Tenth Anniversary celebration

Joanna and Tony celebrate their 10th wedding anniversay today.

I still remember their wedding day - a most unusual one, as everyone had to pay for their own meal at the reception!! Great idea and hope more would follow this rule.

In the 10 years they have achieved a lot, besides two great grandkids for us.

I am sure the next ten years will see much more flowing under the bridge of time. Samuel will then be 18 and Daniel will be 11. I will be 72 and Annikki will still be 18. :-)

Worth waiting for.

Happy anniversary to both of you!

Busy Day

Bought myself a new pair of sandals as the last one lasted me five and half years - I bought them in India in December 1999. Not as good as my old leather ones, but prices have slumped so I can probably get a new one every summer!!
Bought health medicines for Annikki and also for her mother.
Picked up Joanna's Polar Heart Rate Monitor, which was fitted with a new battery. She will use it during her restarted gym training schedule.
Took Samu for his football training. He was full of effort as usual, tackling his opponents, double his size, with great vigour.
Kamu, my Zambian friend came to repair the Electric Scooter. Still some more work needed before we get it on the road this year.
Finally, spent the last few hours listening to various reviews of pResident Bush's speech to the US Nation last night. It has been slammed universally as a piece of trash filled with lies. In one spell he made 5 consecutive statements, ALL LIES!!
It is strange that both the US and UK have compulsive liars, Bush and Blair, at the top of the political tree.
Tomorrow promises to be still another hexctic day as I plan to tidy up the office room as my mid-year resolution.
Weather is flexible, but quite summery - with intermittent sunshine and showers, but quite warm and not too windy.

Boycott call by Jury of Conscience of the World Tribunal on Iraq

The Jury of Conscience, after the final session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, after 2 years of deliberation, included the following recommendation:

7. That people throughout the world launch actions against US and UK corporations that directly profit from this war. Examples of such corporations include Halliburton, Bechtel, Carlyle, CACI Inc., Titan Corporation, Kellog, Brown and Root (subsidiary of Halliburton), DynCorp, Boeing, ExxonMobil, Texaco, British Petroleum. The following companies have sued Iraq and received “reparation awards”: Toys R Us, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Shell, Nestlé, Pepsi, Phillip Morris, Sheraton, Mobil. Such actions may take the form of direct actions such as shutting down their offices, consumer boycotts, and pressure on shareholders to divest.

May I request all my readers to take steps and pass this information on to at least five of their friends.

To read the entire verdict and recommendations of the Jury of Conscience, please visit my blog page:

http://jmpolitics.blogspot.com

Now I am excited...

I have just discovered that I can post my entries directly from my Mac OS X Dashboard to all my blogs. No more the need to log in and enter text. I will have to work out how to manage image uploads, etc. With this development, you can expect more frequent entries to all my blogs.

Catastrophe gives me a great meal

Joanna and Tony had a small catastrophe on Saturday evening. When they returned from their trip to Kalajoki, where they visited Tony's parents, they found that they had left their deep freeze off for the two days they were away. Most of the stuff had thawed and both of them, being health freaks felt that nothing could be refrozen. Joanna called me late on Saturday evening to give away stuff she said we should use up quickly. Then they got rid of a lot of stuff and finally, Joanna decided that she would have a barbecue with all the remaining grub.

Mika, Annikki and myself were invited.

So on Sunday evening, Chef Tony rustled up a great barbecue of lots of chicken legs and sausages, while Joanna made some delicious baked garlic potatoes and baked broccoli with onion.

We killed the stuff in a couple of hours.

I managed to get a few pictures at the event.

Chef Tony having a break during his barbecuing session


Annikki having a swig of lemon juice


Joanna with Daniel


Daniel relaxing


Shirtless Samu
A great family evening where I dearly missed Susanna and family, and Jaakko!!

Visit to see Timo and Gopa

Last Wednesday I had a call from Gopa, daughter of Sadhana Madhusadan (Cathedralite 54er) from Pune, from a nearby village where she was visiting her mother-in-law. Gopa suggested Annikki and I visit them as it was not a long drive (about an hour and a half).

Anniki had tons to do, so I took off in my ancient rabbit and was with them in less than an hour and a half. I would have done the journey quicker but a Police Motorbike shot past the queue of cars streaming out of Oulu, so we did not know where he was in hiding - so we had to keep our speeds to within the speed limit!!

Spent some real quality time with both of them and Timo's 82 year old mother. Although partially blind (she recognises people from their voices as she cannot distinguish them with sight) she lives alone in her home and manages everything like clockwork. A truly great lady, mother of 11 children, she recalled the names of not only all of them but also her 26 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren!!

Timo's mother, now 82

Gopa looked as lovely as ever and Timo was his real gentlemanly self. Gopa was her sprightly full of life self and Finland is really suiting her. She is lucky to have such a wonderful man as her husband.

Gopa had even brought me some real Kerala papadams from Pune!! We love papadams.


Timo and Gopa in front of the traditional built in oven
in Timo's mother's home in a village near Pudasjärvi

Two wonderful ladies celebrate birthdays today

Two of my dear elder "sisters" celebrate their birthdays today.

Accakuttykochamma, Mrs. K. G. Kuruvilla, mother of Dilip (Chennai), Susan (Ontario), Annu (New York) and Usha (Singapore) and grandmother of numerous outstanding youngsters, celebrates her 78th birthday today. Accakuttykochamma was the bridesmaid at my mother's wedding and she still looks as sweet as she did then. She is also as sweet a person today as I always remember her.

Bridesmaid Accakuttykochamma is the little girl
(on the extreme right) at my parent’s wedding (1936)

Happy birthday Accakuttykochamma from all of us here in Oulu.

The second dear "sister", who celebrates her 65th birthday today, is Beebikochamma, Mrs. K.C. Mammen, mother of Anil, Roy and Rachel (all in Bangalore), and daughter-in-law of that wonderful grand lady, Pallammachi (Chennai). (Sorry, no photograph available at the moment.)

Happy birthday Beebikochamma from all of us in Finland.

We miss both of you very very much and our hearts are with you and your families on this auspicious day.

A rare chance for photography

It is not often that one goes to the Tivoli, as I did with Annikki, Joanna and grandchildren, Samuel and Daniel. It is even rarer that one gets to ride in the Giant Wheel, as I did with Samuel.

It was the first time I have been up in a Giant Wheel with a cheap digital camera in hand.

I took some random shots from the cage while we were rolling around.

Thought you may enjoy what our small little town of just 100000 people looks like from on high.

View to the North East East - where we have a small hydrostation on the left of the picture.


View to the South - our homes are under the clouds in the centre.


View to the South West - overlooking the sea - a saltless one!


View to the South West West - looking over the small boat docking station and the old harbour way over the buildings.

Samuel's Football Match

Monday was away game time for the Tervarit Chelsea Jrs team, for which Samuel plays.

Samuel has developed to be a great little player. Having been tried in different positions, his unbounded energy has now propelled him into the position of centre half, playing wherever the ball is!!

And even after two full games, he was still going strong.

Here are a few shots from his latest encounter with the Oulu Panther side.

Samuel warming up pre-game.


Team meeting with the coaches.


After the game, Samuel is flushed but ready for more!!

His game has improved so tremendously. He is the only one who plays the game in the spirit it should be played - no time wasting. If the ball goes into the goal, he charges in, picks it up, and rushes it back to the centreline so that the game can go on!!

Samuel is going to be great player if he keeps on improving at the rate he has done in the past three weeks since he joined the club. He is becoming a strategist as he plans, with pencil and paper, how he should play his next game, learning from the mistakes made by the team in the last one. And he is kicking that ball hard!

Suomen Tivoli in Oulu

The Suomen Tivoli is the fun fair which travels around Finland. (Suomen = Finnish) There are all the usual entertainments for children like the Giant Wheel, lots of high speed brain spinning rides, and Dodgem Cars. They also have cotton candy and delicious softee ice cream.

As Tony was away in Vancouver (Canada) for a conference, Joanna decided she would take the kids to the Tivoli. She asked Annikki and me to accompany her.

We did so with great pleasure, as it gave us a chance to be children again and get a chance to enjoy some of the things which we cannot do unless we are acccompanied by our grandchildren!!

As soon as we entered there was cotton candy for Samuel, Annikki and myself - Joanna finished Samuel's and shared some with Daniel. The process of eating was a bit mesy with my beard!!

I then took Samuel on the Giant Wheel. He scared the beejeezers out of me as he pranced around each time the wheel reached the top.

Samuel rocking and shocking me in the Giant Wheel

Then, Samuel enjoyed a few rides on his own and the Mexican Swirling Hat with Joanna. Even looking at this from afar was enough to make one's brain swirl and twirl!!

Annikki took Samuel and Daniel through the Mini Zoo and they came out quite satisfied with their experience.


Samuel in the Rocker



Samuel in the stomach churning Dropper

But what Samuel enjoyed most was the Dodgem Cars. Given a chance, I too would also have been there enjoying them as I did as a child in Bangalore way back in the fifties. Sadly, there was an actual age limit so I was denied my chance.



Samuel in a Dodgem Car


Samuel in a Dodgem Car

And here is one of Joanna and Annikki relaxing while Samu was enjoying one of his rides.


Joanna and Annikki at the Tivoli

All in all a great day followed by dinner at a friend's restaurant, a very nice Thai couple.

It was a great "Grandfather's Day" for ME!!

Catching Up

Last week has been hectic as Annikki's mother has been in the Old People's Home. We have had a lot of things to do to get ready before her return.

Also, with the great Midsummer weather, Annikki had a lot of work getting the garden ready. (And I do mean Annikki as I am only a not so active helper. I clean the pond pumps and get rid of the floating debris in the pond, but not much more. I am also the chauffer for Annikki.)

This meant a lot of shopping around for things for the garden. I sit patiently in the car while she does her buying.

In a series of posts following this, I will update you on some important and interesting events that took place during the last week.

Today is when we celebrate Midsummer in Finland which is the first weekend after Midsummer's Day (21st June).

Joanna and Tony, Samuel and Daniel, are visiting Tony's parents today in Kalajoki, about an hour and a half's drive from Oulu. So it will be a quiet day here in Oulu, allowing me to do this catch up.

Hamilton Naki - a moving orbituary

Who was Hamiltion Naki?

"A man who stole with his eyes"?

Read this most moving Orbituary about this outstanding human being, the best "gardener" the world should have known?!

Many thanks to Dorota and Patrick for pointing me to this item. (The Economist Orbituary will only be available for a few days - so read it QUICK!!)

Finland and New York Times

The Sunday edition of The New York Times carried an article After Sibelius, Finland's Rich Bounty of Musicians in its Travel Section called "Cultured Traveler".

The author, RICHARD B. WOODWARD, got many of the facts right but used them out of context and applied all of them to his "level" in society.

Although Woodward mentioned the Savonlinna Opera Festival and the Kuhmo Music Festival, he failed to mention the Pori Jazz Festival, the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival and probably the one where most Finns take part - the Seinäjoki Tango Festival, which has drawn 1.6 million visitors over the last 20 years. None of the other festivals has this mass appeal!!

Woodward gives the prices for the expensive hotels, but in our town of Oulu, a family of 4 can live in a beautiful beachfront cottage, fully equipped for just € 70 per night!! Such fantastic offers can be found all around the country if one wants to really enjoy the sights and sounds of Finland cheaply.

Woodward makes this claim:

"Not only is Sibelius an icon on the currency but he also acts as the country's permanent ambassador by being its first, and still most, internationally recognized name."

This is preposterous.

Sibelius is only the symbol of a certain class of Finns - the ruling class and their counterparts, worldwide.

Names such as K. K. Rosberg (1982 Formula 1 World Champion), Mika Häkkinen (1998 and 1999 Formula 1 World Champion), Mika Salo, Kimi Raikkonen, the absolutely world renowned "Flying Finns" which include Rauno Aaltonen - 1965 European Champion (BMC), Timo Mäkinen, Simo Lampinen, Pauli Toivonen - 1968 European Champion (Porsche), Tapio Rainio, Hannu Mikkola - World Rally Champion 1983 (Audi), Pentti Airikkala, Markku Alen - FIA Cup (WRC) Champion 1978 (Fiat/Lancia), Leo Kinnunen, Lasse Lampi, Ari Vatanen - World Rally Champion 1981 (Ford), Henri Toivonen, Timo Salonen - World Rally Champion 1985 (Peugeot), Juha Kankkunen - World Rally Champion 1986 (Peugeot), 1987 (Lancia), 1991 (Lancia), 1993 (Toyota), Mikael Sundström, Tommi Mäkinen - World Rally Champion 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 (all Mitsubishi), Sebastian Lindholm, Marcus Grönholm - World Rally Champion 2000, 2002 (Peugeot), Toni Gardemeister, Jarmo Kytölehto, Harri Rovanperä, Tapio Laukkanen - 1999 British Rally Champion and Pasi Hagström - 1999 Finnish Rally Champion, are just a few who are living legends in Finland and the world.

In the field of Winter Olympics, Matti Nykänen is an unsurpassed name. Finnish javelin throwers have excelled through generations and their names are on the lips of every sports fan which far outnumber those few classical music enthusiasts.

1981 World Rally Driver Champion Ari Vatanen and myself (2003)

Even in the music world, the focus is not at all on classical music, as is sort of implied by Woodward. Local Choirs are found in every nook and crany. The Shouters (with their outlandish musical noise) and the Leningrad Cowboys (with their outlandish hair style) have made their mark internationally in most unconventional ways. Even amongst the indigenous people, the Angelin Tytöt, the Sámi girls, Ursala and Tunni Länsman, from the small village of Angeli in the very north near Inari, have a huge following worldwide.

I could go on and on.....

I would certainly not agree with the viewpoint of Music Conductor Osmo Vanska who said: "If you asked who is the most important figure in Finnish history, 8 of 10 Finns would say Sibelius."

Finland and its people are not living in the past. It is creative and has produced and is producing many top notch people outside of music from Alvar Aalto, to my own humble wife, Annikki, whose talents as a creator (edible art, regenerated art, recycled art, etc.) are second to none - not even Sibelius!!

Sibelius is just "one" of the bricks in a very large wall. The history of Finland grows by the hour and Sibelius means historically little to most "commoner" Finns.

Samu's first football matches

Here is a picture of great football star in the making - Samuel Benjamin Matthan:

June 2005: Samuel Benjamin Matthan,
Tervarit Juniors Chelsea 97
Samuel is crazy about sports - ice hockey, football, Formula 1, are some of his great loves. Mom, Joanna, has gots him lots of books. Whenever there is an international match involving a side he is interested in, such as Finland, or our local ice hockey team, Kärpät, which has for 2 years in a row won the Finnish Championships, or when Finn Kimi Raikkonen is at his best, as winning 3 out of the last four Formula 1 races (he tragically lost the one before the last when he was leading on the very last lap!!), then I go over and we watch it on TV together.

However, Samu loves to also play the games and sports he is interested in. Grandpa has been helping out with football, despite being quite weak at the knees. But Grandpa is there for moral help and also to key him to play better and to follow the rules and decorum of the game.

This year he has joined the Tervarit Juniors side called Chelsea 97, which are mainly composed of kids about the same age as him. He goes for practice once a week and there are league matches to play. They had the first two league games last Sunday.

The team is still in the early stages of formation. Samu played well but unfortunately the team did not click. They lost their first league game 8 - 0 to a very disciplined Kello FC, while they lost their second one 6 - 5 to a well-schooled Tervarit Juniors Arsenal 98 who fought back from a 3 goal deficit.

Nirupa wooshes through Oulu

Our very dearest of nieces, she was such a chatterbox when she was a little girl, Nirupa, passed through Oulu - Monday to Thursday. Flying in from Boston for a conference at the eastern city of Kuopio, Nirupa took a couple of days off to visit family. We all were greatly pleased to see her.

She stayed at Joanna and Tony's place but visited us and spent a lot of quality time with Annikki, Mika and me. Mika recognised Nirupa although it was over 11 years since they had both met.

Here are some photographs of Nirupa in Oulu.

Nirupa chatting away as we always remember her!!

On Tuesday night, I took them out to a friend's rather nice fusion food restaurant. There was much discussion later as I wanted to take them out again, but Joanna said that she did not want to go another of my "kuttukaran's" restaurant, as every second restaurant in Oulu, with good food, is owned by a "kuttukaran". So she took Nirupa, Samuel and me, to HER "kuttukarthi's" (who is the ex-wife of my kuttukaran) restaurant!! :-)


Nirupa and Joanna at Joanna's "kuttukarthi's" restaurant

On Wednesday night, Nirupa took us out to the best Mexican restaurant in town. I had some delicious super spicy sauce with my turkey filet.


Nirupa ready to leave for Kuopio with Joanna and family

Sadly, Annikki and Mika could not join us on our dining out sprees, but I brought back some good food for them.

It was sad to see Nirupa leave. I hope she will come back again SOON.

Siloo one of the 100 Most influential people

I was very pleasantly surprised when I discovered the identity of one of the 100 most influential people in finance as was published in the publication
Treasury and Risk Management.

Seems to be a problem with the link above so enter this URL in your browser to reach the site:

http://www.treasuryandrisk.com/issues/2005_06/careers/416-1.html

The name I came across was Sara Mathew. It sort of rang a bell. But I could not place it exactly. Then, surprise, surprise, a faithful blog reader, Shalu, wife of Anand Matthan and daughter of the late Dr. Nainan Varghese, wrote and asked me whether I had read about her sister, Siloo.

It fell into place.

Siloo did her Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Madras, India. She then got her graduate degree in Accounting from the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants, also in India. This was followed by a MBA in Finance and Marketing from Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Siloo joined Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1983. It was a meteoric rise up the corporate ladder. She progressed through finance, brand management and customer financial service roles. In 1995, she was named Assistant Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations. In 1997 she became Comptroller for the Paper Products division and in 1998, was named Comptroller and CFO of the Global Baby Care business unit. Siloo was promoted to Vice President of Finance in 2000. She was responsible for the ASEAN region including Australia, Asia and India. In this capacity, Siloo led all aspects of finance for the region including Profit and Cash Management, Tax and Treasury. She was also responsible for strategic planning, organizational development and training.

In August 2001 Siloo joined Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) after her 18-year career with P&G. Dun & Bradstreet is the world's leading provider of business information. It has been enabling business-to-business commerce for 160 years. D&B's information and technology solutions help businesses reduce credit risk, find profitable customers and manage vendors efficiently. Businesses also use D&B's information and technology to authenticate and verify potential trading partners online, increasing their trust and confidence in e-commerce transactions. Over 90 percent of the Business Week Global 1000 rely on D&B as the source for information they need to make their business a success.

This new award shows that Siloo's performance at P&G and D&B were not just flashes in a pan. Well done Siloo. You have done Mallu ladies proud!

Siloo is married to another high flyer in the corporate world. Jacob Mathew (Renjy) has had a great career with P&G through a range of assignments in finance and finally as head of strategy development. He then started his own consulting practice. The mission of his “The Strategy Company LLC” is to provide strategy development and shareholder value services to large and small companies.

Renjy’s background in a large consumer products company allows him to facilitate strategy development at the business unit, sector, and corporate level. Within small companies, the focus is primarily on business development, with technology licensing being an important part.

Siloo and Renjy have two boys, Rohan and Nikhil. Rohan is in college and Nikhil who is six years younger, is still in School. Siloo is Shalu’s “kid” (Siloo - not my description!!) sister, as she is 8 years younger than her!!

Nirmala, Vikram, Renjy, Rohit, Siloo and Shalu; photo: Gulden

Here is a picture taken after Suchi's (Rachel Matthai, wife of Michael Bettua) house-warming party at Hobokken. Gulden, husband of Nirmala Kuriyan (née Thomas, daughter of Chinchaya, Mrs. M. M. Thomas) (left) is missing as he took this picture. Next to Nirmala is Vikram, her son. The guy in the black shirt is Renjy, Siloo's husband. Next to him is Shalu’s son Rohit. Then we have the two gorgeous Nainan Varghese girls, Siloo and Shalu. Thanks to Shalu for the photograph.

Kodin Kuvalehti carries story about Kampitie Garden

Kodin Kuvalehti is Finland's largest circulating women's magazine. Malayala Manorama's women's magazine, Vanitha, although it has a circulation of almost 0.6 million copies fortnightly, can certainly learn a lot from the quality of this Finnish publication.

About a year and a half ago, Annikki wrote a small piece and submitted a couple of photographs for a reader's contest organised by the magazine. Annikki wrote about how she had designed the garden at her mother's home around an old metal bath tub which did not find its way into the skips when we were clearing and renovating the house, and how she had created almost everything by recycling materials found in the compound.

Bath tub around which the Kampitie Garden was created

The Garden Editor of the magazine, Sinikka Sarrola, liked Annikki's article. This submission was shortlisted for a further stage. This involved Sinikka, accompanied by a professional photographer, Pirjo Sillanpää, visiting the garden at the height of last summer, interviewing Annikki and taking photographs, maybe around a 100 or more shots.


Kodin Kuvalehti Garden Editor Sinikka Sarrola, Annikki and Samuel


Annikki and Kodin Kuvalehti Garden Editor Sinikka Sarrola

Based on this Sinikka wrote an article about the garden and about Annikki and our family.

Three gardens are featured in the latest issue of the magazine, which is due out in the news stands tomorrow morning. The feature is entitled "Three Readers, beautiful, special gardens".

And one of the stories, with absolutely glorious photographs, is about Annikki and our family and her tribute to her mother in creating the garden for her.

The text is hilarious. Some of the last lines symbolises Annikki's character "She can create anything from anything"!

Thank you Kodin Kuvalehti, Sinnika and Pirjo for such a beautiful presentation in a great magazine. (My photographs are nowhere near the quality of the professional, Pirjo.)

If you are interested in a copy of the magazine with the English translation of the text, please send me an email.

Congratulations Tanya Matthan

Tanya is the daughter Arun and Yasmin (née Shah) Matthan.

Arun is the youngest in the Matthan Martthan (Babyappapen) family.

I received information today of a truly outstanding performance by this Shah-Matthan prodigy.

Tanya got 95,55% in her ISC 12th Standard Board Examamination. Tanya stood 1st in her school. She is also in the first 15 in the country.

Tanya will be trying for an Honours course in Lady Shree Ram College, Delhi.

Congratulations Tanya and hope you do well in the next phase of your education programme.

More news on the Bangalore tragedy

I do not want to put the graphic details of this gruesome event on the blog so I give a link to the newspaper article on line

News -- Bangalore: Two Brutally Murdered in Broad Daylight - One of Mangalore Origin, Daijiworld News Network - Bangalore (GA), Bangalore, May 17 2005

I am still in a state of shock to think that just a few minutes before he was to leave to reach our home in Finland, this horrific event could have taken place.

Two family demises

Dear Maliyakal and Kandathil family members,

I have, with great regret, to announce the demise of two very dear members of our family.

On Wednesday May 11th 2005, Dr. M. V. Kurian (Thambichayan), husband of Graciekochamma (Accahi), father of Padmini and Mohan, left us to await his meeting with our Maker. Son, Mohan, in Canada, who attended the funeral, sent me the news on his return to Canada.

Thambichyan was "one of us" when we were children. I will miss him dearly.

On Sunday May 15th 2005, Babykochamma, wife of K. O. Kuriyan (Vellichayan), mother of Ashok, Rajeev and Pratheep, also left us to await her union with her Maker. Georgie in Madras updated me on this information.

I was a little boy when I attended the wedding of Vellichayan and Babykochamma. I always considered her as one of our most beautiful sisters-in-law. Quiet in word, she had an enormous sense of humour which was ever-present with that slight smile on her face. And she always had a kind word for anyone that crossed her threshhold.

I have conveyed our condolences to all family members via the appropiate channels.