Findians association with Finland - 1943 to 2024 Part 1

Annikki and Jacob decided to write this series of blog entries to share some of the major highlights of our life associated with  Finland over the last 80 years. It will later be incorporated as a chapter in Jacob’s memoirs

At the outset it is important to remember this proverb:

We hope it will help some of you, and all the members of your family, as you live your life peacefully in this beautiful country.

Recently, we received an email stating that the person was “appalled” by our behaviour. 

So far, people have only referred to us as anarchist hippies! It was a shock for Annikki and Jacob to be called terrorists by a "respected member" of O-India ry.

We thought it would be better if we reviewed our over 80 years of association with Finland (in the case of Annikki, her 79 years) to see how many of our activities could be termed as terrorist oriented?

Annikki and Jacob, with their four children, moved permanently to Finland from India in April 1984. 

We had visited Finland in the summer of 1969. 

On arrival in Helsinki we stayed in Annikki’s brother’s (Erkki) University apartment in Otaniemi in Espoo. It was in a gorgeous setting overlooking the bay. We spent a day there and visited the chapel of the University located in the middle of the forest.

University chapel in Espoo.

We did some sightseeing visiting the Helsinki Open Market place on the sea front and the copper domed chapel. 

We then drove all night from Helsinki to Oulu in a rented Beetle VW, with our two small children. Destination was to Annikki’s home town.

It was Jacob’s first experience of a nightless night. He was fascinated by driving through the green forests, blue lakes, forests and more lakes.

The roads were rough as it was just after winter. The use of studded tyres in winter made them treacherous as there were two deep ruts on the road. But there was virtually no traffic.

We stopped for a cup of coffee at a motor rest. No motorways those days. 

Annikki had not spoken Finnish for almost seven years so she felt a little hurt as a Finn when the attendant in the cafeteria complimented her on her Finnish! :-)

Jacob experienced watching a gorgeous sunset and sunrise within minutes of each other over a lake in Jyväskylä near the centre of Finland. 

Sunset and sunrise in midsummer in Finland.

We arrived at 5 am on the 3rd of July 1969 to a house bathed in the morning sunshine. 

Jacob was received in that home with a great cup of coffee and as a son of the family. 

Finns are amongst the largest coffee drinkers in the World consuming a strong brew.

It was Jacob’s first experience of pouring fresh milk from a plastic bag, something not seen anywhere else in the world before then and of special interest to him as a plastics technologist. 

The bags of milk were sold with a plastic container to hold the bag upright.

Annikki and their two children, Susanna (1 year and 9 months) and Jaakko (8 months) and her mother, Hilja - July 1969 in Oulu.

After a month we set off by train and ferry to Stockholm, train to Copenhagen, where we were met by Jacob’s classmate from his Mumbai school, Viney Sethi, who was married to a Danish lady, Hanne Pederson. Viney has been a childhood friend for over 7 decades.

Finally, Copenhagen we travelled by train to Munich in West Germany and then to Venice in Italy to board the M. S. Victoria run by Lloyd Triestino Lines to  Bombay. 

As the Suez Canal was closed, the trip was of 5 weeks. Out through the Straits of Gibraltar and to the Atlantic, to Las Palmas, Dakkar  to Cape Town and then to the Arabian Sea to Mombasa, Karachi and to Bombay.

Susanna in Stockholm en route to Venice

Jaakko, Susanna and Jacob in Munich en route to Venice.

Front and back of the postcard sent by Annikki to her family in Oulu letting 

them know we had  arrived safely in Venice.

Jacob with Susanna and Jaakko on board the M. S. Victoria.

Annikki and Jacob on board the M. S. Victoria on the Atlantic Ocean between Las Palmas  and Cape Town.

The reason we travelled by ship was that Jacob had collected 10 tea chests of valuable research and technical literature which was to form the foundation of the consulting company he was establishing in Madras with his brother, also a polymer chemist.

We had a wonderful time on board the ship. Annikki, with her artistic talents, dressed the two of us as Lappish people using blue and red crepe paper and we walked away with the first prize.

Also the four of us were the only ones who were never sea-sick even in the roughest weather, so we appeared on time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The only problem  was that being an Italian ship, they served us pasta for every meal, only the shape of the pasta changed!

We arrived in Bombay for the next stage of our life in India.

Part 2  of the blog will cover the period 1975 to 1984.

Fact of this day 13 years ago

I must thank the Scottish newspaper, Scotsman, for reminding of the tragedy that took place off the shores of southern Finland 13 years ago.

One of the worst maritime disasters in history occurred today in 1994 when the ferry M/S Estonia sank with the loss of 852 lives. Due to stormy seas, the ship's bow doors, which allowed the easy loading of cars onto the cargo deck, failed. This allowed water into the deck which destabilized the ship and started a catastrophic chain of events, resulting in sinking. Only 137 persons survived the disaster.

The disaster took place on September 28, 1994 between about 00:55 to 01:50 (UTC+2) as the ship was crossing the Baltic Sea, en route from Tallinn in Estonia to Stockholm, Sweden.

She was carrying 989 passengers and crew.

According to the final disaster report, the weather was rough, with a wind of 15 to 20 m/s, force 7-8 on the Beaufort scale and a significant wave height of 3 to 4 meters compared to the highest measured significant wave height in the Baltic Sea of 7.7 metres.

The official report says that whilst the exact speed at the time of the accident isn't known, Estonia had very regular voyage times, averaging 16-17 knots, perhaps implying she didn't slow down for adverse conditions. The chief mate of the Viking Line passenger ferry M/S Mariella tracked Estonia's speed with radar at approximately 14.2 knots before the first signs of distress whilst the Silja Europa officers estimated her speed at 14-15 knots at Midnight.

The first sign of danger was a strange sound of metal against metal around 01:00, when the ship was in the outskirts of the Turku archipelago; but an investigation of the bow visor showed no obvious damage. At about 01:15, the visor separated and the ship took on a heavy starboard list. At about 01:20 a weak female voice called "Häire, häire, laeval on häire", the Estonian words for "Alarm, alarm, there is alarm on the ship", over the public address system. Just a moment later an internal alarm for the crew was transmitted over the public address system.

Soon after this the general lifeboat alarm was given. Soon the vessel lurched some 30 to 40 degrees to starboard, which made it practically impossible to move about safely inside the ship. Doors and hallways became deadly pits. Those who were going to survive were already on the deck by then.

Mayday was communicated by the ship crew at 01:22, but did not follow international formats. Due to black-out she could not give her position which delayed the rescue operation somewhat. The ship disappeared from radar screens of other ships at around 01:50. Mariella arrived on the scene of the accident at 02:12; the first rescue helicopter arrived at 03:05.

The accident claimed 501 Swedes, 280 Estonians, 10 Finns and people from 19 other nations, by drowning and hypothermia. The water temperature was 10°C-11°C. Only 92 bodies of the total number of casualties were recovered.

The official report blamed the accident on the failure of locks on the bow visor, that broke under the strain of the waves. When the visor broke off the ship, it damaged the ramp, which covered the opening to the car deck behind the visor, with it. This allowed water in on the car deck which destabilized the ship and started a catastrophic chain of events.

The location of the hull is at 59°23′N, 21°42′E, about 22 nautical miles (41 km) on bearing 157° from Utö island, Finland. She lies in between 74 and 85 metres of water.

Tonight is a quiet and peaceful night as I think and pray for those who lost their lives on that fateful journey 13 years ago.

I thank our lucky stars that 22 years ago in 1975, Annikki, Jaakko, Mika and me, also faced such a traumatic situation and came out of it alive when, on a journey between Naantali in Finland and Kapelskar in Sweden, the Captain of a Viking Line boat forgot to do a well-marked sharp left turn and took the boat up onto Järvi Saari.