This is the seventh visit of Amma, the Indian from Kerala who hugs peoople, to Finland, since she first visited in 1998. Amma enjoys her own web site in Finland and a record attendance was witnessed in Helsinki yesterday.
Amma has an estimated 8000 devout followers in Finland.
The Amma group is operating in 11 major cities in Finland (not in my home town: Oulu)!
* Hämeenlinna
* Jyväskylä
* Joensuu
* Kemi
* Kuopio
* Lahti
* Pori
* Porvoo
* Rovaniemi
* Sodankylä
* Tampere
In a country with such a small population as Finland, (5.2 million), this is an enormous spread.
Amma even gets news coverage during prime time TV news!
Like the Beatles ran after the Maharishi Yogi or transcendental meditation fame, leading Finns, such as the Finnish Minister of Culture, Tanja Karpela, a former beauty queen, are running after Amma.
In India, where we have an Amma in almost every small Panchayat, it is indeed strange for an Indian, from Kerala, to watch Finns fawning over this lady from his own home area.
Hope it does them some good to be hugged by her. They desperately need help if they need someone like Amma to fill their lives.
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