Finland best for living?

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, the Cathedral School Seventh Heaven Blog and the St. Stephen's College Kooler Talk Blog.

In a Readers Digest report just released titled Study says Finland best for living and which was covered by Reuters, caused Annikki and me to think about our combined life in India, Finland, Sweden, Germany and England over the last 60+ years.



This evening, we went to the Nallikari beach for Annikki to collect stones. (I just walk around doing some photography with my lousy camera) and help her carry the collection to the car!




The yellow, gold and red autumn leaves were strewn all around, truly beautiful.




The autumn sunset was glorious. It felt as if we were lifting off into space!

Looking at these photographs of today and the peacefulness that surrounded us on this beautiful autumn evening, maybe you and we can agree with what has been claimed in the report!

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The Nordic countries are the world's greenest and, despite the cold winters, Finland is the best country to live in, according to a Reader's Digest study released on Friday.

Finland was followed by Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Austria.

"Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters," the study said.

My having lived here for the last 23+ years (of course, Annikki was born here and lived the first 18 years of her life here) makes it difficult for us to either agree or disagree with even this specific conclusion.

Annikki said that when we came to Finland there were several reports saying how unhealthy the tap water was in Finland as it was over-chlorinated. In her opinion, things have not improved since then.

She queries the validity of this report as the source of the data is not known to us. If it came from Government sources, then both of us agree that it is a load of bull!

Finns are great at creating a golden image like a beautiful polished apple, but remove the skin and we will find many worms gnawing away inside.

Many environmental activists also may not agree with this study done by U.S. environmental economist Matthew Kahn, who looked at issues such as quality of drinking water and greenhouse gas emissions as well as factors such as education (totally stereotyped) and income (low after high taxes without corresponding benefits).

When we look at education in Finland, there is nothing even coming close to the level of "education" provided by my alma maters, Bishop Cotton School (Bangalore), which had 7 playing fields for its student in its town centre campus, Cathedral and John Connon School (Mumbai) and St. Stephen's College (Delhi).

Incomes are certainly not high. Retained income is low. Savings are virtually non-existent.

But people feel they are rich because of the easy accessibility to long term low interest loans that enable them to enjoy their "own" homes and new cars and other material benefits!

But that is certainly not a reflection of the income standard in Finland.

Certainly, I do not drink anything but tap water. Annikki and many others tend to buy bottled water. Many go to bore well taps located around the city to collect their drinking water as they do not think the tap water is healthy.

My philosophy has always been that tap water contains all the germs and bacteria that our bodies require to build resistance to the local environment. Avoiding that diminishes our natural resistance.

It used to be said that India had the greatest advantage with regard to germ warfare as all the Indian Government had to do was export water from Calcutta!

My health over the last 23 years compared to most others I know in Finland proves my point of view. I have had no major or even minor illness during that time and never lost a day of work during my working life.

Mathew Kahn obviously did not meet the many thousands of Finns who suffer terrible allergies to dust, pollen, cat fur, dogs and many edible items as nuts, milk, etc. etc. Our grandson, Samuel, is a typical example - allergic to tens of things!

This is a direct consequence of a bad environment and living practices, so this would contradict his conclusions.



Finland is a great place to live if you follow the rules we have laid out in the book "Handbook For Survival in Finland" written by Annikki and me which was published in 1994.

But for others - life can be very very difficult on all fronts.

Our new Findians Google Group, which should go online in a few weeks, will tell you many of the pros and cons of working and living in Finland and the changes that have occurred during the last two decades.

So stay tuned!

India in the Finnish news

Here in the near Arctic Finland, India, and especially Karnataka, appears to be much in the news.

There was an article in the Business Section of our local newspaper, Kaleva, the other day of an Oulu based company, INCAP, and its tie up with a facility in Tumkur, a town one hour north west of Bangalore. It is near enough to Bangalore to draw on the benefits of India's IT explosion, and yet far enough to get the benefit of lower costs than the exploding Bangalore.

(Bangalore is not just an IT centre, as it has developed during the last decade, as it has been long established as a major heavy, medium and light engineering centre in India.)

There was an almost full page section about Karnataka in another issue of the Business Section of the Kaleva. Much of the old stereotyping of Indian cities continues, and it was difficult for the writers, who had no idea of the past, to accept that there is continued great growth going on along with the the continuing poverty.

The figures about poverty levels indicated are nowhere near the claims of the Indian Government, but as it is still visible means that I do not give equal credence to the Indian Government hype, either.

Karnataka is no longer the same as when I grew up 60+ years ago. In my time, I have seen a beautiful garden city grow and be destroyed and made into a concrete jungle. I have also seen the level of corruption sky-rocketing that would make my grandfather turn in his grave. He had been the First Member (Prime Minister) to the Mysore Maharaja in the State of Mysore, pre-Independence. Mysore was reputed to have the cleanest and most forward looking and efficient Administration under the Maharajas.

My father, who was an engineer in the Mysore Electricity Board up until the early 1950s, migrated out of Mysore and moved to Bombay because of corruption at the highest political level in the State.

Similarly, one of the reasons that I quit Bangalore in the mid Eighties was because we could no longer live with the corruption in almost every walk of life in the State.

Another article that appeared a few weeks ago (2nd September 2007 - no online link available) about India was written by the Chief Editor of our local newspaper, Risto Uimonen.

He and I have not been on the same page for many years. I think he is arrogant, just as much he thinks the same about me!



The article on the whole is well written.

However, as can from the picture and the inset, he uses a term "neekerityttöjen" in the text, which is equivalent to using the derogatory "n----r girls" in the USA.

It shows a lack of diplomacy and language (his own) control by this individual.

Also, it shows his lack of understanding about the history and culture of India.

The Negritos, who are the broad-headed Negroids from Africa, were the oldest people to have come to India. These people are now only found in patches among the hill tribes of South India (Irulas, Kodars, Paniyans and Kurumbas). They survive in the Andaman Islands where they have retained their language. They are an inconsequential element in the population of India.

The use of the offensive language, totally without a basis for use, shows the crudity to which was stepped to and it reinforced my previous opinion of this individual.