Annikki and Jacob Matthan live in Oulu, Finland. Annikki is a Finn, Jacob an Indian. They are the founders of the Findians Movement way back in 1967. Both are now retired. They have been married for 57 years. This blog is an account of their lives and thoughts as reminiscenced through Annikki's and Jacob's eyes.
Just a few days ago, after the visit of our friend Shashank Subramanyam to Oulu, which we did not attend, we were sent a copy of the accounts of the performance by some friend as he wanted our comments.
The accounts appear to have been circulated to the Association members.
These accounts make hilarious reading!
How can an Association give a grant to itself? 😂
If that was the extent of the problem, that could be passed off as just ignorance.
There is a more serious problem with these accounts.
Tickets were sold for this performance, directly and through the ticket sales service.
When any tickets are sold in Finland for a public performance, there is an important aspect that value added tax (ALV) has to be collected and remitted to the tax authorities.
Withholding of such tax is tax fraud.
Where is this liability shown in these accounts?
Additionally, when an entertainer performs in Finland and is paid a remuneration, income tax has to be deducted and remitted to the tax authorities.
Why is this liability not shown in the accounts?
This can also be a case of tax fraud!
Recently, one prominent O-India Ry member posted a Facebook post which is very interesting!
Certainly, we too would wish this, but luckily being pensioners, we have paid our taxes while working and are thus enjoying the benefits of having paid our taxes in full, and quite in excess of what we paid!
In May 1988, the Indian Ambassador HE K. P. Fabian called me and said that a well known Kathak dancer would be visiting Finland. He asked whether would I be interested in organising a performance in Oulu.
As we already had a performance by Daksha Seth organised by Martti Antila, a well known photographer in Oulu, the previous year and the Oulu City Hall was packed to the brim with an appreciative audience, I said I would take on the challenge.
The first problem was to get a suitable auditorium. As the City programme for the year had already been finalised, no regular auditorium was available.
I looked around and found that if we did some adjustments, the main lecture hall L1 in Oulu University could be used. It had a capacity of around 500 - 600 seats.
Annikki and I set about the task of meeting all the right people and organising the budget.
With the cooperation of all the appropriate people we decided that we would not charge any entrance fee, because of the tax implications, and as we felt we could underwrite the expenses as the lecture room was free for me and I could get the appropriate sound system from my local friends in the business. Also I got three furnished guest room apartments in the University for them to stay.
Shovana Narayan and her troupe of 5, including her singer sister, Ranjana Narayan, a Supreme Court Advocate, arrived in Oulu. I made sure they met all the important people of Oulu when they arrived.
Shovana Narayan
Shovana Narayan is one of the outstanding classical dancers of India. For her incomparable contribution to the Kathak style of classical dance, she has been decorated with several awards, including Government of India's coveted Padmashri and Sangeet Natak Akademi awards. She has bestowed Kathak with dignity and enriched it with a deeper and wider canvas of expression and dimensions. She is at once, an explorer, a performer, a choreographer and an artiste par excellence, with values and a cause. The explorer and researcher within her have seen her author six books on Indian dance, which bespeak of intensity, depth and gravity. She has also worked closely with nationally and internationally acclaimed Indian and western dancers and musicians from various streams of art. Shovana's palette contains other media, including films and operas as well as being a dedicated guru whose disciples are creating their niche in the world of Kathak that once again bears testimony to the intensive training being imparted by her. She is also a senior serving civil servant belonging to the Indian Audits and Accounts Service (1976 batch). Married to Dr. Herbert Traxl, Austrian Ambassador, the two have a son, Erwin Ishan Traxl. Her younger sister, Ranjana Narayan, is a lawyer and a classical singer. Other books by the author: ˜Kathak: Rhythmics Echoes and Reflectioin- (Roly Publication); ˜Dance Legacy of Patliputra' (Publications Division, govt. of India); ˜Indian Theatre and Dance Traditions" (Harman Publications); ˜Performing Arts: A Policy Perspective" (Kanishka Publications); "Kathak" "A Handbook (Wisdom Tree Publication); "Indian Classical Dance" "A Handbook (Sterling Publication).
That paid dividends as the auditorium was full, as Finns turned up for the performance.
We were even able to have the University restaurant open during the intermission. We had a children’s play area for those who came with small children. We had a Red Cross facility on hand for any emergency.
Shovana performing with Rev. Patrick Dickson
during the performance.
Shovana’s troupe.
Shovana’s accompanists
(All above photographs by Jacob Matthan.)
Picture from Kaleva newspaper reporting on
Shovana Narayan’s performance.
Report from Kaleva which covered
Shovana Narayan’s performance.
The whole event was a success. It was duly reported by Kaleva.
Although the costs were minimal, we had important sponsorships in kind for the group, as we were not an official organisation, but whomsoever we asked put their hands out, generously, to help us.
Our Finnish friends took care of all the formalities so we stayed within Finnish law!
Four years of groundwork by Annikki and me amongst the community had paid off.
From there onwards, whatever we arranged were successful events, always involving the whole of Oulu, which at that time covered just under 100000 people.
Every ethnic community joined us in making this and all other events successful, fostering the multicultural attitude we were promoting.
And remember, at that time the only Indians in Oulu were my two children, aged 17 and 15, and myself!
That comfortable situation prevailed for many years as no one was seeking glory. We were all working for our communities to be integrated into Oulu society.
The performance of our friend and international superstar, Shashank Subramanyam, in August 2011 was to a packed audience in Valve in the Oulu City Centre, where the hall of 175 was filled with even people standing at the doorway to hear him play.
Shashank Subramanyam
Shashank Subramanyam (born October 14, 1978) is an accomplished flutist from India, specializing in Indian classical music. Having displayed exceptional musical talent from a young age, Shashank began performing at the age of 6 in 1984 and has continued to showcase his artistry for over three decades.
In recognition of his contributions to the arts, the Government of France honored him with the prestigious title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for the year 2022.
Shashank is also noteworthy for being the youngest recipient of the Government of India's Sangeet Natak Akademi's senior award for the year 2017, and bestowed by the President of India at an investiture ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
We had active participation from not only O-India Google Group (not O-India Ry, which did not exist then) participants and wonderful suggestions from the local Indians to make the event appeal to the Finnish audience.
Yrjö Mikkonen (from the Finnish music academy) and his wife, Shahnaz (Head of the organisation looking after migrants to Oulu), made sure that all the technical and organisational arrangements were perfect.
Oulu City officials cooperated with us fully as they realised an international superstar had agreed to come to Oulu.
We even had the cooperation of the airline to ensure everything was perfect with no cost to our small community.
And the cooperation of our Indian Embassy was of paramount importance, although we did not request any financial assistance as we were not a registered society at that time.
We were all working for one goal to ensure that we had a perfect performance in Oulu.
No one was working to further himself or herself.
We had an Organising Committee headed by a Finn and composed primarily of Finns, those mainly in the Oulu music business. We had the cooperation of all the media, print and radio,.
The success of the event was evident.
After that, the series of problems with my health from 2014 onwards caused Annikki and me to quietly withdraw from the organisational scene, but we continued to take part and help the organisers to conduct successful events.
The doom we predicted has hit the Indian Community of Oulu faster than we thought, and it has been brought on by itself.
It was decided to bring Shashank Subramanyam again to perform in Oulu.
As we did not want to associate with O-India Ry, we opted out of taking part in the event and informed Shashank the reasons, so our absence would not be misunderstood by our friend!
After pressurising every Indian in Oulu, night and day, less than 100 Indians (out of 500) turned up for the Shashank performance. The auditorium was less than a quarter full.
And out of 180000 Finns in the Oulu region, not even 30 turned out for this show!
There was utter confusion in ticket pricing (Euro 21, 23 and 28?), and also who could or could not attend.
Finns are cost conscious and not fools. They know when one is being cheated!
And advertising in Flea Markets and in Oulu University showed total absence of sanity in the organisers.
People who go to Flea Markets go to save money!
Two Indian Oulu University students who visited us told us that they could eat pizzas for three days for that amount of money!
The poster they produced for the event was fine but how many Finns know the meaning of Raaga Murali?
Is it a common term as Classical, Hip Hop, Jazz, Pop, Rap or Rock?
This was a true case of the blind leading the blind!
Such an event flop may have destroyed all the good work that has been put in for 40 years to get our Indian Community appreciated in Oulu.
Did Kaleva or any media even cover this event, (pre- or post) of an international artist.
Shashank, an international superstar, performed to an empty hall.
I was told that the sound equipment was sub-standard or the people handling it were not able to understand the demands of this type of music.
Who takes the blame for such shambles?
Anyone of O-India Ry willing to stand up?
We noted that some were patting their own backs on social media trying to avoid telling the world the truth and what a mess they had made of this event!
These people have been ready to take glory for someone else's work but when it came to failure, everyone is running the 100 metres backwards at twice Usain Bolt's record.
In our case the behaviour of O-India Ry was criminal by the Board Members of O-India Ry. That made Annikki and me to take the drastic step of terminating our membership with immediate effect.
In the case of the Shashank performance,
O-India Ry appears to have gone a step further in possibly committing tax fraud in Oulu.
(For those interested, there over 900 blog entries by Annikki and me over the 30 years in this blog, many highlighting the wonderful past of the Indian Community in Oulu and Finland. Annikki and I have over 20 blogs and over 2000 blog entries. In addition we have a half a dozen Google Groups. Plus we have published over 10000 web pages.)
Vande Matarsm (Proud to be an Indian)
Shillong Chamber Choir (in Tallin).
Just as I am proud to be an Indian, Annikki is equally proud to be a Finn.
Annikki’s father, Matti Reinikka, fought in the front line for 6 years against Russia and then went on to drive the German army from Finland.
Like almost every Indian knows “Vande Mataram”, almost every Finnish child knows this sad marching song of the proud Finnish army which was sung when they were returning from the Balkans.
Kauan on Kärsitty.
Sharpshooter Matti Reinikka (top right) with
some of his Army Company during World War II.
Annikki and I attended the Memorial Service with Matti Reinikka in Puolanka where a Memorial Stone was unveiled in honour of all those who served and fought and many who died in World War II. (1988)
Matti and Hilja Reinikka after Matti was demobbed
from the Finnish Army after World War II
As Annikki was born in September 1944, just before the Moscow armistice was signed, Annikki’s grandfather wanted to give Annikki the name “Rauha Annettu” which means “Peace Given”. Finnish naming law for babies at that time did not permit it, so she was given the accepted name “Rauha” meaning “Peace”.
Annikki is also like me, a lover of her own country, Suomi, Finland.
Based on our mutual respect for each other, when we got married in 1967 and the FINDIANS concept was born, we set up the 10 Guiding Principles to see us through life.
The 1st principle is to always be truthful. (A few ”white lies” were to be permitted! :-) )
Principle 2 is to *Stay where your presence is appreciated*.
Principle 3 is to never claim credit for something that does not belong to you.
Principle 4 is do not violate the laws of the country you live in.
Principle 5 is to lend a helping hand to anyone who reaches out to you.
Principle 6 is to genuinely pray for anyone facing a difficult situation.
Principle 7 is do not be cowed down by aggressors, however powerful they seem to be!”
Principle 8 is do not run to find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Principle 9 is to give respect to those who deserve it.
And finally, Principle 10 is never to violate the “Sacred Trust”, set out for the Malayala Manorama newspaper and all those encompassed in its family. It was set down pre-1953 by my grandfather, the late K. C. Mammen Mappillai.
"By God's grace, Manorama is in a position to create and garner a forceful public opinion. This may be used for the good or the bad. But, we should consider it as a public trust bestowed upon us for the selfless service of humanity.
"You will have no qualms to use Manorama as a sacred public trust or an institution God has trustingly bestowed upon us to be used without fear or favour from anyone. You should always work with this in mind. God has placed in our hands a mighty weapon. To use it for our personal, vindictive and vitriolic ends will be an unpardonable and immoral act injurious to the faith bestowed on us by a large number of people. God does not want that. Hence, our eternal vow should be to tirelessly work for the success of fairness, justice and morality. '
It remains a sacred, inviolable dictum for Malayala Manorama.”
It is also the primary Guiding Principle of Annikki and me.
Life in Oulu has been fun and constructive in many ways for both Annikki and me.
In the 80s, the early days, we were the only Indians followed closely by the Gill brothers from Punjab. We were then joined by Philip Hu (Calcutta) and he set up his great Chinese/Indian restaurant at the corner of Rotuaari, and then his sister, Michelle with her tiny Chinese restaurant on Asemakatu, the first Indian restaurant, New Bombay (with Philip as the Indian owner - not Bangladeshi as today) and then Fazila Allana, the first AISEC trainee (now she is the very successful owner of SOL productions in Mumbai and producer ofKoffeeWithKaran, KiaMastHaiLife, Mai Ka Laal, NachBaliye and Rakhi Ka Swayamwar), and so on. (Fazila’s first written piece on the Indian Economy was for us in Findians Briefings in 1994!)
We Indians in Oulu had great camaraderie and fun together!
Annikki and I enjoyed the pleasant company of all these and many other Indians who passed through Oulu, and those who later settled here. Annikki and I were their friends, guides and mentors (if they needed us)! Nobody was competing to be dominant. We were all equal and worked for the common good of our small community.
For those with some memory may I take you back to January 2008 when we had our first O-India get-together. It is recorded in my blog entry dated 18th January 2008
Sadly, some of the wonderful pictures of the event are missing from this old blog entry but it shows the real spirit in the launching of O-India in 2008!
Thanks to Nagendra Kolar I have received a couple of the photos and a video taken at that event by Vishu Mallabadi of Wipro (Today Vishu is a famous environmental artist in Bengaluru.)
Many of you may recognise some of the youngsters here as Ashwini, Bala, Nagendra, Sulochna, Sreekanth, Srikanth. and the not so young, as Annikki and myself! Vishu is standing in the back row, second from the left.
I quote the last para of that blog entry:
”Already calls are coming in for more such events. And we are sure that will be many such events in the coming years as the people who are running the O-India Group are YOU, and all of you are enthusiastic and energetic youngsters.”
There have been 4 decades of association for Annikki and me with over 3000 Indians in Oulu!
About 4 weeks ago we terminated our membership to O-India Ry with immediate effect.
It was a sad but decisive moment as we could see what lay ahead! Big trouble!!!
O-India Ry had been spun out of the O-India Google Group started by Kiran Kumar Nataraj, Atul Mahajan and myself in December 2007.
Kiran returned to India and left the Administration of the Group.
Annikki, joined as a Moderator when I was ill, followed by Mani Shankar Bhowmik and then Pushpa Dhundwal.
The Google Group has run without any problem for 16 years and has 300+ people worldwide who get the postings.
About four years ago, a few Indians in Oulu came to me and asked whether I had any objection (not that it would have mattered) to O-India being formalised into a Finnish Association. I had certain misgivings but gave their plan my blessings as the persons involved were sincere in their intentions. However, I said the original O-India Google Group would remain alive and intact!
O-India Ry was formed and they started their own Google Group. (Reasons unknown?)
They also started a WhatsApp Group (Reasons unknown?)!
To us it seemed the start of POWER POLITICS!
Annikki and I joined their Google Group, but not their WhatsApp Group.
The Association ran for three years, but unfortunately, the first two years were under a chairperson who had no vision and ability to plan a clear goal for it. He could not conduct any large event successfully!
There were many hiccups during that time which were passed off as teething troubles.
In the third year, the Chairperson changed to Avinash Bhaker. He had a largely indolent Board. Even with that handicap, he made O-India Ry a vibrant viable organisation.
The AGM for 2023 was chaired by Suresh Kodukula..
The Annual and Financial Report for the period 2022-2023 were outstanding presentations highlighting the numerous achievements of the year. I made this observation during the AGM. I asked Avinash who had prepared this presentation.
Avinash told me that the Annual Report was compiled by him, the xls sheets were prepared by Abhishek Sinha and the comprehensive treasurer’s report, logo and beautiful photographic inputs were done by Viney Shekar. He did not try to take the credit for himself!
The Secretary of the then Board, Suresh Kodukula, played no part in preparing what should have been his task!
The 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of O-India Ry was a chaotic affair. There was absolute bedlam as Suresh was clueless on how to conduct this meeting. Suresh’s objective seemed to be to get elected as the next Chairperson of the association. He did not check the list of members present, conducted elections with proxy voting of people not present or people who were not members and who were being given a vote. The voting itself was chaotic.
I objected strongly to the proceedings and there was a decision to hold a continuation AGM to regularise all the illegalities.
Again Suresh took the chair at the continuation AGM but the meeting could not even get off the ground. IT was only after Vinoth Selvaraj stepped in and took over the Chair and ran the meeting, it went as it should!
The only thing evident from this meeting to Annikki and me was the incompetence of Suresh!
Again I drew attention, privately, to the past chairperson, Avinash Bhaker, for information, and Suresh, who had been elected as a new Chairperson of the association.to the “Minutes” and actions not following the rules laid down for Finnish Associations. What was circulated were not minutes but one person’s perception of what took place!
Principle 1: Truthfulness and the present O-India Ry Board cannot be found on the same page or even in the same dictionary. Lie followed lie, starting with the Chairperson Suresh assisted by his ally, Asheesh Nigam!
Principle 2 of our 10 guiding principles is - “Stay where your presence is appreciated.”
The reaction of the O-India Board and the members to the onslaught on Annikki and me for pointing out formalities that should be followed in any Finnish Association, told us it was time to leave these people behind to their own devices!
Our decision to terminate our membership of O-India Ry with immediate effect was thus absolutely correct as our presence and thoughts were not appreciated. We were just an unnecessary nuisance to the Board and a majority of the members, especially those who had no history of life in Finland.
Most of the people, even those who have seen us work for the Indian community in Finland during their time in Finland, have shown us that most of them have no backbone to stand up for what is right.
So long as we were useful to them they would try to touch our feet. This is a one practice which Annikki and I dislike, as my parents taught me that everyone is equal!
Pushpa’s point that Indian culture respects the elderly does not stand popular among the majority of this Oulu Indian Community.
Why should Pushpa Dhundwal, an ordinary O-India Ry member, apologise to Annikki and me? We cannot accept her apology as she has never put a foot wrong to the two of us in over a decade of interaction.
Like many other Indians, Avinash and Pushpa started their lives in our furnished apartments in Oulu. We know their characters intimately and have remained friends. They remain an part of our extended family, as many other Indians around the world!
Any apology, which some may think is required, is certainly not likely to be forthcoming from O-India Ry Board or the members! And it is totally unnecessary! What would be the purpose of such an apology?
The Board and members can remain in their stupor.
2023 Onam celebrations in Oulu where over 70 Malayalis took part. (August 2023)
We specifically exclude the Oulu Malayali community who have not shown us any disrespect at any time, but only love and affection to which Annikki and I have suitably responded!
Ladies cricket comes to Oulu with Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans organising a wonderful event in Lintula (August 2023)
Also the multicultural Cricket Clubs of Oulu are other exceptions! They have welcomed Annikki and me with open arms, even though we now have nothing to offer them in return!
I must recall the starting of cricket in Oulu which are recorded in two of our earlier blog entries.
We disregard the words of the dandiprat, Mr. Deepak Singla, whose knowledge of English and Finland can be written on the nail of my little toe! I give no credence to his words as even knowledge of Class 10 English is too much to expect for him to understand. Let him be duly “apalled”.
The present O-India Ry Board and the members are not willing to confront the blatant lies being promulgated by its Chairperson, Suresh, and a person without portfolio, Asheesh Nigam.
They are ably supported by Social Coordinator, Ms. Kalyani Mukherjee, a “volunteer” Board member with “NO responsibility” (her words)! Obviously Ms. Kalyani does not know what is the meaning of the word “social” or “liability”!
The Board continues in the traditional Trumpian way, one lie is followed by another bigger one. That brings them applause!
Suresh’s lie as to why my email to the O-India Ry members was rejected was ascribed to an extra “dot” in an email address.
This claim can be checked on AI. Here is the response that I got from AI:
“- robot: Hello, How can I assist you?
- user: If there are extra dots in an email address will Google still try to find the recipient?
- robot: Yes, Google will still try to find the recipient even if there are extra dots in the email address. The extra dots in the email address are ignored by Google's email service. For example, if the correct email address is example@gmail.com, Google will still deliver the email even if it is sent to e.x.a.m.p.l.e@gmail.com.”
However, even if we had composed an email with an extra dot - “.”, as stated by Suresh, before the email was sent, gmail would have opened the dialog shown below telling me that the email id did not exist and asking whether I still wanted to send the email.
Possibly the O-India Ry Board and members thinks that Annikki and I are mentally compromised persons who would have sent out an email in such a case.
It is important to clarify one small point as many members think that Annikki and I are nuisances.
Our first email drawing attention to serious legal issues, was NOT sent to all the members of O-India Ry but privately to the Past Chairperson, Avinash Bhakar, for information, and to the current Chairperson, Suresh Kodukula, for action!
When Suresh did not bother to acknowledge or reply our email in a reasonable time frame, only then did we address our email to the members of O-India Ry.
As Pushpa correctly pointed out in her email to the members, there is the important issue of liability which encompasses all the members of the association.
Suresh raised the “dot” bogey BECAUSE he could not answer a single one of the 6 points we had brought attention to in our email!
“ 1 . Fabrication of false evidence by the Board of the O-India ry.
“Deliberate falsification of evidence is considered a form of gross fraud. It involves intentionally misrepresenting or altering evidence with the intention to deceive others and manipulate the outcome of a legal or investigative process. This is a serious offense that undermines the integrity of the justice system and can have severe consequences for those involved.”
2. Violation of Finnish Data Privacy Laws by a Board Member of O-India ry.
In Finland, sharing private information without consent is punishable under the Personal Data Act (1050/2018). According to the act, the maximum penalty for such an offense can be imprisonment for up to two years and/or a fine of up to 240 daily fines.
3. Incompetence in handling routine membership matters of maintaining the O-India Ry membership lists.
4. In probability, giving the members false information about actions supposedly taken by the Board.
5. Failure to correct the violation of the Finnish Law on Data Privacy within a reasonable time frame.
6. Setting precedents in the Annual General Meeting which makes it impossible to run this association in a proper manner according to laws governing Finnish Associations.”
To this day these points have not been answered by the O-India Ry Board!
The distraction technique adopted by Suresh works well on a set of zombies but it cannot work on ANYONE with an iota of brains.
In these 3 blogs we have highlighted the work Annikki and I have done for the Findians community over 54 years. We did not need anyone’s help to have done what we did! We did not do it for glory for ourselves or credit from anyone.
For the earlier part, till 1998 not one Indian was around here in Oulu (other than the Gill brothers, Philip Hu and his sister Michelle Hu and Sulochana) actively working on cultural issues!
I challenge anyone to find one falsehood in any of our blogs. (We have many - maybe over 20 blogs covering aspects of life in India, Finland, cost of living, politics, human rights, freedom of speech, etc.) We built a worldwide network of like-minded people with interests in Finland and India.
The present day Indian engineer and university student, and his/her family who have recently moved to Oulu, Finland, are mainly concerned with showing the world and themselves how great they are by reaching here! The ladies, especially those who have no jobs, behave like expat spouses everywhere, holding their gossip coffee club meetings!
Last week, we were sent a photograph which appeared on the Indian Embassy website which we can only describe as disgusting, immoral and shameless!
Suresh Kodukula and Asheesh Nigam collecting an award meant for the 2022-2023 performance of O-India Ry from the Indian Ambassador to Finland, His Excellency Shri Raveesh Kumar.
Does any member of O-India Ry know why we use these adjectives ?
It is a direct violation of Principle 3 of our guidelines, claiming credit for someone else’s work.
Was turning up at the Indian Embassy to collect an award not belonging to either of the two people, be described as “accidentally” being in the India Embassy to collect this award?
Avinash Bhakar, as the past Chairperson of O-India ry, was responsible for the Indian Embassy awarding an honour to O-India Ry. Suresh going to collect this award was claiming credit for the absolutely wonderful AGM and treasurer’s report presented at the last AGM. Suresh did not contribute one bit to its creation. Now he was stealing the credit for great year under the previous Chairperson, not even informing him of the award before the event, and thenclaiming that he and Asheesh Nigam (dressed appropriately in a kurta pyjama for the event) were just there in the vicinity of Helsinki Embassy.
This exposes the shamelessness of these two individuals.
And what of the behaviour of the present Board in condoning and consorting with this behaviour?
Not once in our lives have we claimed credit for work we did not do ourselves.
How many of you O-India Ry members know how Annikki and I were atrociously accosted by Asheesh Nigam in the Royal Garden restaurant a couple of weeks ago after Suresh’s attempt to lie his way to evade answeringour questions. Asheesh asked me whether he could talk to me in the restaurant, to which I said ”NO”!
I know that Asheesh has a habit of turning verbal words around, so I told him anything he had to ask or say should be in writing. He continued to trouble us standing beside our table. Four times I told him that he was a Foodara delivery boy and if the food delivery was delayed the blame would fall on the restaurant. But he continued to stay and amplify on Suresh's lie about the mysterious "dot", showing is that he was probably the person behind the original lie!
His intrusion into our meal became so embarrassing that the owner of the restaurant came to our table to ask Asheesh to leave the premises. How many O-India Ry members condone such behaviour?
Anyone who can trouble you in a public place, so much so that the restaurant personnel had to ask the person to leave, is simply shameless.
Only the intervention of Avinash and Vinoth Selvaraj, both of whom Annikki and I greatly respect, stopped me from starting legal. proceedings against O-India Ry Board member Ms. Kalyani Mukherjee for disclosing private information about me on the WhatsApp O-India Ry group that we are not even members of, and not removing it in violation of the express orders by the Chairperson of the continuation AGM (Vinoth).
It was from Pushpa’s recent email to O-India Ry that I learnt that Ms. Kalyani had been informed to take down the private information about me before the deadline which has been specified by WhatsApp, but Ms. Kalyani probably “deliberately” chose not to do so!
Arrogance?
Our decision to not proceed presently against Suresh for fabrication and falsification of data was based on the fact that we wanted nothing more to do with these people of ill repute.
Both of these actions, the first by Ms. Kalyani and then by Suresh, are criminal offences under Finnish law. Our Principle 4 states clearly that we stay within the boundary of laws of the country.
Do we want to stay in the company of persistent lawbreakers?
Maybe Mr. Singla, when he comes out of his appalled state, can reply!
Are these the people who you members of O-India Ry want representing Indian culture and values in Oulu?
It was our so ”unprofessional” character that we ran our promotion of Indian culture in Oulu and Finland for 50+ years before the arrival in Finland of Mr. Singla! We have hosted 5 Indian Ambassadors to Oulu as well as many international artistes and professionals. Close to 10000 Indians have been looked after by Annikki and me during this time in Espoo, Helsinki, Tampere, Vantaa, Oulu, Raahe, and Kajaani!
What a sad state of affairs it must have been here in Finland before Mr. Singla arrived here! :-)
So glad, Mr. Singla, for your candid observation about our lack of professionalism!
Maybe our brilliant Mr. Singla could give some valuable advice to our present Indian Ambassador, who last week sent me an email which contained this snippet:
“You, along with others who came to Finland, a few decades ago, have indeed made valuable contributions towards building a positive narrative about India in this country.”
Just a few days ago I was sent a beautiful poster designed by Mani Shankar Bhowmik to prepare for the performance in Oulu by Shashank Subramanyam, the world famous flautist from Chennai. (Shashank had earlier performed in Oulu in 2013 at the personal invitation of Annikki and myself.)
In the first line of the poster it said the program was being organised in coordination between the Indian Embassy and O-India Ry.
Without blinking an eyelid, I wished Mani all success with the event, but that we had no intention of taking any part in any event organised under the banner of this O-India Ry Board.
I did not want to comment on the legality of such an event being organised by O-India Ry as I think Mani should find that out for himself.
The last line in our termination letter to O-India Ry was:
“Please continue with your games and incompetence with others - not us.”
