Oulu's Hyde Park Corner

Yesterday, being the Freedom of Speech day, worldwide, the local newspaper, Kaleva, and the local division of the Finnish National Radio Station, YLE, organised a 2 hour Free Speech Podium in the central Otto Karhi park in Oulu. They had originally announced that it would be London Hyde Park Corner style, with each speaker choosing his own location and podium, and speaking to his audience.

©Photographer: Eijas Sallinen/Kaleva

When I arrived at the park, I found the rules had been changed. They had organised a single podium with a recording mike in front of it. The speakers were asked to line up and take their turn in making their presentation.

I had set off from home with my own stand, a rickety steel frame with a wooden top which had been made by Annikki. When Annikki saw me leave on my scooter with this contraption, she was aghast and tried to get me to put it back. She felt that it would just fall to bits under my weight.

I was, however, adamant.


©Photographer: Eijas Sallinen/Kaleva

There was only me with a stand.

I was not too anxious to join the queue of speakers, as I knew I would not be able to say what I wanted in the short time one would be compelled to observe if one is taking a turn.





The audience was large. Several of my friends had turned up. I told them I would run my own show once the Finnish speakers had finished their presentations.


©Photographer: Eijas Sallinen/Kaleva


©Photographer: Eijas Sallinen/Kaleva

CHAFF participant Matti Moisa spoke.


©Photographer: Eijas Sallinen/Kaleva

Chaff participant Eeva-Maija Kolehmainen spoke.

I listened to several speakers who expressed the problems faced by them. It was obvious that they were all on the same page as they had no-one listening to or airing their genuine complaints. They hoped this public forum would be effective. These residents of Oulu were quite excited to have this chance to speak their mind. Obviously they were hoping that someone would listen to them.

I waited till the string of Finnish speakers were run through. When there was absolutely no one else approaching the main podium, I mounted it and did a 2 minute speel (Watch this on Windows Media Player using this link - http://www.kaleva.fi/video/fos001.wvm - it is the last speech on this video by Veli Pekka Tolanen).

I told the audience my main rant and introduced Annikki's new book "Freedom of Speech - Whose?"

The organisers were hit with a bolt of lightening as I pointed to THEM directly as being, not the solution, but the PROBLEM.

I directly threw down a challenge that my speech would probably be the only one not reported in the following day's report of this event!

When I completed this short speel, there was a great applause. I was now sure I would be able to make my longer talk from my own podium.

As I walked to my podium, several people asked me to continue, even though I was speaking in English. A large proportion of the audience were older Finnish folk whose English would have been strictly limited.


©Photographer: Eijas Sallinen/Kaleva
¨

©Photographer: Eijas Sallinen/Kaleva

I did not need much persuasion. Mounting my soap box. Actually I put a small soap dish under my platform so as to say I was standing on top of a soap box. (This humour was not lost on my audience.)

I let fly attacking the corruption prevalent in Finnish society including in the Police, the Judiciary, the Politicians, the Bureaucracy, and above all the Media. I used specific examples as to how each of these authorities were totally corrupt from the very top, as they all practiced a "Big Brother" mentality at the expense of the common man.

I shouted that I was now able to speak out as I was now retired. This was unlike my many hundreds of foreign and Finnish friends who were unable to make their voices heard as they feared being punished in their daily working life!

I introduced Annikki's new book which focuses especially on the censorship practices by the Media in Oulu, in particular the Kaleva newspaper. I also gave examples from our two previous books - "Handbook for Survival in Finland" and "Seven Years Hard Labour in a Finnish Holiday Camp - A Finnish University".

When I finished my rather emotional speech, from my podium it sounded as if there was thunderous applause, making it very clear that the truth had been told.

I received several congratulatory remarks from the listeners. I went home and told Annikki of the red faces of te organisers I had seen in the audience. Without doubt, I was sure that this speech of mine would not be covered by the media.

To my surprise, in this morning's paper, the Kaleva had fallen for the trap as they were forced to give my speech and my comments a special place. My picture waving my book about the University of Oulu got full exposure!

So as to blunt my comments, the main Editorial in the Kaleva newspaper was written claiming that, as per Freedom House, the Finnish Press was amongst the most free in the world.

Freedom House is either a totally incompetent organisation or it has fallen hook, line and sinker for the mastery of Finnish authorities to create an image.

(Is there any other country in the world where the Police rings up a suspected criminal and asks whether a crime has been corrected? If the suspect, a bureaucrat, says that no crime has been committed, the Police does not investigate! Is there any other country in the world where the media restricts the right of reply, if the reply is from the "common man"!)

In conclusion, I must include here an email I received today.

from: Eeva-Maija Kohlemainen
to: Jacob Matthan
subject: Re: Kaleva today

I think it takes enormous bravery to face and criticize Oulu's main media like you did. They can't just ignore it, because you reallypublically put yourself on the line there. I admire you and don't know whether I could do the same myself. Media has a lot of power and should be responsible for it as well. It's great that there are people like you to remind them for it every once and now.

I said to my sister that my young rebellious times are probably over, because I felt a flash of shame after my speech and the Kaleva-quote. After all, we have it so well compared to what used to be. On the other hand - nothing changes if people tape up their mouths. ;)

Back to painting Eerik's room and sewing a quilt for his bed.

Eeva-Maija

I think my speaking out is for little Eerik and my grandchildren, Samuel and Daniel, whose future in Finland rests in what we do to ensure their freedoms!

Freedom of Speech - Whose?

(Cross-posted on the CHAFF Blog.)

Annikki's new book is being released today.

Titled "Freedom of Speech - Whose?", it is a collection of her submissions to the local newspaper, Kaleva, over the last two years, who have ignored her powerful voice on several major issues, as she speaks the truth.



Out of 42 messages submitted by her, 34 were not published by the newspaper.

Last year, the newspaper asked for readers to submit their opinions on this subject. Annikki wrote a piercing piece, which was ignored by the newspaper.

From this Annikki got the idea to publish the text messages she has submitted to the newspaper which were not published.

She leaves it to the reader to decide whether she was censored, ignored, or whether her submissions were not worthy of publication.

As the newspaper and the local national radio station have organised a London Hyde Park style Speakers Corner in the main Otto Karhi Park in Oulu for today, I will talk on the subject of Freedom of Speech, Corruption and other matters, between 11 am and 1 pm.

Unfortunately Annikki cannot be there as she will be engaged in looking after her mother at that time.

The book, in Finnish, which will be only available from us, can be ordered from Annikki at

jmatthana@gmail.com

The price is Euro 15 including packing and postage. Payment can be made to the following bank account:

Nordea 249818-69968

with the Message stating: Sananvapaus - kenen?

Peelukuttychayan - 95 today! Happy Birthday!

I have not heard from my cousin, Suresh, for some time, so I hope all is well in Mumbai.

Annikki and I would like you all to extend Birthday Greetings to Peelukuttychayan, also known to many as Pappa, and to the world as Mr. K. M. Philip, former World Y. M. C. A. President. He is also known as the grandfather of the Indian Rubber Industry. He was instrumental in taking MRF from a being a Tread Rubber company to being a tyre producer. It happened due to a chance meeting with Mr. James Hoffman in a Y. M. C. A. in the USA.

His fresh tea and coffee shops that populate Mumbai stand as a honour to his dedication to service of the people of that great city.

Peelukuttychayan (extreme right) enjoying a drink in the company
of his brother-in-law, Dr. V. Kurian (Jollychayan) of Anand fame!
(Taken in 1999 at Suchi and Michael's wedding reception in Chennai.)

Peelukuttychayan is 95 today. He is my late mother's elder brother.

Happy birthday to you from both of us, Annikki & me, in Finland.

Dog poo!

Our daughter, Susanna, is trying to get into local politics in England by standing for election to the local council. She has started a Blog for this and on it she had mentioned the problem of "Dog Poo".

I told Susanna that in Oulu it has become socially necessary for dog owners to collect their dog poo in plastic bags and place them in special waste bins located all around the city.

Think I am pulling your leg? Here are a couple of photographs from TODAY!





Wonder what our blog readers in India think of this? Do they think we are nuts?

A long time in coming

It has been a long time since Annikki has created a cake!

Well, with the fresh mangoes we received from Thailand, enormous fresh strawberries she got from the large supermarket in Oulu, and with the price of lemons being Euro 0.10 per kg, she got into a creative mood and produced this superb looking and also fantastically tasting cake.





The sponge base was covered with delicious lemon curd. The decoration was the strawberries sliced so that they looked like tulips interspersed with the delicious mango slices. The rich colours were really pleasing and made the mouth water.

I wonder what she will create from the fresh ripe papayas that will arrive this Friday!

Susanna enters the politics chain

It has been a long time since anyone in the family has been in the politics chain.

Susanna's paternal great grandfather, K. C. Mammen Mappillai (KCMM), was a teacher and a headmaster when he entered and served for many years as a politician.

He was outstanding and many of his speeches of the 1920s on equality of sexes, against casteism and education are truly historic.



It is for his service to the people that he enjoys the title "Doyen of Kerala".

Even today, when I visit Karala, if anyone hears that I am the grandson of KCMM, I bask in that glory and respect.

Only yesterday I had an email from Canada:

from: George Varghese
to: Jacob Matthan
date : Apr 28, 2007 11:04 AM
subject: Re: GRANDDAD K C MAMMEN MAPPILLAI DOYEN OF KERALA Website

Dear Jacob Sir:

It is 1:00 a.m here in Fort Mcmurray, Canada and a search in Google with" Syrian kottayam bookstore" led me to your website on your grandfather "Mammen Mappillai ".

Recently I had the privilege of reading in a biography of Makarios Thirumeny of a journey in secret of your grandfather and Makarios Thirumeny to find the most fitting "Devalokam Aramana" for the prelate of the Orthodox Church In India. Also from Makarios Thirumeny's brother, Remban Lazarus, I have heard his first hand experience of the ability of your grandfather do many things at the same time.

Mammen Mappilai was truly a blessed man and may his example be an inspiration to others. Thank you for putting up the website.

George Varghese
Fort Mcmurray,AB

Note how he addresses me as "Jacob Sir"!

This was probably the very first page I set up on the internet, way back in 1996. It has been my beacon. Many thousands have read this page and emailed me, thanking me for bringing this great man alive in the new medium, which he, as a journalist and educationist, would have relished.


Susanna in 1967 in Shawbury, Shropshire.
The first rung of her life.

Susanna is entering the very first rung of the political chain to stand for a seat on the district council. She is using an internet blog "Becoming a District Councillor" to tell people her views and position.

To enter politics is commitment to a lifetime service to the people with sincerity and honesty, willing to face many turmoils in life.

KCMM spent many years in prison for the crime of fighting for the people and for Indian Independence. His brother died in prison. But, he saw India regain its Independence.

At the age of 73 he returned to restart his newspaper, "Malayala Manorama", in 1947, which today is the largest circulating one in India with a readership of many millions (circulation is about a million and a half.)

Another relative who went into politics was my oldest surviving cousin, K. O. Kuriyan, who spent many years as a political worker, fighting for his principles. But, as far as I am aware, he did not enter into the election fray.

We pray, and also ask you to also pray, that God will guide Susanna in this arduous task.

Taste buds explode! Real MANGOES in Oulu!

(Cross-posted on my major blogs.)
I was at the Pailin Restaurant early yesterday waiting for the postman. Around midday, he arrived, bearing two packages.

I waited patiently while Unnop and Pailin opened them - and then came that delicious aroma of fresh mango.


The name of this fruit comes from the Tamil and Malayalam word, manga.

They packed 5 of them them in a plastic bag and I "literally" scooted home. :-)

Annikki was up reading the newspaper. Before she could ask me where I had been, I was in the kitchen, ripping open the plastic bag and attacking one of the delicious mangoes.

This mango, although looking like what is referred to in India as the traditional Polymango, had the taste of a good Malgova.

The Polymango is what every school child in India knows. At the gates of schools all around the countrty used to sit that old man or woman with a basket of green mangoes, unripe ones. For one anna( less than Euro 0.04), they would cut one open, sprinkle in chilli powder mixed with salt. The kids would walk home eating this delicious spicy salt sour mango!

Even thinking of this makes my mouth water.

But this is not what the mango has been come to be known for around the world. The famous varieties in the western world are "Tommy Atkins", "Kent", "Keitt", "Madame Francis", and "Champagne".

In my humble opinion, all these are quite tasteless compared to the varieties we get in India.

The king of all mangoes, for taste, is considered to be the Ratnagiri Alphonso. As a small boy I used to wait for the day they hit the market in Bombay (Mumbai) in May My mother would get baskets of them.

Not many people in India can probably afford Alphonsos today!

But there are many tens of varieties which are actually considerably tastiers than the Alphonso - Bangalora (Kilimooku), Banaganapalle or Banganapalli (also called 'Banesha' or 'Began), Dusserli or Dasheri, Imampasand, Khaderpasand, Langra, Maldah, Malgova, Neelam, Peethar, Rasalu, Rumani, Suvarnarekha, and many more. each one has his or her own favourite and their favourite way of eating their "mango".

The sweetest mango that I have ever had grew in our garden in Defence Officers Colony in a suburb of Madras (Chennai). This used to be an old mango grove before ot was acqyuired by the army to build houses for retiring army personnel. we were lucky to be able to rent a house for a couple of years in this colony.

It was an old tree and the mangoes that it produced was probably a cross between a Rumani and an Alphonso. Each mango, which was bright yellow when ripe, weighed about a kilo and there was just the right blend of juicy content with fleshy content. I used to be offered a lot of money by the professional pickers for the fruit from this tree - but we never gave them up as they were so delicious.

Our daughter, Joanna, was just a few months old when we had the first crop. This was to the horror of the older folks. They considered the mango to be too "heaty" for a small child - whatever that may mean!

Joanna was brought up on the juice of thee mangoes, and I think there were no ill effects!

I digress.

The mangoes we received from Thailand were really delicious. There were 5 and together they weighed 650 gms.

As the photographs below depict, I consumed mine, traditional style, with juice dripping down my palm, in less than a couple of minutes!



I sliced it open and to smaller pieces the way I had been taught as a child.



I cleaned the pieces to the skin, hardly leaving anything on the skin or the seed!


I cannot wait till next week when our next consignment arrives. Hopefully a nice ripe Papaya will also be there.

Yes, we can get anything we like to eat here now in this small town of Oulu!

Thank you Unnop and Pailin for this great service.

Sharing this with you

I thought I would share this with you;

Hello Jacob,

You are getting this e-mail because last May you took the time to thank Stephen Colbert for speaking out at the White House Press Corp dinner. Thank you for that!

A dream has finally come true. After four years of hard work, the first of what will someday be thousands of the most trustworthy portals on the Web, is about to launch. It will be free of corporate/commercial bias, and FREE to the public forever!

Earth Portal (http://earthportal.org) is the result of 650 of the world's top scientists in 49 countries (so far) coming together to produce the highest quality, non-commercial, non-profit resource for information about our planet anywhere in the World.

Please go there and enjoy the vision video announcing the official launch this Friday.

Tomorrow (Thursday), we will webcast, the press conference in Washington DC at the Press Club beginning at 1 p.m. featuring Jane Goodall, Robert Corell, and Ambassador Richard Benedick among others.

And after the launch, please go back and register there to show your support for this breathtakingly ambitious effort.

Our children deserve no less. Our planet deserves no less.

Please also pass this on to everyone you know who cares about science and the environment.

The Earth Portal is a non-commercial destination on the Web for news, learning and debate about the state and future of our environment. There will never be any advertising on Digital Universe websites and it will always be free.

The Earth Portal will facilitate the emergence of a new community to emerge, directly connecting scientists, journalists, policy makers and you.

Join us and bring your children on April 27th at Earth Portal (http://earthportal.org).

More soon and thanks!

Cliff

Cliff Lyon
The Digital Universe
ManyOne Networks
Salt Lake City Office
801.274.0882

You may also view the Vision Video at:

YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zgqTTNzOY10

Google: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2250726429896198491&hl=en

Update on Indian Grapes

On Saturday, I noted another large supermarket in Oulu offering Indian grapes about Euro 0.30 cheaper (Euro 1.69 per 500 gm). I decided to take a look.



Thos was yet another Maharashtrian grower offering a brand called "Sunripe" grapes. Malode Boraste More Grapes Pvt. Ltd. which is run by Arun K. More, is located in Nashik District. The variety of grapes were exactly the same.



The packaging was identical. I also noticed grapes from Chile with the same packaging. I must, therefore, offer my apologies to the Indian companies, as they are not the ones deciding on the packaging to be used.

The sweetness was as good as the other brands.

I noted that in the case of this Indian grower, the grapes were labelled as being imported by a company in Holland, Nico de Jong B.V,, owned 100 % by a Alfred de Jong. The arrangement with India is so new that the range of products offered by that company does not yet list India as a supplier.

I hope Indian grape growers can organise themselves to directly export to the centres around the world so that they get a higher return. Here in Oulu a small Thai restaurant, Pailin Ravintola, gets us Thai fresh vegetables directly from Thailand. An importer in south Finland brings in two flights a week directly to Helsinki and the customers get thr fresh produce cheap and with no huge profit makers in the middle.

The restaurant takes orders on Sunday and the fresh fruits and vegetables are in Oulu by the Friday, when people rush in and collect their orders. If the Thais can do this, I am sure surely our Indian exporters can get organised to do the same!

Surprised yesterday

Annikki and I went shopping yesterday and we finally landed up at our nearest supermarket to buy some provisions. Annikki saw some green grapes and as she picked up a plastic container, I was extremely surprised to see that it had been imported from India. Then I noticed there were grapes from two suppliers, packed in almost identical fashion and both were from India. So we bought one of each, 500 gm containers of seedless green grapes.





Reaching home, I checked to see where these companies were located. Both of them are located in Pune. Fresh Express Logistics is the brainchild of a Ranjit Patil, a highly qualified and experienced individual who has travelled extensively with a strong background in Horticulture and Post Harvest handling of perishables. A 1989 Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (B.E.) from the University of Poona, Pune, and a 1992 Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Georgia State University., in International Business, it appears that he still is on the visiting faculty of some well-known management Institutes.

The second company was Mahagrapes, in which Mr. Sopan Kanchan is the Executive Partner of Mahagrapes, Pune which is a co-operative marketing organisation for small farmers and the company has facilitated its farmers in producing good quality grapes. "MAHAGRAPES", is a co-operative partnership firm established on 19th January, 1991 with the help of the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board, Pune. The head office of Mahagrapes is located at Pune. Several Grape Grower Co-operative Societies are the member societies of Mahagrapes andf are located at, Solapur, Latur, Pune and the Nasik areas. The main objective of Mahagrapes is to boost the export of grapes for which facilities like pre-cooling and cold storages has been erected at each grape grower co-operative society. 'Mahagrapes' in the grape export, brand of Maharashtra's Grapes is well establish in the international market.

This took me back over 30 years when I used to visit (professionally) the grape growers in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, where yields of grapes per acre was phenomenal. I used to take back a few baskets of the really succulent grapes to Madras where Annikki and I lived. In those days there was not too much use of pesticides. As the years rolled on and the pests increased, it became impossible for me to eat grapes as my lips would swell up as a reaction to the pesticides which was absorbed in the skin of the grapes and could not be washed off.

Yesterday, I approached eating these Indian grapes with great care. First washing each grape thoroughly and then consuming one, then two to see if any reaction was likely.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was no allergic reaction. Some grapes were sweet and others sweet and sharp, but of extremely good quality. Annikki had chosen containers which had no damaged grapes. Unfortunately, before I could stop her, she had mixed the grapes from both containers, so I could not identify which were the sweater grapes.

I must comment that most of the containers in the shop had a lot of damaged grapes. This means that the handling and packing of the grapes is not quite perfect. It is likely that the sale in our local supermarket will not be quite as high as it could have been, as customers here are very sensitive to buying damaged produce.

The price we paid for each was around Euro 4 per kg., which is quite high for grapes in Oulu. Lidl, the German supermarket giant in Finland, offers grapes from many other location's around the world at substantially lower prices.

However, this seems to be a start for Indian fresh produce import to Oulu, and if successful, we may see more fresh Indian farm produce on Finnish supermarket shelves in the coming few years. Hopefully they will adhere to quality standards which would ensure a good price.

An update after 10 days

(Cross-posted on my main blogs.)
(Click on images to see enlarged versions.)

I have not been ill or otherwise indisposed. Just very very busy, happy, sad, and going through every emotion that man or woman is capable of.

Over Easter we were especially blessed to know that our three children, Susanna, Jaakko and Joanna, in the UK, were able to get together with their families and also join up with us over the telephone.

This has been recorded on several entries on Susanna's Billinghay Blog with beautifully emotional pictures of all members of the family. They especially enjoyed a buffet lunch at the Lahore Restaurant in Birmingham. Joanna, who has really become quite trim, did say that she did overeat on that occasion. (I must also note that Susanna has also become quite trim - but just wait till they arrive and start consuming their mum's cooking, when they will bloat, like me!)

The grandkids were in their element. Susanna has recorded and put up a few short video clips, using effectively the UTube service.

This has prompted Joanna to think seriously in investing in a better digital camera and to start her own blog - which would be just wonderful for us, the grandparents. Maybe, even Jaakko can be persuaded to start his blog once he gets the old iMac that Susanna is thinking of passing on - Old Macs never DIE. I had promised them my old software, but unfortunately much of te old system software discs are corrupted. Jaakko being an outstanding photographer would certainly add a new dimension to blogging should he decide to take it up.

Last Friday brought Annikki and me much grief when we lost a wonderful friend, a Cathedralite by the name of Behram Badhniwalla, who went by the nickname of Budni. Budni was a couple of years senior to me in school. He stood out as he had been afflicted by polio and was the only boy in school who was on crutches. But that did not stop Budni being one of us. During the latter half of our school years I had an excellent relationship with him.

When I left school, our paths diverged. It was not till 2005 when they came together again. He had been doing almost exactly what I had, in finding his classmates and then making sure that they were kept together.

Introduced to me through our former school Physics Teacher, William Shiri, living in Toronto, Canada, Budni wrote in his first email to me:

from: Behram Badhniwalla
to jmatthan@gmail.com
date 21-Oct-2005 10:15
subject Fwd: Hello again

Dear Matthan,

My name is Dr.Behram T. Badhniwalla (Wilson House Batch 57), in school I was 'Budni'!

I used to walk on crutches during our green years.

Of course, I left my disability behind in 1959-60 (Praise be to the Good Lord).



Today my Wife, Carmie and I, have retired, and live in Pune.

From all the Cathedralites of our generation, and many have met u. the common factor is we both are holding on to our flocks!

I am forwarding a message from our teacher Mr Shiri, and I hope we communicate more often!

We have regular get-together of the Pune Cathedralites and shall revert later with more information!

Cheers for Now

Budni

From that day we have exchanged many hundreds of emails on topics ranging from sharing pictures of our school friends, sharing our email lists, finding new alumni, our common interests in music, organising class reunions, his idea of forming a health foundation of retired staff and elderly alumni who were not so fortunate financially, and many more. Budni bounced ideas off me. If I gave him the go ahead, he went about his task of rousing the masses.

Not only that, both of us got on like a house on fire. We assisted each other sharing our ideas, agreeing and disagreeing on issues, but above all promoting our "school spirit". Although our styles were different, but the objectives the same.

Budni made everyone feel loved and happy and part of a beautiful family.

On the morning of Friday 13th April 2007, I had two emails from him in the space of just 10 minutes, te first telling me that he would be away from Pune for 10 days and he would take up an issue I had requested as soon as he got back. The second email was about school, pushing the joint working of my Seventh Heaven Blog to be linked with the official school alumni site.

Budni was thinking of what wonders could be achieved if we all worked together.

By evening I received a message from a common friend in Pune that Budni was no more.

When such tragic news reaches me, I become immobile, unable to speak or do anything constructive. Annikki was at my side when I read this email. She comforted me, as she too had learnt to know Budni and his spirit. I was roused to work furiously to let "our flocks" know of the demise of someone who had become my right hand just so much as I had become his left!

The sorrow, grief and the tributes poured in from every corner of the globe. For the past week I have been composing a web page which I will call "A Tribute to Budni". It is difficult, as each time I enter some text or put in a picture, the sadness that flows through my veins makes me realise the frailty of life.



On the same day, we got news that our granddaughter, Asha, who will be 10 in August, had passed her Grade 3 Piano Examination with distinction, 134/150.


Budni, on the extreme left, is crooning at a CAT bash in Pune a few weeks ago.

Susanna put up a clip of Asha playing the piano on her blog, which helped me greatly to face the sorrow of losing a friend, as he was a great musician.

CEO of Codenomicon, Isaac Sundarajan, has been really jet setting. He flew to Cannes to collect the Red Herring Award, flew in to Oulu, flew out to spend Easter with his wife and elder daughter in London, flew back to the US (San Francisco) to prepare for his next year's strategy meeting, and was here, back in Oulu, yesterday.


Royal Garden Menu

We spent the evening together at Michelle's new Indian Restaurant, The Indian Cusine Section of Royal Garden. The last time he had been there, he had said he wanted food as hot as "Jacob's". Michelle and crowd only address me as "Mr. Matthan". so Isaac was a bit disappointed.

This time, Michelle's brother, Philip, dished out a really superb Chicken Vindaloo and a spicy lamb off the bone curry, which both of us relished. This was followed by some Guju Tea, which is laced with Indian spices.

I think the levels of spice in Michelle's Indian and Chinese restaurants will have to have new labels - "Joanna's level" (which is our daughter Joanna's taste buds saturation point and super not), and then "Mr. Matthan's level", which is only slightly lower, but does bring a fair amount of sweat onto the forehead.

Isaac and I sat and chatted well into the evening. Michelle and Philip regal led us with stories of their life in restaurant business. they were surprised to hear from Isaac that "Indian Chinese" is the "in thing" in California - so Philip has promised to didh this up for us on our next visit!

Easter morn 2007

Nothing is more pleasant for grandparents than to talk to their grandkids on Easter. It is not like Christmas, where it is the act of giving, but with Easter it is the rebirth of new life.

Joanna, Tony, Samu and Daniel decided to drive down from Newcastle to Billinghay in Lincolnshire. After spending the Saturday there, they went on to Birmingham to meet up with brother Jaakko and friend Joy. Chris could not accompany Susanna and Asha and the others as he was practicing for a recital.

However, before they left Billinghay, Susanna put up some wonderful photos and also two videos of hers which she has uploaded to UTube.

Instead of linking to them, I thought I would post one of them on my blogs as not many go across regularly to Susanna's blog. But visiting her blog is well worthwhile as she is also a fits and starts blogger like me, and usually our fits and starts come in different bursts!

Here is the first of the videos, which was entitled "Hello Grandpa and Grandma":



To see more videos and pictures, do go over to Susanna's Billinghay Blog where there are great pictures of the families and, hopefully, soon after Birmingham, we should also have pictures of Jaakko and Joy.

They are at the moment enjoying a Chinese buffet in the city that all of them know well from the 80s and 90s.

Yesterday and today...

(Cross-posted on all my main blogs.)

It was a great day, as all days are great these days.



Birthday greetings started pouring in from 4 am Finnish time starting from Toronto (59er Hasnain Chinwalla) and Australia (nephew Chacko Kovoor, son of Malli and Thamban) and reverberated around the globe - Chennai (Anand & Shalu), Mumbai (56er Ubi, 59ers Ashok Kapur, Ramesh Mirchandani, Piloo Tata, Percy Mistri, Nihal Kaviratne, Naubir Mohindar, Elijah Elias (Ooky), etc.), Billinghay (Susanna, Chris and Asha), Hewcastle (Joanna, Tony, Samuel and Daniel), New York (59er Ellis Hayeem), Milano (69er Barbara Mont Ros), Washington D. C. (59er Arvind Thadhani), Serbia (62er Ranko Ivancevic), and ended ending back in Toronto when 59er Viney Sethi, in the company of our Physics Teacher, Willie Shiri and his wife Pushpa, and 59er Hasnain regaled me with the happy birthday serenade.

The quartet thought I would not recognise their voices after so so many years. But Viney's was so identifiable and crystal clear (but not quite the old Elvis-like) as also the rich tenor-bass voice of Willie was easily identified, as he had sung behind me in the choir stalls of St. Thomas's Cathedral in the 50s.

These greetings were combined with hundreds of well-wishers from all across Scandinavia.

Such beautiful messages, such beautiful cards, such beautiful email greetings.

I felt awed by such an outpouring of love and friendship - that makes living one more year waiting for the next birthday, really something to look forward to!

The first to wish me was Annikki, who stayed up till 4 am, just so that she could show her appreciation of our ageing together as I woke up.

And the last to greet ME was again Annikki, who prepared a delicious cake - fruit salad and cream, which was being watched over by our most hawkish cat, Iitu! She (the cat) licked the platter clean. (I was out most of the day attending various public events and only got home around half past nine in the evening for our evening together!)

Michelle, the Chinese Calcutta Restaurateur opened her new Indian Restaurant (The Royal Garden) today. I enjoyed my super spicy Madras Curry for lunch and later brought home a Rogan Josh for Annikki and Mika.


Pailin carved me a watermelon as a gift.


Pailin gives me the carved watermelon as my present.

In between, the many Thai families who have adopted me as their father and grandfather, celebrated my birthday with Pailin carving a beautiful watermelon as one of their many gifts to me.


Heikki, Emilia and Päivi.


Eija, Eric and me.


Päivi, Eija, Eric and Heikki.

The organisers of the UN Anti Racism Week helped celebrate the public occasion by toasting the successful week with a closure meeting with a raspberry cream cake!

Old and young friends kept my mobile phone ringing, making it a day that I will remember for many years ahead.

Thank you to all of you, many whom have gone unmentioned in this blog entry - but I do remember all of you and your good wishes.

Harri Hursti?...

(Cross-posted on Jacob's Politics.)

Who is Harri Hursti?

Anyone interested in Internet Security and especially about safety in elections should know about the world expert on the subject.

In the article "Hackin' Harri Hursti a Hit in Riverside County, California" that appears on Brad Blog, where Brad Friedman has been a tireless campaigner despite all odds, to get the US Election System to become more realistic so that the frauds that occurred in 2000 and 2004 and got George W. Bush annointed (totally illegally) as pResident does not happen again.

Harri is a Finn and is, like Brad, a tireless campaigner, although his interest has been the subject of Security, a field in which the Finns lead the world! (Remember our very own Codenomicon Oy headed by CEO Isaac Sundarajan and headquartered here in Oulu.)

Harri will appear in a documentary released in the US on 17th March 2007 and to be released in the UK on 20th April 2007 called "Hacking Democracy (or Votergate)" directed by Simon Ardizzone and Russell Michaels.

And now it was Annikki's turn

Annikki was jealous that as I had joined the exalted company of Moses and Jesus, she wanted to walk on the sea!


So, there she is walking on the sea!



The ice had cracked but it was still several centimetres thick, so Annikki led the way.



And here is a picture of the shoreline as we stood about 400 to 500 metres on the sea. I have attempted to build the panoramic view from four shots, but I am not competent enough to get all the exposures on our cheap camera right to get the stitching as a perfect composition!

As we have changed to summertime, sunset is now past 7 pm. Annikki was busy collecting silver willow cuttings from the sea shore before we returned home.

Anti-Racism Week in Oulu

(Cross-posted on all my main blogs.)

Next week, 19th to 25th March 2007, is Anti-Racism week.

Tero Raiskio and I have been involved, as CHAFF Participants, with the Oulu based organisations - Amnesty International, the Finnish Red Cross, the United Nations, the International Schoolof Oulu and Setlementi, to organise a series of events to draw attention to this.

Ildikó Hámos kicked off the proceedings with a talk about CHAFF to the Oulu City Club of Rotary International. This was organised by another CHAFF participant, Ville Suomi, who is also a Rotarian.

Ildikó then helped me in a talk about Ethnic Minorities and their problems in Oulu and Finland. This was aimed at a group of students of the Heinatori School in Central Oulu. This was organised by Päivi Jurvakainen of the Oulu Office of the Finnish Red Cross.





I was able to distribute the new Oulu CHAFF laminated information cards to all those who took part. They were kindly printed for me by Unnop Khungrai of the Thai Pailin Restaurant.

Late in the evening, I was able to get the posters that announce next weeks events, from Päivi, who returned to her office to print them after she had gone home, so that I could distribute them to all the major restaurants run by foreigners in Oulu.

The Poster was designed by Zambian artist and CHAFF Participant, Kamutaza Tembo. He came up with 3 brilliant ideas. The Organising Committee chose the one shown above to highlight all the events.



The feeling is so symbolic as the Finnish Flag in the form of a heart shaped key holder with three keys (white, black and yellow) symbolising the ethnic minorities is simply superb and absolutely original.

The other designs by Kamu are also being used for other documents associated with the Racism Week.

To help defray the costs of Kamu's designing work, Isaac Sundarajan, CEO of Codenomicon Oy, Hasim and Kasim, partners of Goreme Pizzeria, Unnop Khungrai, proprietor of the Thai Pailin Restaurant and Oulu Councillor Raimo Kuismin, joined Annikki and Jacob. Our special thanks to them for giving their hand to help a truly outstanding artist.

To see other works of Kamu, please click on a link in the sidebar, where I have set up a page of some of his great art works dating back to the time he was a young budding artist in Zambia.

Hilja celebrates her 87th Birthday

Annikki and I helped Hilja, Annikki's mother, celebrate her 87th birthday today.



Hilja certainly enjoyed the attention she got. Even through her dementia she recognised that it was HER birthday. She smiled almost through the whole day. She enjoyed sitting in the kitchen basking in the sunshine of a late winter's day.



She enjoyed her birthday cake made by Annikki, having a second helping as well.

The card from daughter, Aino, and her husband, Kaukko, already arrived yesterday. Son-in-law Kaukko rang to convey greetings today.

Son Erkki and family, in Tampere in south Finland, sent flowers for Hilja's birthday.

Hilja got a new air mattress yesterday. This relaxing mattress, a very new invention, is especially designed to ensure that she does not develop bed sores if she is forced to stay in bed for long periods.

A couple of weeks ago we got a hoist to help take Hilja out of bed and to help her move from one place to another. It has taken a great deal of strain of me, as Hilja is heavy. Lifting her bodily from the bed to the wheel chair and from the wheel chair to the toilet seat were certainly back-breaking tasks.

We look forward to Hilja enjoying her 88th birthday next year.

Both Annikki and I are very happy that she has been able to enjoy her home for the last 6 years, rather than being all alone in an Old People's Home, since the passing away of husband, Matti.

It has certainly been a stress on the two of us to look after Hilja, but the joy of having looked after her knows no bounds.

Moses parted the Red Sea, Jesus walked...

In the Old Testament of the Holy Bible, Moses is reported to have struck the Red sea with his Staff and the sea parted allowing the Israelis to cross to the other side to escape the Egyptians who were chasing them.

In the New Testament of the Holy Bible, Jesus was seen by His disciples walking on water to the ship they were sailing in.

Both these items are now the subjects of serious researchers who are trying to attach scientific explanations to what was regarded as miracles.

Well today we can add one more to their studies.

Tero went to the Island of Hailuoto on his Scooter last Wednesday to spend the night there. On his way back on Thursday, his scooter packed up on the island, forcing him to call me. As he came back to the mainland, I was able to pick him up near the ferry jetty.

We decided to go early this Saturday morning with my trailer to pick up his scooter. The trusted SAAB took us by 07:30 am to the jetty, only to find that the next ferry was over an hour away.

I decided I would drive the SAAB and trailer over the sea to the island. With bated breath I drove Tero (whom I saw crossing himself all over) on the sea to the island. It was quite a bumpy ride with visibility, due to mist over the sea, down to a couple of metres.

We loaded the scooter onto the trailer and we wended our way back on the sea back to the mainland.

As we reached the jetty on the mainland we passed the ferry making its way to the island.

Quite a miracle, I would say - driving to an island on the sea!

A Volvo on the Ice Road.

Oh! Before you rush off to equate me and the SAAB with Moses and Jesus, did I fail to mention - the sea was frozen over and we went by the 9 km long ice road! :-)

Last Saturday night, the eclipse

I forgot to mentioin that last Saturday night I rushed off to Samu's house and picked up his telescope as Annikki wanted to see the total lunar eclipse.

I set it up at the bottom of the garden. By 10:20 pm I was ready.

However, Annikki had miscalculated as the eclipse only started at 11:22 pm.

Shadowy Annikki peering into the telescope.

We watched the eclipse start. As it was progressing slowly, we kept going indoors as it was freezing cold outside.


The red glow of the night sky.

The eclipse progressed slowly. We did not see much red as was being described on the internet.

I was also watching the progress from a live webcam from somewhere in the Atlantic, where the moon was really quite red.


Total eclipse means RED.

We watched the eclipse till it reached totality. Only when the reverse process started did Annikki decide it was time to go to bed.

An evening well spent!

Samuel is 10

In many ways it was a sad birthday for grandson Samu.

His father, Tony, is away in Calofornia. His paternal grandparents are in Kalajoki, Finland and his maternal grandparents, Annikki and me, are here in Oulu.

Samu, our eager beaver football star

I had promised to ring Samu in the morning at 07:30 English time. Although I tried several times, the Newcastle line was not clear.

So as soon as I felt he would be back from school, we rang Newcastle, and in turn I and Annikki (in that order) sang our hearty "Happy Birthday" greetings to Samu. He actually tolerated his grandparents singing!

To give Samu something substantial, both sets of grandparents joined with Samu's parents, at Joanna's suggestion, to get him a new bike in England. So, when I was able to ask Samu whether he liked it, he described the colours, red and black as those of Real Madrid! Obviously he liked it as he was able to equate it to his love.

It is difficult to bear our grandchildren, all three of them, Samuel, Asha and Daniel, growing up so far away from us. They are children for so short a time that each day lost is a great tragedy in our hearts.

As I have told Samu many times, in a few years he will have many other interests and friends and his grandparents will be old foggies.

Samu has always expressed that it will never be so.

So long as we share the same interests - that is MY interest in HIS interests, we will remain as close as is possible for grandson with grandfather.


Samu, the Superdog

I am looking forward to "Superdog" returning for the summer holidays this year. Although it will be for just a short while, I certainly will enjoy every minute of our summer time together.

How I wish that little Asha will also be with us this summer, just as all of us cousins used to go to Kottayam to spend our holidays with our grandparents when we were kids.

Those are days that I can never forget, even in my old age!

One of my rare lectures

(Cross-posted on the CHAFF Blog.)

As you all know, I HAVE RETIRED!

So, when Emelia Frantsi asked me to give a lecture (in English) at the Oulu University to her social anthropology group about immigrants to Oulu, I was hesitant at first as I have not indulged in lecturing for many a year - probably six.



However, the fire still burns in my belly to share my experiences with students. Here was an opportunity to find out whether the time was ripe for the re-writing of our book "Handbook for Survival in Finland" that Annikki and I wrote way back in 1993 and released it in 1994.

Culture Shock, Authors, Inscription, Cover

I have been toying with this idea for several months. Since Ilari Sohlo and Ildikó Hámos, the authors of the book "Culture Shock Finland" in German are now in Oulu, I really have a burning feeling that between the four of us (two Finns a, one Hungarian/Austrian and a Findian) we should be able to turn out a middle of the road book, especially as Ildikó is now on several committees and sits on various organisations which are handling matters related to ethnic minorities and the problems in Oulu and to some extent, Finland.

I do not as yet know what I will use as a title for this lecture. I intend to use a few extracts from our previous book, which although 12 years old is still valid on several sore points.

If any of you are interested in attending this lecture on Wednesday April 4th 2007 at 14:15, I can ask Emilia for permission.

It will be many years till I give my next lecture!