Indian Arabica Coffee comes to Finland

 

Balehonnur (Balanoor), Karnataka (Photo by KZ Kuriyan)

This news report appeared on Newsmeter.in.

Photo from the Newsmeter.in article

I have been for years been  telling our family  in India that the Finns would love the coffee we produce in our estates as in Badra Coffee Estates, in which I am a tiny shareholder.

Finns are the real  coffee connoisseurs in the world. 

They appreciate a good reaonably priced coffee. 

I recount an incident from 1992 when Annikki and I were visiting our daughteer, Susanna, who was studying in Exeter University in England.

As we walked down the High Street, Annikki smelt some coffee and was in the mood for a cup. There was s small kiosk on the walking street. We went in and asked the lady for the coffee which aroma Annikki had smelt.

After consuming it very slowly, she said that it was the most delicious cup of coffee that she had ever had. I told her that we could buy a kilo to take it to Finland.

I approached the lady and asked what was the price of the coffee. She told me that it was called Blue Mountain Coffee  and it came from Jamaica. 

The cost was  Blue Mountain Coffee was €100 per kilo. (Coffee in Finland at that time cost about €5 per kg.)

I was literally coffee-shocked and opted to buy 100 gm for Annikki. 

She drank it on special occasions for a year

On her 60th birthday in 2004 I found it in the Oulu Coffee shop in the Market Place and bought her 200 gms. 

Annikki drank it for the next 5 years on special occasions till her 75th birthday. 

(She now only drinks coffee very occasionally!)

I also recall sending a cousin of mine the tender papers for the Finnish Army as the soldiers would revolt if they did not get their four times a day quota of good coffee.

 I can imagine the Finnish soldiers stopping a war so that they could enjoy their brew! :-)

Remembering 29th October 1960

I have posted this entry on my memoirs blog about my sister who passed away this day in 1960.

Nalini on her wedding day in Kottayam, 1959.

Life of Annikki - Another facet

 

In the past few weeks I have given you a glimpse of the success of the “Laughing Goddess” Annikki in a variety of fields. 

Cake designing - Edible Art 1

Other food designing - Edible Art 2

Drawing and painting

Interiors designing

Garden designing 

Crocheting

That is not the extent of the talents of this fascinating personality..

I give here her work as a researcher and an author in producing books on a variety  of subjects.

Her first book was about the last stages of her life in India. She faith in God was reinforced by this experience. So much so that when she returned tpo Finland she resigned from the Finnish church as she lived by her principles!

The second book was authored jointly with me on how to survive in Finland. This book was produced after 10 years of intensive research by both of us. There was no Google or AI those days so research meant physical research.

She then carried an intensive course of 4 years on Montessori Edication between 1991 and 1995 which she completed with distinction of 98%.

 

She then wrote her comprehensive book on raising a child the Montessori way applicable for children between 0 and 6 years.

She helped me design and prepare the Coffee Table  Book for the Golden Reunion of my school Class of 1959.

The next book she authored in two stages, first only in Finnish and the 2nd edition was in both Finnish and English on freedom of speech in Finland. In this she used her Finnish sarcasm tone fullest extent, butI was not competent to get the same effect with the English translation!

Then with me and Sriradhakrishnan Polsetti, she authored the book on Edible Art, both in English and Finnish. Here her photographic skills were also evident, a subject I have not touched upon in this series.

She jointly authored our book after our final visit to India.

Besides this she has authored many tens of articles on a variety of subjects published in many publications, especially our fortnightly newsletter, Findians Briefings, which had a circulation of about 80000 readers worldwide. 

I recently showed you in my previous blog, Face to Face - Kanha, one of her articles published in our Oulu newspaper, Kaleva

Because of many moves of residence in the last three years, I have lost many of her articles and also lost a lot of her research work on a variety of subjects such as music, religious intolerance, yoga, nutrition, and many more subjects covering all aspects of life.

Her hand written notes were all in shorthand Finnish so I was not able to understand most them, and she had lost the ability to decipher them. 

There is a saying that one whose TV size is bigger than one’s bookshelf needs to be listened to with great caution. 

In our case, Annikki’s bookshelf is 30 times mine on such a variety of subjects as religion, nutrition, gardens, recipes, interior designing, and filled with such great authors as R. K. Narayan and Jim Corbett. 

She has almost the entire collection of books by and about Maria Montessori and the Montessori system of education. 

She also has almost the entire collection of books by Ellen G. White and her prophetic works.

Like me, she grew up on the annual diet of the Manorama Year Book, so her general knowledge was vast. The difference between her and me was that I shouted  my "knowledge" from the mountain top but she used her knowledge in daily life to get things done!

She has been my friend, guide and counsellor on almost every important event in our lives. She has never been politically oriented but she stood for human rights and dignity of the human being.

When we had the recent spat with the O-India Ry, she very quickly advised me to terminate links as this association did not fit with our Guiding Principles. 

I had no hesitation in following her advice as she has never been wrong!

Unraveling the Craft: A Journey through Annikki's Crocheting Art - Part 4

Annikki has another skill which surfaced publicly rather late in life. I only realised it when I saw my lungis slowly disappearing. 

Annikki's evening relaxation, crocheting

Annikki crocheting art phase with -  a flower.

I had brought many lungis with me when we moved from India to Finland. It is my most comfortable nightwear.

The best lungis I had were all 110 count made by a Rotarian friend’s company (Mohamed Aboobacker) from Madurai in Tamilnadu called ”Chank Brand”.

Chunk Brand lungi from Tamilnadu.

The crocheting process is described in this Wikipedia entry.

A crochet needle.

Every visit to India I used to bring back a couple of lungis, although they are long lasting. Periodically, there were mishaps and they could get torn. But I preserved them as the fabric was supersoft and I was emotionally attached to them.

After my heart failure, Annikki kept a watchful eye over me. She restricted her outdoor activities, as gardening, and even her  cake making days had been done and dusted. 

She needed another creative art form. She  discovered crocheting.

Like a small child, she started with simple shapes as discs. She cut up torn clothes into strips and using a single crochet needle, she crocheted small items.

A crocheted sofa seat cover 

A crocheted table piece.

A crocheted basket and flowers.

Then, using different colours, she started to do patterned designs.

The next phase was to bring shapes into play. Small baskets were made, first cylindrical and then tapered. She started to mix the colours.

Introduction of colour.

A multi-coloured crochet basket.

Colours make crocheted baskets alive.

A tapered crocheted basket container.

.

Shapes crochet experimentation.

Crocheted basket.

Crocheted basket with eggs.

Crocheted baskets.

Different crocheted shapes.

Cocheted cups and saucers set.

One this was done Annikki created flowers and leaves to give variety to her crocheting.

Not satisfied with that she started different shapes as mice, dogs, cats, birds and arranged them in humorous sets.

Tomatoes in crocheted bowl and a crocheted turtle.

Crocheted duck with eggs.

Crocheted duck holding pears.

Crocheted Christmas tree.

Crocheted dead bird.

Crocheted mouse.

Crocheted cat drinking milk.

A crocheted mouse.

Crocheted cat, dog, mouse and dead bird.

Crocheted cat drinking milk with a dead bird lying next to it.

Crocheted cat drinking milk

A crocheted bonnet.

Crocheted elephant's foot

Crocheted butterfly.

Crocheted flower basket.

Gift-wrapped crocheted floral gift.

Crocheted flowers 

She decided that she would use a new material

for crocheting. Annikki found waste plastics film

was a good possibility.  

Dragonfly crocheted from waste plastics.

When she  decided she would have some fun. 

She knew my nickname in school was “dead chicken” as I had drowned during a school picnic. The teacher who pulled me out, took me to the shore hanging me upside down by my feet. My good friend, Viney Sethi, gave me this nickname.

Crocheted dead chickens!!

Annikki produced two dead chickens as Mr. & Mrs. Dead Chicken. These adorn our living room to this day.

To Annikki, crocheting was a form of art where she could take some rags and make them into useful useful objects. 

Finns have specialised in using rags for making rough carpets, but forAnnikki it became a fun art project. 

I tried to persuade her into converting her hobby into a business, but she would have none of it.

After I saw her amazing versatility of crocheting, one year I sent a Christmas gift to my friends around the world which showcased Annikki’s crocheting ability.

Finally, I came down to one solitary lungi. 

When a young student was travelling to Oulu to

join Oulu Univrrdity, I asked his father to send me a couple of Chank Brand lungis.

I never thought in Punjab he would find something which is so SoNuth Indian and especially the Muslims of north Kerala.

To my surprise, Amit Arora's son Aloukik,  turned up with two great 110 count Chank Brand lungis.

I use these as my nightwear. 

These days, I am extra careful as I sleep with my extra lungis under my pillow! You an never trust Annikki if she finds she has new material, my lungis, for her hobby! :-)