Do you experience this urge?

Very occasionally, I get an urge to do nothing constructive or destructive for a whole day. No walk, no going to the office, no handling telephone calls, no writing letters.

Today was one of those days.

When I woke up in the morning, I read the Kalvea, our local newspaper, and did the EASY Sudoku.

I have just started to play this as I saw Bina, my cousin Thambi's wife, in Mumbai, enjoying it. Thanks Bina!

I have not yet got the hang of it, but today, for the first time, I finished the EASY puzzle. I tried to move on to the next level, but as it was taxing my brains, I stopped.

Toast with cinnamon and honey, followed by a cup of cinnamon and honey tea. I am continuing following my friend's advice. Next Monday is my blood test, almost three months after disaster was called by the doctor in Chennai!

Then, after a short nap on the sofa, I noted it was almost 11 am. I settled in front of the TV to watch Roger Federer and Andy Murray battle the final of the Australian Open Tennis Championship. Federer won quite easily as Andy Murray just did not have the power, the tactics, or the experience of his opponent, the world's greatest tennis player. The service and shots all around the court were exquisite.

While watching this I learnt that Indian, Leander Paes, and his partner had won the mixed doubles title at the tournament. I wonder whether theywill make much of it in the Indian Media. If he was a Finn, there would be virtually non-stop coverage as such victories are used to motivate the youngsters in this country.

Then it was time for a stretch out on the sofa for a second nap. Exhilarating!

It soon approached 16.45 and it was time to watch TV again, the final of the African Nations Football Cup, where Ghana was playing against Egypt. The game was quite unlike the European or the Latin American styles, although most of the players play in clubs in Europe.

Egypt won. It was not a very convincing win, as the Ghanaians did not have the finishing power in their line up.

Both events were enjoyable as I was not supporting anyone. i could just sit back and enjoy the sport!

Annikki prepared our regular Sunday roast chicken, vegetables and potatoes dinner. I had time to check my email, and do this blog entry in time for my readers who will check in early Monday morning!

Should I do this more often? Probably, although I did feel guilty when I sat in front of my computer and found so many lovely emails from so many of you, including news of a wedding in March 2010 of my second cousin's daughter. Their wedding will be in Nagpur, the very centre of India.

1989 December: Annikki at the pillar marking the Centre Point of India.

This is a picture taken in 1989 when Annikki and I stopped in Nagpur on our way to and from Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Nagpur was the closest airport at that time. We rented a car with driver and enjoyed a wonderful holiday in Kanha where we saw two tigers during our stay, both on our very first day there.

Memories of our past plus a relaxing day. What more could I ask before I enter the fray again tomorrow!

Surfeit of political postings?

Some of our regular readers have emailed us that Annikki and I have of late been blogging more on politics than on general life in Finland or India.

We are living in most critical times.

Annikki and I are socio-political writers. We do not write any fiction, but we write about life as we see it.

At the moment, the political scene is crowded with important information that we want our readers to know, be it in India, Finland, US, UK or any other country about which we do have the knowledge to write about.

Corruption is rampant in all these countries. Poverty, hatred, violence is spreading.

And President barrack Obama ended his State of the Union speech with the phrase "God Bless America".

Does that mean God should not bless any other country?

What special relationship has America got with God?

Is this not the saddest reflection of our times, as each country wants God to bless them in isolation of others?

Would it not be nicer for a world leader to say "God Bless all the people of this world - Agnostics, Atheists, Baha'i, Buddhists, Christians, Confucianists, Hindus, Islamists, Jains, Jews, Shintoists, Sikhs, Taoists, Wiccaists, Zoroastrians, and Druids, Tribals, ..."

Is that not what we want out of God other than His narrow focus on one particular country.

This draws me to an anecdote that I have used a couple of times on this blog, but which is worth repeating as it has a meaning at just this time.

Radha, Gnani, me and Annikki at
our daughter's wedding in Exeter, 1992.

The late Gnani Perinpanayagam was a brilliant Sri lankan born, British socio-linguistics professor who worked during the final few years of his life in Finland in Oulu University. He and his late wife, Radha, were very dear family friends of Annikki and myself. They came to depend on us for adjusting to their life in Finland.

He told us of an incident when he had been standing by an escalator in one of the large department stores in London. From his looks he did look like a "foreigner" in London. A white teenager, obviously not very educated, came up to him and demanded to know: "What are you doing in MY country?"

Gnani slowly turned to him and asked in return: "What are you doing in MY world?"

The stunned boy was speechless and moved on.

I wish politicians would realise that when they promote nationalism and patriotism, they also promote divisionism, which is the curse of our world today.

The uneducated masses tend to play on this and from this core, based on the seeds of hatred bred by these "politicians, come the terrorists and suicide bombers that kill innocent women and children, just as "educated" politicians as Bush and Blair did the same.

I hope the people of UK and America realise that it is THEIR politicians who are the problem as they spawn divisionism and hatred among people! They are the true breeders of "terrorism". Any fight they carry out on "terrorists" will be fruitless, as THEY are the real "Osama bin Ladens" of this world!

If only they would give "Peace a Chance" and start a "Department" or "Ministry" for Peace with the same budget as their "War machinery" or Defence Department which is really an Offence Department, what a different place this world would be.

We can hope!

"I'll do it again" says Blair

The Chilcot Inquiry is looking at events between 2001 and 2009, covering the decision to go to war against Iraq, whether troops were properly prepared, how the conflict was conducted and what planning there was for its aftermath. It is claimed that the terms of reference are unprecedented in their breadth.

Inquiry Chairman, Sir John Chilcot, says he will not shirk from apportioning blame where he sees fit. 179 British service personnel were killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. Many tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians died over the period.

The inquiry began in July 2009. Sir John and the four other panel members met some of the families of the 179 UK personnel killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 as well as former and current serving personnel. During the meetings, several relatives of those killed criticised the decision to go to war, saying the British people had been lied to about the threat posed by Iraq.

Sir John and his fellow panel members also spent weeks examining thousands of relevant documents from across government. Some documents have not been declassified, meaning that although the inquiry can view them they cannot be made public.

The report of the result of the inquiry is being delayed till 2011. This shows it is a partisan one as the result should have been before the British people before the next General election.

So not much good can be expected out of this. The time frame says it all.



This man, Tony Blair, should be put away for life. He is a psychopath!

Tony Blair told the Chilcot Inquiry the he was prepared to do the same again! That is - To kill thousands of innocent people!

What Tony Blair wants to do again is kill many hundred thousand innocent women and children to fulfill HIS belief that there are weapons of mass destruction anywhere where someone whom he does not like is in power.

This man, Tony Blair, is a war criminal on par with Bush, Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin.

There is only one place for the likes of him.

A secure mental institution, where his arrogance, stupidity and poodle-like behaviour are never again unleashed on this world.

In front of the Inquiry, yesterday, Tony Blair was arrogant and unrepentant about all the unnecessary killings of innocent Iraqis. He linked the Iraq war to 9/11, which is simply not true. Not a single Iraqi was involved in 9/11.

Blair claimed falsely that Saddam Hussain was not allowing the Weapons Inspectors to do their job. This is simply not true. There is ample evidence from both Dr. Hans Martin Blix and Dr. Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei what was the situation on the ground in Iraq. They were pleading for just a little more time to confirm their findings that there were no WMD in Iraq.

That would have been unacceptable to Bush and Blair as they wanted to spill blood - innocent blood, not caring whose blood it was!

Blair wanted, like Bush and Margaret Thatcher, to go down in history as a man in shining armour carrying his country to victory(?). Tony Blair destroyed the lives of several British men and women and their families to try to go down in glory in the history books.

A tragic victory (?) for whom?

Not for the innocent civilian women and children Iraqis that Blair and Bush have mutilated and murdered!

Tony Blair certainly goes down in My history book as a WAR CRIMINAL!

Obama cried "Foul"! Interesting!

President Barrack Obama's State of the Union speech was interesting in that it was full of contradictions.

He said he is phasing down the US military agenda abroad, whereas all he has done since is coming to the office is to ramp it up, continue the policies of the previous administration and show no direction in world politics, except rhetoric.

However the most glaring statement made by him was the criticism levelled at the US Supreme Court, which in its recent ruling, stated that Corporations had equal rights as individuals as to their role in election financing!

Obama may stand today for something different. He may have been supported by mass popular appeal.

That was because he had a great spin machine.

Let us look at the composition of the US Supreme Court today:

Chief Justice John Roberts

Associate Justices

John Paul Stevens
Antonin Scalia
Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor

Do you note anything in particular?

The Roberts Court (2005–present) began with the confirmation and swearing in of Chief Justice John G. Roberts on September 29, 2005, and is the current presiding court.[58] The Roberts Court is seen as more conservative than the previous court.[59] Some of the major rulings so far have been in the areas of abortion (Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood,[60] Gonzales v. Carhart);[61] anti-trust legislation (Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc.);[62] the death penalty (Baze v. Rees,[63] Kennedy v. Louisiana);[64] the Fourth Amendment (Hudson v. Michigan);[65] free speech of government employees and of high school students (Garcetti v. Ceballos,[66] Morse v. Frederick);[67] military detainees (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld,[68] Boumediene v. Bush);[69] school desegregation (Parents v. Seattle);[70] voting rights (Crawford v. Marion County Election Board);[71] the Second Amendment (District of Columbia v. Heller),[72] and campaign finance (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission).[73]

Do you remember when Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito were appointed? 2005 and 2006!

These two radical fundamentalist Justices were appointed under the previous administration when Obama was in the Senate.

What was he doing then?

Although he did not support the appointment of these two people, what was he doing in the Senate?

When Bush had no 60 vote majority, did Obama stand up and filibuster these appointments? Did he lobby his fellow Democrats and convince them of his belief of what lay ahead with the appointment of these two people to the Supreme Court?

Obama showed no leadership then, just as today he is swinging with the wind!

Obama can cry foul today, but he was a short-sighted Senator jockeying his position to power when these crucial appointments were made.

The rest of the democratic world could see what lay ahead.

If the man had no vision then, can you expect him to have any different vision today?

Obama can cry "FOUL" all he wants, TODAY. But he is the one, by his irresponsibility and lack of courage of convictions, that made what occurred in the Supreme Court last week, happen!

Future of SAAB

The international media has been speculating about the future of SAAB, the automaker owned by FORD and now to be sold to the Dutch company, Spyker.

SAAB is not just an automaker.

Here is the latest news about another division of the company.

The Finnish military defence department awarded a follow-on contract to Saab for an additional delivery of the widely deployed air defence technologies.

Swedish based Saab said that it has been selected by Finland to deliver an order for its Robotsystem 70 (RBS 70), a ground based air defence system.

This is an approximately Euro 25.29 million order. Global defence contractor Saab will deliver its RBS 70s, a short-range man-portable laser guided missile system, to the Finnish army.

"This is very positive and it further proves the capability of the RBS 70 system which until now has been exported to 18 countries located on all five continents," Tomas Samuelsson, Saab Business Area Dynamics head, said in a statement.

A shot in the arm for troubled car maker SAAB?

Can Finland afford this extravaganza? Is it really necessary for a small country like Finland to invest in such technologies? Or is it the Finnish male egoists that continue to play war games for their own pleasure.

Since all Finnish males go through the compulsory army service, where they are brain-washed, this would seem a logical move. Very few survive this brain washing process.

If any opposition is voiced, angry fingers will be pointed by the "nationalist"!

Is it for me?

Yesterday was an exciting day as I was waiting for 9 pm Finnish Time, 10 am US Pacific time. It was at that hour Steve Jobs, CEO f Apple Inc. was to unveil details of Apple's new product.

Unfortunately, just minutes before the scheduled time, when it was going to be streamed live on the Internet, the internet connection in the US collapsed leaving us all in limbo and watching the text description of what was happening along with many iPhone pictures of what was happening on the stage as this new product, called the iPad was being released.

iPad docked with a keyboard.

As excited as I was to see this thin product with over 100000 applications ready to go by the time it hits the market in 60 days, I wondered whether it was a product for me.

The iPad looks like a very large iPhone. It is a 1.25 cm thick, weighs 675 gms, and has a 24.65 cm LCD screen (with 1024 by 768 resolution). It will use a custom-made 1GHz CPU and flash storage and, Jobs claimed, will get up to 10 hours of battery life.

For connectivity, in addition to the optional 3G, it has 802.11n, WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1; it can sync to a Mac via USB. To feed those 3G connections, Jobs announced two new cellular data plans from AT&T in the US: $14.99 a month for 250MB of data, $29.99 a month for unlimited data; both are prepaid, neither requires a contract.

I am a multi-tasker - I am working on my computer, browsing, using email, handling my calendar, writing books, working on enhancing photographs, editing my photograph collection, blogging, updating all my address books, wishing my many friends on their birthdays, posting updates in Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo and other social networking sites, and / or listening to music or Talk Radio.

Yes, I really do multitask. So far, only a full fledged computer, like the Mac Mini, has that flexibility at a low price.

What I was looking for may not exist on the new iPad, or so it seemed as was explained. It does not seem to have the power and workability that I need.

Although I am an early adopter of Apple Products, it is only when I am convinced it will meet my requirements.

I see Apple moving closer to my vision of the multi-tasking keyboard, which idea I shared with Steve Jobs way back in 2002. But Apple has not yet fully grasped my concept. They are working towards my visions in very tiny incremental steps.

Will I buy the iPad?

Probably not, even though the price seems very attractive.

I think I will wait for Model 2 or even Model 3 of the iPad before I think of indulging. I think many Apple early adopters will probably follow my lead.

Well done Steve. Your team has created a good product, but not one YET good enough for me!

Interesting question - one which I had not addressed!

Today I met an avid reader of my blogs. Although an acquaintance of a long time, I have never had a chance to have an in depth word with him.

So he hit me right between the eyes when he asked me a direct question, which I have never addressed on my web pages or my blogs ever.

He asked me that in most cases I write on the blogs using the "Royal " WE. What he wanted to know was how much do Annikki and I have in common to write as WE?

Annikki is an introvert while I am an extrovert.

Me by Armeane Choksi.

Annikki is highly religious and focused on her faith. I am a secularist where all religions have the same meaning to me so long as it personal and not organised.

Of course we have differing views on most subjects. Our children will probably testify about the shouting matches we used to have when they were kids.

But, after discussion and debate, on everything we write about, we agree absolutely. Life in India, life in Finland, clothes (she chooses mine), hair styles (she designs mine), kids, grandkids, parents, grandparents, family, bureaucracy, police, lawyers, judiciary, and almost every subject about which we have very strong opinions - we tend to agree - but not without debate.

There are a couple of areas where we tend to disagree about life styles. One is the use of medical drugs and supplements . I tend to use none, except when ordered by a doctor for a specific condition. Annikki is a health fiend in that she reads everything there is to know, does not accept the advice of a doctor as she has read something different, and usually suffers much longer than me to get rid of a problem. The minute I feel any ailment approaching, I gargle with boiling hot water with sea salt added, and cool off the system with a teaspoon of honey. Lately I have moved to having cinnamon and honey. In the old days my mom kept me fit as a fiddle with ginger juice, lemon juice and some ground pure gold.

My migraine was cured by an old woman in the wilderness of India after all the doctors in the town had failed. My sinusitis was cured by a homeopath when nothing else worked.

So our differences are quite superficial, but our agreements run deep.

Over our 43 years of married life, we have had very few intense disagreements and usually they are settled before we get to bed.

Annikki is my friend. I look up to her as such a talented person you cannot find on the face of this earth. That talent is not for money, but for love. Whether it is her paintings, her cake designs, her garden designs, her house interiors, everything is to a perfection.

To see my views about her, I suggest you read my tribute I wrote about her on her 60th birthday! that was 6 years ago.

And I have not changed my mind one iota since that time!

Thank you for asking that question as, on the 28th of January we will celebrate our 43rd Wedding Anniversary and celebrate 19 years since the launch of Findians Briefings - our first publication together, of which this blog is one of the outcomes!

Work load keeps increasing

Many thanks to so many of you for the kind advice on how to handle my increasing workload.

But, it is not that simple when one is a writer and unofficial legal advisor.

I presently have four books under preparation, and each requires that I suffer no writer's block.

The first book is the Coffee Table Book of Cake Designs, called "Edible Art" by Annikki.



The fact that we very successfully did the Coffee Table Book for our Mumbai Cathedral School 59ers 50th Year Reunion, (ruined by the ICICI Bank with no remorse, of course) has only driven Annikki to complain that I have not given enough thought and put in enough effort to complete her book. That is true, as all of the work is on my table, Annikki having done her part in producing those fantastic cake designs over the last 25 years.



The second book, a real life story called "Last Will and Testament" will be on hold so long as some of my older relatives in India are still alive. I have completed this book. Recent developments only helped confirm my suspicions. Now I have the required proof of the misdeeds of the people concerned. But this book is on hold, although I continue to work on it at regular intervals.

Oulu "Lawyer" Kari Kantakoski outside the house
he has illegally appropriated for himself!

The third book called "Inheritance Nightmare" is another thriller real life story of the degree of corruption prevalent in Finnish Society. Although the original manuscript was ready many weeks ago, new facts keep coming to light which makes it mandatory for me to update the chapters till I am sure that I will not have to change it again for a couple of years. It shows the handiwork of a Finnish Master Conman working through the corrupt Finnish System!



The fourth book, which handles the ineffciency and incompetence of Banks in India, primarily with Annikki and my recent experience with the ICICI Bank, was originally just going to be a letter or web page.

But the grossness of their actions and their inability to take responsibility, plus a whole lot of new evidence which came to me through the internet and also by contact with persons who have had the horror of dealing with this bank, made us change it from the internet / letter idea, to a full fledged book.

Let there be no mistake about this - if you deal with the ICICI Bank, you do so at your own risk Ask my friend "Mr. N." who was promised a Housing Loan Application to be cleared in 48 hours. It took over 3 months!

Or take the experience of someone who, because of tragic circumstances, defaulted on a loan given by ICICI Bank. The bank, in a manner chosen especially to embarrass the loan taker in front of his community, sent the collection goondas at the midnight hour, to stir up a dramatic scene and cause the embarrassed individual to lose face.

I am assured that ICICI bank is the only Indian bank that follows such a horrible degrading practice.

But all this pales into comparison with what Annikki and i experienced between October 27th 2009 and January 2010. If any person was to view the data which is now contained in the book, whose title is yet to be chosen, I think they must be real fools to keep their money in this bank.

But more fool them then us, as we have already withdrawn all our funds from the ICICI Bank!

So this book, is now raring to go, once I find an appropriate title. Any suggestions?

In addition I have one application for justice to file with the European Court, another application to be filed with the Finnish Chancellor, another application to be filed with the European Ombudsman, and several small but major litigations to handle in Finnish Courts at different levels.

Most Finnish Lawyers are untrustworthy. Their only intention is to line their own pockets. These litigations and applications, therefore, have to be done personally by me! Annikki steps in whenever a Finnish Translation is required.

So this workload can never decrease, as each day sees many more steps of work coming along the way.

Oh, to be retired!

The feeling of home

You have to wander around our home (except my office room) and you will understand how much of an artist, my dear wife, Annikki is.

Everything has a correct place. The detail is exquisite. It is so fine that one wonders how her brain works.

Yesterday, as I sat in the living room, not really watching anything on the TV, I glanced around the room. It was so beautiful.

I decided to record it on my digital camera. With the flash off, I could not capture the detail I wanted to. So I am giving below a series of shots taken with the flash (hence the light reflections) as I looked around just one room in our home.

It is like sitting in heaven!















Three diverse items of her personal art creations, the chalk sketch of the trees on an island with its reflection in the lake, the crayon drawing of the grazing zebras and the hand-stitched creation of the zebras bottoms which she made for my mother. The last item took over seven months to finish and it adorned my mother's living room till she died.

But there are many more handiworks from Annikki's collection on display here, too incricate for a non-artistic brain of mine to describe. Of course, our collection of art glass, crystal and really beautiful modern glass creations are also found at different locations, each complimenting the other.

Usually friends who walk into our house are stunned by the sheer grandeur, but they do not know that almost 95% of the stuff is from the Flea Markets around Oulu!

And this is just our living room.

I shall take you round other rooms in a day or two - except that Annikki must not catch me taking the photographs, as she would never allow me to put them up on the internet if even one detail is not exactly as she wants it!

What does it feel like to be ahead of your time?

Almost 6 years ago when my dear friend from Bangalore, Anil Ananathkrishnan, the brilliant electric vehicles designer, sent me the present of an "electric scooter", it was the first one to ht the shores of Europe.

When I drove it around, I sort of visualised how the picture would pan out in the years ahead.

Europe's first Electric Scooter - FinnScoot.
A present to me from Anil.


The dashboard of the scooter.


The soundless direct drive which gives
100% power transmission.


A rare shot of me driving my electric scooter
near our home.

One of my predictions, at that time, was that supermarkets would have parking places where one would be able to recharge the electric batteries.

Yesterday evening, I drove into the Stockmann Department store parking garage under the store. As I drove around look for a parking slot, I saw a strange blue light in a couple of parking slots. As one of these slots was empty, I parked my jalopy and went to examine what was the blue light atop a green pillar.


An electric charging point.


Close up of the charging point

It is the first charging slot for electric vehicles. One can just plug in the vehicle when one is shopping.

My vision is now a reality!

As yet, this charging is not going to attract any fee, and it is included in the parking fee.

But do not expect that to last for long. As soon as the "financial managers" start to look at what it can do for the bottom line, we are going to see the charges introduced.

From 2004, Anil's Electric Scooters have come a long way. I had the good fortune to see his latest models, including the EV 60 Elektric, while I was in Bangalore in October 2009. It was just fabulous. Very comfortable compared to the earlier models. It is a 1878 Watts, 60 Volts Electric Scooter - Two Seater. It is wonderful to see how far they have progressed.

The models still to be released looked very exciting.

Considering that I gave Anil, and his lovely wife, Lalitha, the name of their company "Eko Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.", I am really happy to see the company doing so well.

My only hope is that Anil hands over marketing and sales to some enterprising dynamic company, while he puts his efforts into research and development, as India is fortunate to have such a wonderful brain at its disposal.

If you are interested in getting a scooter with a special JM discount, let me know and I will see you get a scooter directly from the factory.

Trust me, it is a super vehicle and Anil's deals are really great. It is a BEST BUY anywhere in the world!

But as the saying goes "A great man is recognised last in his own home."

Dilemma! What do I do?

I was in this dilemma when I stated blogging in December 2004. I had one blog for all my different audiences. At that time I also had web pages devoted to different sectors of readers.

There was a clamour amongst my readers of the blog that I was out of tune with them as they were reading many items that they were not interested in as they pertained to my alma maters or something specific to Oulu, etc.

It was then I started breaking up my blogs - besides my primary Blog (Jacob's Blog), I started one on Politics, another related to my association with Cathedral School (Mumbai), another about St. Stephen's College (Delhi), another about finding goods and services in Oulu, etc.

Everybody was happy!

All went well till my recent trip to India, where I stopped all my auxiliary blogs and kept only my main blog going, with just a few very specific entries to my other blogs.

My readership shot up as it appeared that many were interested in all aspects of my trip around India - which I had termed as "Incredible India".

The readership more than doubled at one point. People were referring others to my blog and it just snow-balled into a massive readerfest. Old and young, relatives and friends, school and college mates, Findians, O-Indians, my professional colleagues, past and present, were all tuned in. And many strangers from around the world were liking my style!

Wherever I went I found I needed no introduction as people had been following my blog. As I recorded, at one stage it became highly embarrassing, as people would come up to me and ask whether I knew them!

On returning to Finland, I went back to my old system.

Now I am having a spate of complaints. Many say that I should only blog at one point.

That would be great for me but not fair on my diverse audience. For instance the Cathedral School Alumni Association have especially complimented me on my sustained effort to keep the school spirit at its height by my blogging.

That is definitely not possible as my Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs have very specific readerships. And not everyone likes my Politics. To burden all my regular readers with MY political views would be unfair. And my Oulu Best (Worst) Buy Blog is very specific to my Oulu Readers. Who in India or USA wants to read about the price of eggs in Oulu?

Is there any single solution, which is outside my very limited knowledge, which will help keep all my readers happy?

One way is that you could become a "Follower" of a specific blog. Whenever the one you are interested is updated, you will get a message from Google. No infringement of your privacy. You can always stop the "Follower" program whenever you want.

That way, it would stop my having to post important blog entries on my multiple blogs. (Possibly - as I have not yet looked into the ramifications of this alternative.)

If you have any suggestions, please email me or leave me a COMMENT. (Although my blogs are not exactly "Comment" blogs, I do read all the comments and reply them appropriately - also knocking off the spam that does come in.

This entry is being posted on all my major blogs, as it concerns all my readers in all categories.

Obama gets kicked in his teeth

This piece was carried on my Jacob's Politics Blog.

Yesterday was the crucial Massachusetts election to elect the replacement Senator for the late Edward Kennedy.

It is true that the Republicans ran a good campaign while the Democrats ran one of the worst campaigns ever run by a Senate candidate.

But the difference of almost 5% (52% Republicans - 47% Democrats) in a "safe" Democrat seat was not a result of this.

The result reflected a total rejection of how President Barrack Obama is keeping his campaign promises when he promised "CHANGE".

What has changed in troop deployments? The US forces are still stuck in Iraq. A new front has been opened by sending additional troops to Afghanistan. The "Stop Loss" programme in the US army has not been reformed. Another new front has opened in Yemen. Extra-judicial killings using drones and hit squads has continued. Guantanamo has not been closed. America has experienced another suicide bomber aboard a US plane! The area of attacks has widened.

This is not what the American people voted for when the elected Barrack Obama. He kept claiming he voted against the Iraq War - now we see that was a big lie!

In addition the attacks on the USA has increased BECAUSE of the "collateral damage" inflicted by US forces on innocent lives in different parts of the world.

The bank bail out has benefited Wall Street, and not Main Street.

Barrack Obama is weak on how he tries to negotiate with the Republicans.

With 60 votes in the Senate all his efforts are mired.

Did pResident Bush ever have 60 votes when he hammered the American people with his agenda?

It shows the weakness of the Democrat Party and also President Obama.

The Democrats may cry all they want - but as long as they have such weak leaders in both the House and the Senate, things are goíng nowhere. America will be back in Bush country before long and the Republicans will be talking about the "nuclear option" when the do not even have 50 votes in the Senate!

To give a Democrat Senator a personal sweetener to get him to vote for a Democrat sponsored bill on Health Care reform, really took the cake!

Say bye-bye Democrats - you had your chance and it seems you BLEW IT!

Health advice from a layman

Yesterday, I had an email which was forwarded to me by a good friend in Mysore. It contained details of the benefits of consuming cinnamon with honey.

I am not a doctor and have absolutely no knowledge of health matters. I live a simple life and eat mainly what my wife puts on the table. I did not take any medicines for many many years, and although I have been a borderline diabetic, it really never crossed over till my recent visit to India, where the partying almost every day, the rich food, plenty of Indian sweets, pushed me right over the top.

When I visited the diagnostic clinic in Chennai, the doctor was worried and put me on a crash 2 month 1500 calorie diet advice with a string of medicines and health supplements.

My partying continued for another week in Mumbai (as we had a class 50th year reunion) and then I went on to the advice given by the doctor.

A month later, before I left Delhi, I went to check the values that were problematic at another diagnostic clinic. My problem values had halved, bringing most of them in line with normalcy.

I have continued the medicines for another month and will get myself tested in Oulu shortly.

When I received this email from my friend, it seemed very interesting, as it sort of handled all my problems.

I discussed this with Annikki, who reads all the possible health news sheets that she can lay her hands on. She pointed me to a book by an Indian author she had picked up almost 16 years ago called "Herbs That Heal". (The author does not sing great praises about all discoveries being ofIndian origin and gives the history of the medicinal uses of most herbs as it is knwn from literature.)

H. K. Bakhru was an employee in the Indian Railways till his retirement in 1984. But he has a countrywide reputation as an naturopath and has written much on the subject.

The book contained quite a bit about cinnamon which sort of agreed with the contents of the email.

I went to the supermarket, yesterday, and got myself a large bottle of cinnamon powder. I had a couple of cups of cinnamon / honey tea yesterday. This morning I replaced the jam on my toast with a spread of cinnamon and honey.

I like the taste and smell of cinnamon. Before coming back from India, i bought large tube of toothpaste, which is cinnamon flavoured. (I also bought one which is neem flavoured as I also like neem.)

I enjoyed the tea and the breakfast. Now that I am off my medicine routine, i hope that this combination with my wife's control of my diet, will keep my in trim.

I reproduce below the contents of the email I received.

CINNAMON AND HONEY

FYI....Here's some new uses for cinnamon and honey.


NEVER GIVE HONEY TO A BABY UNDER THE AGE OF ONE YEAR.


Cinnamon and Honey

Honey is the only food on the planet that will not spoil or rot. It will do what some call turning to sugar. In reality honey is always honey. However, when left in a cool dark place for a long time it will do what I rather call "crystallizing". When this happens I loosen the lid, boil some water, and sit the honey container in the hot water, turn off the heat and let it liquefy. It is then as good as it ever was. Never boil honey or put it in a microwave. To do so will kill the enzymes in the honey.

Cinnamon and Honey

Bet the drug companies won't like this one getting around..

Facts on Honey and Cinnamon: It is found that a mixture of honey and Cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world. Scientists of today also accept honey as a 'Ram Ban' (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.

Today's science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, in its issue dated 17 January,1995 has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by western scientists:

HEART DISEASES:

Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Also, those who have already had an attack, if they do this process daily, they are kept miles away from the next attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada , various nursing homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.

ARTHRITIS:

Arthritis patients may take daily, morning and night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain.

BLADDER INFECTIONS:

Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It destroys the germs in the bladder.

CHOLESTEROL:

Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient, was found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is cured. According to information received in the said Journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.

COLDS:

Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and clear the sinuses.

UPSET STOMACH:

Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.

GAS:

According to the studies done in India and Japan, it is revealed that if Honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas.

IMMUNE SYSTEM:

Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of Honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacterial and viral diseases.

INDIGESTION:

Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals..

INFLUENZA:

A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains a natural ' Ingredient' which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

LONGEVITY:

Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder, and three cups of water and boil to make like tea.. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also increase and even a 100 year old, starts performing the chores of a 20-year-old.

PIMPLES:

Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks, it removes pimples from the root.

SKIN INFECTIONS:

Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin infections.

WEIGHT LOSS:

Daily in the morning, one half hour before breakfast on an empty stomach, and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. If taken regularly, it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.

CANCER:

Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day.

FATIGUE:

Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 P.M. when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.

BAD BREATH:

People of South America , first thing in the morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.

HEARING LOSS:

Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts restores hearing. Remember when we were kids? We had toast with real butter and cinnamon sprinkled on it!

Maybe I do not believe everything contained in the above email, but as it checked out with what my wife was saying, I thought it a better alternative to consuming a pile of drugs. My wife did warn me that she had read somewhere that there are a coupe of side effects of using natural cinnamon, which has some additional ingredient which is not all that beneficial.

So I will let you know the result of my trials in a few weeks.

Thank you Naval for this email, as it certainly came when I needed to take some positive action in my health life!

Something out of place?

A walk around the Vesaisentie garden last summer after it has been reinvented by Annikki will reveal this scene. It is truly beautiful and the devil is in the fine detail that Annikki has put into it.

I am sorry that it is being posted out of season.

This entry was actually made in summer, but for some reason, never got published.

The "Green Door" of Kampitie has become the "Silver Door" of Vesaisentie. It is an amazing piece as we look at it out of the kitchen window.

However, publishing it in the heart of winter, gives us something to look forward to!

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to a great Spring to be followed by a wonderful Summer.

Unparalled beauty alongside tragedy

As I stepped out at midday today, to go an pick up Mika from his water immersion physiotherapy, I drove out of the gate, and was struck by the scenery in front of me.

I stopped the car, got out and clicked this photograph.

Scenery from gate of Vesaisentie, Oulu, Finland.

When one is surrounded by such beauty on a normal day, at one's door step, it is difficult to see much further than the tip of one's nose.

But inside the house, on TV, scenes of tragedy from Haiti were just unfolding.

One was forced to think how unfair life can be.

As I witnessed the scenes from Haiti, Pot-au-Prince was a city of 50,000 which now housed 10 million, I thought back to my visit to Bangalore, a city of 120,000 which now houses 8 million. The civic society there has collapsed. Building activity, authorised and unaithorised, matches the economic growth by many fold as people crowd into this city. The pumping of ground water, legally and illegally, goes on. The level of corruption is increasing every hour, as only money talks!

Those who have read Annikki's book "...for the hour of his judgement is come:..." (The Holy Bible, Revelations, 14:7) will know that Bangalore is in an earthquake prone. We lived through one in 1984. More than 5 on the Richter scale.

Such building and construction activity which goes on presently in Bangalore does so with a blind eye being turned to quality and safety. Even if the contractors want to do an honest job, the sheer chaos that prevails in the city means that they cannot!

What has hit Port-au-Prince could well hit Banaglore.

I sincerely hope not. But it is something all who live and work there must take seriously, and SOON! It is your life which is bering put at risk.

Integration Council members

I read today in the Indian Telegraph about the new "Minority boost to integration council".

Here are the names of people that may be on that council:

The Telegraph has learnt that the proposed names include those of Justice A.M. Ahmadi, Omar Abdullah, Salman Khurshid, Syed Shahabuddin, Asaduddin Owaisi, Shahid Lateef, Shabnam Hashmi, John Dayal, Ramdas M. Pai (president and chancellor, Manipal University), Valsan Thampu (St Stephen’s College principal), Roman Catholic Archbishop Vincent M.C. Concessao, Ratan Tata, Rahul Bajaj, N.R. Narayana Murthy and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

Recognise some names in that list?

Shahid Lateef is the wife of 62er Stephanian Sarwar Lateef. John Dayal is a Stephanian, as also present Principal of the College, Rev. Valsan Thampu. Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, Rahul Bajaj, is both a 58er Stephanian and also a 54er Cathedralite. Ratan Tata was a Cathedralite for a part of his education. I have not had the good fortune to meet him personally, although his younger brother, Jimmy, was a close friend and my hockey mate.

During my recent visit to Delhi I did meet John, Valsan and Rahul.

John broke protocol and came to see me the day I was leaving. He had just got back from Orissa and he came over that morning just to spend a few minutes over breakfast. And I did say a short prayer, holding hands with him, for his devoted work for the people of India. Maybe this is where I show him the meaning for that prayer.

I met Thambu at the St. Stephen's Founder's Day celebration on Monday 7th December, where I took part in the Holy Communion Service in the College Chapel, and then at the proceedings in the College Assembly Hall where former Indian President Abdul Kalam was the Chief Guest.

Sadly I do not see Valsan as a man with much vision at this moment of time. Hopefully God will lead him in the right direction if he gives up his ways of playing politics for power!

And Rahul paid me the greatest tribute by staying on a extra day in Delhi to be present at an event organised by Delhi Cathedrtalite to meet with Annikki and me. Having led an industry to the zenith, he now has a wondeful opportunity to show his fellow men that he has the vision to lead minorities to the centre of Indian society as equals.

Sadly, I did not learn till later that Sarwar and Shahid were in Delhi, as otherwise I would certainly have met up with this very dear couple. Shahid has always been at the forefront of the women's movement as well as a powerful spokesperson for uplifting of Muslim women.

I do hope this Council will stop beating about the bush and get a move on, not on the antiquated model of reservation of seats for the minorities in schools, colleges and jobs, but by uplifting the hearts and minds of these people labelled as minorities, into them thinking that they can compete on equal terms with the best of the world. They are not second class citizens of the world, so let us stop treating them as such.

You treat people as weak and they will be weak. You treat them as human beings and they can outstrip the very best.

Look at the fantastic performance of the black community in sports in the USA and UK (and also Kenya, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Canada, France, etc., etc.). They do not need to be treated as weak and powerless minorities. Given the right role models, they will bring in performances that are better than the best of their more fortunate brothers and sisters.

That itself is the tonic for success, not reservations, which is the sure tonic for failure!

I remember the words of my friend, former Ambassador Niranjan Desai, while we were having lunch together at the International Centre just a few weeks ago. He said that by treating the minorities as we do presently, we will not achieve any improvement in their standards.

I fully agree with his reasoning. This Integration Council should start looking at other ways to uplift the ethnic minorities in India than stupid and unrealistic reservation policies!

Recognise inherent cultural and ethnic talents. Build on successes. Do not force people into streams where they are doomed to fail.

In short, I hope this council will bring forward a new vision to the way we handle the integration of minorities into mainstream society!

Irrational unhappiness?

During our recent vist to India, many things were very pleasing, but an equal number were displeasing.

One possibly irrational view was that I could never lay hands on a Telephone Directory in any Indian city!

Everyone told me I should ring "Just Dial" which has many access numbers, all particular for the city you are in.

I did just that. After the first call, when I dialed in the second time, I was addressed by my name, even before I said "Hello".

Just Dial was quite efficient in tracking information and sending it to me, either as a text message or to my internet email address. However, the appropriateness of such a response was far from satisfactory.

I asked for a colour photocopy service near to Tardeo In Mumbai. I was referred to one near Thane which also "serviced" the Tardeo region.

Aditionally, many of the requests got blank replies - no trace. Further, Just Dial is an Yellow Page Service and not able to locate private phone ummbers.

For that I was directed to 118, (I think).

This phone number was unable to locate even one of my enquiries, and being a Government service, the replies were rude and lethargic, and more than once, I was simply just cut off.

I still think the traditional Telephone Directory is something that cannot be replaced. I may want several pieces of interlinked information, as each subsequent request may be triggered by what I read in an entry. Just Dial would never be able to give me such a response except by multiple calls.

It is never a cut and dried piece of information that I would be looking for.

In short, dialing Just Dial, is a waste of my time and theirs, however nice, courteous and polite the operators may be. (And they were!)

Why am I irrational?

It is unnecessary to waste so much paper in printing Diectories as maybe 90% of every Directory is not required by any user.

However, even in the home of technology, Oulu, I get about 3 different Directories every year, and they are all used for a variety of purposes.

Every Directory has a Cty Map with index. I am able to locate places just before leaving from my home or office and not have to use my GPS system all the time.
Every Directory contains the Post Codes of locations. I am able to get information when writing a letter.
Every Directory has Emergency Numbers as well as numbers for priority services. This is vital when one needs to tackle the bureucracy.
Every Directory contains the names of all the lawyers and advocates, and similar services. The choice of a particular lawyer or service can be made based on one's personal preferences.

Maybe an interactive Reader on every phone with direct access to online directories would make sense. But these easily accessible directories must be complete and definitely better than the present day online Directories on the internet, which are slow and incomplete in many ways.

They do not work as per the demands of the customer. They work as envisaged by a few software designers!

There are many tens of reasons why I would like to carry a Directory, both in my briefcase as well as my car, and have one on my telephone table at home and at work.
Although I have been using the internet for over two decades and am familiar with all the services, and although I come from where the mobile phone revolution was born and do have access to many service numbers, as Just Dial, I still say, in my own irrational way: Do not discard the traditional Telephone Directory, Hard Copy.

Useless Terrorist profiling

This post should be under my JM Politics Blog, but I thought it important enough to get multiple exposure, so it is also posted on my main "Jacob's Blog".

I just read an excellent article in Think Progress, January 6, 2010, by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Zaid Jilani, and Alex Seitz-Wald: "TERRORISM: The Wrong Kind Of Profiling" (reproduced below, Copyright acknowledged) which highlighted how the right wing conservatives in the US and other countries are talking about ethnic and racial profiling, as they consider all Muslims as terrorists before they board an aircraft, etc.

TERRORISM
The Wrong Kind Of Profiling

Following the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack by 23-year old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a public debate has erupted over the proper way to prevent terrorists and other criminals from endangering airline passengers in the future. While many politicians, pundits, and public policy leaders have engaged in responsible and rational discussions about the intelligence failures that allowed Abdulmutallab to bring bomb materials on an aircraft, a whole host of conservatives have endorsed racial and ethnic profiling that would seek out terror suspects simply on the basis of the color of their skin or religious identity. While many right wingers seem to be comfortable with succumbing to racist and nativist hysteria, the truth is that racial and ethnic profiling is tremendously ineffective. A more rational approach to profiling based on behavior -- rather than race or identity -- would help keep Americans safe while maintaining our civil rights and constitutional freedoms.

THE RIGHT'S EXTREMIST REACTION: It wasn't long after Abdulmutallab's failed attack that conservative pundits and politicians began to call for racial and ethnic profiling of people from Muslim backgrounds. Right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher argued for separate lines at airports to "scrutinize anybody with the name Abdul or Ahmed or Mohammed," which are some of the most common names in the world. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said, "One hundred percent of the Islamic terrorists are Muslim, and that is our main enemy today. So why should we not be profiling people because of their religion?" Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wrote a column on Human Events titled "On Terrorism it's Time to Know, to Profile, and to Discriminate," in which he claimed that "cultural sensitivities" are preventing security officials from stopping terrorism; the next day, Gingrich clarified his comments by saying he thinks that profiling should be based "on behavior, not ethnic ... [or] racial profiling." Perhaps the most brazen call for ethnic profiling came from retired Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, who declared, "If you are an 18 to 28-year old Muslim man then you should be strip searched. And if we don't do that, there's a very high probability that we're going to lose an airliner."

WHY RACIAL PROFILING DOESN'T WORK: The fact is that racial and ethnic profiling doesn't work. It creates a false sense of security and causes law enforcement resources to be wasted in chasing the wrong targets. As the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights' reports, racial profiling "diverts precious law enforcement resources away from investigations of individuals...who have been linked to terrorist activity by specific and credible evidence...[and] ignores the possibility that someone who does not fit the profile may be engaged in terrorism." Indeed, On Dec. 28, two Middle Eastern men were pulled off a flight heading to Phoenix because passengers reported they were engaging in suspicious behavior; it ended up that the men were simply speaking a Middle Eastern language. The same day, a Nigerian businessman was taken off an airplane because passengers became suspicious that he was lingering in the bathroom for too long. The FBI confirmed that the individual's behavior was due to a legitimate illness. It's important to note that terrorists come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and do not simply belong to one religion, ethnicity, or nationality. The "shoe bomber," Richard Reid, was Jamaican and British. Al Qaeda recruit Adam Pearlman was an American. Germaine Lindsay, one of London's 7/7 bombers, was Afro-Caribbean. Scott Roeder, who killed abortion-performing doctor George Tiller last year, was a white evangelical Christian. Racial profiling would, as Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council notes, extend our police dragnet over "potentially hundreds of thousands of [innocent] people every year" and drain precious resources away from other, more important security measures. And as a recent study by the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science concludes, racial profiling has been no more effective than random screening in rooting out terrorists.

A BETTER WAY: While racial and ethnic profiling is a failed strategy that goes against our basic values, there are smarter profiling methods that police and other security officials can use to prevent acts of terrorism. A memo titled "Assessing Behaviors" circulated by law enforcement officials in October 2002 outlined such a strategy. One of the writers of the memo pointed out, "Fundamentally, believing that you can achieve safety by looking at characteristics instead of behaviors is silly. If your goal is preventing attacks...you want your eyes and ears looking for pre-attack behaviors, not characteristics." Former Bush counterterrorism officials have also objected to racial profiling and point out that looking for suspicious behavior is much more important. Former Bush CIA director Michael Hayden said that seeking out terrorists isn't "a question of ethnicity or religion." Rather, "it's what people do that we should be paying attention to." Former Bush Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argued that "relying on preconceptions or stereotypes is actually kind of misleading and arguably dangerous" because terrorists intentionally recruit people "who don't fit the stereotype." Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, suggests "effective profiling...is based on the analysis of the...behavior of a passenger and an inspection of the traveler's itinerary and passport; it does not and should not be based on race, religion, nationality or color of skin." As former Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke explained in 2006, security personnel are, and should be, trained "to look for abnormal human behavior. ... That is in no way racial profiling. That is behavioral profiling."

The article shows the stupidity of such an act as ethnic and racial profiling, as valuable resources are squandered.

It is my "contention of 1" that Al Qaida and other terrorist groups are flying out all sorts of schemes just to throw the entire security apparatus into a tizzy. The more failed attempts, the better for them, as the stupid security analysts start chasing shadows rather than real targets.

That pResident Bush went about wire tapping and searching his entire US population (just to stay ahead of his political opponents) shows how this sort of behaviour by a meglomaniac has squandered the valuable resources of an intelligence community.

Obama has fallen into the same trap. In his recent speech he talked about the failure to connect dots. The reason is that with one million or a billion dots to connect, even with super fast computers, this is impossible. It is easy to see this in hindsight!

During my recent trip to India I passed through so many security checks - Helsinki, London, Mumbai, Cochin, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Delhi. Every single airport followed a different procedure. Every single airport failed to focus on the real problem - separating the real and honest traveller from the potential terrorist. Hence, 99.9% of the procedure was just a waste of valuable resources.

If I were a terrorist, one look at these illogical procedures would have given me 200 ways on how to beat the system. That is what Al Qaida and other terrorist organisations are focusing on.

The security analysts want to show us they are doing a great job (to get a greater allocation of financial resources and to show important they are), but all they are doing is following a set of useless procedures.

As one writer put it, soon we will be travelling on airplanes in the NUDE - but then they will need to do an internal body scan, so we will all be cut open before we get on the plane. Great news for surgeons!

Stupid? Well, that is how stupid the present procedures are, and everyone mutters, "Oh, this is to keep US safe!" (No pun intended!)


We are no safer now than we were 25 years ago. In fact, every new procedure the security analysts introduce makes us less safe as it cuts out one more method the terrorists would have considered. They will concentrate on other more effective methods while sending the security analysts barking up the billion wrong trees!.

Last day of Christmas

In Finland, we have had a holiday today, as it is the last official day of Christmas. But I noted that all the guys here from India were busy working from home, as their contacts in India were not on holiday.

The Christmas sales, etc., should technically have stopped yesterday, as today is a bank and commercial holiday. But many shops still have loads of stuff left over from the Christmas season, so you should find plenty of bargains in the shops during the next few days.

As the days get longer and brighter, do not be surprised if it also gets colder, right up till the middle of February, when, if we are lucky, it should get warmer.

The skiing season will then start on a rotation basis, with the students in South Finland, the first to get their winter skiing holidays. The next week it will be the turn of those in central Finland, followed, the folowing week by those in North Finland.

Many head up to the Arctic where skiing conditions should be just perfect, both for long distance as well as down-hill skiing. There is plenty of sunshine and plenty of snow.

The Tar Skiing Compettion in Oulu (Tervahiihto) is very famous. It is held at the end of the second week of March.

I brought together a lot of foreigners in 1999 and we took part in the race. A friend of mine who worked in the same project gave us all elementary lessons on how to ski, but it was mainly how to get up when you fall down with long unwieldy flat sticks attached to your legs!

It is the one ski race I attempted 11 years ago, when I put on skiis for the first time in my life at the age of 56 and completed a 20 km ski course. It started on the frozen Oulu River and ended at the Oulu Sports Dome.

I hobbled in at the end of 20 km and got a certificate to prove I had taken part (and probably proudly come in among the last 10).

However, it proved that even at that age you may be able to start skiing, although, I must say that I probably tore every muscle and ligament in my body attempting this feat!

The following year I supervised the entry by the foreigners, while I stayed well out of harm's way! :-)

Frozen banana

In all my 25 years in the Arctic, I have never forgotten any food in the back of the car, especially in winter.

Well, finally I did it. Two bags, one containing bananas and the other containing some nice seedless green grapes, dropped out of my shopping bag onto the back seat of the car. I left them there overnight.

When I reached office the next morning I saw a brown mass in a plastic bag, and wondered what it was.

When I took it ou,t I found the banana bunch, hard as rock and the colour had turned from a golden yellow to a brown.

I ciút one open with a knife.



After it thawed, I tried to eat it, but there was no taste. As it got up to room temperature, the banana was mushy and uneatable.

Not so with the grapes. They too turned to brown, nearing red, making them closer looking to red grapes. (Is this how red grapes originated?)

I did not try a hard grape, but as they thawed the flavour had not deteriorated and it was just a superficial colour change.

As they say, you live and learn.

Coldest winter in 7 years

I had one tenant arrive at 00:40. I dropped that person off at our apartment, got a couple of hours sleep, as the next one arrived by the 06:15 train from Helsinki.

As I glanced through the Kaleva, our local newspaper, before leaving for the station, the headline was that we are having our coldest prolonged winter in the last 7 years.

The year we came to Finland, 1984, was really cold. In end January and early February we had a long spell of -30 C and lower.

Then for a long period the winters were milder. Or, was it that they appeared milder because of that first hard one?

Now, on our return from India, we have had a really long and cold winter, not just that it seems cold because we have returned from India.

But one must remember that in mid-October, when we were driving down to Helsinki to catch our flight to India, we already went through blizzard like conditions almost all the way through our 600 km journey.

I can certainly say that we have had a really long winter in Finland. And if, what the Kaleva writes is correct, we are certainly having a really cold one!

The temperature last night on the Russian border, just 200 km away, was -36.5 C last night! (We really do live just 200 km away from our mighty neighbours!!!)

We are certainly obsessed with the weather!