Meet to felicitate man of many words

Ashish Vashi | TNN

Ahmedabad:    His work is landmark. He has digitised Gujarati language on cyber space and built a website through which one can easily find meanings of all Gujarati words online and translate from Gujarati to English or vice-versa.
At the age of 88, Ratilal Chandaria has not retired. He always tries to find ways to make Gujarati more accessible to the generation next or NRGs. Last year, their company launched another website Bhagawatgomandal online.
Chandaria is one of the main guests at the 4th Vishwa Gujarati Parishad (VGP) which will also felicitate him on Saturday for his contribution to promote Gujarati. Ratilal will deliver a speech on the occasion. ‘GujaratiLexicon’ — the online Gujarati language resources is a non-profit programme and contains more than 25 lakh words.
“It aims to preserve, popularise and develop Gujarati language through the power of information technology. Lovers of Gujarati language can develop vocabulary, enjoy literature, read exclusive literature and join our mission through GujaratiLexicon,” says Ratilal Chandaria. Born in Nairobi in 1922, Ratilal completed his education at Nairobi and Mombasa. At the beginning of the Second World War, he migrated to India along with his parents. He returned to Nairobi in 1946 to join family trading activities and than he moved to Dar es Salaam in 1960. To take the family’s industrial expansion to Europe, he moved to London in 1965 and where he is presently based.

Ratilal Chandaria

– Courtesy – Times Of India