha Bhavan, Gujarat University was happy to note the these tools will help to improve the confidence levels of students in Gujarati. She also urged the audience to speak in their language first. Kritida Shah’s speech struck a chord with the august gathering.
Chief Guest Shri Kumarpal Desai, noted author and trustee behind leading organizations like Gujarati Vishwakosh Trust, Jay Bhikhu Trust, Institute of Jainology etc released the Gujarati language software tools and fonts CD and sites for download. He was happy to note that Gujarati culture would remain ever-alive as the fear of IT and English taking over IT have been addressed by CDAC. His Hindi speech and example of Vivekanandji impressed one and all. He noted that Gujarati language’s march to digital century commences from this day.
Shri Mahesh Kulkarniji, Programme Coordinator, C-DAC, GIST gave an demo of the Gujarati language CD. The demo was very interactive and invoked response from people on either side of the dais. Shri Maheshji highlighted that Gujaratilexicon dictionary and spellchecker were the best tools amongst all Indian languages. He spoke about Shri R P Chandaria’s contribution to the project was well. Children’s game Tuxpaint was a big hit with the audience. Shri Kulkarniji presented the vote of thanks.
The launch concluded by Hand-Over of CD to Media and Key Guests. It was followed by High Tea-Snacks. The launch was successful and well-attended inspite of scorching heat of Ahmedabad.
Gujarati Software CD contains the following categories of tools:
1. Tools for common man
2. Tools to enhance the productivity
3. Beta tools
Gujaratilexicon – Utkarsh and Magnet Technologies are proud to be associated with this government initiative. Our contribution includes:
1. Guajratilexicon Dictionaries : Gujarati – Gujarati, English – Gujarati, Gujarati – English
2. Gujaratilexicon Thesaurus, Antonyms and Idioms
3. Saras Spell Checker
4. Localized Open Office – Office Suite
5. Localized Thunderbird – Email Client
6. Localized Mozilla Firefox – Browser
7. Quick Quiz – Game
8. Localized Tuxpaint – Game
9. Localized Drupal – Content Management System
Magnet Technologies is also proud to have provided the liaison and ground support for the launch. Like CDAC, we are also working towards the vision of spreading benefits of information technology for the common man. The mission is simple : ‘Content creation in local language’. Local content will form basis of future initiatives like Machine Translation, Text to Speech, Natural Language Tools etc.
The CD also contains :
1. Bharateeya Open Office
2. Sunbird Calendar
3. 400 Plus Fonts
4. Scribus
5. Transliteration Tools etc.
Shri Mahesh Kulkarni noted that they are confident that this will drive the contents creation in Indian languages which is the basic raw material for development of futuristic technologies. They are geared-up to release the language software tools and fonts CD for all the 22 scheduled languages. So far 10 language CD’s have been released and others are in pipeline.
Everyone one can get the CD by ordering it on the portal – www.ildc.in and www.ildc.gov.in. The best part : The CD will be delivered at your door step – free of cost!
I was impressed by this simple and effective video on Google Docs designed by Commoncraft.
Magnet started its second development centre in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Many people including candidates at recruitment drive ask me – why Ahmedabad? People are surprised that we chose Ahmedabad and not Pune, Gurgaon or any other city.
Our rational for choosing Ahmedabad was the following:
1. Majority opined that Gujarat had missed the IT Bus. Its lack of English Speaking populace, lack of professionalism and mobility among employees (not entrepreneurs!) and lack of serious effort by Government to promote IT were cited as the key reasons.
However, Magnet Team feels strongly that Gujarat would be cover up the lost ground in IT and emerge as a serious contender. Magnet would like to be the one of the first companies in the high end Web Technologies in Gujarat. Thus we live true to our tradition of being pioneers by profession.
2. Magnet wanted to choose emerging centres. We had considered Nagpur, Surat and even Kolkata. But finally we choose Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad has grown very rapidly in the last three years and the mega city is showing no signs of cooling off.
3. Magnet takes its contribution to open source and Gujarati world seriously. Most of our projects for Gujarati language technology are in Gujarat. We have exclusive MOUs with Mahatma Gandhi’s Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad and H M Patel Institute in Anand for Gujaratilexicon.
4. Ahmedabad houses our statutory auditors and our close friends and associates.
5. Ahmedabad has talented and passionate youngsters with dedication – the most important ingredient for IT Sector.
Finally, Ratan Tata said, “You are stupid if you are not in Gujarat!” That would lay to rest any doubts regarding Gujarat.
It was my long standing desire to explore Ahmedabad’s Walled City. What better occasion than birthday of Ahmedabad itself? What better way than Ahmedabad Heritage Walk? Feb 24, 2008 marked 597th birthday of Ahmedabad. And we were celebrating Ahmedabad’s ancient culture on that day.
Ahmedabad heritage walk started from Swaminarayan Temple in Kalupur. We explored the various Pols in the walled city and completed our walk at Jumma Masjid. The tour was completed in 2 hours.
Ahmedabad Heritage Walk is organized by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation along with CRUTA Foundation.
Some key take-aways from the walk:
1. Ahmedabad was founded in 1411 by Ahmed Shah. We visited his tomb near Jumma Masjid. He founded this place at the site of Ashaval and Karnawati when he saw rabbits chasing higher animals.
2. Old Ahmedabad is known as the walled city and had various Pols inside. Pols means Gate or Entry and is derived from the Sanskrit word Pratoli.
3. The old walled city of Ahmedabad has 600 pols. Each Pol is a self-contained neighbourhood with shelters for people, chabutaras for feeding birds, community wells, temples etc. These pols were small villages by themselves. Each Pol has a unique name, secret passages and protecting gates. The first Pol was Mahurat Pol symbolizing the first auspicious pol. There was Zaveri Pol for jewelers and so on.
4. I have always experienced that our forefathers were more intelligent and advanced than us. Whether it is Koba Museum of Jain Artifacts and Manuscripts or Vishalla Museum of Utensils, this point is proved again and again. This heritage walk of Ahmedabad confirmed the same fact. Each pol had beautiful architecture, provision of humans and birds and animals, natural lighting and ventilation planning etc.
5. Ahmedabad has a rich mix of Hindu and Jain temples along with finest Islamic monuments. The carved wooden houses are wonderful. At one chowk, we saw Persian, Maratha, British and Islamic style houses – 4 cultures in one area!
6. Kalupur Swaminrayan Temple is the first Swaminarayan Temple of the world.
7. There were 60 Jain Temples in the 1.5 km Heritage Walk.
8. Famous Poet and Reformer Kavi Dalpatram’s house has been converted into Dalpatram Memorial. Befittingly, many plays and skits are performed at the memorial.
9. Manek Chowk is one of the biggest gold markets and everyday millions of rupees and tons of gold change hands. One can see bricks of 5 kg gold here in the evening!
10. Manek Chowk and adjoining areas are a busy market. One gets variety of things here at cheap prices. The famous Rukmini Pani-Puri wallah is also here. Since our walk was at morning 8:00 am, we could walk leisurely else it is a heavily crowded place.
11. We visited one Jain temple where there were giant idols in the basement. Inspite of the idol being in the basement, lighting and ventilation was perfect!
12. The tomb of queens, Rani-No-Haziro, has become fashion street for women’s clothes.
13. Jumma Masjid is a majestic and a very imposing Masjid.
The tour increased my knowledge about Ahmedabad and its rich cultural heritage.
Related Links:
Snaps from Ahmedabad Heritage Walk – Gallery
Last Words of Ravana to Rama:
Things that are bad for you seduce you easily. You run towards them impatiently. But things that are actually good for you fail to attract you. You shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination.