Latest pictures of the Vesaisentie garden.
The Mysterious Green Door has moved to its new location.
Thanks to Nisha and Sunil, a few of the Indian families in Oulu got together at the Raantel Community Centre to relax and enjoy a few precious quality moments.
Among those present were Rajesh, Sunita and Karthik, Srikanth, Renu and Dipankar, Narayanan, Padmavathy and Ambil, Sunil, Nisha and Hannah, Nagendra, Ashwini and Suhina, Kiran, Prasad and myself.
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| Raantel Community Centre |
I went to meet my friend Billy, who runs the best Chinese Fast Food in Oulu. I noted a young lady sitting there waiting for her food. She looked familiar, but I did not immediately place her.
I sat with my back to her and asked her whether she came from the Phillipines. Without once looking at her we conversed about generalities.
When she finished her meal, she was leaving and she asked me whether my name was Jacob and my wife's name was Annikki!
Then she told me that she was a faithful reader of all my blogs but regretted that I had not been updating the Oulu Best Buy Blog regularly. I told her that I did that only when there was a Best Buy, like writing about the very restaurant we were sitting in!
I do not remember whether I have blogged about people who have inspired me. There have been a few in my 60+ years, but the couple who inspired me most were friends I made in Madras in the early 1970s.
Prem and Titi Sadanand become bosom friends in a very short space of time after he joined MRF as the Staff Assistant to the Managing Director.
Prem was given the task of driving the organisation into a shape fit as a professional company. He had to retain the family values and yet make it professional.
Prem was a real professional, having studied at Harvard. He came from a noble background as his father was the owner / editor of one of Bombay's best known newspapers, the Free Press Journal, and known for his courage to write the truth.
That certainly rubbed off on Prem, but he had immense diplomatic skills.
He and I hit it off from day one as we both smoked heavily and drank heavily (that was the time I did drink and smoke - I have not touched cigarettes and alcohol for the last 26 years!).
I was helping to put a plastic factory belonging to MM Group into some sort of shape as it was providing vital plastic film for the tyre production activity. But it was decided that the company should expand its role into avenues other than MRF.
Prem was asked to work with me.
Coming from a scientific research and production background, I had no idea of business principles, except from a classroom standpoint. With the short space of four weeks, Prem taught me the ins and outs of production management and control.
We used to sit the whole day in his office where he would learn about plastics technology from me while he taught me how to control factory output and production and implement cost control without moving an inch from the chair. It was amazing how much this man knew and how well he could teach.
After work we would retire to his home where his wife, an outstanding personality in her own right would have a glass of whiskey ready for each of us and we would continue our discussions where he would probe into family situations so that he could stay ahead of the rat race and deliver the results that the family expected from a top flight manager like him.
It is amazing how much I learnt from these two individuals - social skills, management skills, negotiation skills, family values, and above all the art of decision making. They helped me put my Consulting Company on track and it was Prem and Titis's handling of my life that made me understand how to leave when the going was good.
Prem had worked in the jute industry and the glass industry. He was a complete personality in that he knew his technology and his management. If it was not for him the plastics packaging fibre industry would never have caught on as he used his knowledge of the jute industry to develop the coating technolgy for high density polyethylene woven fabric to make it suitable for packaging fertilisers, sugar, and other mateials in direct competition with jute. He used my knowledge of plastics to be able to drive the new small scale rafia producers along a path that has taken them to the top of the world in economic packaging.
Very few people know this role of Prem which has affected the lives of millions of Indians. I do!
When I moved from Madras to Bangalore, what I missed most was my times with them.
Sadly Prem died of a massive heart attack when he was just in his mid forties. But he had set his wife up in a great furniture business that went alongside all her artistic skills and helped her survive his loss at that young age.
Today, I learnt that Titi had passed on. Titi was the daughter of the brilliant man (Sointi) who patented the Arsenic Pentoxide treatment for preservation of wood. He sold the patent to Bell Labs in the USA who kept it under wraps till the patent ran out and then made billions out of that technology.
Ascu Hickson Ltd., the Indian company which did this treatment of wood in India was run by Titi's brother, Teddy!
I have thought of both Titi and Prem often, as also their only daughter, Bobo's, who was the apple of their eyes and who was always there to greet me - Uncle Sushil.
Although I had not seen Titi for the last 10 years, the inspiration that the two of them gave me never left me through all my working life and now into my retirement.
May Titi rest in peace. She deserves it.
Yesterday, I once again made the gruelling day drive trip to Helsinki - a round trip of 1200 km. This time it was to meet the Owner / CEO of the Slovenian group who have been working as electricians and staying in our apartments in Oulu, Helsinki and Tampere.
Mr. Darzen, the CEO of Elektro-k.a.a, the Slovenian company which is doing the electrical installation work at the new post office sorting centres around Finland, and whose staff stay in our apartments, arrived and wanted to see me.
So I did the round trip.
He gave me a present from Slovenia, which is the Kurent Mask.
Kurentovanje is a distinctive pre-Lenten Slovenian festival. The name comes from the festival's central figure, the Kurent, who in earlier times was believed to have the power to chase away winter and usher in spring.
Slovenians dress up in this costume in February and wander about to drive away winter. A tall order for the near Arctic, even with global warming, but one can hope!
Last Sunday, my friend Christian Thibault, came to Oulu to meet several people about spreading the word about the Liikkukaa Multicultural Sports Association. 
It just happened that the club he is involved with in several ways, Atlantis FC, were playing a First Division match against our local club - AC Oulu.
I asked Hasim and Kasim, who through their company, Goreme Pizzeria & Kebab ry, are one of the largest shareholders of AC Oulu, to join us to see the game. Unfortunately, it was Hasim's daughter's confirmation, so he could not join us. But Kasim made it to the ground.
The game was reasonable and although Atlantis did not play as badly as they did against TP-47 in Haaparanta two weeks earlier, they lost 3 - 0 against AC Oulu, with Daniel Yobe scoring a hat trick for the local side.
On Tuesday, Christian had several meetings. I arranged for him to meet Jusse Kankare, the Chairman of the Oulu Cricket Club. They joined the Liikkukaa Association as a member.
On Wednesday / Thursday there was a tournament organised by Riku Kivimäki of the Oulu Refugee Centre of all the teams from Refugee Centres around Finland. There were 360 players from many countries taking part in a truly historic event. It was a grand success with the African drum beat resounding in all corners of the ground and sports hall.
It was wonderful to see the involvement of accomplished persons as Emmanuel Etchu with Nigerian roots, who, while still keeping to his love of football, has earned himself being an engineer in Nokia and also working on a programme to help the children of AIDS victims in Africa, the Finnish national basketball star with Antiguan roots, Maurizio Prates, who has now devoted a lot of his time to fighting racism in Finland, and Said Zahaf (with Moroccan roots) of the Restaurant Marrakech helping in bringing refreshment to these visitors from all parts of Finland while his wife Miriam Attias was busy acting on behalf of the Red Cross in helping this event.
See Kaleva for a detailed report about this sports event. (And what was another half of Christian's mission to Oulu - to get fit to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary in Paris on Bastille Day, the 14th of July 2009. Happy Anniversary, Christian.)
Last week, three young people, one youngster born in 1984, one young lady and one young man born in 1988 (the driver) died tragically in an accident at Välivainio, about 200 metres from my office. The doctor's report later showed that the driver had 1.5 promil of alcohol in his blood, the legal limit being 1.2 promil.
The pictures tell the story of how the accident happened.
There is a gentle curve on Sirtolantie, requiring a driver to slow down a few kilometres per hour to take it safely. The driver of the accident vehicle probably came in too fast and was trying to reduce speed to navigate the curve. He missed the brake and slammed his foot on the accelerator, by mistake. This increased the speed and in a couple of seconds the car hit the high curb. This meant that the driver's hands were thrown off the wheel and his foot went harder on the accelerator, causing the car to jump and be thrown against the tree in front of them.
The end must have come instantly judging from the state of the car.
It is possible to pontificate on this and the effect of alcohol. But when I look back on my life, 27 years ago I used to kill a bottle of rum and still drive my car. The foolishness of my actions now stares me in my face as I had a wife and four children to look after.
Not having touched a drop of alcohol for the last 27 years (80 Charminar roasted tobacco cigarettes, 20 cups of coffee, half a dozen bottles of beer and a bottle of rum were my daily consumption), I can honestly say that I have had a great life since and not missed any of these pleasures.
Many have asked why I gave up.
It was not because I saw such a tragedy, as this acciedent, ahead of me, but because I realised my brain was being affected. My super memory was being steadily destroyed.
I have recovered almost 90% of the brain cells which were destroyed because of my heavy drinking. That has taken the best part of these 27 years and a lot of help from my friends who helped me fill in different damaged areas of my brain and its memory!
Do I miss any of these pleasures?
Not really, as a soft drink and a cup of tea are equally refreshing and socially acceptable.
Was it easy to give up all these pleasure?
Not really, as I knew the alternate outcome.
Am I glad that I am not history like these young kids at Välivainio?
You bet, as otherwise I would never have been able to enjoy my children and my grandchildren.
Do I begrudge anybody else drinking?
Not on your life, so long as it is their life and not mine that is at stake.
(Also posted on the CHAFF Blog.)
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| From 090604 Cricket starts in Oulu |
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| From 090604 Cricket starts in Oulu |
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| From 090604 Cricket starts in Oulu |
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| From 090604 Cricket starts in Oulu |
| From Cathedral School, Mumbai |
On daughter Joanna's Facebook Photo Album there is a picture of our four kids with their grandmother, my mother. It bears the caption:
"I think this was taken just before or after my cousin's wedding, when we were already living in Finland and my elder bro in England. Ammachi was the loveliest grandmother u could ever hope for - much like my Dad is to his grandkids."
I do not watch much TV as I am hardly at home.
However, I now do have a worst channel selection.
When I first started watching this channel, I thought it was great as it had a lot of humour, detective mysteries and even a quiz show. I became rather dedicated to this channel, except that the love affair lasted about a week.
From then on for the next 3 or 4 months it has been constant repeats of what has been shown during the last 3 months, only that the frequency of the repeats has increased dramatically!
The TV channel is BBC Entertainment.
I am so put off by this channel, so much so that even my dementia is not strong enough to put aside from my mind the programmes I have watched, again and again, on this channel.
Is the BBC so bankrupt that it must resort to this level of repeats?
Voted by me as the worst TV Channel on my TV - BBC Entertainment!
I was looking out of the kitchen window when I saw Annikki standing in the middle of the garden seemingly to be in a hilarious mood. I thought she was talking to the neighbour's child.
But then she moved on to the end of the garden and was still laughing to herself.
I looked at the garden a little more carefully and I saw that from the little pond that there was a dancing fountain. I wondered how she had managed that.
So I went out to take a look and to my surprise I saw what she had done.
(Also posted on all my major blogs.)
Many of you have emailed me to ask why I was so excited with the software "Cooliris".
There are many many reasons, but I will highlight the two major ones:
1. There is an old Chinese proverb which says: "A picture is worth a thousand words."
2. You can browse thousands of pictures in a couple of minutes, unlike text.
This is now the era of the photo-journalist. If he / she can succeed in capturing the truly great image that depicts an event and add a single one line caption to it, the number of hits one can get to that image or video, and subsequently the caption and then the text, even if the Google Search result was likely to be on the 50th page, is going to be amazing.
Just search for "Jacob, Oulu" on Google Search and you get 95,800 links. It will take months to through those links.
Search for it on "Cooliris" and see how much more you get and you can get to even the 5000th result in a jiffy!
Don't believe me - take any random name of a friend and see what you get!
Truly amazing results. And, you can go through all those tens and tens of results in a flash.
Beware of one problem with "Cooliris".
You can get motion sickness as you race through the thousands of images.
I tried various search combinations yesterday and was thrilled with the results.
But, when I got up from my office table, I was tottering as my eyes had been working overtime going through this huge bonanza of results.
Yes, there is a reason to be excited, but also a warning that this could seriously affect your brain!
Also posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog, Kooler Talk Blog, CHAFF Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.)
Rarely am I excited about new computer software. Today I came across one which sent shivers down my spine in what it can do.
I downloaded separate versions for SAFARI, the Mac only browser and for FIREFOX, probably the best browser online presently till Google comes up with its Chrome Browser for the mac.
The software is called "COOLIRIS" and it allows you to see many thousands of images and videos from your computer or the web in the blink of an eye.
My time is so limited that I hardly have time to go through all my pictures on the computer. But here I could see all of them in a 3-D type motion and I could see all the top story pictures before you could say "COOLIRIS"
I suggest you enter "Cooliris" in your Google Search facility and then download the version suitable for your browser.
I found a great video called "Slam Dunk Kitty" amongst the literally thousands that came up as I flew through the selection that came before me.
And you can use this software with Facebook, Google, UTube and also your computer images and videos!
What's the bet that Google will acquire this software - which is absolutely FREE, before the lamb shakes its tail!
Thursday was a holiday in Finland - called Hellatorstai, which is the equivalent of the Pentacost, the day the disciples of Jesus are supposed to have spoken in tongues.
When Christian, my good friend from Espoo / Helsinki, called me and said he was coming to Oulu, and that he was going to watch a game between his club, Atlantis from Helsinki and TP-47, the club from Tornio in north Finland, I said I would go along with him.
He arrived by train at 15:15. We had lunch at Goreme, so that he could have a few words with owner Hasim, who is now the largest shareholder of the AC Oulu, Oulu's football team which is presently topping the FirstDivision.
Then we drove the 132 kilometres to Tornio, only to discover that the game had been shifted across the border to Haaparanta, in Sweden.
No hassle, as the field was just 3 minutes into Sweden!
The snow was still on the ground showing that even in mid May, we still have a winter /spring situation in these northern latitudes.
It was one of the worst games of football that I have witnessed in a long time. Two First Division sides were playing as if most of the players were kicking the football for the first time in their lives. One team was worse than the other.
On the Atlantis side there were four players which showed some skill and speed, but they were unsupported by their other team members. What was surprising was that Janne Arolinna, who was doing a good job on the right, even though he had no support from the midfield, was taken off. Kerry Skepple played a good game till he was injured, but again he had no support.
There were spectacular saves by the Atlantis goal keeper, who will certainly do well if he keeps up this form.
The first kick at the goal by the Atlantis side was after 56 minutes!
About 10 minutes from the end the Atlantis coach brought on a Dutch player, Jasper Velentijn.
That changed the complexion of the game as this lanky youngster was everywhere. Suddenly Atlantis looked dangerous.
It was a goal mouth melee which resulted in the only goal of the match for Atlantis after 88 minutes.
No kudos to the goal scorer, Timo Aaltonen, as he played a poor game throughout the 93 minutes.
What can be said about the Atlantis side is that it consisted of 7 players who had been playing in Division 2. They played like Division 5 players with no idea of strategy or no idea of team work. Each time they touched the ball it was more danger for the Atlantis defence. It is obvious that the Atlantis Coach, who must have coached that Division 2 side, thought he could make a Division 1 team out of his previous club players. In that he is sadly mistaken as those players have no talent!
Coaches have been fired for less. I think both these coaches should go back to coaching kids!
Step out of the front door in Vesaisentie and you are greeted by this garden. Small and cosy, but it is still a work in progress.
Everything is dismantleable - the little pond can be stripped down in 5 minutes. It is just a large bucket which cost Euro 10 surrounded by loose bricks!
Look down the side wall towards the back garden and you see this sight of flowers along the wall. Not yet complete, every day sees much dramatic changes.
The first flowers are appearing at Kampitie - and soon the garden which Annikki has tended so lovingly will be a riot of colour again - midsummer roses, and a whole lot of other plants will start flowering. The neighbours apple trees will also soon blossom!
More from these two gardens as the summer brightens our lives.
(Also posted on the Oulu Brest Buy Blog and the CHAFF Blog.)
A friend of mine had let his mother's apartment to a couple of Finnish students. They behaved badly and hence were ejected.
In the process they had dirtied all the good sofas and carpets.
As my friend was adjusting the rent advance, he asked Kamutaza Tembo, the owner of Taza TMI, a suoer cleaning service in Oulu, to take and dispose all the furniture while at the same time as cleaning up the apartment. (Mobile Phone: TAZA TMI +358 400 596317). Among their many clients, Taza TMI cleans the big electronics stores as Gigantti and Markantalo, Sanifer Scooter Factory, all our furnished apartments in Oulu, a large vehicle repair workshop and they do a splendid job.)
Kamu called me and asked me to pick up the furniture.
Annikki and I went to pick it up in our trailer. When I looked at the sofas and carpets I was ready to write them off and take them to the dumping yard.
Kamu had other ideas.
Yesterday he came to our office where all the furniture was stocked in our trailer.
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| From Taza TMI |
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| From Taza TMI |
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| From Taza TMI |
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| From Taza TMI |
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| From Taza TMI |
(Also posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog.)
Finally it has happened.
Three enterprising cricket enthusiasts in Oulu, one Finn (Joose Kankare) with Australian enthusiasm, and two Indians (Prabhu Sundar and Prasadh Ramachandran), got together and quietly formed the OCC (Oulu Cricket Club) as a Registered Association.
They called the first meeting for yesterday afternoon to announce their hopes and plans starting with a summer season of training, practice and matches.
There was indeed a healthy turnout of people for the meeting - mainly Indians, but there was a Pakistani also present.
After the tea and introductions, there was a very lively discussion, showing that there are several who are keen to play cricket in Oulu.
The membership fee for a summer season is just Euro 30 (June till August).
I asked that they make a life membership category so that I do not have to pay year in and year out and the Club can drive some benefit by getting a lump sum when it needs it most.
I also drew attention to the importance of having player insurance if the Club is to avoid serious financial problems due to injuries incurred while training or in play. I suggested a similar approach followed by the Finnish Football Union, where no player is allowed to take part, irrespective of age, unless he / she holds a valid insurance from the union.
I also suggested that besides being under the wing of the Finnish Cricket Association, they should become a member of PoPLi (Pohjois-Pohjanmaa Sports Association), which is the umbrella organisation which looks after interests of all sports organisations in this northern region.
Since I did work for them (as well as the Oulu Sports Department), a good ten years ago, I did know that they would get substantial benefit in being a member.
I also suggested that they become a member of Liikkuka ry, a multicultural sports federation which is run by my friend, Christian Thibault, Executive Director, which could help them with closer relationship with the Finnish Sports Federation.
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| From Seventh Heaven |
(Also posted on Jacob's Politics and the Kooler Talk Blogs.)
I now realise how divorced I am from Indian Politics and especially the mentality of the Indian people.
This was just in:
Only a few results have been confirmed so far - they included a win for former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor for Congress in Kerala's capital, Trivandrum.
(Also posted on the Seventh Heaven and the Kooler Talk Blog.)
I just loved this email I received from 49er Dawn Brown. It sums up our experience, vis-á-vis the kids of today.
My daughter explained that times are different.
True, but do the kids wish it were the same as our time or not?
To us'ns who are considered to be "over the hill" by the young uns': Huh!!!! Not only are we surviving - we are thriving and loving life. I have to admit though that my children are not in this group - the first three mentioned above!!
Blessings,
Dawn
Oh! Not for me!!
Annikki has started in real earnest to set out the Vesaisentie garden with her vision.
First was the cleaning of the back fence area from years of accumulated rotting leaves and branches.
Then came the building of the Great Wall of Vesaisentie - a work in progress.
Yesterday evening we went to a shop looking for some garden stuff and came away with a large black plastic container.
Today it was in the garden with a circular brick wall around it. The first pond experiment of Vesaisentie.
But one pond is insufficient, so today we went to buy another pond. No doubt the ponds will find their right places tomorrow, in and above the ground.
Lots of minor works are in progress - as Annikki tries this and that. She is looking to create a garden with her stamp of design skills - and let me assure you that it will some unusual character about it.
But today was also buying day for trees. We will have two new trees, the first of many that will find their way into the Vesaisentie garden during this and subsequent years!
Yesterday, when I got home, Annikki had been hard at work clearing the mess at the bottom of the garden. Years of rotting grass and leaves were thrown overboard so that the back looks clean and well shaven.
When I came into the house, I sat on the living room sofa and had a great sight of the evening sun streaming through the curtain and through a couple of crystal pieces on the sideboard in front of the window. I tried, hopelessly to capture this in the camera!
Today, again, Annikki was busy in the garden. I saw her building the Great Wall of Vesaisentie with flat stones. She says she wants to compartmentalise the garden into different departments!!
When the wall is a bit more developed, I shall bring out a picture on the blog! :-)
(Also posted on the Kooler Talk Blog.)
Being Sunday night, I watched the Fareed Zakaria GPS programme on CNN.
Shashi Tharoor, fellow Stephanian, was on.
Was greatly disappointed to hear that Shashi is standing for the Indian Parliament and that too, as a member of the Indian Congress Party.
Shashi should be an independent Rajya Sabha Member as he is a man of immense international standing and should not stoop to the level of Indian general politics.
On his politics web site he gives his vision as the following:
My Vision
An India where everyone is able to have enough food, clothing and shelter;
An India where everyone is able to receive a decent education;
An India where everyone can have access to health care, sanitation and clean drinking water;
An India that is committed to economic growth but also attentive to the needs of its poorest and most vulnerable people;
An India which is strong enough to protect its borders and ensure the safety, security and well-being of all its citizens;
My Credo
I enter political life in the firm belief that:
Politics is an opportunity for public service, not for self-advancement;
Government exists to serve the citizen and not the other way around;
Honesty and integrity are fundamental in public life;
The principles and values I have upheld all my life should not be altered to suit the political convenience of the moment; and
My only purpose is to work for the well-being of the people of my country, my state and my constituency
I have great pride in India and believe I can work to make it an even better land for all its citizens.
I have found that moving my office furniture around occasionally drives a new sense of approach to work life.
I decided to shift my office around this weekend, but the problem is plucking up the energy to do it. Once done, I will view the same problem from a different perspective and come to a new set of solutions and / or answers to it.
More interestingly, for years and years, I have been telling Annikki that I want to always sleep in the North - South direction. My theory has been that the earth's magnetic field should be in the same direction as the body so that the body gets total rest at night. I had a sense of unrest if I slept in the East - West direction.
At Kampitie we slept in the North - South direction and I always woke up completely rested.
When we moved to Vesaisentie, the bed was in the East - West direction. When I woke up in the morning, I felt a sense of uneasiness. So I would sleep on the sofa in the living room for an extra hour as that was in the North South direction. When I got up, I had a great feeling of being relaxed.
Annikki, and then Joanna, pooh-poohed my theory. (They always do!!!)
However, when Joanna and the kids came over for Easter, we had to get some mattresses out from under our beds. Annikki agreed to put our beds in the North South direction.
My sleep has beeen so comfortable since then.
Both Annikki and Joanna were alughing at my theory.
A few days ago a news item appeared
Magnetic alignment in grazing and resting cattle and deer
Sabine Begall*,†, Jaroslav Červený‡,§, Julia Neef*, Oldřich Vojtčch‡,¶, and Hynek Burda*
+Author Affiliations
*Department of General Zoology, Faculty of Biology and Geography, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany;
§Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 60365 Brno, Czech Republic;
‡Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, 16521 Praha 6, Czech Republic; and
¶Sumava National Park Administration, Susicka 399, 341 92 Kasperske Hory, Czech Republic
Edited by Simon A. Levin, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and approved July 17, 2008 (received for review April 15, 2008)
(Also on the Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs.)
After a hectic weekend, when I went to Tampere with Sunil, in a van taking materials to set up four apartments and which included a side trip to Helsinki to check on how Raantel apartments were doing there, we left Tampere late on Saturday evening to return to Oulu so that I could speak at the Free Speech Day in Oulu Otto Karhi Park.
We arrived back at Oulu about 6 am on Sunday morning. I had a nap and went with Annikki to the public park, equipped with my speaking stand.
The opening procedure was just taking place and the Chief Editor of Kaleva Newspaper, a new person, was making the welcome remarks.
He ended by saying that each speaker would be given 5 minutes at the mike.
My talk, which this year was about "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied" would have taken the good part of 1 and half hours.
Ii approached the gentleman and asked that I set up my own stand as in previous years and be allowed to speak. He rejected the idea saying he had no powers to allow that. After much persuasion, he pointed me to a lady. She said that I could do that away from the main central area.
But it was clear that they did not want to move away from their prepared script. Annikki and I decided against making a speech this year under these conditions.
In short - this was no copy of Hyde Park Corner as this was a very controlled exercise to make Finns believe that they have Freedom of Speech - which they don't.
I had promised to meet Ajeet on Monday in South Finland. He and Sari are on a flying trip here to take part in a couple of conferences. So our Alumni meets were scheduled for Monday at 10:30 am, and this time in Toijala, wher he was staying.
I left Oulu by car at 3:50 am and because of the GPS Navigator (the cheap one), I did the trip to Tampere in just 5 hours (477 km). After attending to some Raantel Oy work there, I drove on to Toijala to be greeted by Ajeet and his wife, Sari.
Our joyous Cathedralite and Stephanian Finland Chapter Alumni Reunion was a working one. 100 % attendance as usual!
I exploited the combined legal expertese of Ajeet and Sari.
Ajeet confirmed he would be in Bombay for the November 12th Cathedral Founders Day event. After my 50th year Golden Reunion Celebrations are complete, Annikki and I will go to Ahmedabad where I will give a talk at the Indian Institute of Management about the new developments in technology taking place and their implications on world society.
Then we would all spend a few days at Mount Abu, where Annikki and I have never been.
I left at 14:30, stopped at Tampere to attend to some more Raantel Oy work, left Tampere at 16:30 and arrived back in Oulu at 22:30.
A 20 hour round trip of 1100 km - and because of the hectic weekend of travel and work, this one partially knocked me out.
I got a good scolding from Annikki who thought I was on a leisurely train trip to Tampere!!
Another trip to Tampere and Helsinki. This time I had two Global Positioning System (GPS) Navigators.
The first was a super-duper one called Tom Tom, rated the best of the type, and loaded with the latest software and updates. This one must have cost a few hundreds of Euros. The other as the cheapest available Grammin on the market, about Euro 80 and with no frills, bells and whistles.
I decided to do a small comparison.
While the Tom Tom gave me all sorts of information as to when I was approaching a church and tons more, all of which were of least interest to me, the Grammin was a clear 250 metres ahead of warning me about a speed camera. This meant I had more time to bring myself down to the correct speed.
At times I found the position of the car on Tom Tom was off the screen and at times it was giving conflicting instructions and I was quite unable to follow the directions.
I got so angry that I switched the Tom Tom off as I was not interested in non-essential information but only what was related to my destination and the corresponding driving instructions.
The Grammin software had not been updated and it was indicating some wrong one way street instructions, etc.
In short, I gave the Grmmin 80 marrks as against a measley 40 for the Tom Tom.
No blogging as I am off to Tampere to equip four new houses, sort out some problems, probably make a quick trip to Helsinki and get back well in time to prepare for the Oulu Free Speech Day.
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| From Jacob's Blog |
Yesterday I went to south Finland to unknown territory. I borrowed Sunil's Global Positioning System (GPS) Navigator. It is not an expensive one, but has all the basic functions.
After my trip I sat down to analyse whether using the GPS Navigator is a good or bad technological and social development.
It was absolutely superb in that I lost no time finding the half a dozen places that I had to visit. I just followed the voice which told me exactly what to do, and the map on the small screen with the picture of the car pointed exactly where I was.
This development of a couple of metres accuracy for this system had been held back by the Americans for quite a few years as they did not want the general public to get this technology for common use.
The other great feature was that it had most of the fixed radar cameras listed on the highway, and it also warned me if I was above the speed limit when approaching them. I could see which cars had the GPS Navigator fixed, as they would be zooming along, and then suddenly they would slow down from 120 kmph to 60 kmph!
Considering I got a Euro 115 fine a few weeks ago when Annikki and I were on our way to Helsinki, as I could not see a snow covered speed sign, investment of Euro 70 or 80 in a GPS Navigator is certainly paid for in just this as well as the amount of petrol one saves when driving around a new city looking for a location.
I remember on my last trip to Helsinki I drove around 350 km looking for places and spent the good part of a day just missing the right locations!
However, using the GPS Navigator has very serious social implications - - bad ones.
In the old days I had a fantastic sense of direction. I could look at a map and find the location almost with a sense of smell. And once I visited a place, I could go back to it again and again as my brain had registered the coordinates.
That is a human trait which has dwindled over the years. Animals have retained this intelligence, as also many other traits which humans no longer possess. That intelligence will be even further degraded as kids start to use the GPS Navigator as their mode of locating places rather than their brain and the Compass.
The great sport of "Forest Navigation", which is extremely popular in all the Scandinavian countries, will lose its significance and importance as more and more youngsters take to using the GPS Navigator.
The second serious implication is that speed limits on the roads will lose their meaning. As more vehicles get fitted with GPS Navigators, and the speed trap cameras with their radar system are logged on to the system, motorists will drive at whatever speed they want to and slow down when the GPS Navigator tells them that they are approaching a camera and radar installation.
Not only is this a dangerous development but it shows a class divide in that those who are wealthy and technologically savvy enough to get hold of a GPS Navigator will avoid the penalties while the poor will have to be punished, for what sometimes may be just a genuine mistake.
In short, less money for the Government, more danger on the roads, and probably a higher accident rate on the highways!
Technological advancement or a retrograde step in the development of mankind?
(Also posted on Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs.)
I usually do not have much time for TV except to throw off my shoes, put my feet up, watch a comedy or detective play and sleep through half of it!
One programme, however, that I have come to like is GPS hosted by Fareed Zakaria on CNN International, late on a Sunday evening.
Zakaria has some fascinating guests. He runs his interviews which do not show his personal bias.
Today was a show in which he had a discussion with an author, Malcolm Gladwell.
Gladwell has written a book called "Outliers". Although I have not read the book and will probably never will, I was fascinated by the discussion and interview.
The main thrust of the view of Gladwell was that "Talent is the Desire to Practice".
I immediately sent this message to several young friends of mine. I wonder how many of them will see this message in all its significance and glory.
The key word is "Desire".
To succeed in anything one must have that "Desire".
To reach that "Desire" one must "Work Hard".
The Hard Work is what we call "Practice"
And Practice leads to "Talent".
Gladwell gave the example of the Beatles, who in 1959 worked 8 hour nights in a strip club in Hamburg playing music. This is enormously hard work. It was this hard work which resulted in the moulding of the most famous Pop Group in the world.
Gladwell made very significant points about the influence of culture on failure or success and also about the development of reading aboilities at a young age which results in the possibility of success.
This statement took me back to the days when Annikki was writing her thesis about the Montessori System of Education. What I heard today was the restatement of what Maria Montessori said 7 decades ago when she noted that a small child will continue to repeat a task till he / she masters it. The outcome is talent, in small steps.
I go back to my school days where I used to watch a dear friend, Elijah Elias, more commonly known to all of us as Ooky, come to school at some unearthly hour and keep on bowling at the nets to achieve pace and direction. That was the talent of Ooky in cricket! But it is this Talent born out of Desire and Hard Work achieved by Practice which has made him succeed in his career in later life.
I take the example of our grandson, Samuel, who at the age of 12 simply loves reading - a book a day.
If his reading is focused correctly, Samuel could be outstanding in his career.
I only hope that in his school in England they realise this. I hope at least one of his teachers has read the book, "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell or knows the principles of the Maria Montessori Education System!
Thank you Mr. Fareed Zakaria.
I took a look around a few of my regular blog bookmarks - after a long recess.
What did I find?
I am not the only one who has been skiving. The last entry by Susanna was on April 10th - a good 14 days ago!
But my most favourite blogger, someone I inspired into blogging, Abe Tharakan, has been going strong.
Today he has some absolutely superb photographs of wildlife by KO Isaac from the Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India.
It revived fond memories of the trip Annikki and I made in 1989 to the Park where we had some glorious experiences.
On our very first day in the Park we had two experiences with the wild tiger. The first was unique as a huge specimen came wandering down the centre of the road towards our car. Our driver stopped the car and we waited till the tiger approached us, growled at the obstruction, walked around the car with its face not more that a metre from mine, passed us by, came back onto the road and strode off. As we got out after it had passed by and gone a safe distance (safe for us), it turned to look at us and then went on its way.
The second encounter was more forced as we took an elephant ride to a lair where a tiger and its cubs were quietly enjoying themselves.
I wish I could lay my hands on the superb photographs that Annikki took during that visit.
We also visited Jabalpur on that trip and discovered the marble canyon, something I had never heard of during my history or geography lessons in an Indian School. Truly marvelous.
I promise to bring you some of these photographs in my next spate of blogging.
After this period where I suffered writer's block, I have been greatly inspired by Abe to get back to blogging.
Thank you Abe.
