Joanna and Susanna are back in the UK

It has been a long summer, but one where Annikki and I were able to enjoy our two girls, their husbands and our grandchildren.

Joanna returned early from Newcastle in the beginning of July as she was not well and got permission to appear for her year end exams in mid August. She returned at the beginning of July with Tony and the boys, Samuel and Daniel.

Before Joanna came back she had made me promise that I would be able to spend quality time with the kids so that she could study.

I would wander across to their house every day at around 11 am, when they were finishing breakfast. I would push off with the kids to all sorts of places - the Oulu Traffic Park where they could drive pedal cars, the Oulu Speed Park which has greatly expanded its offerings for children, the Oulu Zoological Museum, the Oulu Botanical Museum, the Oulu Geology Museum, the Oulu Car Museum, the beach, various parks, and take Samuel for his football training and football tournaments.

The photographs give an idea of the varied

things "we kids did this summer". 

At the Traffic Park




Samu striding out Kimi-style



Samu on his final drive at the Traffic Park



Daniel fills petrol



Daniel drives

 Daniel pedals

At the Speed Park



Asha driving the motorcycle




Asha and Samu driving the electric vehicles



Samu fires a gun



Daniel shows me he is turning left



Daniel at the car computer game

At the Zoo

 

Asha and Samu covered in Plastic Balls



Daniel in the Plastic Balls



Asha and Samu trampolining


Asha, Daniel and Samu at the Zoo

At the Market Square



Daniel at the market square



Asha sees how Finnish drunks,
even invalids, are handled

Jogging in the Park



Building an appetite, jogging!

At a football match



Asha watches a football match

We would end our wanderings at some friend's restaurant (Pailin, Goreme, Royal Garden, Nispero) so that the kids could tank up on their goodies.

I always carried chocolates and crisps in the car. Crisps were doled out "one-by-one".

On a few occasions, Samuel would go out with me on the scooter while Annikki minded Daniel.

I would return back to our home in Kampitie when I knew Annikki was rested and she could also spend quality time with the grandkids. She would rustle up some food, usually chicken nuggets and chips or turkey sausages with something else. We had plenty of ice creams of all sorts on offer. We were all spoiled and Samuel put on about 5 kg, Daniel a couple of kg and me - 8 kg!

The kids just loved to play in the Kampitie garden creating a mess in the sand pit. Even as late as 9 pm the kids did not want to return to their home - Kampitie was where they wanted to be!

We were blessed with a great summer, so very few days had to be spent indoors. Samu did spend some time on the computer getting me all sorts of stuff in my Penguin Club Account.

In mid August I drove Joanna to Tampere (5 and half hours) to take the Ryan Air flight to Newcastle via Dublin. I picked up Susanna and family and drove back to Oulu. Susanna gave us a scare en route when she had a bad attack of gastroenteritis. I stopped at a friend's place about a 100 km from Oulu at around 5 in the morning and got his son to call an ambulance to transport Susanna directly to the Oulu University Central Hospital, where they checked her out and after doing all the necessary released her the next day.

We celebrated Asha's 10 year birthday one day early to allow Tony to take the two boys to Newcastle to rejoin Joanna after her exams.

Susanna, Chris and Asha insisted on staying in the Kampitie cellar, although Joanna's house was empty. Asha and I had a great time doing what I had done with the boys earlier, except the Traffic Park, which had closed as soon as schools started in Finland. We did a lot of mileage on the scooter and we had some great experiences.

Asha and I could not also visit the Car Museum due to a shortage of days.

Last Sunday, Chris drove Asha and Susanna in the SAAB to Tampere, where they met up with Kannan. They handed the car over to Tony who drove back on Sunday night so he could get back to work on Monday morning. He did the return trip in less than 5 hours!

Joanna gave us a scare saying that she may have fared badly in her exams. When she did not get a call for a Viva, she was half convinced that she had failed and was even contemplating quitting her medical studies.

Yesterday she got her results.

She got Merits in everything except in one where she missed her Merit classifiucation by just 0.3%. I was hopping mad with her as she certainly gave us a scare.

On the other hand, more fool me. I should have known as Joanna has been an outstanding student right from kindergarten!

We all will get back to our routine now that summer is over and the autumn leaves have started to fall.

Annikki is back in her elements have turned the living room topsy turvey and rearranged it, all by herself. The kids are waiting for the photographs, which I shall endeavour to have in a day or two.

My carpentry skills?

Kampitie Pergola

(Cross posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog for Mumbai Cathedralites.)

Not having published the final outcome of my front porch carpentry effort, many of you have cast serious doubts about my carpentry skills. I many not have the talent of my wife in creativity, I can design and create mathematically designed objects - small ones.

I will now educate those who query that aspect of my life!

I learnt to use wood, hammer, nails, saw, screw driver, screws, drills (hand variety), pliers and other simple carpentry tools while at Cathedral School, Mumbai. Many thanks to our carpentry master, Mr. G. M. Hazarnis, who guided us with simple tasks for 12 and 13 years olds. Although we had only one class per week in our lower years, it was fun, but I learnt to do things with my hands.

Later, when I was at the National College of Rubber Technology, I studied engineering drawing and also did work in a metal workshop, learning to use the lathe, welding machine, and other simple engineering tools.

When I had my first paid job at the Rubber and Plastics Research Association of Great Britain (RAPRA), I was fortunate to have to work alongside an architect studying about plastics and rubber in building, while I was looking at the durability of plastics in building. Ken Taylor is an outstanding individual as he could visualise things and create them with simple tools, without going through the process of putting them on paper. As he was a bachelor, he used to drop in at home. He and I would have brain-storming sessions with lots of wild ideas flying around. As much as he learnt about plastics from me, I learnt much about architecture from him, which helped me lecture to architects about Plastics in Building, a hot topic of those days.

In 1969, when I returned to India, we needed furniture. As carpenters were cheaper by the dozen, I was not put to the test. However, I followed Annikki's instructions and created the furniture of her liking on to paper and helped the carpenter to turn them into our unique furniture.

Many years later those skills helped me visualise design and create objects in the air and the drawing board, but I did not have much opportunity to physically create anything.

So it was only after we moved to Kampitie after the demise of Annikki's father that I had the need to use those talents. (He was a carpenter by profession, and hence I did not interfere with his work so long as he was alive.)



The first job was a porch over the rear entrance to the house. The snow used to make that entrance most difficult to use in winter. I designed and made a simple covering which has now stood the test of adverse weather conditions for the last 6 years.

When Annikki re-made the greenhouse, I did not do much except install a plastic roof.

 

Then Annikki wanted a cover over the bathtub, the centre-piece of the Kampitie garden. I designed the structure and erected it and my Thai friend, Unnop Khungrai, gave it the finishing touch of cutting and putting up the Thai design decorative effect.

And now to the cover over the front porch so as to protect Mika from the rain and snow, as it is his smoking patch.



Once Annikki acquired the waste wood from our neighbours, and having a large structural section from Joanna's garden, which was destined for the rubbish dump, I designed and set up what I think is a satisfactory protective cover, which looks nice and executes its purpose.

Life is one of learning and I can say that right from my school days, even the very simple things that I was exposed to has helped me do what is required in life in as simple a way as required. That is what life is about.

Thank you Mr. G. M. Hazarnis, my instructor at the National College (a person of Czech origin whose name I forget), my good friend, Ken Taylor, my late father-in-law, Matti Reinikka (who would have been 91 yesterday had he been alive), and above all, my dear wife who has implicit faith that I will execute her commands satisfactorily, even though I may serious doubts till the last screw has been put into place!

Blooming Midsummer Rose

(Cross posted on the Oulu CHAFF Blog.)

We have something in our garden that is called the Midsummer Rose, which starts to bloom on Midsummer Day, plus or minus a couple of days. Midsummer Day, as usual, the 21st of June, was last Thursday.



I was watching the rose bushed very carefully and although there were several buds just ready to open, there were NO blooms visible.

Today, Saturday the 23rd is when we are celebrating Midsummer Day. It is the fashion in Finland to celebrate it over the closest weekend after the 21st of June.

I went around the garden in the morning and did not see any rose in bloom.

Later in the afternoon, Annikki and I were lazing in the garden arguing about the amount of Vitamin D were were each generating while exposing ourselves to the sun, when I told her that I had not yet seen a Midsummer Rose.





She excitedly took me to the bottom of the garden, where, hidden by a lot of rose bush leaves was a solitary rose in full bloom. Nature had not failed - it was just my lack of trust in nature!

The fusion festival at Vaala was an event planned for today.

Vaala is located about 90 km from Oulu driving south east. It is at the top of the Oulu järvi (Lake) and is a very small town.





One of our regular CHAFF Participants, a Finn, Jarmo Suomela, and his friend from Thailand, Siam, have bought a restaurant, Ravintola Janoinen Hauki, in Vaala town centre. It serves pizzas, fast foods, Thai food and Finnish food, and is also a popular bar and Karaoke Centre in the evenings.

When Jarmo suggested he organise a Midsummer Market for Midsummer Day, the Thai Community in Oulu responded positively.

They went there to set up a morning of Thai culture and selling some great art work, Thai food, clothes from Thailand, trinkets from Thailand, and to perform a whole set of Thai cultural programmes of song and dance.

As it is just an hour from Oulu, I decided to pay a quick visit just to show our support for Jarmo's venture.





I arrived at 10 am and the crowd was just starting to arrive.

I had a cup of tea on the house, bought and ate three spring rolls and had a plate of delicious Salmon Soup, the most traditional of Finnish Midsummer offerings. I watched the two little girls, Kwan (7) and Pupe (14) do a great Thai dance.

Just as the Thai ladies were preparing to do their number, I had to leave as I had to get back to Oulu to help Annikki get her mother out of bed for the daily routine.

I can certainly recommend this restaurant in Vaala.

I heard later that the festival was a success. Maybe this will become a traditional event in Vaala in the years ahead.

Can anyone give me an authorative account on how the human body accepts Vitamin D, especially the difference between darkies, like me, and light skinned people, as Annikki.

May resolve a major health discussion conflict! :-)

You Mallus are so quick!

I had a reply from Malayalees in every continent about the Thai sweet which we also make in Kerala, India. The fastest came from a Mallu in Helsinki, Mathew, even before I went to bed last night.

Thanks Mathew, I slept in peace.

The name of the sweet is Achappam.

When I looked through the recipe books by Mrs. K. M. Mathew, I found it in all the three editions of her book called Kerala Cookery, also known as Nandan Pachakarama (1st edition in 1985, 2nd edition in 1986 and the 3rd edition in 1992) and also in her "The Family Cook Book" published in 1987.

The late Mrs. K.M. Mathew admiring the White Chocolate Wedding Cake and decorated with fresh red roses made by Annikki for our niece's wedding in 1999. Annikki is standing behind our aunt.

The recipe and method of making Achappam is described below:

ACHAPPAM

Ingredients:
1/2 kg fine raw rice flour
2 cups grated coconut
2 eggs
2 dsp sugar
2 tsp gingelly seeds (sesame seeds)
a little salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Oil for frying.

Method:
1. Extract the milk from the grated coconut and mix the maida (fine raw rice flour) with it.
2. Whisk the eggs stiff and add the batter with the sugar, gingelly seeds, essence and salt. Use less sugar as otherwise the batter will stick to the sides of the mould.
3. Take a small portion of the batter in a small vessel. Put the ACHAPPAM mould in very hot oil kept on the fire.
4. Dip 3/4 of the mould into the batter when the mould is very hot and then dip into the hot oil. The achappam will fall off into the oil by itself. Turn it over. When fried, drain the oil by putting the achappam on paper. When cool store in bottles.

Now-a-days things are much easier in that ready coconut milk is available from a tin and you can buy the fine rice flour from the shops. But there is a great deal of skill in making it exactly to my taste, just as my aunt did! ;-)

However, no one has provided an explanation of why Thai Cooking Culture is so close to the Kerala Cooking Culture.

Ethnically we are very different - but somewhere the lines of culture have crossed. In which direction? I am fascinated by this discovery, as in Oulu, with Annikki so preoccupied, to enjoy a taste of near Kerala style spicy food, I have to go to The Pailin Thai Restaurant!

Rice, Green Curry, Red Curry, .......

I finished the last of the "achappams" already before going to bed last night.

Yummy yum,
They are in my tum!

Help me PLEASE, before I go crazy!

Yesterday I went to the Thai Pailin Restaurant. The owners offered me a "sweet" with my tea, which they called "a traditional THAI sweet".







The look, the feel, the texture, the taste - all drove me crazy. This used to be one of my favourite crunchy sweets when I was in Kerala. But for the life of me I could not remember what it was called - Dementia?

I rushed home carrying a bag full of these delicious crunchy flower-shaped sweets and went to browse through all the books of the late Mrs. K. M. Mathew (Annammakochamma) on Annikki's book shelves - and I could not find it mentioned.

Not an appam, not a dosai, not a wada, not a jamuun, not a rasgoola, not a jilebee, not a ..... - What is it?

For a day, while taking regular bites into this delicacy, I have been trying to recall the name of this item. ( I have almost finished the stock my friends gave me!)

Anyone out there to put me out of my misery - PLEASE?

I have noticed that Thai cooking is very close to Kerala cooking in that they use a fair amount of coconut milk in their curries and they also use a lot of chillies. They have several sweets which are close to what Annammakocochamma used to turn out for weddings. Comments on the possible reason for this?

Memory sends me into splits of laughter

Yesterday was shopping day. We were looking for a mattress for Mika's bed. The present one has the springs popping out and a cavity in the centre.

The best place to find one is one of the flea markets. I drove up to one which is part of a row of shops. I found a parking place in front of the shop right next to the flea market. We both got out and I walked back to the flea market door. Annikki got out and walked directly into the next door shop, a baby and children's store!

That sent me into splits of laughter as I watched her looking at me in wonderment, not even realising what she had done.

She asked me what had caused my mirth.

I told her that at that moment she reminded me of my mother, who would tell her driver where she wanted to go. When he parked the car, she would walk into the first shop door she encountered. She trusted that her driver was a magician capable of parking directly adjacent to her destination. On Commercial Street, Bangalore, this is a near impossibility!

On Commercial Street it did not matter as she knew every shopkeeper and she was usually greeted with great enthusiasm wherever she walked in!

One of the last pictures of my father - taken in 1992.

The reason was she had been spoilt by my dad during our life in Bombay. He would always find a parking place exactly where she wanted to go. She would go into the shop and come out walking directly into the car, while my dad sat in the car doing the daily crossword puzzle in the newspaper or some other mundane thing, like working on some maths problem, to keep himself occupied. He did not enjoy going in to do the shopping!


My mother with her grandkids, Joanna and Mika, in 1983.

Many fond memories of my mother flooded back. It gave me goose pimples to remember her in her lighter moods - and this was one I really enjoyed.

Condolences and tributes to my "Third Cousin"

I did not realise how widespread my readership was. My estimate of 120000 seems unrealistic considering from the so many unrelated corners I get email.

When I blooged the obituary of my "Third Cousin", I received emails from people I had never heard of before and do not know from Adam and Eve! There were condolence messages, tributes, thanks for blogging that information and even from Malayala Manorama for providing the data and photograph about the late Professor John Jacob. The Manorama ran this important obituary of the great grandson of the Founder of the paper, K. I. Varughese Mappillai, who had succeeded in the rough world out there!

Members of John's extended family provided me with this wonderful picture of the late John with his wife, Elizabeth, and their daughter, Neha. A truly touching photograph.



They also provided me with a few photographs, which sort of gives me a almost complete set of this wonderful family.



Kneeling from the left:
Ashish, Salome's son
Anjali, Premi's daughter
Tusheeta, Sarah's daughter
Ashika, Salome's daughter
Tabita, Sarah's daughter
Ishan, Salome's son

Standing from left:
Jacob, Salome's husband
Ranjit, Omana's eldest son
Abraham, Sarah's wife
Roy, Premi's husband
Late John, Omana's youngest son
Ashvin, Premi's son

Sitting from the left:
Salome, Omana's youngest daughter
Achama, Ranjit's wife
Sarah, Omana's middle daughter
Premi, Omana's eldest daughter

What beautiful and most unusual names - Ashika, Ishan, Tusheeta, Tabeeta,....!



In addition to the people listed above, these additional persons are in the second group photograph:

Ashok - Omana's middle son - Sitting front row, extreme left
Geetha - Ashok's wife - Standing, middle row, extreme left
Sneha - Ashok's daughter - Standing middle row - the tiny one, second from the right
Sushil - Ashok's son - Standing last row, second from the right
Karun - Ranjit's son - Standing last row, extreme right

Above all, there was this touching tribute to John from someone I do not know!

I was a classmate of John's in the PhD program at Northwestern. A kinder, gentler person did not exist. The last e-mail I received from him was also very sweet and thoughtful. My heart goes out to his wife and daughter.

Our heart goes out to all those who are feeling the deep pain of the passing of John!

Sands of Oulu

Annikki's sister, Anneli, is here with us in Oulu for a short holiday of a few days. As she was cycling back from the city yesterday, she saw a very unusual building site, right near the city centre, which is about 2 kilometres from the sea.



The top layer of the building site had been removed. Just less than a metre below the top surface was absolutely pristine sea sand.



Annikki, while digging to put in foundations for some of her creations, has noted this in the Kampitie garden, but it has been usually a little deeper. We have used some of this sand.

To see a whole building site covered with this beautiful fine sand, so fine that even a light wind had created a wavy seashore design, to all of us, seemed most unusual!




In the meantime, I completed the construction and painting of the wooden frame the porch over the front entrance.(The above pictures are before the porch cover was painted.)

Only a roof has to be installed and I am debating a lot of possibilities. Remember, this has been created out of waste wood - and this time it was a throw-away from the neighbour and from Joanna's garden!

Even though I say it myself, I rather like the construction, which was put up with just a little bit of help from Annikki!

Recycling is our MOTTO!

Demise of my "Third Cousin"

In today's world where one hardly knows one's first cousin, it may seem strange for me to blog the passing of my third cousin.



John Jacob was the Associate Professor in Accounting at the College of Business and Administration, University of Colorado at Boulder University of Colarado, Denver. John was the great grandson of the late K. I. Varughese Mappillai (KIVM), the founder of the Malayala Manorama. K. V. Eapen, son of KIVM was too young to run the newspaper and that responsibility fell on my grandfather, Kandathil Cherian Mammen Mappillai, (KCMM) who was the eldest son of the eldest brother of K. I. Varghese Mappillai, K. I. Cherian. (See below for details.)

Many people have asked me why it was that that John's grandfather K. V. Eapen did not take over the running of the Malayala Manorama, and how was it that KCMM took over its running. In this I must quote directly from the Autobiography of KCMM, "Reminiscences" published in English in 1980 (Page 90).

"........, I was assisting Varughese Mappillai in conducting the Malayala Manorama. He had left the entire job of running the newspaper on my shoulders a few years prior to his demise, owing to his ill-health and had retired to Thiruvalla. Up to his demise, the renumeration he received from Malayala Manorama was only Rs. 40/- an amount which was hardly enough to meet his expenses.

When Varughese Mappillai passed away, the question arose as to who should succeed him as the manager and editor of the paper. As his son, K. V. Eapen was only a youth the idea of his being entrusted with the task did not arise. Eapen Vakil and Mathulla Mappillai toyed with the idea of having a go at it. One thing was sure: whoever took over charge, would not be able to manage the paper without my assistance and co-operation. As for me, I could not forgo my job in the school since the financial position of Malayala Manorama was not sound enough to entertain such a proposition. Meanwhile since my brother K.C. Eapen who had just passed his B. A. expressed his desire to join Manorama the others naturally withdrew their claims and he took over charge as the manager of Malayala Manorama.

I had explained to John this part of the history as he had wanted to know why his father had not taken over the Malayala Manorama.

John passed away on Friday 8th June in Denver, Colarado after a massive heart attack.

The last email we had from John was thanking Annikki, my wife, for her desktop calendar of cakes which he said would proudly adorn his desk for the whole year.

from John Jacob
to Jacob Matthan
subject Thank you

Dear Sushilchayan and Anniki,

Thank you for the lovely desk calendar you sent. It is beautiful and will adorn my desk for the rest of the year.

Annikki, you are a very talented person.

Take care,

John

John and I had been in regular correspondence for many years. He was a devout Christian.

From my records, his wife is Elizabeth, and his daughter, Neha, who was born in 1990 and is now just 17. It is such a tragedy to lose a husband and a father, at such a young age.

John's mother, Omena, is the daughter of K. V. Eapen. K. V. Eapen was my grandfather's first cousin, making his mother, Omena, my mother's second cousin. John, Sarah and Ranjeet, are my third cousins.

John's father is M. C. Jacob who is the son of M. A. Chacko. I am not sure of much details of that side of John's family.

John's brother, Ranjeet George Jacob, was with me in St. Stephen's Coillege and is now retired and lives in Madras.

John's funeral will be on Wednesday the 13th of June 2007 in Denver, Colorado.

I think I should give the CV of John as obtained from the web site of the University.

CV of the Late Associate Professor John Jacob
College of Business and Administration
University of Colorado at Boulder
Campus Box 419
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0419

Education:
Ph.D., Accounting & Information Systems, Northwestern University, 1995
Post-graduate Diploma in Business Management, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur, India, 1981
B.Tech., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, 1979

Professional Experience:
Academic Experience:
University of Colorado at Boulder, Associate Professor, 2000 - present.
University of Colorado at Denver, Assistant Professor, 1994 - 2000.
Northwestern University, Teaching Assistant 1993 - 1994.

Industry Experience:
Balmer Lawrie & Co., Calcutta, India, 1981-89

Publications:
"The Use of Accounting Flexibility to Reduce Labor Renegotiation Costs and Manage Earnings," (Co-authored with Julia D'Souza and K. Ramesh). Forthcoming in the Journal of Accounting and Economics.
"Electric Utility Stranded Costs: Valuation and Disclosure Issues" (Co-authored with Julia D'Souza). Forthcoming in the Journal of Accounting Research.
"Nuclear Decommissioning Costs: The Impact of Recoverability Risk on Valuation," (Co-authored with Julia D'Souza and Naomi Soderstrom), Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 29, (2000) 207-230.
"Autocorrelation Structure of Forecast Errors from Time-Series Models: Implications for Post-Earnings Announcement Drift Studies," (Co-authored with Thomas Lys and Jowell Sabino), Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 28, (2000) 329-358.
"Why Firms Issue Targeted Stock" (Co-authored with Julia D'Souza), Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 56, (2000) 459-483.
"Meltdown- or Not? - For Utilities (Co-authored with Julia D'Souza, Naomi Soderstrom and Carol Panchula), Journal of Accountancy, March 2000.
"Expertise in the Forecasting Performance of Security Analysts." (Co-authored with Thomas Lys and Margaret Neale), Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol. 28 (1999) 51-82.
"Discussion of ' Do Security Analysts Improve Their Performance with Experience ?'" Journal of Accounting Research.(Supplement 1997), 159-165.
"Taxes and Transfer Pricing: Income Shifting and the Volume of Intra-Firm Transfers," Journal of Accounting Research, Autumn 1996, 301-312.

Working Papers:
"Determinants and Implications of the Auto-Correlation in Analysts' Forecast Errors." (Co-authored with Thomas Lys). Under review at the Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance.
Estimating Autocorrelation Coefficients in Small Samples, (Co-authored with Thomas Lys and Jowell Sabino).

Instructional Cases:
Trident Utility: Accounting for Nuclear Decommissioning Costs. (Co-authored with Julia D'Souza and Naomi Soderstrom), Journal of Accounting Education Vol. 18 (2000) 157-169.

Conference Presentations:
"Taxes and Transfer-Pricing: Income Shifting and the Volume of Intra-Firm Transfers," was presented at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association, 1995.
"Expertise in the Forecasting Performance of Security Analysts." was presented by my co-author at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association, 1997.
" Electric Utility Stranded Costs: Valuation and Disclosure Issues," was presented by my co-author at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association, 1998 and at the fourth annual conference on contemporary accounting issues, Taipei, Taiwan, 1998.
"Nuclear Decommissioning Costs: The Impact of Recoverability Risk on Valuation," was presented at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association, 1999.
"Accounting Flexibility and Income Management: The Case of OPEB Obligation Recognition" was presented at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association, 2000.

Grants:
Recipient of $5,000 research grant (jointly with Prof. Naomi Soderstrom) from the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants in 1997 to study the accounting for nuclear decommissioning costs.

Other Indicators of Scholarship:
Recipient (jointly with co-author Julia D'Souza) of best paper award at the fourth annual conference on contemporary accounting issues, Taipei, Taiwan, 1998 for "Electric Utility Stranded Costs: Valuation and Disclosure Issues."
Qualified for the National Science Talent Scholarship awarded by the Government of India.
Fellowship from Northwestern University, 1989-92.

I have conveyed the information to Malayala Manorama who will be publishing the details for those in Kerala to read.

I have conveyed condolences to his wife Elizabeth and daughter, Neha, through Tusheeta David, daughter of John's sister, Sarah, who was kind enough to let me know of this sad news.

May his good soul rest in peace,

Apple Blossoms, Cherry Blossoms

Annikki has been wanting a cherry tree in the Kampitie garden for as long as I can remember. I have been resisting this is it is not OUR garden, but belongs to the inheritors of the estate of her father, Matti Reinikka.

Only because Annikki and I have been looking after her mother, Matti's widow, Hilja, who has the right of residence in Kampitie, do we have the right to enjoy this garden. Over the last 6 years Annikki has turned from a dump into one of the most beautiful suburban gardens in Oulu, if not Finland.



When the apple blossoms appeared in our neighbour's garden, as they have three beautiful old apple trees, the urge to get the cherry tree grew stronger, making me to finally capitulate.



The apple blossoms in the neighbour's garden have been enjoyed by us from every corner as we look out of the Kampitie garden.



Before I could say "blossoms" the cherry tree was firmly planted in the Kampitie garden.

The garden is blooming all over and Annikki's creativity grows by leaps and bounds each day.



The new smoking zone for Mika is a pavilion with the old steps to the front door as a flower stand as the background.



The "Green Door" has acquired two new security guards!

It is sheer pleasure to walk around this garden early morning and then again in the evening. During the hot summer day one can lie next to the pond or on the beach sand, depending on what mood you happen to be in.

Every visit turns up new feelings.

Now, I am on a new project to create a cover over the front steps. Although I am not much of a carpenter, I have designed a cover using using recycled materials and will have the cover up by the end of this week. So stay tuned for pictures of my next carpentry exploit! :-)

How does 6.8=27.2? How does this affect Global Warming?

New maths today is very popular. So when I tell you that when 6.8 = 27.2, we have much to fear from Global warming!

Every Tuesday is a water immersion physiotherapy session for our son, Mika. For over seven years I have been taking him every Tuesday for this session.

Normally, I call him from his room at 13:15. I pick up his bag containing his towel, shorts and swimsuit and wait in the car for him. He comes down at 13:30 and I drive him for his session and then wait around in town till he finishes his session and drive him back by 15:15.

Last Tuesday was a little different as Annikki's mother, Hilja, was still at home. Annikki wanted me to rush back after dropping Mika to help her take her mother from her bed to the toilet and lift her from the chair. Hilja is heavy and the lifting gear can be used in some places, but there are others where I have to lift her bodily, something Annikki cannot do.

Last Tuesday, I had to fill petrol in the car. As I am now mainly on the scooter, just after calling Mika, I rushed off to fill some petrol and rushed back. Mika was waiting. I rushed upstairs, picked up his sports bag and drove him to town, to his session.

As he got out of the car and lifted his bag, he realised that there was nothing in it. He decided to wait till I rushed home.

When I told Annikki, she was in panic and rushed upstairs, picked up the missing items, and gave them to me. I stuffed them in the bag and rushed back to give the bag to a waiting Mika.

Then I drove back home to help Annikki.

A tragic looking wife was waiting at the door for me. By mistake she had given me a black underwear instead of Mika's black swimming trunks.

I grabbed the trunks, and rushed back to the swimming pool. I found Mika having a shower. I dropped off the trunks next to his bag and then rushed back home to help Annikki.

At 15:00 hours, I went back to pick up Mika.

On Tuesday, the 3.4 km one-way trip from the home to the physiotherapy centre was done at total of eight times, instead of the normal two. Hence, instead of a mere 6.8 km, I drove 27.2 km, pumping out harmful carbon emissions and detrimentally affecting Global Warming.

Although this has happened only once in the last seven years, the comedy of errors was not very funny, either for the environment or for Mika!

I am glad that I am on a scooter these days as I am claiming back most of that consumption with my scooting around on a more economic form of transport!

Dangerous situation of VIOLATION

(Cross-posted on all my MAJOR BLOGS.)

A few weeks ago, I received an email from my good young friend, Soda, that he had TAGGED me and the email had a line implying that if I did not join this TAGGED network, my friendship with him would be in question!

Is Soda your friend?

Please respond or Soda may think you said no :(

When I get emails which border on being emotional blackmailed, I usually investigate a little deeper. When I went through the process of joining the TAGGED network, and it came to a particular stage, whoosh, I closed the link.

The process of registration was asking me to reveal, to TAGGED, my email password.

This is a sure recipe for your entire security on the Internet and your personal computer to be fully compromised. Once you part with your password to such an organisation, the robot can enter your personal email INBOX, your ARCHIVES, your ADDRESS BOOK and data mine all your sensitive information, which could even be your credit card details.

I sent a reply to SODA:

Hi Soda,

Tagged is asking for my Password when filling in details - which I cannot give. Be careful about this site!

Jacob

I few days later I had a similar request from a Cathedralite friend.

I replied him this:

Dear Adil,

Tagged is asking for passwords.

Quite dangerous.

Use LinkedIn, much better. Do you want to be in that Contact Manager?

Regards

Jacob

To which he replied:

I merely answered one tag message, filled a form in and I now see that this thing has gone to my entire address book ! Quite horrified. Any idea how I can undue this Tag business? Sorry, I truly didnt mean to Tag everyone, except the guy who tagged me! Help !!

Adil

He was in panic and I replied to him:

That was why they asked for your email address AND Password.

Dangerous situation.

Don't know how you get out of it except by directly communicating with them.

Stay away from anything that asks for YOUR password to register - you are in for some tough times!

Regards

Jacob

Since then I have had similar request from many friends who had compromised their system. Then came this from the Cathedralite daughter of another Cathedralite friend:

Hi,

Thanks for this mail - its really weird as I didnt tag anyone. Will check my system for a virus.

Thanks for letting me know,

Kind regards,

Dimple

Remember, this is not a virus, but a violation of your secrecy which you permitted by giving your password when you were emotionally blackmailed. Take action NOW before you are compromised on some other front.

My suggestion is that you bombard them with questions and demand restitution for compromising your email secrecy!

These are the CONTACT details for TAGGED:

CONTACT

Email support@tagged.com with site related questions or complications.

Company Information: info@tagged.com
Business Partnerships: business@tagged.com
All Other Inquiries: inquiry@tagged.com

web Address: http://corp.tagged.com/

Tagged Inc
P.O. Box 193152
San Francisco, CA 94119-3152

Do not violate Rule 1 of the Internet - never give YOUR PASSWORD to ANYONE!