Project: Gurmukhi

Request for help from Sukhjinder Sidhu (a great sevadar)

2006-03-09T15:28:00.000-05:00

Hi Guys

This is a request for help. It might sound a bit strange but it regards the categories of Ajit Weekly. Basically I've created a corpus of Ajit Weekly articles and I'm trying to categorise them based on Ajit Weekly's own categories. However, I'm not quite sure what they all mean. I've already had some help from Gurpartap and any additional help would be appreciated.

I'd prefer non-literal translations (so ਦਿੱਲੀ ਦਰਬਾਰ becomes "Politics" and not "Delhi Darbar") that give details of what's contained in the categories. The very iffy category names have question marks. If you want to check out their site, see http://www.ajitweekly.com/

Regards,

Sukh

ID
Punjabi
Transliteration
English

1
ਮੁੱਖ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ
mukkh khabarāṁ
Main news

2
ਸੰਪਾਦਕੀ ਲੇਖ
saṃpādakī lēkha
Editorial articles

4
ਕਹਾਣੀਆਂ
kahāṇī'āṁ
Stories

5
ਫ਼ਿਲਮੀ ਦੁਨੀਆਂ
filamī dunī'āṁ
Movies

6
ਜੱਟਾਂ ਦਾ ਇਤਿਹਾਸ
jaṭṭāṁ dā itihās
History of the Jatts

7
ਨਾਰੀ ਸੰਸਾਰ
nārī saṃsār
Women's world

8
ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਸਿਹਤ
tuhāḍī sihat
Health

9
ਖੇਡ ਸਮਾਚਾਰ
khēḍa samācār
Sports

12
ਸ਼ਾਹੀ ਅਫ਼ਸਾਨੇ
śāhī afasānē
Rich dreams

13
ਪੰਜਾਬ ਡਾਇਰੀ
paṃjāb ḍā'irī
Punjabi diary

14
ਦਿੱਲੀ ਦਰਬਾਰ
dillī darbār
Delhi Darbar (politics)

16
ਵਿਅੰਗ
vi'aṃg
Irony?

18
ਰਸੀਦੀ ਟਿਕਟ
rasīdī ṭikaṭ
Ticket with receipt

20
ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਮੁਰੰਮਤ
ḵẖabarāṁ dī muraṃmat
News corrections

21
ਧਰਮ ਤੇ ਫਲਸਫਾ
dharam tē phalasaphā
Religion and philosophy

22
ਰੂਹ ਦੀ ਖੁਰਾਕ
rūh dī khurāk
Soul's food

23
ਮੁੱਖ ਲੇਖ
mukkh lēkha
Main articles

24
ਸੰਪਾਦਕ ਦੀ ਡਾਕ
saṃpādak dī ḍāka
Letters to the editor

25
ਤਨ-ਮਨ ਬੀਤੀਆਂ
tan-man bītī'āṁ
?

26
ਦੁਨੀਆ ਪਰੇ-ਪਰੇ
dunī'ā parē-parē
Our world

27
ਰਸੋਈ ਘਰ
rasō'ī ghar
Kitchen and home

28
ਕਵਿਤਾ
kavitā
Poems

28
ਸਾਹਿਤਕੀ
sāhitakī
History?

29
ਨੰਗੀ ਧੁੱਪ
naṃgī dhuppa
Bare sunlight

31
ਝਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਦਰਦ
jhanāṁ dā darad
Jhanah's sorrow

35
ਸੈਕਸ, ਸਕਾਚ ਅਤੇ ਸਕਾਲਰਸ਼ਿੱਪ
saikas, sakāc atē sakālaraśipp
Sex, scar and scholarship

37
ਸਮਕਾਲੀ ਲਿਖਦੇ ਹਨ
samakālī likhadē han
You and I are writing?

39
ਦੇਸ਼-ਵਿਦੇਸ਼
dēśa-vidēś
Foreign News

40
ਚੋਲਾ ਟਾਕੀਆਂ ਵਾਲਾ
cōlā ṭākī'āṁ vālā
Chola with holes

44
ਮੇਰੀ ਕੈਨੇਡਾ ਫੇਰੀ
mērī kainēḍā phērī
My canadian journey

45
ਸੜਕਨਾਮਾ
saṛakanāmā
Letters from the road

46
ਯੋਰਪ ਦੀਆਂ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ
yōrap dī'āṁ ḵẖabarāṁ
European news

47
ਭਗੌੜਾ
bhagauṛā
Fled?

48
ਯਾਦਾਂ (ਭੰਵਰ)
yādāṁ (bhaṃvara)
Memories (Bhanvar)

49
ਯਾਦਾਂ (ਸਿੱਧੂ)
yādāṁ (siddhū)
Memories (Sidhu)

50
ਅਪਰਾਧ ਕਥਾ
aparādh kathā
Crime stories

57
ਅਮਰੀਕਾ ਦੀਆਂ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ
amarīkā dī'āṁ ḵẖabarāṁ
American news

Job/Work Posting for Sikhs in Punjab

2005-12-21T20:53:00.000-05:00

If anyone's in punjab is interested in $100 web site design work please email me...I get these small jobs (most of them less than $500) quite a bit but have to turn them down due to other priorities. So if you live in Punjab and are Sikh and can do web work please let me know...there's more where this came from.

This particular job is for a tax person who just wants to create a better looking, functioning web site.

Thanks!

Ps...Project: Gurmukhi is still alive and kicking...just hang on...i promise there'll be a lot more action soon...

Using the Punjabi Learning Site

2005-12-16T04:29:00.000-05:00

it's a bit hard to navigate but once you know where the bulk of the stuff is it's easier from there:

if you look at the "Projects Completed" on the top right corner...you want to click on the first link.

and then there's a top navigation bar in blue...white text...and when you rollover the text in the nav bar...you'll see a sub menu...

one of the really awesome things i found was this page:

http://www.advancedcentrepunjabi.org/animated_stories.html

it has 3 animated Punjabi fables...how can we forget the Kaa(n)/crow that wouldn't give up!

i can't wait to test it out on my daughter...:)

Great News!!!!

2005-12-15T15:52:00.000-05:00

Dr. Lehal has just informed us that

www.advancedcentrepunjabi.org

is up and running. Please visit if you have any desire of learning Gurmukhi.

i'm not feeling well right now...so didn't have the chance to actually pull up cool stuff like

AUDIO

This is soooooo GREAT!!!!! Thank you Dr. Lehal!

How to type Gurmukhi in windows 2000/xp/ Mac, linux

2005-11-10T00:06:00.000-05:00

This is from PCRC (Punjabi Computing Resource Center)'s web site...AWESOME!

http://guca.sourceforge.net/resources/gettingstarted

http://guca.sourceforge.net/resources/punjabisupport/

logo for SikhoSikho Org.

2005-11-03T14:20:00.000-05:00

This is a preliminary logo for SikhoSikho Org. a privately funded organization to promote Gurmukhi.

I'm not doing this alone. I have 125,000 with me, behind me, ahead of me, beside me.

Free Books for learning Gurmukhi

2005-11-02T22:14:00.000-05:00

as all of you know by now i'm going to the motherland (punjab) soon and i was going to buy a lot of books. but even before that i have 3 (i think) extra copies of beginner's/kids' punjabi alphabet books.

and if you'd like send me your address and i'll mail it to you. first come first serve. when you're done you can choose to send it back. and when i get back from punjab i'll list some more titles here for you to "take" free of charge of course!

The first ever Unicode Gurmukhi Keyboard

2005-11-01T13:49:00.000-05:00

http://unitedpunjab.com/punjabi-works/punjabi-keyboard.html

Please go there and congratulate this young fool. :) He's a great young man from Punjab. I've had a great pleasure meeting really awesome sikhs while combing the web for Project Gurmukhi !!!(happy guys?) and he's one of them.

Gurpratap's email is Gurpartap@GMail.Com

Please please take a minute to write him an email. (of course if you're on here i probably don't have to ask).

Sat Nam!

do you podcast?

2005-10-11T15:56:00.000-04:00

yahoo just started this site:

http://podcasts.yahoo.com/search?p=panjabi&c=b

listen to the number 4. it's pretty interesting...the guy is hindu punjabi!

i searched for "punjabi" "sikh" and "panjabi" and i only found a couple of podcasts. it's a really good idea.

but anyways...i'been working on some stuff for project: gurmukhi....the "surprise" is sooooo much more tedious than i thought was going to be...but it's coming along just fine and i think once i complete one of these...i think i can actually streamline the process. so gimme a bit more time.

but i have these Gurmukhi books that my dad just brought back from punjab. they are soooooo much better than the ones that my mom brought. i don't mean to be racist but these were my instructions to my dad "only buy the ones that are published/created/written by sikhs" and i guess i was right. i keep arguing with people on the net that Gurmukhi is most important to Sikhs and no other sect of people. Hindus or any other group of people have no vested interest in Gurmukhi.

anyways...i think i'm going to start selling them at cost (whatever is written on the book)...i don't want any excuses!!! i will make no profit at all from this...no, i won't be taking any money for my time either....this is just another way to promote Gurmukhi. BTW, my one year loves these books. and my wife is learning Gurmukhi along (with her).

These books are ONLY 15 rupees per book and the quality is so much better than what i've seen...

look for a web site for this project early next year (yes, i'm actually being realistic about this) :)...

There's been an earthquake

2005-10-08T11:47:00.000-04:00

and i think punjab was one of the states that was hit...

does anyone know anything more? i can't find anything more on this...

http://www.washingtonpost.com

A good link or two

2005-10-06T16:58:00.000-04:00

i'll make a list of links that i find later but here's another good one or two...

http://punjabgovt.nic.in/punjabataglance/TouristInformation.htm (very easy to feel good about starting with the banner! )

http://www.amritsar.com (i'm not sure about this one...it kinda looks shady but does provide some good info)

i haven't had a chance to work on much...(can't do real work at all from monday to thursday other than collect information and network)

the reason...

2005-09-27T00:43:00.000-04:00

Well...on Friday my daughter got sick for the first time in her life and I spent the next 24 hours chasing her around the house with a tissue...on Saturday I had caught the bug as well and still have it without any let up and so does my wife...the only person who's not sick in my extended family (my parents live nearby) is my rug rat daughter...our house is a one big tissue box!

Sat Nam!

A link

2005-09-22T21:52:00.000-04:00

http://www.granthsahib.com

This is straight from punjab. It's always nice to see our brothers and sisters making strides in the tech field...

:( no, not yet!

2005-09-18T22:31:00.000-04:00

i underestimated the time it was going to take to finish up. it's those darn details!!!!!! so i ended up strugling through the weekend. i'been working on this since friday. i am making progress but it's taking much longer than i had anticipated. btw, i'm a perfectionist!

But on the bright side...someone else approached me about the dictionary project...i haven't responded because i was trying to finish this up. so we're getting some momentum behind the dictionary project.

okay gotta go get back to finishing up...ummmmm my next guess is as late as next weekend, as early as tomorrow (depends on how much time i spend on it)....

Finallly!

2005-09-14T14:49:00.000-04:00

Finally! i'm on the verge of completing something for Project Gurmukhi. It's a surprise so please come back Sunday night or monday morning to check it out here on this blog.

Fight illitracy! Learn Gurmukhi!

slowly but surely!
Sat Nam!

What's taking so long?

2005-09-09T12:25:00.000-04:00

well, i did what i said i was going to do. wrote the reqs. and sent it to the vendors but haven't heard back. i'll call them this weekend.

ohh on a personal note: my daughter who's 10.5 months old is WALKING!!!!! no not standing or taking few steps but full blow WALKING!!! she's had a couple of bloody lips but she's a tough cookie unlike her daddy and a lot like her mommy! i really try hard to keep my personal life out of this blog but it's so hard especially when you're excited about something and you don't have time to create another blog. i'll try to create another personal blog...i had one for my daughter but i or blogger can't seem to remember the username and password...so i can't edit it anymore. anyways the football season is upon us(americans). every saturday, the day before my team plays, i can't sleep at night and usually stay up all night! i'm not exaggerating. the anticipation just kills me. BUT it allows me to work on stuff (to kill time)...:)))))) yeah yeah i know some of you believe that sports were created to keep the common folks distracted and away from real issues...even so...can't a man have one flaw???:))) of course i kid! :)

Wednesday

2005-08-31T21:20:00.000-04:00

Here's the deal. I'm procrastinating!!! well, not really (the only thing i'm procrastinating about is the requirements because i have time to do them(on the bus)...other stuff i won't have the time until after next week). well, a 4 day weekend is coming up for me, and i'm taking care of my daugther all day friday, we're going to bday party on satday and i'm organizing a community volunteer group to do some hard labor around the community (that'll probly be on satday as well).

To do list for this weekend:
right up the requirements,
call up more dictionary folks,
call up a professor's son (my best friend in punjab who i haven't talked to in 12 years),
and work on the dictionary (add) tool.

Katrina and the gas prices are really putting a damper on things. :(

8/24/05: A constant Reminder

2005-08-24T20:28:00.000-04:00

I work right across the Hirshorn Museum of Contemporary art and they have a big piece of art in the front of their building...hanging...well since past week they've had this writing that says "Don't be afraid" in lot of languages. If you notice there're more than a couple of Indian languages...and what's missing? you guessed it GURMUKHI!!!!! it's really inspiring...everyday i see this and i just stare at it as if to expect that i might find it on there. I don't. it's not there. For whatever reason, propoganda, politics, our own insecurities our GURMUKHI isn't there. I can go on and on on this topic...

So let's get off of it...By the way in the 60's it was "Peace" and now it's "Don't be afraid". I love this country so much and it's the best country to live in the world. ( sikhs can wear turbans here and go around this country (even in the south) and they'll feel less threatened here than they do in India. When I saw those Sikh protesters getting hosed I was reminded by the 50's and 60's in the US and how they treated blacks. That's how the indians treat sikhs. ohh yeah, we're free over there alright! we're as free as the blacks in the north and west in the US were in the 60's) But we as americans are so afraid...everything we do/buy is because of fear. hopefully that'll change one day. i went off on a tangent there sorry...

anyways here it is see for yourself

8/23/05-busy

2005-08-23T08:38:00.000-04:00

Things are getting busy for me. I had to take care of my daughter all weekend. the wifey had some class to go to. I did get some work done but not on the dictionary. I have my hands in like 10 things right now. One of them: is a kirtan with it's translation( translating what they're singing). I was working on that. It actually required math :) so that was cool. but it wasn't my idea someone mentioned it on mrSikhnet. so i ran with it just like the dictionary idea. problem i'm having with the Kirtan is that the file size is sooooooooooo big we're talking in 100's of megs. so there's gotta be a way to reduce the size of the file so i can share.

Dictionary project: I'm going to need some money to buy the words as it turns out. So Sat Guru provided me a way. I got a call from my old job asking me to moonlight with them. I said sure...
sometimes one has the will one but has to be shown the way...

So there's a Kirtan project, Dictionary project and my super secret surprise project and ohh the web site...

Well, we're going to need everyone's Pub(licity) skills when we're done with this.

Let's see, my schedule....well, if I moonlight that means that i'll have no time to work on anything for a couple of weeks but it'll also mean that i would have the funds to really do all the things all at once...so let's see what happens...

Sat Nam!

8/19/2005

2005-08-19T23:17:00.000-04:00

No update...this's been a busy week and 'm hoping to get some work done this weekend. meanwhile i'm looking for some contractors to work on my other projects for project:gurmukhi. there's more to project:gurmukhi than the dictionary that i'm working on...
see you guys soon!
Sat Nam!

Day 18: Early Start

2005-08-16T10:51:00.000-04:00

I just found out from Dr. Lehal of Punjab university that they'll be launching an elearning website for Gurmukhi/punjabi in a month. That's great news. Does that mean i'm going to stop working on this project and others...NO. But I will be helping Dr. Lehal with theirs.

peace and love!

Day 17: End of Hot days

2005-08-15T21:11:00.000-04:00

Finally! some relief coming our way!!! ohhmygod!!!! it's not the heat it's the humidity that kills you!!!

anyways, no development done today...probably not going to do much during the week until the weekend/friday.

Day 16: Another hot and humid day

2005-08-14T21:53:00.000-04:00

not much actual development...but.......i'll tell tomorrow...(waiting to hear from bunch of folks regarding something other than the dictionary project)...

Day 15: HOT and HUMID

2005-08-14T00:25:00.000-04:00

well i got a lot done today. i actually started looking at future projects to include in "project: gurmukhi". i think i'm going to like doing them...actually i can't do them myself i'm going to have to hire someone to do them. they involve some artistic ability. any artists out there?

anyways i've set a deadline for myself: September, 10 2005. With Satguru di mehar dai naal we'll have something substantial up and running on the web by then. today i got the mockup of the screens done and finalized the database and now will be shipping to gurpreetSS.

(well, the reason i got a lot done today was cuz you have to be insane to go outside these days...it's just plain nasty! it's soooooo hot and sooooooo humid...we had a really bad winter that wouldn't go away and all of a sudden we hit the 90's and 100's and never really had a spring...so i can't wait till the fall. everyone's favorite season in the north east usa. i love fall or autumn as they call it in some parts of the world. )

anyways it's pretty late here!

Sat Nam!

Day 14: Lot to do

2005-08-12T09:47:00.000-04:00

Sat Nam!
Here's my todo list for this weekend:

Call Dr. Lehal
Call Amanpreet
Build the server that will host this app(for development phase at least)...so far I was hosting the SQL Server and Apache/IIS servers on my old laptop but it's not working out...that machine's had better days
Install mySql, Oracle, Apache, IIS, Java 2, CF MX, PhP Nuke
Send my schema to Gurpreet Singh (problem's been exporting the schema from my laptop)...i may just have him over he lives a mile from my house

Also, I'm going to be super duper busy next week with my work...so i'm most likely not going to be working on this project. i have to finish a project by the end of fiscal year...so i'm going to be in a daze for the next month or so...

I forgot to mention that Dr. Lehal told me something interesting that he HAD done the dictionary and it WAS online but when he left his previous job, the dictionary went off line too. that's so sad. it would be nice if i could take a year's sabatical to go work in Punjab....:(

Sat Nam!

Day 12

2005-08-10T22:35:00.000-04:00

nothing new to report

Active Tuesday: Day 11

2005-08-09T17:30:00.000-04:00

guess what???? Dr. Lehal wrote back! and i'm going to be calling him... i'll be shipping some design work over there(for this site) to some creative Sikh (to start off with to see how good they are). because i got another contract that i turned down yesterday worth $500...it was a simple web site in flash...anyone could've done it...

i have to post some link here...for other techie sikhs...but i'm kinda busy with the whole database/unicode/regular font issue...

talk to you soon...

SAT NAM!!!

Day 10: Lazy tired monday

2005-08-08T21:20:00.000-04:00

Sat Nam!
not much happened today. still haven't heard back from Dr. Lehal. 'doubt i will again. heard back from amanpreet singh. kinda confused by his email. but i'll call him(in punjab) instead of replying to him. still have to send the schema to gurpreet, hopefully i won't feel like this tomorrow (the database is on another computer than this one)...

Sat Nam!

Second Sunday: I spoke too soon

2005-08-07T16:26:00.000-04:00

Sat Nam!

Gurpreet called and is willing to help with the database stuff. I had designed the database in sql server but since he'll be helping i'm going to give what i have to him and he'll convert it to Oracle. it's cool cuz i have Oracle as well.

Second Sunday

2005-08-07T13:33:00.000-04:00

Sat Nam!!
Ummmmm, well i don't think i'm gong to go play golf. it's way too hot out there. but AmanPreet Singh Alam wrote back and sent me the dictionary with 4000 words in it. But it got cut off at the letter "M". so probably a few thousand more...that's a good start right? plus he said he would help with the dictionary. so that's good!! :) i'm probably going to show him my schema and make him an admin on this blog. He's really smart and loves Gurmukhi. He's from Moga, Punjab. And they're starting their own company that develop punjabi software.

i haven't heard back from Dr. Lehal. but i'm not waiting either...

i've been working on the web site design...it's going okay...i'm never happy with my first few iterations.

also, i've been STUMBLING using a cool super cool tool called StumbleUpOn!! it's sooo neat, it's really coming in handy with this project!

Ps...i don't go to the gurdwara much for very very personal reasons(that i'll go in to when i start my personal blog..probly after i'm done with this) but i think i'm going to start going really early in the mornings to beat the rush (but that'll also mean that i will miss the program(which i usually like)...hmmmmm what to do...we'll figure something out)

Sat Nam!

End of Day 8

2005-08-06T23:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I found the punjabi dictionary(list of words) but I can't open the darn file. GRRRR! I emailed the person who built it. Hopefully he can help. He lives in Punjab. It's so nice to talk to a techy sikh in punjab!!!! I can't wait to go back and do some networking. Maybe next year.

i feel like doing a barrak...but maybe i should save it until i'm done with this project.

okay, i basically had no time to myself today...so tomorrow i'm going to go play some golf. it got a lot better here than it's been. ohh we have a microcenter here...can you say The Geek Capital!!! OMG!!! that was my first time...i felt so unTechy it's not even funny!

and i can't get in touch with gurpreet so looks like I'm the general and the army all in one/an army of one! :) but i don't mind at all, as long as i don't let myself down because no one demands more from me than myself.

all in all it was a productive day...i don't know about tomorrow though..if i go play that's 4 hours right there...poof! gone!

OOOOOOOOPPPPSSSS!!!!I'm so stupid!!!

2005-08-06T13:00:00.000-04:00

The person that I was "talking to" was DR. LEHAL!!! of PUNJAB UNIVERSITY!! I totally didn't make the connection until someone else mentioned his name on one of the forums. DOH!!!!! i'm an idiot. what a guy though! my heart always fills up with joy whenever i meet a successful Sikh. i was so happy to see that article about those kids that won that NASA competition that I mass emailed it to everyone at work. it's so cool!

anyways i'm working hard on this project today...and i have to go now to put some air in my wife's car. :( and i need to go buy a mother board for my sweet machine (that's probably where this project will be hosted).

I'll post some websites that are being run in Punjab by Sikhs...please contribute to them...as you know $5 is 250 over there.

see you soon...

End of Day 7

2005-08-05T23:01:00.000-04:00

I wasn't expecting to do much but I lost my internet connection and so started doing design mockups in photoshop. hopefully tomorrow will be a better day coding wise...must go respond to emails...i'm so tired...taking care of a baby is hard work!

Waheguru Sat Nam phul chuk maaf karni!

News for this project

2005-08-05T11:47:00.000-04:00

Sat Nam!!!
I finally recieved a reply from Punjab from the people who're trying to do the exact same thing as we are (minus the collection tool, which I still think is a great idea and hopefully will be utilized by many).

I'm going to offer my help on their project and ask what they can do to help us (i'm going to call Gurpreet Singh today and see if he can take over one of the sections (db/sql, web design, coding(in c#)) at the same time I'll continue to work on ours here.

So: language C# (maybe some CF/PHP on the front end)
Database: SQL Server
IDE: Dreamweaver for just the web templates and design and that Microsoft .Net thing(for C#)
Adobe Photoshop for the graphics

ohh yeah i forgot to mention that so far this is going to be a c# effort because I couldn't find much in java. I'm a fan of java but if c# is going to save us time then so be it. i don't hate Gates that much!

for some reason it always takes 2-3 days for people to respond from india...don't know why that is.

Sat Nam!

End of day 6: was very very tired

2005-08-04T22:34:00.000-04:00

i didn't get to do much today except look at some code. i was sooooooo tired all day it's not even funny...even now. ohh let me break down my day for you:

6:30 wake up (i'm following Guruka Singh's advise)
7:45 Leave for work
8:45 get to work (because i drove...i've been so bad, i should be taking the bus/train but i'm always late)
5:45 leave work
7:30 pm get home and take care of my daugther until 9 pm.
9:00pm got on gurumustak's blog
10:30pm got off gurumustak's blog and i'm swearing off his blog it's too adictive (it's like chat room for adults)

i should go to sleep now cuz if i'm off tomorrow and have to take care of my daughter all day long and will work on this project while she's napping. OMG Waheguru, please let her take naps tomorrow, long ones!!!! i don't have the energy to deal with that rugrat! i'll post a pic of her soon...actually she has her own blog...(since feb/march i think)...

End of Day 5: Coding

2005-08-03T23:41:00.000-04:00

Well, at least I started looking at the code aspect of this project. Once you get into it it always looks better and less daunting. My motto or is it moto? is that "i'm not smart enough to think of something that hasn't been thought of before" so far in my career it's been true. even if i'm the first one people have done very similar things that you don't need to re-invent the wheel.

conversion code part 1 of 3

I think i missed a call from punjab today regarding this project...i left my phone at home...ohh well...jo likhya so hona...usually i don't buy that saying.

I created a new blog from Unicode Gurmukhi, i'll see how it looks from windows 2000 tomorrow.

Well it's late and have to get up in 6 hours...and the little one is teething...:(...which translates to 4 good hours of sleep for us.

Sat Sri Akal!

2005-08-03T00:15:00.000-04:00

i just typed the below in unicode!!!! woohooo! go gurmukhi!

ਸਤ਼ਿਨਾਮ

End of Day 4: Digging

2005-08-02T23:43:00.000-04:00

SAT KARTAR!

Well, I'm still in the process of collecting a lot and lot of information. I'm waiting to hear from couple of important(for this project) people. Just to clarify things for those of you who are actually out there listening. This started as a punjabi to english dictionary and a tool to collect words from the sikh community. Which is pretty easy to do (you macth a word with a word from the DB, throw a couple of forms to collect information and a couple of queries to "insert" it in to the dB....that's it folks that's what a db search and collection feature is).

BUT since i took on this project i've learnt that that's not what a dictionary is suppose to do. And there're so many of the simple dictionaries already out there that it would be a waste of effort if we just built a simple (select * from tbl_1 where word LIKE '%myWord%')...

BUT i do like the idea of having a collection tool, that's a pretty FAT idea! And the good news is that it doesn't take much to build a tool like that. BUT there's one problem and that is i basically have to assume that everyone is using a UNICODE font such as SAAB (is on windows xp). and do i want to prevent enteries if it's not a UNICODE font.

That's what i'been working on the past two nights. and i couldn't help it...i started designing the site!;p i tried to fight it but i think i have the logo down too...i'll unvail it when i'm good and ready...

Go DC public transportation/METRO!!!!(let's just hope no one jumps off any of the bridges tomorrow...)

i might try posting in SAAB or some other unicode font...

peace and love!

Sat Kartar!

End of Day 3: Digging

2005-08-01T20:44:00.000-04:00

SAT NAM!!! WAHE GURU!!!!
ever since i can remember i would write
Å on top of my exam booklet or a paper before starting my exams (from KG to College) but i noticed i forgot to do it when i started this.

so...here's my prayer : "sat nam wahe guru ji, bul chuk maaf karni. sat nam wahe guru ji, bul chuk maaf karni, sat nam wahe guru ji, bul chuk maaf karni. sat nam wahe guru ji, bul chuk maaf karni. sat nam wahe guru ji, bul chuk maaf karni, sat nam wahe guru ji, bul chuk maaf karni."

They say that prophet Mohammed (may peace be up on him) used to ask for forgiveness 72 times a day from Allah...now if a great man like Mohammad asked for forgiveness 72 times a day...i must recite "Sat Nam" ten times in every single breath.

Wahe Guru!

Wow! I'm learning so much about how (the real) dictionary stuff works. Did you guys know that you can write code to transliterate ("That is writing the text of one language in another script...")...i had no idea. what a concept! :) i want to do it from english to punjabi (usually it's the other way around).

we'll be using unicode font
realized that i'm probably going to get another techy sikh, who can at least do one portion away from me (design, database or code)....CALLING any techies or web designers who want to help! anyone out there!!! (i'm going to ask gurpreet singh, whom i haven't talked to in ages or hit the sikhnet chatrooms)
ohh last but not least i'm going to have to ask for lots of permissions (i'm keeping a list) because i finally got the list of words downloaded.
i'm writing to someone in (south india) who's actually working on a project in gurmukhi.

End of Day 2

2005-07-31T20:36:00.000-04:00

dujy idn dI smwpqI !

Well I finished the Database design (on a second thought I won't be putting the Schema on the web but if any sikh brother and sister wants to help/ even take the lead on this project I'll be more than willing to share).
I got the english dictionary online from somewhere I forget the site's name but it was for free under the GNU licensing.
I registered a "catchy" domain name :) I have so many domain names it's not funny!

Tomorrow night I'm going to call Ajit newspaper and other contacts overseas. I'll post whatever comes out of those "meetings".

Personal note of the day: Asise Kaur, my 9 month old daughter went up the stairs and came down a stair...big day in the Singh household :)

Day 2

2005-07-31T11:33:00.000-04:00

i'll post the project plan and i'm hoping by the end of next weekend (a 3 day weekend for me) i should have a prototype up and running just to collect information.

i was thinking about calling up Ajit (newspaper) in jalandhar since they're the only major publication(that i know of) that posts gurmukhi on web on that scale(on monday). and see if they can give me pointers on this project. in return i'll help them with their mysql server problems.

also, i want to do this right. i don't just want a single punjabi word with an english word translation. i want to go the whole ten yards. i keep coming up with new things to add to the project. so i figured i take apart microsoft word dictionary and see how they did theirs.

so far i have:
word: synonyms : english translation, synonyms and a sentence
word's other form (adjective, verb and so on...)
and a sentence
because it's going to be almost impossible to go back and add all this in. it'll be a slow process (to build the dictionary) but it'll be worth the wait i think.

Welcome

2005-07-30T17:35:00.000-04:00

Å

This blog is for the project "Gurmukhi Dictionary". I will post updates on this blog and you can post suggestions and comments. Tonight (EDT) I will post the schema for the database that'll used to host the words and phrases. If you want to submit a file of words/meanings you should submit in this format:

punjabi word (in gurmukhi font): punjabi word synonyms (gurmukhi font): english word: english word synonyms

For example:

tur : qur, cl : walk, stroll

use it in a sentence:

myh qurn] hy]: i wan to walk