Two more days for registration

Many of you have asked how to do the registration for access to my blogs.

(Two comments on this subject as well.)

All you have is to send me an email telling me which blogs you want to access.

When I set up my settings, I will include your email address. That will enable you to access the appropriate blogs. No password will be required. You will get an email to the effect telling you that you have been registered to read a particular blog.

As there are over 10 blogs, I will only add you to the blogs you personally request.

I had an amazing drive to Helsinki yesterday. It was blistering hot on my way down. I drank many bottles of fluids, juices and water.

There was torrential rain when I left Helsinki at 5 pm. Im learnt for the first time what was water plaining. I lost control of the car as the water was rushing down the motorway. I got away without any damage and I drove at snail's pace when I was under the downpour.

From 2010 Kampitie

From 2010 Kampitie

When driving the last 300 km between 12 midnight and 2:30 am, I watched an amazing simultaneous sunset on my left and a sunrise on my right with an almost vertical rainbow at 1 am!.

What a wonderful world!

An important request to ALL our readers

Dear Readers of all our blogs,

It is with great sadness that we have to announce that we will now have to make all our major blogs accessible only to those who register with us.

The subjects we have covered over the years include the wrestler Dara Singh (probably the most popular and controversial blog entries, ever), St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, Bishop Cotton School, Bangalore, the UN, talk Shows in the USA, politics, the Kandathil and Maliyakal families, Kampitie, Vesaisentie, Annikki's creative art, achievements of our children and grandchildren, CHAFF (Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners), Findians, our numerous friends, relatives, our travels, recipes, and life in general. Above all, t they contained the nostalgia the people love.

Due to circumstances far beyond our control, which affect the lives of many of our loved ones, we have to create the SETTINGS of our blogs so that only those whom we invite can read them. This is very sad as our blogs have reunited many friends across the continents.

With over 120000 readers around the world, some reading more than one of our blogs, for a decrepit old blogger and his wife sitting near the North Pole, this will prove to be a Herculean task, but one which has to be done for the safety, security and well being of many of our loved ones.

Please take the time and effort to send us an email telling us which of our blogs you want to be added to so that you can access them freely.

Our sincere apologies to each and every one of you lovely readers who have kept us going for almost a decade and a half by your readership, your inputs and your outputs!

Yours in great sadness as technology besides being a positive aspect of life can also be a very negative one.

Annikki and Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

Returning to the present

My last few blog entries wandered into the past, so I thought I would bring you back into the present day and reality.

I received a very nice email from a friend of the Finnish Red Cross in Helsinki and a close friend of the parents of the Indian girl who needs a bone marrow transplant. She is a reader of this blog and knew that I was in touch with a wide spectrum Indian community.

She drew my attention to an adopted "Indian" girl in Finland who needs a bone marrow transplant.

Bone marrow transplant matches require someone from the family or from the same ethnic background, if a match is to be found. What the young lady wanted me to do was to try and find someone to save this little 7 year old girl's life.

Of course, without looking into the matter further, I promptly volunteered.

When I read the details, however, I found that transplant donors are ideally between the age of 20 and 40, and as a last resort they may accept donors up to the age of 55.

With me being a dozen years more than the absolute limit, my possibility of doning was ruled out.

I have asked the O-Indian Community in Oulu to find out if they can become donors. So the Oulu Red Cross has agreed to make a working visit to their premises to see if the Indian Community here could be coded, so that if a donor is required, one could be approached.

Such social responsibilities for a community of people living in a different country will only pay in the long run. What if one of the Indians or their children in Finland required a transplant? Where would they turn?

I do hope our Indian Community, not only in Oulu, but also around Finland will play a part in a society where they are living ad working, as in the long run, only they will benefit by such participation.

Live Audio Cricket Commentary

I think I have found a rogue site which is broadcasting the live audio cricket commentary from the semi-final between India and Australia.

You can listen at

http://stanjames.teamtalk.com/StanJames/Cricket_Popup

Here is a screen shot of the site (it is not a link),



I think you may have to have Windows Media Player a a plugin.

Adam Gilchrist has just been bowled by Sreesanth.

On one computer I have the text commentary from the cricinfo.com site and with the live audio, I am quite content.

However, the commentators are not quite professional. At one point he was talking about the life and loves of Mark Ramprakash rather than what was going on on the field.

The descriptions are not truly cricketing, but at least it is better than nothing.