Madman of Norway

Gunnar Toresen, Head of the Child Welfare Services of the city of Stavenger in Norway is nothing short of being a Megolmaniac Madman urgently requiring physcological care.

His kidnapping of two Indian children in Norway and his recent letter to the Indian Government requiring them to respond to him on the laws applicable in India to Indian citizens is truly bizzarre.

His sense of grandoism shows that he cares little about the children but wants to show his Nazi-like power craze as he tries everything in his assumed power to stop the Indian children to be returned to their motherland.

Norway is not the colonial master of India and he is not the King of the World to dictate to India about Constitutional Rights of Indian Citizens within India!

Not only does Gunnar Toresen require to be institutionalised immediately but the case of the children kidnapped by him, besides these two Indian children, needs to be investigated to see who are his advisors and the financial implications of each case.

The jurisdiction of Norwegian Courts and Norwegian Judges also needs to be put under scrutiny by the European Human Rights Commission, as such violation of the Human Rights of innocent children and their parents can be infectious in these Northern Countries.

It is obvious that certain individuals were benefiting financially from this kidnapping.

Were they fellow social workers and psychiatrists and friends of social workers? How were these people vetted to be given a place in this multi-million Norwegian Kroner money rolling scheme?

The case of the Norwegian foster parent who has been convicted of child molestation should be investigated and his relationship to Gunnar Toresen established.

Is Gunnar Toresen the conduit to provide his friends with innocent children to be used as sex toys?

In our 27 years in Finland we have seen many excesses of the bureaucracy and legal authorities in interfering in the lives of the weaker sections of society.

Gunnar Toresen is one example of the madness of this policy.

It takes a perverted madman to carry out such crazy behaviour and destroy the lives of innocent children and their parents.

Please act by writing to the Norwegian Prime Minister to stop this Norwegian Madman NOW!

Budget Battleground

This post is made in three of my blogs as it of interest to all my readers of Jacob's Blog, and more specifically the readers of my Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School Blog, Seventh Heaven, and readers of the Stephanian Blog, Kooler Talk (Web Version).

I apologize for this multi-blog posting, as many of you are readers of all the three blogs!

Budget Battleground was  event that took place against the backdrop of my alma mater, St. Stephen's College, beautifully lit in the background, had a selected audience of young economists from Delhi School of Economics, Shri Ram College and St. Stephen's College, three of the many premier colleges in Delhi.

The anchorman was NDTV Managing Director, Dr. Prannoy Roy, who was connected with another good friend, great economist with tremendous wit, the person who turned around Doordarshan in the late eighties and early nineties and then went on to head Rupert Murdoch's Star TV and then his own channel, Broadcast Worldwide Ltd.,  and also a Stephanian, 61er/63er Rathikant Basu.

This is from the Wikipedia entry for NDTV Managing Director, Prannoy Roy:

Controversy

On 20 January 1998 Central Bureau of Investigation filed cases against New Delhi Television (NDTV) managing director Prannoy Roy, former Director General of Doordarshan R Basu and five other top officials of Doordarshan under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to the CBI charge-sheet, Doordarshan suffered a loss of over Rs 3.52 crore due to the “undue favours” shown to NDTV as its programme The World This Week (TWTW) was put in `A’ category instead of `special A’ category

The two in the hot seats were 63er Montek Singh Alhuwalia, who was very much present in St. Stephen's College during my three years there, and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen (difficult to say whether he is an Indian or Bangladeshi as both countries have laid claim to him).

One can never forget 63er Montek, not for his knowledge, but for the unique way he wore his turban and certain mannerisms (the nervous laugh when he knows what he is saying is not what he believes), which have not changed, even as of today. The way he argued a point was always from a point that he could not be wrong, although many times, he was and is!

I give below three extract from the autobiography of Amartya Sen (Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1998). In these extracts you will see the mention of a name - Mumbai Cathedral School 59er Sudhir Anand, my classmate who is Professor of Economics at both Oxford and Harvard, a brilliant economist and undoubtedly a brain who influenced Amartya Sen considerably more than a three time  mention in his autobiography.

59er Sudhir was from our Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School. Although unable to make it top our 50th year reunion in 2009, he was very much there in spirit.

"I was also fortunate to have colleagues who were working on serious social choice problems, including Peter Hammond, Charles Blackorby, Kotaro Suzumura, Geoffrey Heal, Gracieda Chichilnisky, Ken Binmore, Wulf Gaertner, Eric Maskin, John Muellbauer, Kevin Roberts, Susan Hurley, at LSE or Oxford, or neighbouring British universities. (I also learned greatly from conversations with economists who were in other fields, but whose works were of great interest to me, including Sudhir Anand, Tony Atkinson, Christopher Bliss, Meghnad Desai, Terence Gorman, Frank Hahn, David Hendry, Richard Layard, James Mirrlees, John Muellbauer, Steve Nickel, among others.) I also had the opportunity of collaboration with social choice theorists elsewhere, such as Claude d'Aspremont and Louis Gevers in Belgium, Koichi Hamada and Ken-ichi Inada in Japan (joined later by Suzumura when he returned there), and many others in America, Canada, Israel, Australia, Russia, and elsewhere). There were many new formal results and informal understandings that emerged in these works, and the gloom of "impossibility results" ceased to be the only prominent theme in the field. The 1970s were probably the golden years of social choice theory across the world. Personally, I had the sense of having a ball.

From social choice to inequality and poverty

The constructive possibilities that the new literature on social choice produced directed us immediately to making use of available statistics for a variety of economic and social appraisals: measuring economic inequality, judging poverty, evaluating projects, analyzing unemployment, investigating the principles and implications of liberty and rights, assessing gender inequality, and so on. My work on inequality was much inspired and stimulated by that of Tony Atkinson. I also worked for a while with Partha Dasgupta and David Starrett on measuring inequality (after having worked with Dasgupta and Stephen Marglin on project evaluation), and later, more extensively, with Sudhir Anand and James Foster."

 

Later he says in his autobiography:

"During my Harvard years up to about 1991, I was much involved in analyzing the overall implications of this perspective on welfare economics and political philosophy (this is reported in my book, Inequality Reexamined, published in 1992). But it was also very nice to get involved in some new problems, including the characterization of rationality, the demands of objectivity, and the relation between facts and values. I used the old technique of offering courses on them (sometimes jointly with Robert Nozick) and through that learning as much as I taught. I started taking an interest also in health equity (and in public health in particular, in close collaboration with Sudhir Anand), a challenging field of application for concepts of equity and justice. Harvard's ample strength in an immense variety of subjects gives one scope for much freedom in the choice of work and of colleagues to talk to, and the high quality of the students was a total delight as well. My work on inequality in terms of variables other than incomes was also helped by the collaboration of Angus Deaton and James Foster.

Readers of Seventh Heaven will remember how I have written about Sudhir and the Nobel Prize awarded to Amartya Sen!

The discussion was lack lustre. Montek took the view that he could not discuss the Budget (the whole point of the programme) and gave no real answer for the blazing question how the poor of India had not improved their lot during the time he has been at the head of the Planning Commission. (At one point he says "We have said, the Government has said,…." )

Montek minced  words as only a political chamcha can do!

Roy was not hard-hitting in his position as Anchorman. He was being pleasant to his guests!!

Amartya Sen was his own self and wanted to be nice to everyone.

Not a receipe for a successful  discussion, but for me, being in the setting of our beautiful college was good enough to sit through the 45 minute discussion!

Anyway, it was good to be away from the depressing media coverage of our hallowed institution which has been plaguing us for almost half a decade!

First time (also published my KOOLER TALK blog)

Stephanian S. Y. Qurashi

In my almost 70 years and over 48 years as an adult with deep interest in politics, this was the first time I actually spent a few hours, in Finland, watching an election process in India.

In the 70s I was close with many politicians of all parties and knew exactly how corrupt all of them were. So I kept my distance.

Votes appear to have been cast this time in 5 States over a period of time and today was the counting and declaration of the results. Results were announced from Goa (1.5 million), Manipur (2.7 million), Punjab (28 million), Uttar Pradesh (200 million) and Uttarakhand (10 million).

Over 240 million people were choosing their local politicians to serve them for the next few years. It was a mixed bag of results with the National Parties less successful than the regional parties.

Watching on an Indian internet TV Channel, NDTV 24x7, I was quite intrigued by the mixture of languages being used by the participants. Since I know English, Hindi, Punjabi (a bit), I wondered whether this channel was watched by the majority of Indians who are only familiar with their regional language.

Obviously not.

Quite a few of my juniors from my alma mater, St. Stephen's College in Delhi, were on the box, either as politicians in different parties, as tv anchor men or women, or as "experts". It was quite easy to recognise them as they had a different air about the way they handled the subjects.

I thought to myself whether I was the same! I hope not, as I consider myself as individualistic rather than moulded by my alma mater characteristics, especially with regard to politics!

On the whole, following the election was an interesting experience, especially as I could view it from a distance and not be involved with it in any other way.

The main thing that struck me was that several corrupt politicians fell by the wayside.

The independent Chief Election Commissioner, Dr. S. Y. Qurashi, is also a product of my alma mater, about 10 years my junior. His interview on NDTV was very interesting as he has to keep his head above the murky waters of Indian Politics.

This experience was also followed by an interesting news item I noted in an Indian internet newspaper which said that the top two jobs in the Indian Administrative Service and in the Indian Police Service were also filled by Stephanians.

These are IAS officers Pulok Chatterjee, the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, and Ajit Seth, the Cabinet Secretary, and IPS officers, Nehchal Sandhu, Intelligence Bureau Chief and A. B. Singh, Central Bureau of Investigation Chief.

Many of my classmates and those who were in College during my years there, have served in very senior Government positions (62ers Mani Shankar Aiyar, Rathikant Basu, Ashok (Tony) Jaitly) and also as Ambassadors (62er Niranjan Desai, 63ers Siddarth Singh and Aftab Seth, etc.) in different parts of the world.

They have also served in the United Nations, 74er Sashi Tharoor, the Commonwealth Secretariat, 62er Kamlesh Sharma, the World Bank, 63er Montek Singh Alhuwalia and 62er Sarwar Lateef,  the Asian Development Bank, 63er Karthik Sandilya, and many many more such world bodies.

It would be interesting to compile a Who's Who of Stephanians!

Kaukkovainio Incident

The "Silent March" on Friday to remember the Moroccan who was killed last Saturday evening at the Monaco Pizzeria brought to mind my last entry on this Blog.

I had mentioned how Hasim and Kasim had turned around a pub habituated by drunks into a wonderful family restaurant.

Next to the Monaco Pizzeria in Kaukkovanio where the shooting took place,  there are two pubs. Sure enough it was from one of them that the shooter went to the Monaco Pizzeria.

The residents of the area have been terrified of the drunks who habituate these drinking houses, so much so that after 8 pm they do not visit the shopping mall.

All of them expressed in the local newspaper how they were not able to use the shopping mall in the evenings. They wanted the drinking houses closed and turned into shops.

A very valid request in the light of what happen last Saturday night.

I wish the City Authorities will stop lip service and have a review prepared and published of all the shopping malls around the city. Then we would be able to see how they can change the culture where there is a problem.

The Rajakylä shopping area is one which stands out a mile, as also the Topila area and Kaukkovainio.

The real exemplary ones are at Ranta Kastelli, where again the Goreme Pizzeria owned by Hasim and Kasim has ensured that the peace and tranquility are maintained.

Did I write too soon? Am I writing too late?

 

Another Jousimies?

If one reads the report about the recent murder of two Moroccans in the Kaukkovainio pizzeria, (Not Racism), the root cause was the alcohol bars in the shopping centre.

Residents of Kaukkovainio specifically tell that the shopping centre is not a safe place in the evenings and the weekends.

I had written how Kasim and Hasim had transfored the Höythyä Shopping centre from a drunken place by changing the traditional drinking hole ito a respectable family friendly restaurant.

This can be done in Kaukkovainio too!

Norwegians amazing behavior

Although I do not know the full story of the Indian children taken away from their parents and placed in a foster home, as it has not been covered in Finland, from what I have seen on the Indian media and have read about this subject, the behaviour by Norwegians of "officially kidnapping" children and placing them in "foster homes" at € 30.000 a pop is truly amazing.

In a detailed article by a Norwegian in The Hindu, the background to this kidnapping is explained.

The iron hand that rocks the cradle

MARIANNE HASLEV SKÅNLAND

I must compliment Indian newspapers, not least The Hindu, for giving a thorough coverage to the case of the Indian couple deprived of their children by the Norwegian ‘child protection services' (CPS).......

This foster home scandal included sexual abuse of the children by one foster parent who has now been convicted in Court.

Norwegians are not told the facts. The parents of the children taken into foster homes are deamonised. And they blindly believe the bureaucratic version as they are brought up to believe that the authority is always right.

Hopefully, the case of the Indian children will make some Norwegians to sit up and look at the way the system is being exploited for profit by a group of corrupt individuals.

In the meantime, please make as much noise as possible to get the children released and sent home to India.

Change from drunkeness onwards

Jousimies was a nice small restaurant in our local community area, but over the years it got taken over by a group of louts who spent the whole day in a boisterous fashion, drinking and puking all over the place.

No local resident could enjoy a peaceful meal at the place.

Last year my friends, Hasim and Kasim, the owners of Göreme Kebab and Piazza Restaurant negotiated a buy out of Jousimies. They renovated the restaursnt and made it an eating house where you had to buy food if you wanted to have a drink.

On Saturday, I had to wait for Annikki when she was at church. I decided to have some freshly baked bread with Garlic Butter at the new restaursant.

I found elderly locals and families with small children eating there in peace.

What a turn around as sober people have reclaimed this restaurants after a period of almost 20 years!

Thank you, Hasim and Kasim.

U Decide : Does This Guy Even Know His Subject?

There are times when you receive a forward from a friend and you laugh of guts out. I laughed at each line while I read through this.

In the evening, I read it to our grandson, Samuel, in Newcastle, with Annikki listening, and had them both in splits of laughter.

Being largely involved with Phyics in my later stage of my career, mainly Solid State Physics, the punch line hit me right between the eyes!

Enjoy!

"This was a question in a physics degree exam at the University of Copenhagen:

"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."

One student replied: "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."

This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed immediately.

The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably  correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case.

The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics.

To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer that showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics.

For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought.

The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use.

On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:

"Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper,drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground.

The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer."

"Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper."

"But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi sqroot (l/g)."

"Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up."

"If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building."

"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him, 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'."

(The student was Niels Bohr, the only Dane to win the Nobel prize for Physics)"

Web contacts worth following

A few weeks ago, an email arrived in my Inbox. I sort of liked what I read. I decided to subscribe to the newsletter and have been receiving it since then.

The newsletter is called "Passive Panda" (passivepanda.com) and the Editor is sending me regular news postings with excellent advice about how to get better results in a web based business.

I have done most of what the Editor is saying during my 20 years as an active web player. I did it more out of intution and I enjoyed the results and the fruits of my work.

For me to read someone who has quantified this is very satisfying.

If I was 20 years younger, I would have been very excited about this, just as I had fantastic results 25 years ago by subscribing to a newsletter called "communications briefings". (communicationsbriefings.com)

It was that newsletter which resulted in our magaine, first print and then online, being named "findians brefings". Being a subscriber I had the right to print one of thwir articles in our magazine, and they were always well received.

If you really want to organise your working life and start to make some money on the web, I would suggest that you seriously look at these two publications!

Quick trip to Helsinki

I took the Blue1 flight at 09:15 to Helsinki (€ 54 was return fare!). It was bitterly cold, -32 C, and with the slight breeze, it was about -38 C. Helsinki was like summer as the temperature was just -8 C. Finished work and got back to the airport by 15:00 hours; flight at 16:40 and home by 18:00. Temperature was still hovering around -28 C but as it was not windy, it was bearable. Hope the temperature starts to rise and we hope it is sunny bright days ahead.

Finnish Fake Lawyers

23.11.2011

Speak no Evil, See no Evil, Hear no Evil
Motto of the Finnish Lawyer's Association

It was truly humourous to read the reaction of the Finnish Lawyer's Association regarding "Fake Lawyers".

If anything is fake it is the Constitution of this Lawyer's Association, whose sole purpose is to act on behalf of their brotherhood against anyone who dares to question the illegal actions of its registered members.

It would be interesting if this Association would inform the public of how many complaints it has received during the last 10 years and how many of the brotherhood members were made accountable for their illegal actions.

Probably less than 1 %! Probably less than 0.1%!

If my personal experience is anything to judge the situation, my father and mother had no debts and only assets when they died. After 7 years of my father' death, he became the founder of a company, he was taken to the bailiff for debts he incurred 9 years after his death, had all his money meant for his siblings run though by a noted Finnish "Oulu Lawyer" and his friends, and with the connivance of a Notary of the Oulu Magistrates Court and another member of this esteemed legal profession, usurped my parents assets for themselves, sold the inheritors properties and are enjoying their illegal gains, while the inheritors stand there with empty hands!

And what has the Finnish Lawyers Association done?
They have turned a blind eye despite all the volumes of evidence presented to them and they have declared their "brother" totally blameless.
They are nothing more than a Rubber Stamp for the daylight robbery by their brotherhood.
Finland, the least corrupt country on this planet?
Think again as that is only an image.

I say "Better Fake lawyers than Finnish lawyers"!

Finnish Version

23.11.2011
Älä puhu pahaa, älä näe pahaa, älä kuule pahaa
Suomen asianajajaliiton motto

Oli tosi huvittavaa lukea asianajajaliiton reaktio valeasianajajien suhteen.
Jos jokin on vale, se on asianajajaliiton perustuslaki, ainoa tarkoitus on toimia heidän oman veljeskuntansa puolesta ketä hyvänsä vastaan, joka uskaltaa kyseenalaistaa sen liiton rekisteröityjen jäsenten laittomia toimia.
Olisi mielenkiintoista, jos tämä liitto ilmoittaisi julkisesti, kuinka paljon valituksia he ovat saaneet viimeisten 10 vuoden aikana ja kuinka monta veljeskunnan jäsentä saatettiin vastuuseen laittomista teoistaan.
Ehkä alle 1%? Ehkä alle 0.1%?
Arvioin tilannetta henkilökohtaisen kokemukseni kautta. Vanhemmillani ei ollut mitään velkoja kuollessaan, ainoastaan omaisuutta.
Seitsemän vuotta kuolemansa jälkeen isätäni tuli yrittäjä, hänet vietiin ulosottoon velkojen vuoksi, jotka hän aiheutti 9 vuotta kuolemansa jälkeen.
Hänen viimeisen osoitteen postilaatikkoon laitettiin hänen nimellä ja osoitteella ulosottoviraston ulosottouhkalasku kyseessa olevan asianajajan järjestämä omaa tarkoitustaan varten vailla mitään virallista asemaa perässä. Tämä tunnettu oululainen asianajaja vei osakkaiden perintöomaisuudet käräjäoikeuden notaarin avustuksella ja erään muun tämän arvostuksella ja erään muun tämän arvostetun ammattikunnan harjoittajan kautta. He ryöstivät vanhempiemme meille jättämät omaisuudet, möivät perillisten kiinteistön ja nauttivat heidän laittomista saaliistaan samalla kun perilliset jätettiin tyhjin käsin!
He tekivät kaiken sen ilman mitään virallista asemaa osakkaiden suhteen, tietoa tai valtuutusta mihinkään.

Ja mitä asinajajaliitto on tehnyt tässä?
He peittivät silmänsä kaikelle suurelle määrälle todisteita jonka he vastaanottivat kahdelta osakkaalta. Asianajajaliitto julisti hyväveljensä moitteettomaksi.
He eivät ole yhtään enempää kuin kumileimasin heidän veljeskunnan päivänvaloryöstöön.
Suomi, planteetan vähiten korruptoitunut maa?
Ajattele hetki, koska se on vain imago.
Olen varma, että valeasianajajat ovat parempia kuin virallisesti valtuutetut suomalaiset asianajajat! Parempi mahdollisuus oikeudenmukaisuuteen missään asiassa olisi kuka hyvänsä vastaantulija kadulla!

Change from a decade

As you know I have been a Mac addict since 1984. With reason?

When I got my first Mac Portable in 1991, a PowerBook 170, I travelled by train between Oulu nad Helsinki when Annikki and I were on our way to India. That was probably the only computer on the portable train.

Since then we had the appearance of many computers. Whenever I have travelled there were no Macs other than mine, but just many brands running the Windows operating system.

On Sunday I travelled for a quick visit to Helsinki. On my way back I noted that there were four computers being used by the people in the seats at the side and in front of me.

The persons in the seat in front of me had a PC and was playing games and watching CDs. It was a Windows based laptop. The seats adjacent to them had two computers running. One was an architect doing house design and he was running a Metallic MacBook Pro. Th seat adjacent to him had a lady who was watching a film and that was on a white MacBook Pro.

In the seat absolutely next to me I had a music diretcor working on his music, who was running his MacBook Pro.

I noted that during the journey the Windows machine had to be rebooted at least 4 times.

None of the Mac even coughed the entire way of 7 hours.

And I did note that the PC had to be recharged but none of the Macs was even plugged in the entire journey.

I think this experience speaks for itself! What say you?

How time has passed!

Ruki Family

As usual, I have several excuses why my blogs has not been updated. None of them are valid except that I have not just been on the ball as I have had problems in running my retired life business.

I am glad to say, thanks to Rukshana, the daughter of a dear friend, Yezad Kapadia, I was introduced to a young man living in Helsinki, Yogesh Kale, formerly from WIPRO Administration in Banaglore, an experienced hospitality manager and a very sincere person.

He took time off from his working life to look after his baby daughter for the last 9 months while his wife went back to work.

He and I hit it off from Day 1. He has come in as a shareholder and Director of Raantel Oy from this month. He will take charge of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and also Tampere. He has brought a new face to Raantel. I am sure we will grow in South Finland and operate on a similar model as we are doing in Oulu.

I will not blow the trumpet about Yogesh as I watch him develop Raantel into an internationally acclaimed company.

With his induction, probably life will get a little easier for me. Knowing me, whenever a gap appears in my life, I jump in with a new idea or new project. I have so many up my sleeve that I should start keeping a diary of all the projects that have just been overlooked in the last 40 years.

I have lost much of my skills, but some do remain and hopefully they will result in a few more good projects.

Amazing photographs of Oulu Sunsets

Last week we went to see Annikki's sister. As it was nearing sunset, we thought a visit to the beach may give us something to brood about.

As we were driving, both Annikki and I noticed that the sky was becoming a wonderful golden purple as the sun was fast setting and the clouds had a great formation..

When we turned on to the beach road, the sun was already behind an island far out at sea and the view was amazing.


The island and the trees seemed to be alight with flames.

From Sunsets 2010 Oulu

Photo 1: Island on fire

From Sunsets 2010 Oulu

Photo 2: Island on fire

From Sunsets 2010 Oulu

Photo 3: Clouds at sunset

Which photograph of the Island on Fire is better. Both of rushed out of the car running to the beach to catch a shot with our cheap pocket cameras, which both of us carry with us all the time!

I am not going to reveal who took which shot, but it is test of each one's eye as against the reflex time.

Within a minute of us taking these shots - the scene had changed.

The clouds were as if painted in the sky, also an amazing colour spectrum. Annikki saw it change from purplish white to grey.

Sunsets, each one being different, in Oulu are truly amazing.

Visit of Indian Ambassador to Oulu

Ambassador Om Prakash and his wife Vineeta 

Thanks very much to Asheesh, the CEO of Medipolis I GMP in Oulu, the Indian Ambassador to Finland, His Excellency Om Prakash and his wife, Vineeta, were invited to Oulu to meet the top city officials and also to share an afternoon with the Indian Community here.

Indu and Asheesh, Aruna and Mahesh and Nushrat and Arindam took the lead and organised a wonderful event. They were assisted by a small band of youngsters who also helped to clear up after the event.

On Thursday, Asheesh rang me and asked me to give the introductory address about Indians in Oulu.

I spoke for about 10 minutes highlighting the arrival of Annikki, Susanna, Jaakko and me to Oulu in 1969 when we were en route to India. This was followed by our visits in 1975 and 1979, till we moved here in 1984. I also gave a glimpse of the relationship I had with two former Ambassadors, Fabian and Cherpoot, both of whom were our guests in Oulu on official visits to the Unversity.

I told the audience of Fabians outstanding talk on the "North South Dialogue" which was published in full, with his permission in my book "Seven Year Hard Labour in a Finnish Holiday Camp - A Finnish University".

The historic dual citizenships (Now vanished!)granted to our children, Joanna and Mika, the close links between the Microelectronics Laboratory of the University of Oulu and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the way in which Oulu had become our home and how the Indian Community here had grown and become strong, featured in my short talk. There was much to say, but I did not want to bore the audience!

Mahesh then gave a a very well done presentation about the history of the City of Oulu. It was quite embarassing as he kept referring to my contribution in the aspects of Oulu life. (I was assisted by several people and it was embarrassing to be referred to it as the sole architect!)

The Ambassador gave a speech, which was a little sad, as he informed us thet he was just a few days from returning to India. I discovered that he was from the same University as me, Delhi (1971, Hindu College), considerably junior, and he had served under both Fabian and Cherpoot and also knew my good friends, Ambassadors Niranjan, Siddarthand Aftab, andf also Tony (former Chief Commissioner for Jammu & Kashmir), all of whom were Stephanians of my years in college (1960 - 1963).

The afternoon snacks provided by Nushrat and Arindam (Indian Cusine) were well received by the medium sized audience.

I was a little surprised why several prominent members of our Indian community did not come. Although most of them got the message through O-India, and the event did not cost a dime to attend, the lack of enthusiasm by one section of our community is a little sad.

I hope that in future we will have a better turnout, as these events help to cement a bond between the Indian ex-pats who are almost all doing well here in Oulu.

I also later suggested that in future the invitation to our Indian Ambassadors should be made at the start of their tenure as then we could get recognition and co-operation over the 5 years of their term in Finland.

After the event, Atul, my co-moderator at the O-India Group, has asked for a regular Coffee (Beer) Club session of our community, something that I started with CHAFF (Chamber of Assistance for Finns and Foreigners) and all ethnic minority communities and Finns, several years ago. That had been a huge success, but after I handed it to the members, it died a slow death.

All such Groups need a motivator and a theme. Just a casual get together may work for a few weeks, but one which needs to succeed over a longer term needs the undivided attention of a couple of people who make it an exciting event to attend. In short, they must get some personal value out of attending!

Let us hope Atul succeeds in his adventure of forming this group.

And I thank all those who organised the event and our Indian Ambassador, His Excellency Om Prakash and his wife, Vineeta, for the chance to share a few moments with all many Indian friends here in Oulu.

Jai Bharat.

I was really chuffed...

My Miss Universe 

Quite unknown to my better half, I have been blogging her attributes at various junctures. She, however, does not look at what I post! She has never even seen the tribute I posted for her on her 60th birthday - 6 years ago!

So when someone saw what she meant to me, and realised that I was not doing it to gain her affection, I was greatly chuffed when the comment was so very positive. Yes, I am deeply in love with this grand lady who has given her life for our grandchildren, children and me. She has been through hell-fire and I am a witness to that. But her love, faith and charity were so strong that it surpassed all obstacles - and there were many!

Of course, she was very active when we launched Findians Briefings. She was my source for local information. She scanned the newspapers - the Helsinki and Oulu papers and gave me a deep insight into how Finland really works.

The popularity of our newsletter which became a fortnightly web magazine was in no small measure due to her insight into Finnish life and culture viewed as a Finn who was a non-Finn!

Now we are entering in a new phase in our life. Annikki's life phases are exciting and each passing day reveals a new dimension in her thinking. So watch out for some really interesting news very soon!

She had to have it!

When we went to the beach on the 6th, Annikki saw a large piece of driftwood. She wanted to have it. Unfortunately we did not have our trailer

Yesterday, another glorious day, we went to the beach one more time to get hold of this.

As you tell from the mischievous kid-like expression on her face, Annikki was totally contented with her effort and prize. It will find its place in the garden by this evening.

From Jacob's Blog

>

Before this, I went to see the Oulu Cricket Club lads hold one of their final sessions. Three new guys were there, two from Orissa and one from Chennai. Fourth from Managlore, came to watch.

They played this session with a tennis ball as the sting from a cricket ball, when the weather is cold, would have been too much for these lads from the tropics! :-)

If the weather holds, they may get in one more session this Indian Summer.

Could I refuse this request?

Yesterday was Annikki's birthday. I got home at about 6 in the evening and wished her.

She was talking to one of her sisters.

I asked her what she wanted to do. Her request for a present was to buy a pizza and go the Oulu Nallikari Beach. It was indeed a glorious Indian Summer evening!

From Jacob's Blog

From Jacob's Blog

From Jacob's Blog

It was really a glorious evening. There she was enjoying her birthday the only way she knows how!

Puzzled by darkness

Street Lights OFF?

Now that we actually do have darkness in Oulu, as our nightless nights have ended, I was greatly puzzled the other day.

I had to drop off one on my tenants at the airport at around 21:00 hours. On my way back, I decided to go to the office, pick up some papers and head for home. This was around 22:00 hours.

The highway, the E4, was well lit. When I pulled off the highway I thought it strange that not a single street light was on. All the way to the office and then through the City on my way home, I wondered why they had shut of the street lighting in Oulu. Only street lights at bridges and subways (tunnels) were on.

When I reached home I asked Annikki whether she had read anything in our local newspaper about this.

Answer: Negative.

We have a street light just in front of the house. It is extremely bright - but that night, like all the other street lights in Oulu - it was OFF!

Is Oulu City trying to save on electricity?

Living in Finland: Retrograde Steps

Retrograde Steps

The City of Oulu in Finland used to be of the very best cities in the world for pedestrians, cycles and slow moving mopos and scooters, as they had separate tracks for these apart from the roads. Only in the city centre, where all traffic is slow moving, did the scooters merge with the road traffic.

It was possible for me to go from our home to the office without once driving on the road. It was fast and safe.

Some pedestrians, quite unwarrantedly, started a campaign to take the scooters off these special tracks. Last week this was implemented.

My first reaction after driving my scooter on the roads was that the number of fatal accidents of scooter drivers is going to increase sharply. Also it will be quite impossible for scooter drivers to be on the road once the snow arrives. I used to be able to drive my scooter all through winter. albeit slowly, when I was driving on the slow moving tracks.

The reason why accidents will increase is that most scooters do not have the power to drive at the speed limits set for the roads - 40, 50, 60 and 80 kmph. 40 kmph YES. 50 kmph at a stretch, YES. But 60 and 80 kmph is quite impossible.

Hence, motorists - car and truck drivers will be impatient when they come up behind a slow moving scooter, and the impatience will make them to swing out into the centre to overtake these scooters.

This will have two effects. The oncoming traffic will be jeopardised and secondly, when these bigger vehicles overtake these light weight scooters, they will cause the scooters to wobble and be unstable.

As a result the only conclusion to expect will be a possible accident of either the larger vehicle or the scooter.

People will express concern, but it must be said that these activists who lobbied for this quite unnecessary change - will have blood on their hands!

Finland: Oligrachy?? = Democracy??

Oligarchy?? = Democracy??

Many years ago, when Annikki and I were running our fortnightly newsletter on the internet, "Findians Briefings", I had a wonderful Finnish lady called Sinikka Ikni who wrote a column for us with the title "Democracy ?? = Oligarchy??"

She used to write a short piece which really exposed what was the "real" Finland like! I would edit her English. We would then run an English and a Finnish version of her article.

We also had a young student, Ilari Sohlo, who also wrote a column for us called "Going Sohlo". In it he captured the mood of Finnish universities and the youth. Some very surprising facts were uncovered by him.

Out newsletter was read in all parts of the globe. In those days a readership of 20000 was good. However Findians Briefings had a readership going well over 80000. I used to monitor the readership virtually on a daily basis to see where our readers were coming from.

We had no advertising except our own. Still we were making a lot of money as an Amazon.com associate, one of the very first to follow that route. Our pages on books in the Findians Paradise Book Store were only about subjects that we were competent in. That included India, Finland, Plastics, Rubber, Adhesives, Microelectronics, Stamps, and many other hot topics and hobbies.

So with this new approach, we thought we would see if this FanBox was really what it claims to be. This Blog is a trial to see whether that old magic we created in the mid-Nineties still exists.

Come back to this blog and spend some time here to see whether what we were writing about a decade and a half ago can still pull in the numbers.

We think it can!

Wondering why?

If you are wondering why I did not update this blog or any of the others recently, it is because I am trying a new experiment. I am always trying new experiments and that is why I am at the forefront of new technologies in web communication.

There is a limit to the number of readers I can add to these blogger.com blogs.

I came across a blog host called FanBox.com which supposedly paid me for putting my posts on that blog and it had no limits to the number of readers. (I do not believe that I will get paid, but one can always try! :-) )

I started with a copy of what I had posted on this blog and have put up a few entries since then.

I do not trust the host FaxBox.com. I am not pushing anyone there to read my postings there. But if you want to take a look please do.

I heard someone was asked to join the FanBox blog, etc. Please do not do anything so radical.

I will post all that I post there here, so do not get forced in anything you are not comfortable with.

On the other hand I will certainly not post any sensitive information concerning my grandchildren on that blog.

In the meantime, Jacob's Blog will continue to be my main blogging point.

I wonder what goes through her mind?

Zebras by Annikki - made for my mother.

 Took 7 months.

As I look out of the window, I see my better half of the last 45+ years doing many things in the garden. Moving small things here and there, and sometimes really back breaking work like moving a load of sand from one place to another so as to put a rubber sheet underneath so that the grass does not grow through the sand. She does things painstakingly, and occasionally stands back to enjoy what she has done. She seems to know exactly what should be done, when and where!

I thought to myself that all through my working life and since, I have been busy, not with the express purpose of making money, but the end result of what I did was make money. Even as I help many tens of people today in Oulu, Tampere and Espoo/Helsinki, the final result is that I am gaining some monetary benefit, however much I try to disregard that aspect of my work.

But looking at Annikki pottering around, I thought of all that she has done in the last 47 years that I have known her. Almost 99% of it has not been for money or financial return. All her paintings were for her personal pleasure.

On the page of Annikki as an Artist which I created on her 60th birthday, there are two photographs.

The first is of the only painting she has ever sold, and that too with great regret. The second photograph is of the large tapestry she created for my mother almost 30+ years ago. This hung on my mother's living room wall till her passing away and now adorns our living room wall!

The gingerbread houses and the cakes she has designed were for the pleasure of her family and friends. The gardens she has so painstakingly created and maintained have been for the pleasure of those who want to enjoy it. The food she cooks, the clothes she washes, the houses she has maintained - all for her pleasure and of her family. She does those things as her "duty" to her family members, never thinking it is a duty.

I thought to myself whether I could ever be like her! I felt I would never achieve that sort of status in my life - a person who has been so selfless in her work and who enjoys everything she does. She is happy when others are happy. She is sad when others are sad.

How many people are like that in this world?

No doubt many of you will say that their mothers and their wives are of the same mould.

I agree that the work of a woman is priceless.

I remember seeing an article in "The Times" of London, many decades ago, which valued the work of a woman, housewife, mother. The conclusion was that no man would be able to pay his better half enough for the work she does to run the family. This is more so today than it was a few decades ago.

I value Annikki for all that she has been and is - Daughter, Girlfriend, Wife, Daughter-in-law, Mother, Grandmother, Artist, Author, Educator.

I wish everyone had a person like her in their life!

First Error detected!

I have been doing Sudoku since my return from India.

Yesterday, as I was doing the one in my local newspaper, first thing in the morning, I detected for the first time, an error in the Sudoku Box.

In the top left box the 2 had been wrongly printed!

It was a feeling elation that I could find an error and solve the problem.

Good Health?

Ok! I am Type 2 Diabetic

because of my over-indulgence, real over-indulgence, in chocolates, candy bares, sweetened condensed milk and all things sweet. (You get what you pay for!)

But, in all my 26 years in Finland, I never missed a day at work or never have fallen ill.

My daughter, a doctor in Newcastle has been ill last weekend. She mentioned that as a doctor she had patients coughing at her all day! She went on to comment that "Dad, you are superhuman!"

I replied that I was in no way "superhuman"! :-)

It was my old fashioned bringing up in Bombay, where we were exposed to the real deadly infections all around us that built up my immunity.

I remember those really dirty ice lollies I used to consume after a game of hockey or football on the Oval Maidan. These were made by the old man with a cart, where he crushed the ice onto a stick with his bare hands and poured all sorts of coloured liquids on it.

My daughters would be horrified to allow any of their kids to have any of that!

But it is that and the Polymango and street roasted corn on the cob with chilli powder and salt, Bhel Puri, Chat and Pani Puri in the back streets of Bombay that built up the inbuilt immunity in me that has lasted half a century.

Living in a sterile country, like Finland, only makes us nambi-pambies! I am glad to say that all my kids are only half nambi-pammies! But as time goes on me and they are becoming full fledged nambi-pambies!

Is it a lazy Saturday?

Very often, when I am working, I get a feeling that it has been a lazy day!

I thought about it and realised that I was not being lazy at all. I was probably more active than ever. But the work was enjoyable and time passed quickly, giving me an impression that I was not doing very much.

So on this "lazy" Saturday I have done a lot of work and even had a short nap, midday!

It is difficult to find a day on which I have been really lazy.

Maybe soon!

Is Finland the BEST country to LIVE IN?

Is Finland the best country in the world to live in?

That is what a recent Newsweek report said.

It is obvious that none of the Newsweek Team have never lived in Finland!

Finns are the “Masters of Spin”. The country is controlled by an oligarchy of about 50 powerful families (It used to be 5 but the base has widened slightly during the three decades.)

The Oligarchy control the Media. That is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal.

The judiciary, police, bureaucracy, lawyers, and politicians are primarily corrupt. The laws of the country are written to run such a system, so the word corruption does not exist in their little world.

How else can the proportional system of Government exist. In one election it may be a coalition of right and centre, while in the next it may be left and centre, while in the next it could be right and left! The promises made in any election campaign are just words for the masses to consume. The real wheeler dealing occurs in the chambers of power after the election where the poor are sacrificed at the expense of the rich!

The politicians do what the Oligarchy tells them. In the process they throw a few crumbs to the Finnish Public!

The schooling system is a joke in that the students are not permitted to question their teachers. This takes the student to adolescence where the Finnish male is forced into compulsory military service which makes them into zombies. (Exceptions do occur, but they are exceptions!)

To not take part in the army service was considered traitorous till one son of a Finnish sitting President decided he world not join the army. A dilemma but it gave relief to some who were not the zombies of Finland.

The country has been run by a cartel system. There is no maximum retail price law. The Finns are fleeced. The Oligarchy convinced the Finnish Public that just because they paid highest prices, they had the “Highest Standard of Living”. Whereas the Finns just had the “Highest Cost of Living”.

As a result Finns have been the top “Economic Migrants” to every corner of the globe, starting with their neighbour Sweden.

On the other hand Finns do not tolerate migration into Finland, except when it serves their purpose as allowing prostitutes from third world countries to enter freely!

Even the word for migrant - immigrant or emigrant, was demonized in Finland!

Every country has its good and bad points and so to Finland. Finland is a good country to live in, but certainly not the BEST! The grass always appears greener on the other side of the fence. The Newsweek team should live in Finland for a short while and then they will realise the error of their conclusions.

Visit to Helsinki

Ever since Nirmala told me that she was coming to Helsinki for a holiday, I have been planning with Annikki to go there for our holiday. Nirmala and Gulden arrived with two other couples and they stayed at a friend's service apartment as all mine were full.

As they had plans to visit Moscow, St. Petersbutrg, Stockholm and Tallin, Annikki and I timed our visit so that we could spend a couple of days with Nirmala and Gulden, as the other couples were leaving on Wednesday. We drove from Oulu and arrived there with just enough time to meet the other two couples before they left back to India.

Annikki and I introduced Nirmala and Gulden to Mr. K. S. Rao, the Western Europe Vice President of LnT Infotech, whom I had staying in the same Service Apartment complex. We all went for a Thai meal in a great Thai restaurant picked by Mr. Rao. I had my favourite dish - the Thai Papaya Salad - and it was spicy and good.

The next day we set off for a drive to Porvoo, a small town about 50 km East from Helsinki which is still quaint Finland. The church and other sites were visited.

I had decided to drive Nirmala and Gulden cross country to Iitala Glass Factory.

We stopped o at a rather wonderful Fish restaurant on the way and had some smoked Rainbow Trout in marvelous surroundings with the gurgling sound of a stream next to us.

I had a problem with the GPS navigator as when we reached "Iitala" it was the middle of nowhere. But as luck would have it, I put the GPS to take us to Tampere and within 15 minutes were at the Iitala Glass Factory and Showroom and Nirmala got just what she wanted.

The followung day I took Nirmala and Gulden to the Open Air Flea market in Helsinki and Normala, much to Gulden's anguish, went wild. She picked up tons of stuff and would have picked up more if I had decided that enough was enough.

We picked up Annikki and went by boat to the Finnish Castle on an island just outside Helsinki and had a beautiful traditional Finnish lunch. They tasted the Salmon Soup, Nirmala had the reindeer and Gulden the pork ribs, Finnish style.

We put them on the flight back to Delhi and a sense of sorrow at their leaving hit us as we drove to Annikki's sister's place in Luoma.

We were invited to dinner at Ruki and Devinder's home in Helsinki and met with Cathedralite 49er Yezad Kapadia and his wife Rati, who are on a holiday to Europe and especially Finland. (This I have reported on the Seventh Heaven Blog.)

While Annikki and Anneli went to church on Saturday, i went about my work and finalised three more houses in the region, thanks to my associate, Levy. We ended our visit by celebrating Annerli's birthday at a Chinese Restaurant in Espoo.

When we left Anneli at home it was almost 10:30 pm, and we drove to Oulu and reached back at around 09:30 am. It was a tough and tiring drive as I had really expended a lot of energy driving around Helsinki.

Many thanks to Nirmala and Gulden, Rati and Yezad and Ruki and Devinder for a giving us a great holiday.

Sadly Unused

Grandson Dsniel in the traffic park in Oulu

I was driving on the back streets of some of Oulu's residential colonies during the last couple of days. I saw many beautiful children's playgrounds.

I felt very dejected as I did not see a single child using these wonderful facilities.

On the other hand I visited the high street, and there I saw many mothers and fathers all sitting in bars and pubs happily enjoying themselves.

I do not begrudge them their enjoyment, but when their children cannot be in the parks on our Indian summer days, it left a very sad and lonely feeling in me.

I know that when my grandkids came to Finland, their greatest enjoyment was being taken to the parks by me so that they could shout and play in gay abandon with all the different equipment in the parks.

I had many "secret" parks all over the city to take them to, and they simply loved to be there, not for 5 or 10 minutes, but right up till the time I would get a bollicking at home!

Driving to Helsinki and back

Yesterday's 1300 km drive was one with a difference.

A very strange storm hit mid Finland and I was amazed to see trees just pushed down as if the palm of a hand was just striking them down.

A power downsurge they called it as cold air was drawn down and crushed the trees.

Driving down to Helsinki I was caught in an enormous thunderburst in mid Finland. Driving at just 30 kms per hour I got through that and reached a sun-bathed Helsinki at midday. I left Helinki at 16:00 hours and went to Tampere - beautiful sunshine.

I left Tampere at around 18:00 hours and it was just a perfect drive except I saw this destruction which had been caused by a storm possibly just an hour before I went through. Got home around midnight.

Sadly I was not carrying my camera.

Annikki was worried stiff as she knew that i would be driving through that area just about then. Phone contact did not exist.

These trips are getting to be more exciting.

Next week, we will make that trip together to meet a cousin and her husband in Helsinki, so it won't be a day trip.

Another Kerala doyen passes away

Postage stamp of Padma Shri K. M. Mathew

On Sunday morning, I woke up and received information from many sources, relatives and friends, the sad news of the passing of Mr. K. M. Mathew, (Mathukuttychayan), one of the two younger brothers of my late mother. (The youngest, Mr. K. M. Mammon Mappillai (Kochappachen), the late Chairman and Managing Director of MRF Ltd. passed away in 2003.)

Many people who read my blog took the trouble to send condolences on the passing of man who, with his three amazingly brilliant sons, changed the face of Malayalam journalism over the course of the 55 years he was associated with the newspaper at the grass roots level.

There are many very personal stories I could share with you about this outstanding human being, to show you how much of an ordinary lovable man he was. Some of them are already on the blog. As I devote this entry to his memory, I do repeat some of them as a tribute.

I owe much to this human being. He was the one who taught me how to relax and expanded my world when I was just a naughty and mischievous little boy entering my teens. At the double wedding of two of my cousins in Madras in 1956 or 1957, I was making a terrible nuisance of myself when everyone was trying to get an afternoon nap.

Mathukuttychayan enticingly called me to where he was lying down and told me he would teach me some magic.

He asked me to lie down next to him. In the most interesting series of soothing words he asked me to tense my toes very tight. Then he asked me to let them loose. I repeated this a few times. He urged and coaxed me to repeat this process with all my main muscles. Before I realised it I was in a deep sleep, obviously to the relief of all the others in that house!

This technique, he later told me, would make me outstanding as I could get more done in my life than any other human being. My success as a power-house of energy today at the age of 67 is due entirely to this technique. I can drop into deep sleep at the drop of a hat and wake up in 10 minutes, fully relaxed and able to go that extra distance to complete whatever lies before me.

Whenever I do the marathon driving trips, like the one to Amsterdam earlier this year, during the 4500 km 2 day up and down drive, I stopped at a few lay-bys and napped for just 5 to 10 minutes, whenever I felt tired, which made it possible for me to reach back to Oulu in one piece and still raring to do another 4500 km!

Mathukuttychayan was a great teaser in the nicest possible way.

When I appeared at my sister, Naiini's wedding in Kottayam in 1959, wearing the newly released Hawai chappal, not seen anywhere but in Bombay, he was greatly intrigued by this rubbery contraption on my feet. He tried it on and found it most relaxing. So he started to tease me in a manner that I would hand over my prized possession to him.

I thought for a time that he was going to cross the line, but he kept his humour, assisted by my father, at a level that had me in splits of laughter, till finally, before I left back for Bombay, as I had my final Senior Cambridge exams just around the corner, I gave him my white blue strap Hawai Chappals, more in jest than as a gift. I teased him about this for several years. He loved that little joke between us!

When we went to Bombay in 1954, Mathukuttychayan was living in Byculla with his wife and their three children, Rajen, Thambi and little baby 3 year old Chacko (Daughter Thangam was born after they shifted from Mumbai to Kottayam in 1955).

Mathukuttychayan used to drop into see his sister almost every single evening. He loved her and depended on her for advice, although there was just two years separating them in ages.

When he was called to return to Kottayam to aid his eldest brother, the late Mr. K. M. Cherian (Chetpetappachen), who was running the newspaper after the death of my grandfather, it was a big blow as he had got used to Bombay life and especially the early evening in our home where my mom would give a shot of whiskey! (I do not know where she acquired the stuff as there was prohibition in Bombay during that time!)

The only evening he would not turn up was on Saturday.

On Sunday afternoon, all of us (including elder brother Mr. K. M. Philip, Peelukuttychayan, and his family, cousin Susykochamma and her husband (Mr. T. Thomas), would all drive as a family to Juhu Beach to enjoy delicacies mixed with sand on the beach, a swim and a lot of laughter.

It was a truly amazing time as it helped me in particular forget my great life in Bangalore and learn to enjoy the big city of Bombay.

We kids used to love his presence as he always came through the door with a great big smile on his face.

Later, whenever he came to Bombay on work from Kottayam, he used to stay at our house. He used to share the bedroom with me. He always checked whether I used his technique to relax. I was so adept at it by then that when I got up in the morning, I was usually an hour ahead of him and rushing to read the newspaper before him and complete the crossword before my father got a chance to do it.

His eldest son, Rajen, who was just a year younger to me has been the closest of all my cousins, getting into all sorts of mischief together, many of which have been described in blog entries. I owe my Presidentship of the JCR in St. Stephen’s College to the untiring efforts of him and his crazy gan of friends.

His two other sons, Thambi and Chacko, were also very close to us as the years rolled by.

All of them, including their sister Thangam, are shrouded in the love and affection that both their parents showed to the rest of the world.

Although we did not visit Kottayam with the regularity as when my grandfather was alive, every visit subsequently was such that we stayed at Mathukuttychayan’s house.

On one such visit, Annammakochamma was away. She had left Mathukuttychayan in charge of looking after us. He ordered the servants to prepare what he considered the finest meal he could serve up for our family. The table was laid out traditional Kerala style. The goodies arrived. We all tucked in, using our fingers, but one of the kids asked for a "fork".

There was a perplexed look on the faces of the servant, as the request for a fork was repeated.

The servant approached Mathukuttychayan and said something to him. He too was quite disturbed and apologized to me that he had ordered mutton, chicken, beef and fish to be served but did not know that we liked "pork".

When he caught the joke, he was rolling in raucous laughter, as were the servants!

The only time we crossed swords was on a matter of etiquette. He sent me a letter discussing many personal and completely private matters. I was greatly disturbed that this letter had been dictated to and typed by his personal secretary. In my reply I told him off. He sent a hand written personal note, which he later told me that he had gone to the post office by hmself to post it, apologising for his indiscretion.

On our last visit to Kottayam in 2009for his grandson's wedding, on the very first evening, before going to the wedding house for the family dinner, Annikki, Mika and I went directly to Mathukuttychayan's home on Mount Wardha. We had to wait a few minutes before we met him in his home office as he was having a bath. He was most apologetic about having kept us waiting.

He talked to us about all our children and how he was so happy that our daughter, Joanna, and her three children had come to see him in late summer. Especially touching was his conversation with our son, Mika, who broke all his personal rules and taboos of many years, and hugged his granduncle.

We spent almostan hour with him and had it not been for the dinner we would have spent more time with him.

I promised to visit him again before we left as he had said that he may not find it possible to be at the wedding.

But. on the wedding day, at the prayer ceremony, before the groom set out for the church, we found that he had made it possible to be there despite the great suffering he was going through.

From Jacob's Blog

He was photographed with all his family and especially insisted on taking a photograph with Annikki, Mika and me.

The day we were leaving Kottayam, I visited him in the office where he was just getting ready to be in the 10 am editorial meeting. At the age of 93 his mind was so sharp.

As Annikki was suffering from a cold she opted not to go in to see him as she was afraid she would pass on the infection. He was unhappy at not being able to say goodbye to her but was happy that both Mika and I had stopped just to say goodbye. Both of us knew that we would not see each other again and there were tears swelling in my eyes as we bade him farewell.

In an act so typical of him, he handed me an envelope as a gift. He had done the same when he was in Delhi to say goodbye to us in 1984. He told me as I left that anything I wanted was at my command. That was his way of showing his love for his sister's son and his wife.

This media mogul was a humble family man who loved his entire extended family and cared for them.

Our heart bleeds for this wonderful personality. He cared little for the various titles he had been awarded and powerful positions he had held, and hardly ever spoke of them.

His inner heart can be seen in the touching book he wrote about his wife after she left for her heavenly abode.

The deep loving and generous character of this individual has rubbed off on all his children.

I mourn you, dearest Mathukuttychayan. May your soul rest in peace.

When do you know you are OUT OF TOUCH?

One of the greatest thrills when driving in Mumbai was to drive towards Nariman Point on Marine Drive and see the latest Amul Ad flying at the corner of Veer nariman Road. I think the restaurant there has changed its name a few times.

The humour was raw and yet suttle. The banner always brought a smile to my face.

This morning I received a forward from a Cathedralite friend. It was a series of the latest Amul ads!

They flew straight over my head. I did not understand them or the humour that was intended to be conveyed.

I thought to myself of how much out of touch I must be with not only mainstream India but just India as the common folk see it!

Either Amul advertising agents have lost it or I have! ? :-)

Finland's hotest days

Forest fires are raging in Russia as temperatures crossed 40 C. The forests are like tinderboxes.

Finland was no worse yesterday, knowing the hotest day in this century from 1914 with the thermometer rising to 38 C.

Today it is both hot and humid, worse than the worst you get in Mumbai post-monsoon.

The Finns are reveling in the heat. Many may not go back to work on 2nd August if this weather continues.

That brings me to the basis of the one month's extra salary a Finn receives as "Holiday Money".

In the old days, after the war, almost all Finns took the month of July as holiday. The industrial activity would ground to a standstill.

If the sunny weather continued till the end of July, many many Finns would not report back for work in August.

To get them back to work, the companies started a bonus of paying a onth's salary to all those who did get back to work. It was called "LOMA RAHA". Although this was subject to 50% taxation, it was quite an incentive to get many Finns back to work.

However, over the years this became a worker's right and it got built into the system

That meant companies were paying 13 month's wages for 11 months work. This was specially hard at the time of the 1990 recession which was probably the longest and deepest in Europe.

Hence the sytem changed and now many companies do not offer this "Holiday Money" incentive and this is one reason why Finland uses a lot of outsourced workers in many different fields as they are not able to get this incentive in their pay packet.

When I was working in the University of Oulu, I was a double beneficiary. I never took my annual hlidays inJuly. that meant I got my holiday money and i was entitled to an extra week's holiday in winter. This meant I enjoyed 5 weeks holiday and as I could one week off for Christmas and New Year, I got 6 weeks instead of 4 plus an extra month's wages! Not bad!

I think much of this has changed today!