Articles

The writer wishes to pay tribute to his Alma Mata Yangon University with a series of articles on his life, learnings, and cultural educational and social experiences of everlasting values.

It is undeniable that the medical professionals and the volunteer rescue workers are doing great jobs in battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the outbreak of this dreadful disease in our country early this year in March,

The life expectancy of the Myanmars have increased gradually during the past few decades. More and more are living beyond their seventieth birthdays and the number of those in their eighties and nineties are increasing and there are some centenarians, and their numbers are increasing too. However, it would be just meaningless to live a long life if one is not healthy. Thus healthy aging is of utmost importance. This fact emphasizes the importance of taking care of ourselves as we grow older and make sure we enjoy long and healthy lives.

FAO has elaborated a comprehensive Response and Recovery Programme to overcome the impacts of COVID-19 through up-scaled and robust international collaboration

The following is an exclusive interview with H.E. Mr Ly Quoc Tuan, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

ASIA has registered more than 100,000 deaths linked to the new coronavirus since it first emerged in December, according to an AFP tally based on official sources at 0800 GMT on Thursday.

Wagaung (August) is the 5th month of Myanmar lunar calendar. Myanmar is a tropical country with three seasons namely hot season (gein hman) rainy season (wathan) and cold season (hei man). Wagaung falls in the rainy season. The word ‘Wagaung’ is a combination of two words ‘Wa’ and ‘Khaung’. Wa means Buddhist lent and Khaung means middle or peak. So, Wagaung implies the middle or the peak of the Buddhist lent which covers three months of rainy season namely Waso (July), Wagaung (August) and Tawthalin (September). In the stone inscriptions of the Bagan Period another word for Wagaung was used. It was “Nan Kala” (နံကာလ) which means the time for ploughing, or the planting season, or the month for agricultural activities. There is a Myanmar folk rhyme which aptly describes this season “ဝါဆို၊ ဝါခေါင်၊ ရေဖောင်ဖောင်” (In Waso and Wagaung there are billows of rain water). As these two months are the peak of rainy season the countryside is inundated with rain water. Astrological name of Wagaung is Simha (သိဟ်) (Leo) and its zodiacal sign is lion. In this month in daytime the Sun and the Hpou Sha stars and at night the Moon and Tharawun stars rival in their radiance. Although all lilies and most trees and plants burst forth into bloom,khat-tar or land lily (Crinum amoenum) is traditionally marked as the flower of Wagaung.

The Corona Virus 19 Pandemic has affected countries around the world. With leading epidemiologists predicting that the pandemic will be around and continue spreading until an effective vaccine is developed, concern has been raised that humanity will have to adjust to a “New Normal” way of life to live in the Corona Virus-19 Pandemic period.

The article on “Sarpay Beikman” carried by the GNLM on 25th of July 2020 was interesting as

“Our best way forward is to stick with science, solutions and solidarity and together we can overcome this pandemic,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged earlier this month.