Samu gets his first Football Certificate

After one week of really hard training sessions, Samuel, along with half a dozen others, got their football ccertificates this afternoon.

I was able to watch him do the entire training programme. He has improved his game by leaps and bounds.

The football training group after the end of the last session
enjoying their earned ice creams courtesy the trainers

Samu has lots of homework to do, as the trainers taught the group great stuff of how to handle the ball, fool your opponent when being tackled, and also to shoot accurately at the goal.

I enjoyed watching the training probably as much as Samu enjoyed being trained.

Keeping busy

I was again fully engaged today. Did not get time for my usual afternoon 40 winks.

I had intended to clean up my office room, but could not get started. I took Samuel for football and then took him to town as Joanna was taking him for an eye test. Joanna was at the gym.

I bought a circular polishing and surface grinding tool as I have to clean up my old jaloppy as it looks so sloppy now.

Cleaned both the fountain pumps in the pond. The lotus stems which a friend gave us are surviving as floating plants. If they survive another week, Annikki and I intend to go out to the lake and bring some plants back which are in bloom.

Joanna and Tony had a small family barbecue to celebrate their wedding anniversary. I went a little later and shared some of the cake. Daniel kept me busy for all the while I was there. Samuel was busy reading a book.

Tenth Anniversary celebration

Joanna and Tony celebrate their 10th wedding anniversay today.

I still remember their wedding day - a most unusual one, as everyone had to pay for their own meal at the reception!! Great idea and hope more would follow this rule.

In the 10 years they have achieved a lot, besides two great grandkids for us.

I am sure the next ten years will see much more flowing under the bridge of time. Samuel will then be 18 and Daniel will be 11. I will be 72 and Annikki will still be 18. :-)

Worth waiting for.

Happy anniversary to both of you!

Busy Day

Bought myself a new pair of sandals as the last one lasted me five and half years - I bought them in India in December 1999. Not as good as my old leather ones, but prices have slumped so I can probably get a new one every summer!!
Bought health medicines for Annikki and also for her mother.
Picked up Joanna's Polar Heart Rate Monitor, which was fitted with a new battery. She will use it during her restarted gym training schedule.
Took Samu for his football training. He was full of effort as usual, tackling his opponents, double his size, with great vigour.
Kamu, my Zambian friend came to repair the Electric Scooter. Still some more work needed before we get it on the road this year.
Finally, spent the last few hours listening to various reviews of pResident Bush's speech to the US Nation last night. It has been slammed universally as a piece of trash filled with lies. In one spell he made 5 consecutive statements, ALL LIES!!
It is strange that both the US and UK have compulsive liars, Bush and Blair, at the top of the political tree.
Tomorrow promises to be still another hexctic day as I plan to tidy up the office room as my mid-year resolution.
Weather is flexible, but quite summery - with intermittent sunshine and showers, but quite warm and not too windy.

Boycott call by Jury of Conscience of the World Tribunal on Iraq

The Jury of Conscience, after the final session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, after 2 years of deliberation, included the following recommendation:

7. That people throughout the world launch actions against US and UK corporations that directly profit from this war. Examples of such corporations include Halliburton, Bechtel, Carlyle, CACI Inc., Titan Corporation, Kellog, Brown and Root (subsidiary of Halliburton), DynCorp, Boeing, ExxonMobil, Texaco, British Petroleum. The following companies have sued Iraq and received “reparation awards”: Toys R Us, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Shell, Nestlé, Pepsi, Phillip Morris, Sheraton, Mobil. Such actions may take the form of direct actions such as shutting down their offices, consumer boycotts, and pressure on shareholders to divest.

May I request all my readers to take steps and pass this information on to at least five of their friends.

To read the entire verdict and recommendations of the Jury of Conscience, please visit my blog page:

http://jmpolitics.blogspot.com

Now I am excited...

I have just discovered that I can post my entries directly from my Mac OS X Dashboard to all my blogs. No more the need to log in and enter text. I will have to work out how to manage image uploads, etc. With this development, you can expect more frequent entries to all my blogs.

Catastrophe gives me a great meal

Joanna and Tony had a small catastrophe on Saturday evening. When they returned from their trip to Kalajoki, where they visited Tony's parents, they found that they had left their deep freeze off for the two days they were away. Most of the stuff had thawed and both of them, being health freaks felt that nothing could be refrozen. Joanna called me late on Saturday evening to give away stuff she said we should use up quickly. Then they got rid of a lot of stuff and finally, Joanna decided that she would have a barbecue with all the remaining grub.

Mika, Annikki and myself were invited.

So on Sunday evening, Chef Tony rustled up a great barbecue of lots of chicken legs and sausages, while Joanna made some delicious baked garlic potatoes and baked broccoli with onion.

We killed the stuff in a couple of hours.

I managed to get a few pictures at the event.

Chef Tony having a break during his barbecuing session


Annikki having a swig of lemon juice


Joanna with Daniel


Daniel relaxing


Shirtless Samu
A great family evening where I dearly missed Susanna and family, and Jaakko!!

Visit to see Timo and Gopa

Last Wednesday I had a call from Gopa, daughter of Sadhana Madhusadan (Cathedralite 54er) from Pune, from a nearby village where she was visiting her mother-in-law. Gopa suggested Annikki and I visit them as it was not a long drive (about an hour and a half).

Anniki had tons to do, so I took off in my ancient rabbit and was with them in less than an hour and a half. I would have done the journey quicker but a Police Motorbike shot past the queue of cars streaming out of Oulu, so we did not know where he was in hiding - so we had to keep our speeds to within the speed limit!!

Spent some real quality time with both of them and Timo's 82 year old mother. Although partially blind (she recognises people from their voices as she cannot distinguish them with sight) she lives alone in her home and manages everything like clockwork. A truly great lady, mother of 11 children, she recalled the names of not only all of them but also her 26 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren!!

Timo's mother, now 82

Gopa looked as lovely as ever and Timo was his real gentlemanly self. Gopa was her sprightly full of life self and Finland is really suiting her. She is lucky to have such a wonderful man as her husband.

Gopa had even brought me some real Kerala papadams from Pune!! We love papadams.


Timo and Gopa in front of the traditional built in oven
in Timo's mother's home in a village near Pudasjärvi

Two wonderful ladies celebrate birthdays today

Two of my dear elder "sisters" celebrate their birthdays today.

Accakuttykochamma, Mrs. K. G. Kuruvilla, mother of Dilip (Chennai), Susan (Ontario), Annu (New York) and Usha (Singapore) and grandmother of numerous outstanding youngsters, celebrates her 78th birthday today. Accakuttykochamma was the bridesmaid at my mother's wedding and she still looks as sweet as she did then. She is also as sweet a person today as I always remember her.

Bridesmaid Accakuttykochamma is the little girl
(on the extreme right) at my parent’s wedding (1936)

Happy birthday Accakuttykochamma from all of us here in Oulu.

The second dear "sister", who celebrates her 65th birthday today, is Beebikochamma, Mrs. K.C. Mammen, mother of Anil, Roy and Rachel (all in Bangalore), and daughter-in-law of that wonderful grand lady, Pallammachi (Chennai). (Sorry, no photograph available at the moment.)

Happy birthday Beebikochamma from all of us in Finland.

We miss both of you very very much and our hearts are with you and your families on this auspicious day.

A rare chance for photography

It is not often that one goes to the Tivoli, as I did with Annikki, Joanna and grandchildren, Samuel and Daniel. It is even rarer that one gets to ride in the Giant Wheel, as I did with Samuel.

It was the first time I have been up in a Giant Wheel with a cheap digital camera in hand.

I took some random shots from the cage while we were rolling around.

Thought you may enjoy what our small little town of just 100000 people looks like from on high.

View to the North East East - where we have a small hydrostation on the left of the picture.


View to the South - our homes are under the clouds in the centre.


View to the South West - overlooking the sea - a saltless one!


View to the South West West - looking over the small boat docking station and the old harbour way over the buildings.

Samuel's Football Match

Monday was away game time for the Tervarit Chelsea Jrs team, for which Samuel plays.

Samuel has developed to be a great little player. Having been tried in different positions, his unbounded energy has now propelled him into the position of centre half, playing wherever the ball is!!

And even after two full games, he was still going strong.

Here are a few shots from his latest encounter with the Oulu Panther side.

Samuel warming up pre-game.


Team meeting with the coaches.


After the game, Samuel is flushed but ready for more!!

His game has improved so tremendously. He is the only one who plays the game in the spirit it should be played - no time wasting. If the ball goes into the goal, he charges in, picks it up, and rushes it back to the centreline so that the game can go on!!

Samuel is going to be great player if he keeps on improving at the rate he has done in the past three weeks since he joined the club. He is becoming a strategist as he plans, with pencil and paper, how he should play his next game, learning from the mistakes made by the team in the last one. And he is kicking that ball hard!

Suomen Tivoli in Oulu

The Suomen Tivoli is the fun fair which travels around Finland. (Suomen = Finnish) There are all the usual entertainments for children like the Giant Wheel, lots of high speed brain spinning rides, and Dodgem Cars. They also have cotton candy and delicious softee ice cream.

As Tony was away in Vancouver (Canada) for a conference, Joanna decided she would take the kids to the Tivoli. She asked Annikki and me to accompany her.

We did so with great pleasure, as it gave us a chance to be children again and get a chance to enjoy some of the things which we cannot do unless we are acccompanied by our grandchildren!!

As soon as we entered there was cotton candy for Samuel, Annikki and myself - Joanna finished Samuel's and shared some with Daniel. The process of eating was a bit mesy with my beard!!

I then took Samuel on the Giant Wheel. He scared the beejeezers out of me as he pranced around each time the wheel reached the top.

Samuel rocking and shocking me in the Giant Wheel

Then, Samuel enjoyed a few rides on his own and the Mexican Swirling Hat with Joanna. Even looking at this from afar was enough to make one's brain swirl and twirl!!

Annikki took Samuel and Daniel through the Mini Zoo and they came out quite satisfied with their experience.


Samuel in the Rocker



Samuel in the stomach churning Dropper

But what Samuel enjoyed most was the Dodgem Cars. Given a chance, I too would also have been there enjoying them as I did as a child in Bangalore way back in the fifties. Sadly, there was an actual age limit so I was denied my chance.



Samuel in a Dodgem Car


Samuel in a Dodgem Car

And here is one of Joanna and Annikki relaxing while Samu was enjoying one of his rides.


Joanna and Annikki at the Tivoli

All in all a great day followed by dinner at a friend's restaurant, a very nice Thai couple.

It was a great "Grandfather's Day" for ME!!

Catching Up

Last week has been hectic as Annikki's mother has been in the Old People's Home. We have had a lot of things to do to get ready before her return.

Also, with the great Midsummer weather, Annikki had a lot of work getting the garden ready. (And I do mean Annikki as I am only a not so active helper. I clean the pond pumps and get rid of the floating debris in the pond, but not much more. I am also the chauffer for Annikki.)

This meant a lot of shopping around for things for the garden. I sit patiently in the car while she does her buying.

In a series of posts following this, I will update you on some important and interesting events that took place during the last week.

Today is when we celebrate Midsummer in Finland which is the first weekend after Midsummer's Day (21st June).

Joanna and Tony, Samuel and Daniel, are visiting Tony's parents today in Kalajoki, about an hour and a half's drive from Oulu. So it will be a quiet day here in Oulu, allowing me to do this catch up.

Hamilton Naki - a moving orbituary

Who was Hamiltion Naki?

"A man who stole with his eyes"?

Read this most moving Orbituary about this outstanding human being, the best "gardener" the world should have known?!

Many thanks to Dorota and Patrick for pointing me to this item. (The Economist Orbituary will only be available for a few days - so read it QUICK!!)

Finland and New York Times

The Sunday edition of The New York Times carried an article After Sibelius, Finland's Rich Bounty of Musicians in its Travel Section called "Cultured Traveler".

The author, RICHARD B. WOODWARD, got many of the facts right but used them out of context and applied all of them to his "level" in society.

Although Woodward mentioned the Savonlinna Opera Festival and the Kuhmo Music Festival, he failed to mention the Pori Jazz Festival, the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival and probably the one where most Finns take part - the Seinäjoki Tango Festival, which has drawn 1.6 million visitors over the last 20 years. None of the other festivals has this mass appeal!!

Woodward gives the prices for the expensive hotels, but in our town of Oulu, a family of 4 can live in a beautiful beachfront cottage, fully equipped for just € 70 per night!! Such fantastic offers can be found all around the country if one wants to really enjoy the sights and sounds of Finland cheaply.

Woodward makes this claim:

"Not only is Sibelius an icon on the currency but he also acts as the country's permanent ambassador by being its first, and still most, internationally recognized name."

This is preposterous.

Sibelius is only the symbol of a certain class of Finns - the ruling class and their counterparts, worldwide.

Names such as K. K. Rosberg (1982 Formula 1 World Champion), Mika Häkkinen (1998 and 1999 Formula 1 World Champion), Mika Salo, Kimi Raikkonen, the absolutely world renowned "Flying Finns" which include Rauno Aaltonen - 1965 European Champion (BMC), Timo Mäkinen, Simo Lampinen, Pauli Toivonen - 1968 European Champion (Porsche), Tapio Rainio, Hannu Mikkola - World Rally Champion 1983 (Audi), Pentti Airikkala, Markku Alen - FIA Cup (WRC) Champion 1978 (Fiat/Lancia), Leo Kinnunen, Lasse Lampi, Ari Vatanen - World Rally Champion 1981 (Ford), Henri Toivonen, Timo Salonen - World Rally Champion 1985 (Peugeot), Juha Kankkunen - World Rally Champion 1986 (Peugeot), 1987 (Lancia), 1991 (Lancia), 1993 (Toyota), Mikael Sundström, Tommi Mäkinen - World Rally Champion 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 (all Mitsubishi), Sebastian Lindholm, Marcus Grönholm - World Rally Champion 2000, 2002 (Peugeot), Toni Gardemeister, Jarmo Kytölehto, Harri Rovanperä, Tapio Laukkanen - 1999 British Rally Champion and Pasi Hagström - 1999 Finnish Rally Champion, are just a few who are living legends in Finland and the world.

In the field of Winter Olympics, Matti Nykänen is an unsurpassed name. Finnish javelin throwers have excelled through generations and their names are on the lips of every sports fan which far outnumber those few classical music enthusiasts.

1981 World Rally Driver Champion Ari Vatanen and myself (2003)

Even in the music world, the focus is not at all on classical music, as is sort of implied by Woodward. Local Choirs are found in every nook and crany. The Shouters (with their outlandish musical noise) and the Leningrad Cowboys (with their outlandish hair style) have made their mark internationally in most unconventional ways. Even amongst the indigenous people, the Angelin Tytöt, the Sámi girls, Ursala and Tunni Länsman, from the small village of Angeli in the very north near Inari, have a huge following worldwide.

I could go on and on.....

I would certainly not agree with the viewpoint of Music Conductor Osmo Vanska who said: "If you asked who is the most important figure in Finnish history, 8 of 10 Finns would say Sibelius."

Finland and its people are not living in the past. It is creative and has produced and is producing many top notch people outside of music from Alvar Aalto, to my own humble wife, Annikki, whose talents as a creator (edible art, regenerated art, recycled art, etc.) are second to none - not even Sibelius!!

Sibelius is just "one" of the bricks in a very large wall. The history of Finland grows by the hour and Sibelius means historically little to most "commoner" Finns.

Samu's first football matches

Here is a picture of great football star in the making - Samuel Benjamin Matthan:

June 2005: Samuel Benjamin Matthan,
Tervarit Juniors Chelsea 97
Samuel is crazy about sports - ice hockey, football, Formula 1, are some of his great loves. Mom, Joanna, has gots him lots of books. Whenever there is an international match involving a side he is interested in, such as Finland, or our local ice hockey team, Kärpät, which has for 2 years in a row won the Finnish Championships, or when Finn Kimi Raikkonen is at his best, as winning 3 out of the last four Formula 1 races (he tragically lost the one before the last when he was leading on the very last lap!!), then I go over and we watch it on TV together.

However, Samu loves to also play the games and sports he is interested in. Grandpa has been helping out with football, despite being quite weak at the knees. But Grandpa is there for moral help and also to key him to play better and to follow the rules and decorum of the game.

This year he has joined the Tervarit Juniors side called Chelsea 97, which are mainly composed of kids about the same age as him. He goes for practice once a week and there are league matches to play. They had the first two league games last Sunday.

The team is still in the early stages of formation. Samu played well but unfortunately the team did not click. They lost their first league game 8 - 0 to a very disciplined Kello FC, while they lost their second one 6 - 5 to a well-schooled Tervarit Juniors Arsenal 98 who fought back from a 3 goal deficit.

Nirupa wooshes through Oulu

Our very dearest of nieces, she was such a chatterbox when she was a little girl, Nirupa, passed through Oulu - Monday to Thursday. Flying in from Boston for a conference at the eastern city of Kuopio, Nirupa took a couple of days off to visit family. We all were greatly pleased to see her.

She stayed at Joanna and Tony's place but visited us and spent a lot of quality time with Annikki, Mika and me. Mika recognised Nirupa although it was over 11 years since they had both met.

Here are some photographs of Nirupa in Oulu.

Nirupa chatting away as we always remember her!!

On Tuesday night, I took them out to a friend's rather nice fusion food restaurant. There was much discussion later as I wanted to take them out again, but Joanna said that she did not want to go another of my "kuttukaran's" restaurant, as every second restaurant in Oulu, with good food, is owned by a "kuttukaran". So she took Nirupa, Samuel and me, to HER "kuttukarthi's" (who is the ex-wife of my kuttukaran) restaurant!! :-)


Nirupa and Joanna at Joanna's "kuttukarthi's" restaurant

On Wednesday night, Nirupa took us out to the best Mexican restaurant in town. I had some delicious super spicy sauce with my turkey filet.


Nirupa ready to leave for Kuopio with Joanna and family

Sadly, Annikki and Mika could not join us on our dining out sprees, but I brought back some good food for them.

It was sad to see Nirupa leave. I hope she will come back again SOON.

Siloo one of the 100 Most influential people

I was very pleasantly surprised when I discovered the identity of one of the 100 most influential people in finance as was published in the publication
Treasury and Risk Management.

Seems to be a problem with the link above so enter this URL in your browser to reach the site:

http://www.treasuryandrisk.com/issues/2005_06/careers/416-1.html

The name I came across was Sara Mathew. It sort of rang a bell. But I could not place it exactly. Then, surprise, surprise, a faithful blog reader, Shalu, wife of Anand Matthan and daughter of the late Dr. Nainan Varghese, wrote and asked me whether I had read about her sister, Siloo.

It fell into place.

Siloo did her Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Madras, India. She then got her graduate degree in Accounting from the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants, also in India. This was followed by a MBA in Finance and Marketing from Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Siloo joined Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1983. It was a meteoric rise up the corporate ladder. She progressed through finance, brand management and customer financial service roles. In 1995, she was named Assistant Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations. In 1997 she became Comptroller for the Paper Products division and in 1998, was named Comptroller and CFO of the Global Baby Care business unit. Siloo was promoted to Vice President of Finance in 2000. She was responsible for the ASEAN region including Australia, Asia and India. In this capacity, Siloo led all aspects of finance for the region including Profit and Cash Management, Tax and Treasury. She was also responsible for strategic planning, organizational development and training.

In August 2001 Siloo joined Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) after her 18-year career with P&G. Dun & Bradstreet is the world's leading provider of business information. It has been enabling business-to-business commerce for 160 years. D&B's information and technology solutions help businesses reduce credit risk, find profitable customers and manage vendors efficiently. Businesses also use D&B's information and technology to authenticate and verify potential trading partners online, increasing their trust and confidence in e-commerce transactions. Over 90 percent of the Business Week Global 1000 rely on D&B as the source for information they need to make their business a success.

This new award shows that Siloo's performance at P&G and D&B were not just flashes in a pan. Well done Siloo. You have done Mallu ladies proud!

Siloo is married to another high flyer in the corporate world. Jacob Mathew (Renjy) has had a great career with P&G through a range of assignments in finance and finally as head of strategy development. He then started his own consulting practice. The mission of his “The Strategy Company LLC” is to provide strategy development and shareholder value services to large and small companies.

Renjy’s background in a large consumer products company allows him to facilitate strategy development at the business unit, sector, and corporate level. Within small companies, the focus is primarily on business development, with technology licensing being an important part.

Siloo and Renjy have two boys, Rohan and Nikhil. Rohan is in college and Nikhil who is six years younger, is still in School. Siloo is Shalu’s “kid” (Siloo - not my description!!) sister, as she is 8 years younger than her!!

Nirmala, Vikram, Renjy, Rohit, Siloo and Shalu; photo: Gulden

Here is a picture taken after Suchi's (Rachel Matthai, wife of Michael Bettua) house-warming party at Hobokken. Gulden, husband of Nirmala Kuriyan (née Thomas, daughter of Chinchaya, Mrs. M. M. Thomas) (left) is missing as he took this picture. Next to Nirmala is Vikram, her son. The guy in the black shirt is Renjy, Siloo's husband. Next to him is Shalu’s son Rohit. Then we have the two gorgeous Nainan Varghese girls, Siloo and Shalu. Thanks to Shalu for the photograph.

Kodin Kuvalehti carries story about Kampitie Garden

Kodin Kuvalehti is Finland's largest circulating women's magazine. Malayala Manorama's women's magazine, Vanitha, although it has a circulation of almost 0.6 million copies fortnightly, can certainly learn a lot from the quality of this Finnish publication.

About a year and a half ago, Annikki wrote a small piece and submitted a couple of photographs for a reader's contest organised by the magazine. Annikki wrote about how she had designed the garden at her mother's home around an old metal bath tub which did not find its way into the skips when we were clearing and renovating the house, and how she had created almost everything by recycling materials found in the compound.

Bath tub around which the Kampitie Garden was created

The Garden Editor of the magazine, Sinikka Sarrola, liked Annikki's article. This submission was shortlisted for a further stage. This involved Sinikka, accompanied by a professional photographer, Pirjo Sillanpää, visiting the garden at the height of last summer, interviewing Annikki and taking photographs, maybe around a 100 or more shots.


Kodin Kuvalehti Garden Editor Sinikka Sarrola, Annikki and Samuel


Annikki and Kodin Kuvalehti Garden Editor Sinikka Sarrola

Based on this Sinikka wrote an article about the garden and about Annikki and our family.

Three gardens are featured in the latest issue of the magazine, which is due out in the news stands tomorrow morning. The feature is entitled "Three Readers, beautiful, special gardens".

And one of the stories, with absolutely glorious photographs, is about Annikki and our family and her tribute to her mother in creating the garden for her.

The text is hilarious. Some of the last lines symbolises Annikki's character "She can create anything from anything"!

Thank you Kodin Kuvalehti, Sinnika and Pirjo for such a beautiful presentation in a great magazine. (My photographs are nowhere near the quality of the professional, Pirjo.)

If you are interested in a copy of the magazine with the English translation of the text, please send me an email.

Congratulations Tanya Matthan

Tanya is the daughter Arun and Yasmin (née Shah) Matthan.

Arun is the youngest in the Matthan Martthan (Babyappapen) family.

I received information today of a truly outstanding performance by this Shah-Matthan prodigy.

Tanya got 95,55% in her ISC 12th Standard Board Examamination. Tanya stood 1st in her school. She is also in the first 15 in the country.

Tanya will be trying for an Honours course in Lady Shree Ram College, Delhi.

Congratulations Tanya and hope you do well in the next phase of your education programme.

More news on the Bangalore tragedy

I do not want to put the graphic details of this gruesome event on the blog so I give a link to the newspaper article on line

News -- Bangalore: Two Brutally Murdered in Broad Daylight - One of Mangalore Origin, Daijiworld News Network - Bangalore (GA), Bangalore, May 17 2005

I am still in a state of shock to think that just a few minutes before he was to leave to reach our home in Finland, this horrific event could have taken place.

Two family demises

Dear Maliyakal and Kandathil family members,

I have, with great regret, to announce the demise of two very dear members of our family.

On Wednesday May 11th 2005, Dr. M. V. Kurian (Thambichayan), husband of Graciekochamma (Accahi), father of Padmini and Mohan, left us to await his meeting with our Maker. Son, Mohan, in Canada, who attended the funeral, sent me the news on his return to Canada.

Thambichyan was "one of us" when we were children. I will miss him dearly.

On Sunday May 15th 2005, Babykochamma, wife of K. O. Kuriyan (Vellichayan), mother of Ashok, Rajeev and Pratheep, also left us to await her union with her Maker. Georgie in Madras updated me on this information.

I was a little boy when I attended the wedding of Vellichayan and Babykochamma. I always considered her as one of our most beautiful sisters-in-law. Quiet in word, she had an enormous sense of humour which was ever-present with that slight smile on her face. And she always had a kind word for anyone that crossed her threshhold.

I have conveyed our condolences to all family members via the appropiate channels.

Tragic news

Late this evening, just around 11 pm, I was expecting a guest from Bangalore, India. "Tiny" S. Mazumdar, formerly of Hindustan Lever, a friend of Ashok Kunte, who is a IIT classmate of Cathedralite 59er Elijah Elias (Ooky), my long-standing family friend from my Bombay days.

Tiny must have been just planning to leave his Bangalore office en route to the airport to fly in to Helsinki. He would then have proceeded to the Helsinki Railway Station to enjoy the train trip to Oulu.

His visit to Finland was to see for himself conditions here as his son has been admitted to Kuopio University in Eastern Finland to do a course in biotechnology.

Tiny's stopover in Oulu was to meet me and see what my opinion was about his son's stay in Finland, and to possibly help Tiny get a leverage into the Gherkin market as he is a large exporter to Russia. I had organised lunch at a friend's restaurant along with other friends of mine in his line of business.

This morning, just as I visited my email site, there was a message from Ashok Kunte in Thane telling me that Tiny had been murdered in his office yesterday afternoon.

I had just had an email yesterday from Tiny that he had managed to get me some home-made Kerala papadams.

Over the last few weeks we had become quite close friends as we had spoken on many issues for many hours using Skype Voice Over Internet. He had become an avid reader of all my blogs.

I will miss a good friend I made in the recent weeks and it will take some time for me to recover from this shock. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Visitor from India

Jitendra Sachdev is an old friend from Bangalore. I was a Director in one of his companies. Although I have been speaking to him, on and off, on the phone, and visited him on our infrequent visits to India, I had not met him for the last 13 years.

He decided to make a visit to Finland. He is here for a week. He is staying at the beautiful Beach Cottage camp, but unfortunately, due to very heavy booking I could not get him one of the self-contained cottages. We meet daily and I have been able to show him around. I drop him back around sunset, which these days is around 11 pm. He has been able to get a few colourful sunset shots at that time.

Last week was the Great School Children's Exhibition in Oulu where over 40,000 children from all over Finland have been entertained to the best that Oulu could offer them. In our Oulu Sports Dome there were several booths with all sorts of handicrafts and ultra-modern technological events for the children to take part in.

Son-in-law, Tony, had a set up where his team has designed an interactive game where each participant is given his own avatar and they play an interactive game centered around the Oulu Castle. 30 children, each with their own computer station equipped with sound are able to interact and play this game which including the introduction time, takes about 2 hours. They see on the computer screen exactly what their avatar would see.

Grandson Samuel was anxious to take Grandpa around the exhibition. He had a pass, which he was very proud about, but we had to get the assistance from Tony to get in to see the insides of what was happening in the Sports Dome. Samuel had great pleasure in taking Jittu and me around the exhibition to show us what all the children were up to. It was extremely interesting see children using not just computers but using all forms of traditional equipment, as leather stitching machines, etc.

Jittu and Samu, May 2005

This is a picture of Samu and Jittu relaxing at the exhibition. The poster in the background is about "Ludocraft" which is the Game Design Center in Oulu University under Tony in the Information Processing Department of Oulu University.

LudoCraft in Brief
LudoCraft studies games and applies the theoretical knowledge into game design. The approach combines theoretical, technical and artistic expertise in serving both the academic and the practitioner communities. The mission of LudoCraft is to distribute the knowledge of analytical gamers and game designers for the benefit of wider audience.
Ludo - Theories of game and play
Craft - Art of game design and development
LudoCraft = The Art of Designing and Creating Games and Play

Mother's Day 2005

Sunday was Mother's Day in Finland.

Here, in Oulu, we had a get together of four generation - Hilja, Annikki's mother, Annikki, Joanna and Joanna's two children - Samuel and Daniel.


Hilja, Annikki's mother on Mother's Day 2005


Annikki with grandson Daniel on Mother's Day 2005

I went to buy flowers on behalf of Annikki and her sister, Anneli, who lives in South Finland, for their mother. The flower shop was packed solid with people on the Sunday morning. As I watched the people walk in, I suddenly realised how important Mother's Day is in instilling some values in children, as the largest group of the shoppers were children with their fathers choosing some pretty flowers for their mothers.

The afternoon was a good sports day for Finland with a great performance by Finnish Formula 1 driver, Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren - Mercedes, leading the race from start to finish in what was a great display of his driving skills given a car which will last the race. Narain Karthikeyan (India) Jordan-Toyota, did not do so badly in that he managed to finish the race yet again, even though it was 3 laps behind the Finn.

Finland also managed a draw in the Ice Hockey group match against the Canadian team. They should have won but the Canadians made a spirited come back in the last session when the Finns were up 3-1.

Daniel on his 1st Birthday

Daniel on his 1st Birthday

Grandson Daniel's birthday today

There was a small get together on 23rd April to celebrate son-in-law, Tony's birthday.

Tony on his birthday - 23rd April 2005
Photo by Samuel


Daniel with his brother, Samuel - 23rd April 2005
Photo by JM


Daniel with grandma, Annikki - 23rd April 2005
Photo by Samuel

Grandson Daniel is celebrating his 1st birthday here in Oulu. I have been there twice today, first before my 13 km walk (2 hours and 23 minutes) and once afterwards as grandson Samuel wanted me to tell him the story of the Bubble Journey from the Enchanted Forest of Gurva to Namibia and down the Zambesi spring to save the people from the naughty lady who was washing her hands in the spring source way way underground!!


Daniel following his father's footsteps as a drummer boy,
Photo by Samuel

93 today and going strong

Dearest Pappa, Mr. K. M. Philip, oldest surving son of the late K. C. Mammen Mappillai, is 93 today.

Please join Annikki and me in wishing him a very very happy birthday and many many more.

Here is a recent picture of Pappa in Chennai addressing the gathering at the 70th birthday of Mammen Eapen (Kunjumonchayan).

Pappa 2005 Chennai at Kunjumonchayan's 70th birthday;
Photo supplied by Shilpa

I am sorry I have not been blogging on this channel for a few days. I have been busy getting fit, redoing our upstairs kitchen, looking after Daniel and Samuel, getting our car fixed, etc.

Will catch up on the news, especially a birthday, wedding, etc, in the family. Susanna has been active on her blog so do not forget to check it out at

http://smatthan.blogspot.com

Lots of great pictures, especially from Nitya's wedding.

I am trying to get fit

Now that the weather is really great I have started walking. In so doing I came across the first flowers in the city.

First Spring Flowers in Oulu

I have a Polar Electro Watch cum Heart Rate Monitor. With it I can see where I am going as far as my fitness is concerned without overstressing myself.

Polar Electro is a Finnish company and also it is an Oulu headquartered company. My former colleague in the Electrical Department in Oulu University, Professor Seppo Säynäjäkangas, is the one who started this and has made a small fortune. He is today one of the most promnent industrialists of Finland.

Polar Electro was founded in 1977. It is the leading brand in improving health and well-being through the understanding of human physiology, performance and environment and providing measuring devices for this combination. Polar Electro is the world's leading manufacturer of sports instruments and heart rate monitoring, registering and evaluation equipment.

I laid out a 8 km route, walking to town and back. I laid out the route that after about 15 minutes I have to go over a rather steep overbridge. This was to help to put my heart rate up into the "In Zone" where I am doing some real work.

I walk into town, stop for a cup of tea, and then walk back along a slightly longer route and cross over the overbridge, finally to slow down the last 15 minutes. No measurement is done during my tea stop.

The important aspect is to ensure that I stay within my heart rate exercise limits. My normal heart rate is 80. My exercise heart rate range is 124 to 158. The low level of 124 means I am not very fit and it should increase as I get fitter. The maximum heart rate should not exceed 220 minus my age of 62, which is 158. If it does cross this figure I am overstressing my heart and it is not healthy or acceptable.

Given below is the results of my last five days. One day in between was a rest day, which is also recommended.

The results are excellent in that my walking speed has increased considerably, and my efficiency of walking has improved. My average heart rate is steady at a reasonable figure. The number of minutes I am staying in the acceptable heart rate is also excellent. My average heart rate is now 140, which means I am now reaching my best fitness level with no stress. The calories I am burning every day is also helping to reduce my weight. My cholestrol levels will automatically drop and my blood sugar levels will also come well within the acceptable range.

The first day I was feeling bad after the first 15 minutes. I had to slow down considerably when going over the overbridge. Now there is no problem.

Date	Distance	Total Time	Efficiency	In Zone	Average	Calories	Fat	Walking Rate	Total Calories
	km	min	%	min	Heart Rate	kcal	%	min / km	kcal
16.04.05	8.00	124.00	100	56.00	132	1872	40	15.50	1872
17.04.05	8.00	117.26	105.44	69.10	135	1832	40	14.66	3704
18.04.05	0.00		0	0	0	0	0	0	3704
19.04.05	8.00	104.18	115.98	75.29	140	1739	30	13.02	5443
20.04.05	8.00	100.38	119.05	69.59	140	1748	25	12.55	7191

If any of you need help in setting up your walking schedules, or any advice on gym training, please do contact me. I have managed to keep reasonably fit with the help of a couple of great Personal Trainers in a couple of gyms.

Celebrate the 86th Birthday

Please join Annikki and me in wishing a wonderful lady, known to most of us as Pallammachi, a very happy birthday today. She is a very graceful 86 years.

Pallammachi at Succhi's wedding 1999

How many of you know that I was named Jacob after her late husband, my uncle, K. M. Jacob, who was known as Chackochayan. He passed away tragically in the Chikmagalur Estate way back in 1941. I was born in 1943. My mother decided that I should have the name of her late brother.

Pallammachi has been a picture of great courage, in the face of much tragedy in her life. Besides her husband, she lost all her three sons, Anian, Roy and then Kunjumonchayan, in their prime. Despite this, this gracious lady has lived a life dedicated to God and her families, both in Pallam, as well as her in-laws, who considered her as one of their most important members. She is blessed with a most loving daughter-in-law, one of my dearest friends, Bibikochamma, three grandchildren, Anil, Roy and Rachel, who have wonderful partners, all of whom dote on their grandmother, and a few great grandchildren.

Kochappachen, the late K. M. Mammen Mappillai, who headed MRF, would never make a major decision without discussing it with Pallammachi. He valued her words and that of his sister, my mother, as two outsiders of the mainstream family business, and it was this that made sure that the whole family stood together through many trials and tribulations, for many many years.

Happy birthday dearest Pallammachi.

In Oulu we are celebrating

Yes, we are celebrating something that probably of least interest to most of you.

Our local Ice Hockey Team, Kärpät, has just won the National Ice Hockey Cup for the second time in a row.

I went over and watched the match on TV, which was being played in Helsinki, with Samu. Samu is not allowed to watch TV on his own.

It was a great game for Kärpät in that they did everything right and won 2 - 0.

The opposing team was called Jokerit and it is the top team from Helsinki.

There will be a great home-coming at the Airport for the team when it returns late tonight. Oulu will probably celebrate through the night, so it is better for us to stay at home. Finns and alcohol are not the best combination to mess about with.

I am sure very few of you may know anything about ice hockey. I, too, know very little except that I do support our local team.

Kärpät won the championship way back in 1981, before I moved to Finland. So it was nice to see them win it last year. They played good ice hockey for most of this season. There were a couple of bad patches, but they topped the League.

Then in the Play-Offs, which is between the top eight teams, they did not have much problem and won most of the games quite easily.

Well done Kärpät.

Sorry for the absence

I was quite well, thank you.

Many of you emailed me because I was not active on the blog last week. The reason was not me, but grandson, Samuel, was not well last week. Nothing serious - a bad cough, but enough to keep him away from school. Joanna was also a bit stressed and tired and grandson, Daniel, was overactive - so I was there to entertain Samuel.

I created my new "Ram and Krishna Indian Magic Forest" series for him. Three new stories - the Bubbles, the Bamboo Pipe and the Well. He was enthralled by these that one day when I had to go for a meeting for just 40 minutes, Samuel was not very happy!!

All are well now.

We had a bit of winter again last week as, last Wednesday, when I came out of Joanna's home, I found the car covered with an inch of snow. I had just changed my tyres back to suummer ones, but luckily the weather was warm the next day that there was no ice on the road.

We are back to bright spring days and I have started my walking. I am using my SIMPUTER as the mp3 player and listening to a collection of songs from my iTunes library as I walk the 10 km. Also I am using my new walking shoes!

Another 60 year birthday

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated the birthday 70th birthday of Kunjumonchayan.

On a quieter note today we can wish his better half, Omenakochamma, on her 60th. I have been favoured with a snap of Omena with Shilpa taken just a couple of weeks ago.

Omena & Shilpa, 2005

Happy birthday Omenakochamma and may you have many many more happy ones.

Great news - Another blog to visit

Great news, as daughter Susanna, in Billinghay, Lincolnshire, England, has started her own blog.

Its been a long way from here:

Susanna in Shawbury 1968

So you can see that side of the news from England directly from her.

Her blog address is

http://smatthan.blogspot.com

and you will always find the link to her blog in my sidebar.

Welcome to blogging, Susanna. I enjoyed your first few entries.

Listen to Susanna on Radio Lincolnshire today

Susanna and family, Chris and Asha, have been on an experiment to not use a credit card for meeting daily living costs. This is an effort to break the viscious cycle of living beyond one's means or falling into debt caused by depending on the plastic (usual terminology for using various plastic credit cards.

I missed the first interview which was about 6 weeks ago. (See an earlier blog entry about this.)

(Click on the picture to listen to the interview of her today by Dave Bussey of BBC Radio Lincolnshire. This is the first time I am trying this so the file (large) may be downloaded to you computer and then it may have to be played using iTunes or some similar player. Please tell me if there are any problems!!)

The kids, Susanna, Jaakko, and Joanna and Mika (holding
their cousins), in 1984 in Oulu§, before Susanna left for England.
Sound is Susanna on BBC Radio Lincolnshire in April 2005

Susanna left Finland in 1984, about 6 months after we moved to Finland. Annikki and I had a difficult time making ends meet as we had to support all four kids. Susanna needed a reasonable sum to live by herself in England. However, we managed that without any plastic AND by keeping detailed accounts of all what we spent.

In 1994, Annikki and I authored a book called "Handbook for Survival in Finland" which was meant for foreigners who came to live in the most expensive country in the world.


Book cover with a picture of Annikki's father, Matti,
with an 18 kg salmon he caught from the local Oulu River

Finns used to believe that they had the highest standard of living just because everything was expensive. Most of them did not know the difference between "standard of living" and "cost of living".

The book, which was quite explosive (see Annikki's warning note in RED on the cover), was a best seller with all copies sold out in a just a few days. It was written and self published by Annikki and me, using my Apple PowerBook 170 portable computer, Desk Top Publishing software, a laser printer (colour printing was done at a contract facility and using their colour photopier), the kitchen stove for binding the book, and a small plastic to paper laminator!!

Kimi on the podium, Narain out in 3rd

Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen drove a great race to come in third while his team-mate, stand in for Pablo Montoya, Pedro de la Rosa, had a exciting fight with Mark Webber to bring the second McLaren - Mercedes in in 5th position in the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix a few hours ago.

Good to see Kimi back on the winner's podium.

However, Fernando Alonso, driving the Renault was on his own finishing a full 13.409 seconds ahead of Jarno Trulli in his Toyota. Champion Michael Schumacher had a hydaraulic problem, spun out of control, and gave up after 13 laps by driving back into the pits.

Indian Narain Karthikeyan had a miserable race as he was out in lap 3.

Here was the final result of the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand prix:

1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 57 laps one hour 29 minutes 18.531 seconds
2 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota +13.409secs
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren - Mercedes +32.063secs
4 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 53.272
5 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes 1:04.988
6 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-BMW 01:14.701
7 Felipe Massa (Brz) Sauber-Petronas 1 lap
8 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Cosworth 1 lap
9 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Ferrari 1 lap
10 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan-Toyota 2 laps
11 (ret) Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber-Petronas 3 laps
12 Patrick Friesacher (Aut) Minardi-Cosworth 3 laps
13 Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi-Cosworth 4 laps
R Jenson Button (GB) BAR-Honda 11 laps
R Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR-Honda 30 laps
R Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams-BMW 32 laps
R Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 45 laps
R Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 53 laps
R Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan-Toyota 55 laps
R Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull-Cosworth 57 laps

Kimi 9th and Narain 18th on grid

The pole position for today's Formula 1 in Bahrain was grabbed by Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault with a time of 3:01.902 while Michael Schumacher (Ger) in his new model Ferrari has taken second place on the grid with a time of 3:02.357.

Finnish driver Kimi Raikkoenen (Fin) in the McLaren-Mercedes has taken 9th position on the grid with a time of 3:03.524.

Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) in the Jordan-Toyota clocked a time of 3:10.143 and will start at the 18th position on the grid.

Here are the exact starting grid positions:


Final qualifying result at Bahrain Grand Prix:

1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 3:01.902
2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 3:02.357
3 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 3:02.660
4 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams-BMW 3:03.217
5 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-BMW 3:03.262
6 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 3:03.271
7 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull-Cosworth 3:03.369
8 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes 3:03.373
9 Kimi Raikkoenen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 3:03.524
10 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 3:03.765
11 Jenson Button (GB) BAR-Honda 3:04.348
12 Felipe Massa (Brz) Sauber-Petronas 3:05.202
13 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR-Honda 3:05.563
14 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Cosworth 3:05.844
15 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Ferrari 3:07.693
16 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber-Petronas 3:07.983
17 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan-Toyota 3:09.428
18 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan-Toyota 3:10.143
19 Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi-Cosworth 3:10.422
20 Patrick Friesacher (Aut) Minardi-Cosworth 3:11.261

A pleasant email from Saroopya

I was very pleasantly surprised to get an email from a young engineering graduate from Madras, Saaroopya Gollapudi.

Vishnu, Veena, Saroopya and Sahitya
Photo: Copyright Jacob Matthan

Hello uncle,

How are you all? We are all fine here.

Last time when Sussana and Joanna came home, mom was very happy to see them.

Mom was curious to know whether it was a baby girl or boy to Joanna. (Uncle Jacob: It is a lovely baby boy, called Daniel. Here is a picture of Samuel, Daniel and Uncle Jacob.)

Samuel, Daniel and Jacob, February 2005
Photo: Copyright Dr. Balakrishna Janardhana

I emailed you some months back but the mails bounced back to me. (Uncle Jacob: That was when findians@findians.com collapsed due to spam overload. Now my only email is jmatthan@gmail.com )

They enjoyed mom's Dosas...(Uncle Jacob: Don't we all. And her great Rasam!!)

When are you people coming to India. (Uncle Jacob: Not so long as we have the responsibility of taking care of Annikki Aunty's mother)

We have shifted our house again now. The address is :

S-106, 4th Main Road,
Anna Nagar, Chennai - 600040.
Ph: 91-44-26266115 / 26269065

Dad is fine still touring now and then. Mom has a back pain and she has been advised rest for 2 months. (Uncle Jacob: Veena should go and see a retired Wing Commandewr in Mysore and she will be cured overnight.)

Sahitya is fine doing his third year in engineering.

I have completed my engineering and now I am on the look out for the job. (Uncle Jacob: It is important you are active so that you increase your CV on a daily basis. Otherwise Job Interviwers will think you are not motivated enough.)

Hope I get one soon.

Is there anything you can advise on how I can go about this. (Uncle Jacob: Lots of advice - but I am so out of touch with India, I cannot really be useful other than tell you what I would do.)

Uncle, grandfather and grandmother are all fine.

Nothing more uncle..

Regards to everyone there.

With love,

Saroop

Wasn't that a nice letter from a well brought up young engineer. The boys get their good behavioural talents from a lovely couple, who are our good friends and also from their grandparents, fine people. Vishnu used to be my close and sincere working partner for many years. I learnt much from him.

News from Madras

Susanna wrote to me from Billinghay, Lincolnshire, England:

Did you know that Shirin and I are also in the same line of work?? We both are trained to work with children with special educational needs and I think she runs a school for children with autism in Bangalore. We ended up talking shop for ages at a gathering in Madras. And we got on like a house on fire when we were last in India! Yes, we are both garrulous and it has served us well. Haven't got an email address for her though, so you could help out there.

Love, Susanna :-)

Susanna and Jaakko, Peddar Road, Bombay 1970
Shirin has promised to help here.

I am happy to report that Kunjumonchayan's birthday party went off very very well. It was extremely well attended. My Madras correspondent reported thus:

I wanted to send details of the party yesterday itself. But could not do so.

Shilpa was the Mistress of Ceremonies.

The party was held at Connemera Hotel. All most all the family members were there. Peelikuttychayen and Sen, Mohan and Shanta from Bangalore, as also Roy (Bangalore Kunjumon's son), Bapu, Thampan, Ashwathi and Thambi, Susan and Prem, Tara and Arun, Mammy and Kuttachen, Susy, Anita and Chacko, Meera and Rajive, Geeta and Rajesh, Ammini and Kunju and Sujit, Kunjukochamma, Vinoo and Ambika, Arun and Ciby, Meera and Aditi, Shilpa and Sherin and family, and also Omena's relations and Joseph's father and mother.

Pappa, Mummy and Omenakochamma - 1999 December
There was dance by Ilyan, Kavi, Adarsh and Anika. Before this, there was Thanksgiving song by Dr. Chinnammakochamma. Then this was followed by a prayer by Dr. Chinnammakochhmma. Then there was a small talk by Papa down the memory lane.

Shilpa asked if any body wanted to say something they could go up to the stage. I went and told of some of the Bangalore St Josephs College Hostel days, how we played cricket with Kunjumon and everytime, we bowled him, he would take of the stumps and run to his house, and also complin to Eapachayen, that we were cheating him. I told them you used to get all the firing from Eapachayen, as we all quietly slipped away. (Sushil: Actually Eapachayan, being my godfather, never really scolded me but told us not to play with those rotten bigger fellows from the college!! But we would do it again in a few days as childhood memories are quite short!!)

After this there was a sumptuous dinner. All enjoyed the party which ended at 11 pm!!

Our special Madras correspondent - Georgie (Georgeammachen to most of us)

I felt great to get the update so quickly from Georgie who also told me that a small memorial service (Qurbana) was held for Ravi last Friday (Good Friday) followed by breakfast at Mambalam.

I wait for a complete report with photographs of the Kunjumonchayan event from Shirin on her return to Delhi.

By the way, correspondents posts for this blog are available in different locations around the world. This dinosaur has to give way to the young!!! Kindly apply by visiting me in Finland.

And let Annikki and me wish nephews recently wed Stephanian Rahul Mammen Mappillai (Vinoo's son) and Karun Philip, (Sen's son) very happy birthdays.