This year’s Book Fair saw Dr. Mahmud Hasan launching Dharapat, the first-ever Bengali calculator, as well as Dharakram, a digital clock that can also read Bengali numerals. These innovative devices are developed to overcome the difficulties that people face while using an English-based calculator. Dr Hasan aims to ensure that technology is more user friendly and easier for Bengali speakers ensuring that they can work with numbers and time seamlessly in their native language. Dharapat has a 12-segment display, with accurate representation of Bengali digits from ০ (0) to ৯ (9). It also adds the red and green colors of the Bangladeshi national flag and also the buttons are marked in Bengali. Dr. Hasan hopes it will help students, farmers and small businesses that often struggle with calculators that use English numerals.
Dr. Hasan is a physicist, inventor, and robotics expert who works at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, widely recognized for his involvement of the Bengali language with technology. He created Bengali typewriters and fonts, and in 1998 he designed the BASCII encoding system for Bengali characters, promoting access for people in India and other countries who speak and read Bengali. Dr. Hasan has worked on developing technology that can accurately process Bengali language, and his efforts have inspired many to explore the rich linguistic diversity offered by non-Latin scripts.
Dharapat to be launched soon with an estimated price between Tk350 and Tk400 is going to be a welcome addition and will help individuals who prefer Bengali numerals to use it on their own in the day to day activities. Dr Hasan is working to make technology a friendlier and more culturally relevant one for people using Dharapat and Dharakram as well, aiming for people speaking Bengali to use digital devices in their native language without having to switch between different languages.
Source: Business Inspection BD
