In Vadodara to undertake a comparative study of Korean and Gujarati, Doo says there's an uncanny similarity between the scripts of the two languages. So much so that a Korean would not face too much of a problem in deciphering Gujarati signboards when he lands at the city airport!

``Though I cannot understand what they mean, nor can I pronounce them, I can read a Gujarati hoarding'', says Doo. ``It's a pleasure not to feel like a total illiterate in a new land!''

Doo says he became aware of the similarities between the two scripts in his homeland itself. ``A South Korean reporters had come to Gujarat and he noticed the similarities between certain letters of the two alphabets and commented on them in his report. That is what awakened my interest in the subject.''

Doo, who is here to study the similarity and the reasons for them, says that though Gujarati letters string together to make words that have no relevance in the Korean language, ``the similarity does not make me feel as if I'm so many kilometres away from home.''