Tragic news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visitor from India

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

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

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

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

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

Jittu and Samu, May 2005

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

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

Mother's Day 2005

Sunday was Mother's Day in Finland.

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


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


Annikki with grandson Daniel on Mother's Day 2005

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

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

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

Daniel on his 1st Birthday

Daniel on his 1st Birthday

Grandson Daniel's birthday today

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

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


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


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

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


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

93 today and going strong

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://smatthan.blogspot.com

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

I am trying to get fit

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

First Spring Flowers in Oulu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Celebrate the 86th Birthday

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

Pallammachi at Succhi's wedding 1999

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

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

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

Happy birthday dearest Pallammachi.

In Oulu we are celebrating

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well done Kärpät.

Sorry for the absence

I was quite well, thank you.

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

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

All are well now.

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

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

Another 60 year birthday

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

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

Omena & Shilpa, 2005

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

Great news - Another blog to visit

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

Its been a long way from here:

Susanna in Shawbury 1968

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

Her blog address is

http://smatthan.blogspot.com

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

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

Listen to Susanna on Radio Lincolnshire today

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

Kimi on the podium, Narain out in 3rd

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kimi 9th and Narain 18th on grid

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

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

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

Here are the exact starting grid positions:


Final qualifying result at Bahrain Grand Prix:

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

A pleasant email from Saroopya

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

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

Hello uncle,

How are you all? We are all fine here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sahitya is fine doing his third year in engineering.

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

Hope I get one soon.

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

Uncle, grandfather and grandmother are all fine.

Nothing more uncle..

Regards to everyone there.

With love,

Saroop

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

News from Madras

Susanna wrote to me from Billinghay, Lincolnshire, England:

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

Love, Susanna :-)

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

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

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

Shilpa was the Mistress of Ceremonies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mammen Eapen - 70 glorious years

Some people do wondrous works to get recognised.

My dear cousin, Kunjumonchayan (Mammen Eapen), son of the late K. M. Eapen (Eapachayan, my godfather) and Kunjattykochamma, has been the opposite. He has proved that by being simple and straightforward, you get the love and respect of your neighbour and that your neighbour is the common man.

Kunjumonchayan at Suchi & Michael’s wedding,
Chennai, December 1999, Copyright Jacob Matthan
Kunjumonchayan is loved by all the common folk that have crossed his path on a daily basis. The grocery store shopkeeper, the bookstore owner, the drivers, the peons in offices, the coffee-man - and me.

In our 58 year friendship, I have always had great love and affection for my cousin, because, unlike others he was a great playmate and deeply loving person.

We played together in Kuppaparam, as can be seen from this old photograph (1948-9). I am the one with torn shorts standing in front of Kunjumonchayan. Although I was the mischievous one, Kunjumonchayan always kept me out of serious trouble!! He had a special way of looking at me over his rimmed glasses, and wag his head to say "SUSHIL"!!

Kunjumonchayan and me in Kuppaparam
We rowed, we fished, we swam - we romped, we had fun as happy children. What wonderful days they were.

I relive those days many times when I am trapped inside the cold and frozen Arctic winter. I share these happy times with my grandson, Samuel, as I tell him true life stories about our happy childhood days in Bangalore, Mysore, Kottayam, Kuppaparam, Madras, Bombay. And in those our dear Kunjumonchayan features many many a time. Just last Friday, Samuel rang me to say that he was bored and he wanted to listen to these stories from my past childhood!!

Later, when Eapachayan, Kunjattykochamma, Marykochamma and Kunjumonchayan lived in 31 Lalbagh Road, Bangalore, we moved into 33 Lalbagh Road.

Kunjumonchayan and I became fast friends, climbing the trees, catching dragonflies (and shudder: pulling off their wings - what horrid little boys we were), tadpoles and frogs from the little pond in the garden of 31 Lalbagh Road, tearing out Kunjattykochamma's hair with our constant running in and out of the house. She would give as all sorts of pallahrams (white and black halwa, chooretas...) to eat just to keep us quiet.

The gardens in 31 and 33 were like paradise for us - so many fruit trees, juicy red fleshed guavas, bright purple pomegranates, and just plain TALL trees for climbing - something we, as kids, enjoyed more than anything else. No mother's telling us not to do this or that. Freedom unlimited!!!

And, of course, we were given responsibility - we were authorised to watch the milkman who came with the cow to milk it in front of us in the garden of 31. We had to ensure that he did not add water to the pail to dilute the milk!! The process was that before he started milking, he had to hold the milking can upside down to show us there was no water in the pan. Then he would milk the cow in front of us and we would accompany him to the house when he handed over the pail to Kunjattykochamma. For the life of us we could never figure out how in that process he managed to add a lot of water to the milk!!! Indian magic, no doubt.

We used to play ludo and monopoly in the living room of 31 - in which Marykuttykochamma also joined in. And she was usually the winner. We went to eat Masala Dosais at the India Coffee House in Cubbon Park. And as described in an earlier blog entry, to the Chinese Restaurant on Brigade Road with Varichanappachen as our leader. (Chinese chicken noodle soup, fried rice, American chop suey, sweet and sour pork, ++++...) We came out stuffed.

Kunjumonchayan was not in the same school as me as he used to go to St. Joseph's while I went to Bishop Cotton's. But the common school holidays, Saturdays and Sundays, were great fun times as, besides cricket (which Kunjumonchayan was not very interested in to play), we used to fly kites, play marbles, spin tops - all the things that chilldren of our time loved to do. I used to rush to finish my homework so I could go and play at Eapachayan's house - which would always be permitted by my mother!!

I was very sad when they moved away from Bangalore as Marykochamma could not take the colder winter temperatures of Bangalore because of her asthama. I lost my dear friend.

But, our close friendship, however, has lasted over the years. I miss him dearly here in Oulu.

When I returned to India and settled in Madras, I used to see Kunjumonchayan in the office of Devon Plastics whenever I visited there. Most of my work was in the Devon Plastics factory. If I wanted a sensitive decision on some important matter, it was always through Kunjumonchayan that I used to transmit the information to Eapachayan, who had a difficult task of balancing the rat race between his godson and his daughter's brother-in-law!!

My strategy always worked. Kunjumonchayan always understood the reason I was asking for something. Others did not understand that we had a relationship where we both have great trust in each other.

A few words about Kunjumonchayan's family. Omenakochamma, his wife, is a wonderful person, strong minded, firm, but yet full of fun and joy. She is such good company. She has been a great wife to a great man.

In 1970, when we lived on College Road, Madras, we put our eldest daughter, Susanna, to the kindergarten in Good Shepherd Convent, which was just across the road. One day, when I went to pick her up, I asked the teacher how Susanna was doing.

Susanna, who was then just less than 3 years old, had been especially quick to learn nursery rhymes and was quite garrulous (she hasn't changed :-)!!). The teacher complimented Susanna very much and then she pointed to another sweet little girl who was in the class and said that the two of them were a great pair as they were far far ahead of the rest of the class.

Of course, I knew who that was - it was Omenakochamma's and Kunjumonchayan's elder daughter, Shirin!! Shirin is about 3 months younger than Susanna!!

Many years later, I was chatting with with my nephew Rahul Matthan on one occasion (I think it was at Nandini's wedding in 1995) in Bangalore when he asked me whether I knew my niece, Shilpa. I said I knew her as my niece, but I had not had the chance to really know the little girl as she was really small (about 4 years) when we had left Madras. Rahul told me that she was turning out to be one of the finest lawyers in law school in Bangalore!!

It is great credit to Kunjumonchayan and Omenakochamma that they have turned out two of the finest brains in the Kandathil family, for which I must give full credit to their good parentage.

Greatness is rewarded in many ways.

Our dear Rajen got a Padma Shri for his 25 years of devoted hard work in raising the Malayala Manorama enterprise to its present heights. I would, in parallel, give Kunjumonchayan my Padma Shri for being a simple and honest individual who is loved by all the simple common people who surround him in daily life!!

Thank you, Kunjumonchayan for being my dear friend for the last 58 years. And Annikki and I join all our cousins, in spirit, who have got together in Chennai to wish you a very very happy birthday.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all of you from Oulu, Finland from Annikki, Annikki's mother Hilja, Mika, our cat, Iitu and myself.

Joanna, Tony, Samuel and Daniel will be joining us for an Easter meal later today.

There was no asking them as Samuel asked me on the phone on Friday what time they should be here for dinner on Easter. When I asked him why he wanted to come, he said he wanted to have the roast lamb and the "Pasha", which is special sweet that Annikki makes on Easter day - a great hit with Mika and Samuel!!

Here are pictures of flowers and cards and another of Hilja with her flowers and cards as she celebrated her birthday a couple of weeks ago.


Flowers and cards for Hilja

Flowers and cards with Hilja

Road chaos in Finland

Thursday before last we saw traffic chaos in many parts of Finland never before witnessed in this country.

I was taking Mika out that evening. As I drove out of the front gate, I realised something was horribly wrong as it became virtually impossible to steer the car. I drove at just a few kilometres per hour, managed to reach the destination to drop off Mika, and drove back equally cautiously. On return I told Annikki about my experience, as she had in passing, earlier in the day, mentioned some accidents in Helsinki. She then told me about the chaos that had taken place in south Finland, 600 km south of Oulu.

The weather had been quite fine and warm and then it had begun to snow. It was a very light powdery type of snow. With the sunshine being quite strong, the top layer of ice on the roads melted and froze again to resemble an ice-field. The powdery snow on top of it acted like chalk on a carrom board. Road conditions deteriorated so quickly that before drivers realised it there was no way to control trucks and cars as they slithered everywhere involved in pile ups on the highways. Three people died and dozens were injured in a series of pile-ups. Eight people with serious injuries were taken to hospital in Helsinki, a further five to Hyvinkää, and some to Porvoo. Dozens more were treated for minor injuries at local health centres.

In the space of just 10 minutes, at around 8 a.m. during the morning rush-hour, four main arteries into the Finnish capital were blocked by wrecked vehicles, as fine, powdery snow and freezing rain took drivers unawares. Police and rescue services, seriously stretched by the simultaneous occurrences, blamed excessive speeds for the carnage.

Road chaos in Helsinki.
Photo from road webcam of Finnish Road Association
"Being in the line behind an accident gave little protection; on each of the Lahti, Porvoo, and Hämeenlinna motorways there were two separate crashes of similar scale around a kilometre apart from one another, as drivers ploughed into stationary traffic. Two of the three fatalities took place under these circumstances. One woman was run over after stepping out of her car when she had been rammed from behind." Helsingin Sanomat

Finland is always well equipped but it was likely that the drivers were over-confident and did not link all the factors together.

In all my 21 years in Finland I have not driven in such adverse conditions nor seen such carnage as that day.