Hindi me Bolo !!!!

Google Indian labs ( The Google labs are where Google tries out its experimental services) have released two services for us Indian crowd.

The two Indian services available at this time are an Indic keyboard as iGoogle gadget to “compose search queries in any of [the several] Indian languages”, as well as an an Indic transliteration page. Enter any English word on the translation page and hit space to see it immediately be changed to Indic; the word “google" for instance turns to “गूगल”, the Devanāgarī characters used in Hindi. Once typed, you can click a word to edit it based on a number of suggestions offered, or by typing into a special on-screen keyboard.

The Indic Keyourd gadget is probably for someone who really knows Hindi. The Instant Indic translation box is more for some one like me. You type in English and it translates it to Hindi. Below is a translation of one of Krish's post from the Google groups.

Krish in English:

Abhi tum hamaar gana suna ka babua. Jab hum gaiyo toh tumara toh bhoot bhaag
jaai. Ho haa, hum tanpura/kanpura/tambura aur Dhant taal bhi suna denge.
Hum Nadro niwasi hai. nandi ke hani babua.

It translated:

अभी तुम हमार गण सुना का बबुआ. जब हम गैयो तोह तुमार तोह भूत भाग
जाई. हो हां, हम तन्पुरा/कानपुर/तम्बूरा और दंत ताल भी सुना देंगे.
हम नद्रो निवासी है. नंदी के हनी बबुआ.

The Indic keyboard gadget

The instant Indic transliterations box

Apperently the services have a few bugs at the moment.

<<Oriya font rendering seems to be broken under IE. Firefox does not seem to support Oriya at all. Bengali (and Assamese) fonts are often too tiny and seem to be placed a few pixels lower than required. Many browsers do not render some of the Malayalam chillus and conjuncts correctly.>>

Family Tree Awards, August 07

Family Tree Awards, August 07

So far we have 219 profiles on the Family Tree and 30 members i.e 30 with email addresses. One of the most exciting thing for me at the moment is the notification of new photos as they are uploaded. Its great to put faces to the names. Some of the faces I have never seen or not seen for a while. I use the Google Picasa to manage my photos on my computer, some of which I upload to the Internet. Picasa is free and its also great for doing some simple touch ups to the photos. I have recently found the crop tool in Picasa great for cropping the faces of the photos and adding them to the Family Tree.

Below are the awards as it stands now. C'mon Qeleloans you are lagging behind. The Dass side has not taken off at all.

A Window Into Our Past

This interaction that we are having on the Internet could potentially become a window into our history for our future generation. It is using technology that I am certain will be around for years to come and hence this data that we are slowly compiling will give our future generation some idea on our ways and habits. Some, they may appreciate, and some they may not, but then life is realising truth for ones own self, from ones own, and others fortunes and misfortunes. This is what our ancient scriptures say, anyway, I think. And if this is true than the people that are closest to us are the ones that affect our experiences and hence our knowledge and wisdom. Families are one of these groups. Did I plan it this way? No. I have a hobby at the moment to play with Internet technologies because of its openness and accessibility and I think it could have some benefits, to share idea and thoughts and generally to keep in touch.

There are a few technologies that we are using at the moment to keep in touch and share opinions and information.

1. The Qeleloa-Lomowai Connection (QLC) Group
2. The QLC Blog. (Web Log)
3. The QLC Geni Family Tree.
4. The QLC Wiki (in the pipeline)

The QLC Group has become a good way for General Frivolous Banter and a Central Mailing List.

The QLC Blog may evolve as a collection of blogs from interested contributor's that relate to QLC's. Hence I am looking for more people who want to contribute to this blog, such as local events, personal opinions that relate to QLC, personal journeys and experience, personal achievements and experiences, area's of expertise, etc. If you are interested, please email me and I will send you an Invite. Also, if you want to start a personal blog of your own then you can use Google Blogger to do so. You will need a Goggle account and its all free. People can then subscribe to your blog. Let me know if you need help in starting a blog or become a contributor in the QLC blog. It will be nice to share the diversity of personalities that we have in a more structured way.

The QLC Geni Family tree.

This has been virally circulating for only a few days and already the Family Tree has seen a massive growth. Thanks to all the contributor's. I have discovered a few connection to relations that I previously had no clue. The Geni Family tree is a great way to visually see how we are all related and it has an excellent collaborative approach to share photos and information. Please keep it growing. It will be interesting to see how far we can take it.

If you haven't had an invite yet, don't worry, you will get it soon, as people are getting around making the connections.

The QLC Wiki

The Wikipedia is a great example of a Wiki. Its a collection of facts that has been gathered and presented entirely by willing public. It is the biggest source of knowledge in the Internet and articles from it often rank top in the Google searches. I would like to start a QLC Wiki that anyone can contribute towards and gather facts on any topic that relate to us. A good example of its use would be, research into our origins. For example we could start a Wiki about our Elders. People with the knowledge, then can start writing about their life in Fiji and beyond. A single document on the Internet, on a particular topic, with all its revisions, would then be available to us.

This is a great way of gathering knowledge from our elders that was only available via undocumented personal contact in the past.

Please, remember, any kind of feedback is hugely appreciated.

Some QLC Statistics

Some statistics

All time top posters to the QLC Group.

54 Jay
20 Krish Krishna
19 Komal
17 Raj Reddy
17 Gopal Uncle
11 Manorama Naiker
11 Avi
8 sunil.kris...@mach8.co.nz
5 David Naidu
5 Vishal

Map of Cities where users are located, that read the QLC Blog.

As you can see, QLC's are all over the place,(not sure of Brazil though)

Remember, new members can subscribe themselves for either the QLC Group OR the QLC Blog.

All Blacks 26, Australia (Who cares, they lost)

QLC Map of Historical Spots

Historical Fiji Trip for Akshay and Karlin

My boys are 13 and 11, and they have not been to Fiji yet. So, with some Air-points earned from Avi's wedding trip and, its Iris's birthday in July, I thought it was good enough reason, to finally take them to their Dad's homeland.

Being the self proclaimed Qeleloa-Lomowai Connection (QLC) journalist, I thought it be be nice to cover it in my QLC blog.

I have prepared 2 Google Maps, 1 each of Qeleloa and Lomowai and marked some of the spots that I am familiar with. I intend to visit as many of these historical spots as possible with the family and take some photographs. I will then upload these photos onto the maps. Some of these spots already have photo's. Have a look and see how many of them you can recognise. (Zoom-in in Satellite view, you might even see some goats.) It will be nice, moving forward, if anyone could mark spots of ones interest and upload photos for all to share. I used Google Maps and it can be viewed using Google Earth as well.

Below are the links to the maps and some instruction on how to view them.

Map Instructions.

You can Zoom in and out, move the map, click on the blue flags to jump straight to a location,(you may see some photos). You can click on the KML icon to view it on Google Earth,(you need to have Google Earth installed on your PC).

Make sure you are in the Satellite view. See the the picture below for more instruction and then click in the links below the picture.

Map of Lomowai

Map of Qeleloa

Tamworth Travel Preference

Please click the "Travel Form"link below to fill the form and press the submit button. I will publish the data. This may help the organisers.

Travel Form

The Results so far

Map of the Journey

Isn't he Gorgeous !!!!!

Isn't he Gorgeous !!!!

This was what the comment form Iris was, (not me) when Komal brought the photo's around. Although,I must admit, he is gorgeous in a "Thatha" kind of way.

Well,this young man in the photo is turning 60 and the celebration fever is gathering momentum here in Auckland. There was a sudden flood of email communication and a rush to get the cheap tickets to Sydney. There is a big battalion of Qeleloa-Lomwai Gumpu travelling to Tamworth, Australia for the party on August 25th. Most of the Aucklanders are reaching Sydney around 5:30pm on August 24th. The current plan is to stay in Sydney for the night of the 24th and then hire a bus to Tamworth for Saturday.

Keep tuned. (Are you coming ?)

OWA, 1922-2007

Owa, 1922-2007

(Qeleloa, Gopal Uncle's mother)

I will remember her for her awesome sense of humor and, off course the famous word "Ammmoow". Always loved chatting with her and even in her eighties she had her wits intact.

She lived a good life and was well taken care of.

She will be missed.

Qeleloa versus Lomawai Paintball Shootout?? The new Mahabarath ??

Recently, Akshay and I played a game of "Paintball" in the Riverhead forest with my work group. I must say, we really enjoyed it. Akshay is 13th this year so I am thinking this could be good way to initiate him into his teenage years by shooting a few Lomowaians. After all, I did the same at his age by boxing a few Lomowains and beating then senseless, इंगार्द सामी son's comes to mind.

What's Paintball?

Paintball is a War-game played with guns that shoot paintball. Small balls filled with paint that explode on impact. There are several objectives and the one that we played was "capture the flag". Each team has a flag at each end of the field. Each team starts from their end and advances to capture the other teams flag, bringing it back to their territory while at the same time protecting their own flag. The Team with both the flags sounds a hooter and is declared the winner.

As the photo's suggest this can hurt a bit. There are body covers for ladies. Gopal you may use one if you wish.

(Mouse over the photos for slide controls)

The cost is $45.00 per person and includes 100 paint-balls. You can buy extra paint-balls. There is also a BBQ area available after the game.

You may show your interest by using the voting gadget below. You can leave comments as well.

Friends are welcome.

Komal, diving in New Zealand

ई लडकी, कोमल, थो बहुत हिम्मथिया निच्क्ला !!

Komal reporting from Under Water.

Hi people,

Thought I'd fill you in on my exciting (With a captial E) weekend..

This weekend I took a trip up to the Poor Knights Islands, off the east coast of Whangarei. Rated by the experts as one of the top 10 dives sites in the world. It is one of the many marine reserves in NZ. This was my first dive trip after finishing my course a month ago. I was a bit aprehensive, since I didn't really know anyone else that was going (except 1 instructor) but I guess that was part of the adventure. It was kind of a 'spur of the moment' decision.

The trip incorporated 5 dives, 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Saturday started off with chopy seas and 1.5 to 2.5m "swells" (cliffs).. when you're on a 7m boat and you fall off a 2.5m "wave" with no back... it's not fun... you know the feeling when you're at the top of a roller coaster and you perch on the edge for a little while before you go crashing down... only this time its airbourne for about 2 seconds before the boat hits a water with a bone jarring crash.... needless to say say there were some very sick divers on board, including me... but hey at least it brought the fish closer! They must have liked our breakfast.

The water was a reasonable temperature at 18 degrees, with a full wetsuit on it was quite comfortable. Our first dive got us down to 18m. Unfortunately there weren't too many fish around.. just some lonely snapper swimming around. it funny they just come straight up to your face and stare at you... quite ugly really... and then you can just slap them in the face and they'll bugger off. We decided to attract a little bit more attention by cutting open some kinas and having a bit of a feeding frenzy... we even had a little moray eel join in the fun... Eels are actually quite cute, they're shy little things and get a bit anxious when you look at them for too long. Never thought I'd see them in that light...

The 2nd dive was better got to about 20m.. saw some cool scorpion fish.. they basically look like a big rock.. and then they move and its like.. oops sorry fishy.. didn't see you there. we explored a cave where someone had decorated it witha nice frog garden statue.. apparently there are few garden statues down there which divers have left in caves. The best thing was when we were coming up the whole area full of white floaty stuff.. (I thought it was guys throwing up again) but then you looked really closely and they were moving! it was basically thousands or tiny organisms... like microscopic jelly fish blobbing around, little square transparent creatures... so pretty you could see their delicate skelatal structures ... very cool. when we finally did surface the guys on the boat were feeding these huge snapper and king fish. They would basically eat out of our hands... man some of those snapper are pretty aggressive... I had three of them charging up to me at one time... hehe bet you guys wish you could have stuck a fishing line down there... I caught some with my bare hands.. :)



The 3rd dive was the best! we went into this archway called the Blue Mao Mao archway.. and guess what... it was full of blue Mao Mao.. thousands of them... they all hang out there.. it's their nightclub. most of them stand by the wall looking bored... and you know the funny thing... they all line up and face one direction... there was this solid wall of fish....you know the schooling fish in Finding Nemo... exacly like that... like you'd go up and scatter them around.. and then two seconds later... they're back in perfect order again... I wish i could have asked them to make shapes for me :).. the thing is.. we went back there the next morning and they'd all packed their bags and gone somewhere else!

We found them in a another tunnel though... it's like "what a you guys doing here? Go back home!"... The tunnel on our 5th dive was awesome!! We saw some huge crayfish and ofcourse the Mao Mao who we fed when we surfaced. But the coolest thing was there was a crazy surge in the tunnel... like it would just push you forward... the fish would move first so we did get some warning.. and then it would surge the other way so you had the hold on to the rocks to avoid getting sucked into the vortex... it was so much fun... and then it would push you forward again... you didn't have to swim at all... again for those who've seen Finding Nemo it was like that current where the turtles were swimming... cowabunga dudes!... awesome!...

Anyway... that's enough fishy stories for one day... My cheapie Kodak underwater camera didn't do a good job but there are some photos attached so you guys can kinda see what it looks like...

Sumitra Auntie

It is with great sadness, I write that Chotu Uncles older sister and Bila Tatha's elderst daughter, Sumitra Auntie passed away yesterday in Fiji. The extended family gathered at Chotu Uncle's place last night. Sumitra Auntie and Uncle (formally of Lomowai) was scheduled to arrive in New Zealand today for the onward trip to India later this month. The cause is not yet known, Baby Auntie said that the doctors diagnosed a lack of oxygen to her brain and admitted her for some blood transfusion to prepare her for the trip. She already had one transfusion and that went well. The second one had a reaction but she recoverd well and was just about to be discharged for the trip. Sumitra Auntie had been battling Diabetics for a while. As of last night Madhu, the youngest son was not able to be contacted in Canada. Thata and Vani are planning fly to Fiiji today. Chotu Uncle was out of town last night.

Chotu Uncle's Contact:

161 Kaipara Road. Papakura, Auckland, New Zealand

++6492965170.

Please, pass this sad news to family and friends

Our thoughts are with them in this sad moment.

Avi's Stag Nite.

12 of us set off to Hamilton on drizzly Saturday morning on a 12 Seater Van with me on the Drivers Seat. The party at my place night before was pretty civil(ie. no hang-overs) and tasty with Amma and Rohini dishing out fresh Dosai to a mixed crowd which went down really well. The last pick-up was at Mama place. Chotu unlce looked liked he had not stooped celebrating his 50th dinner party from the night before.

The Van was full of Lomowai and Qeleloa Gumpu with one visitor from India, Navin's friend and our official Photographer. Appa went with 2 of Bunny's friend in a car following us. He was in the Van with us in the return trip.

From Jays 40th From Jays 40th From Jays 40th From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag

Gopal in his usual wisdom set out the rules for the weekend. Everyone was to have a nick name and real names was penalised. 4 offences cost a round of Amrit Jal to everyone at the temple stops on the way to Hamilton. The stops became the plan as golf was canceled due to bad weather. I cant really repeat the names in this blog, maybe one. The most decent one was given to the only European. His nick name was Black Bitch. This game kept everyone entertained on the trip down.

From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag

We checked-in in the Inn and made our way to Moon Kaka's place 10 minutes away. I gave the drivers seat to Avneet in Hamilton. Aveent is Moon Kaka's son who does not drink (must take after his father). After cutting a surprise cake for Chotu uncle's 50th, and a surprise kiss from Rajan for my 40th, in the garage, we sifted to the backyard. Moon Kaka's new house is a lovely three bedroom house in a good area. The paved backyard boasted a Fiji style wash tub, mainly used for culling live animals. Munni Kaki's lamb chaser was top's and the BBQ was sizzling with fresh pork, courtesy to Moon's new Samdhi. Soon the meat was flowing alongside Bunny's Blue Label and a 20 year old Chivas...like honey.Gopal did not waste time inciting some Qeleloa/Lomawai camaraderie and soon the songs were flowing. Gyan even challenged him with a Tirkuttu song. Moon Kaka's amd Munni Kaki's hospitality will never be forgotten. (Moon Kaka obviously takes after his father)

From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag

We headed to the City with Bunny in Ball and chains, courtesy of his friend Anand. It was supposed to be a penance for him but he soon turned it to his advantage, making most of the guys envious. He was gently persuaded to take it off by the police, maybe he looked too much of a terrorist.

From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag

Some went home some stayed and ended up in the casino, and bed at 5am, only to wake up 8.30am to watch All Blacks in the hotel bar. And yes, the lady was serving beer alongside orange juice at 8.30 am. Since Bunny get away too easy we decided to push him in the cold swimming pool.

On the way back the Sahitaans were still thirsty for the Amrit Jal. We stopped at Chotu uncle, slaughtered a few ducks, took it to Amma's. But by the time it was ready some just could not make it.

From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag From Avi's Stag

On the whole a very memorable weekend. Next stop, the wedding.

My Recent 3 Day Trip to Fiji

Just a little recap on my recent 3 day visit to Fiji. This trip was after 12 years and for a sad occasion on the passing of Mami. I am really glad that I made the trip to represent all the brothers and sisters. It dawned on me after a while after hearing the news, that she happens to be a lot in my memory bank as a child growing up in Fiji.

From Fiji Trip 06

I spent a lot of school holidays in Lomowai where she cooked the most delicious meals. In fact that's what I probably missed the most as I sat on the Kitchen floor having the food that the neighbours brought for the funeral. It was not her that was serving it. It did bring back some fond memories. The funeral went really smoothly and I caught up with lots of the Lomowai Village residents. Some growing and looking older, some no changes. Mama was the usual under the circumstances but I think he did a good job putting up with the show. He offered me a Bathak (Duck) to sneak away and cook at Baba Mama’s. The sons relaxed a bit after the cremation and there were some reminiscing conversation over Kava. Funny, enough a lot of conversation was on Danger Tata and there were some funny moments.

From Fiji Trip 06

From Fiji Trip 06

Babba Mama and Mami were really hospitable and they have a very comfortable house. It’s a really home away from home with all the mod-con’s. I think he only called me by Jayant twice, the rest of the time it was Navin. He said it was my fault for being away for so long. Kamlesh Mama and him slaughtered a goat on the last day at Babba Mama’s place and all his family came over. Good to catch up with all the cousins and yes, they all are keeping the family tradition of being good-looking.
Nadi has changed a lot in 12 years for good. The town is looking modern and clean, but the old road to Nadi town is pretty bad. The new back road is good and the Nadi-Lomowai road is good. Could not believe the tar-sealed toad to Qeleloa. Had a short visit at Qeleloa with some beers with Mukund Kaka. Lali Aunty brought some left over chicken chaser and Mukund Kaka had to cook something so he quickly fried some free range eggs. 2 hours at Qeleloa after 12 years, sharing 3 bottles of beer with Mukund Kaka was the best stress relieve I had in 12 years. I really hope we never loose that place. There are so many memories. The same goes for Mama’s place in Lomowai.

From Fiji Trip 06

Intro

Hi all,

I have been thinking about starting a blog for sometime so finally I have started. What's a blog? Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site. More info on blogs here..
I have started The Qeleloa-Lomawai Connection Blog, as a place for us to easily catch up with whats happening around us and discuss stuff. I am hoping that it will propagate to involve all our connections around the world so feel free to pass it on.

I will be gradually covering the technical aspects of it so that anyone interested can easily start their own.

For now, please fell free to subscribe to the "The Qeleloa-Lomowai Connection Group" mailing list. It's powered by Google groups and can be used for discussions and mailing lists. Also have a look at the "The Qeleloa-Lomowai Connection Calendar". You will see Avi's Stag Nite Event published in here. Have a play.You all have access to organize events or post comments in this calendar.

Chow for now. Please keep checking this site as I have some interesting stuff and photo's coming up and do leave a comment.