More reminiscences from 14 years ago

Click images to see enlarged images

I was amused to read a news item in the last Saturday issue of our local newspaper. Seppo Keränen of FinPro, Chief of the Indian Marketing Centre, was talking about why it was important to enter the Indian market.

There are presently 50 Finnish companies operating in India.

There were over 50 Swedish companies operating in India in 1992!

14 years ago, Finpro was one of the organisations that thought that my pushing India as a hot spot for Finnish industry was not much of an idea!

In the introductory letter, that I wrote in May 1992 for the organisation Findians Oy, just to companies in the Technology Village in Oulu, I said:

"This is the first circular letter from Findians Oy. It hopefully brings you interesting and informative news. We have enclosed the latest Corporate Notes from a leading Indian weekly called "The WEEK" dated 10th May 1992. Amongst other items it shows that Motorola is going into India with a bang. The metro cities in India, each with a population more than 2 times that of Finland, are very interesting to these multinationals - and also possibly your company......."

May 1992: Letter to Companies in
the Oulu Technology Village


Annexure sent with the
Introductory Letter

Within just a few days of my sending out these 100 or so copies of this letter, the visionary Managing Director of the Technology Village, Pertti Huskonen, wrote to Findians saying:

"I was very delighted to have your first circular letter some days ago in my hands. It's evident that this location here in Oulu Technology Park is a good place for you - and it's clear that you can help our companies a lot! All the best for you and Findians!

Oulu Technolpolis Ltd.

Pertti H 19.5.1992"

It was this introductory letter and the general response that I received from a few of the companies in the Technology Village that prompted the launch of "Findians Briefings" as a monthly newsletter.


Findians Briefings Volume 1 Number 1 1992

The free 8 page Volume 1 Number 1 was a great hit from the very first issue.

Before we knew it we were printing and sending out over 7000 copies worldwide - and that was a financial disaster for us.

So we converted the paper version into the popular web briefings with free access and no advertisements.

The readership sky-rocketed up to 120000.

But Finnish industry remained sceptical.

Although we did take out some Finnish companies to India, the general opinion remained that it was not the right place for business.

Finnish industrialists and managers were wrong. The world passed them by.

Now it is a game of catch up, and being behind means that the real cream of the opportunities may have been lost.

But there are still hundreds and thousands of new opportunities, if there is true understanding of how to approach operating in India.

In one meeting in 1993, where Annikki and I were explaining about India to a group of young entrepreneurs of Oulu, which had been organised by Raimo Kuismin of Acta Systems Oy, a manager of a Finnish multinational, Rautarukki Oy, explained how the whole process of getting to an acceptable situation in India could take as much as 5 to 8 years.

I explained that with the right contacts, this process could be down to less than a year!

14 years down the lane, Seppo Keränen is certainly right to tell Finnish industries to deal with people directly rather than through agents who are trying to make a quick buck from both ends.

But to find the right companies would still require someone with a depth of knowledge about that enormous country - a rare breed in Finland.

Thank God that I am retired from this rat race!

KALEVA follows us 12 years on..

(Cross-posted on CHAFF Blog)

Last weekend there appeared a little box item in our local newspaper, KALEVA, where they have started a reader forum which will award a prize of Euro 10 to any reader who identifies a best buy item available in the local market.



The book that Annikki and I wrote "Handbook for Survival in Finland" (out of print) way back in 1994 after 10 years of research was based around a game we played where we went about locating the daily best buys in Oulu.

"The question to which this book gives an answer is "How do ordinary Finns survive?" We present a method used unconciously by cost-conscious Finns of how to beat the Finnish system, live a decent life and even save some money."

Although much has changed since we wrote this book, especially since Finland joined the European Union, the game that we played, and continue to play, has been the lifeblood of our survival in Finland. We continued to beat inflation year in and year out using this system.

Now KALEVA is trying to use this system to attract its readers to a new column.

A few suggestions which may appear here, although helping a few readers, can never address the entire problem, which is exploitation of Finns by their cartels that run the Finnish retail trade.

Is it time to republish an updated version of our book?

You know which is the best buy you can make:

A copy of "Handbook for Survival in Finland" although we do not know where you can buy a copy for the love of all the money in the world!

Pentti Vuorinen get titled

I seem to have missed this big news which appeared a few days ago in all our local newspapers.

An old friend, Pentti Vuorinen of the English Club of Oulu was awarded the title of Vice Consul by the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen for services rendered to his country in the field of journalism.

I searched my archives and found a picture of Pentti and Raija Pohjanpalo with Annikki and me at a English Club festive occasion on the 11th of December 1987 - 19 years ago. Mika is sitting in the foreground with his back to the camera.

Annikki, Pentti Vuorinen, Raija Pohjanpalo with me
at the English Club International Gala in 1987

Pentti is now 80. He has been a friend from 1984 when Annikki and I met him when we were invited to join the English Club of Oulu. Pentti was young and energetic then, just as he is today.

I met him just the other day at the Stockmann Coffee Shop and we exchanged some memories. He is such a jovial person and a wonderful companion. He is a linguist speaking (alphabetical order) English, French, German, Latin, Spanish, Swedish and his native tongue, Finnish. And he is fluent in every one.

He had a long career in the media in Oulu. That was one of the reasons he took up languages with such great fervour. His complaint to me was that he does not get as much chance to practice his languages these days - and he promptly took out a Spanish newspaper from his bag and was reading it with great aplomb!

He is still an active member of the Tuira Rotary Club. Retirement does not seem to have slowed him down at all. To me he seemed the same gentleman that he was when we first met 22 years ago.

Congratulations Pentti on a well deserved award from the Finnish President.

Hold it folks...

The Puzzle (Optical Illusions) popularity has exploded. People have been poring over the profile of the face, some for hours to figure out the answer to what else the picture represented. Daughter Susanna wanted me to set up a separate blog just for these puzzles.

When I visited the Goreme Pizzeria today, my good friends were so intrigued with the first Puzzle that they demanded I not tell them what the answer was. the management group I was mentoring today literally went mad for 4 hours and still did not solve it! And when I gave the answer at the end of the session - they could not believe their ears!

But, Shalu and Samu were quick. The following puzzle at Samu's request was an EASY PEASY one. The average times people had to read the signboard to catch the error was 4, but several got it at the third reading. Not one has yet admitted getting it at the first reading!

Granddaughter Asha asked that the next one be only moderately difficult.

To keep this enormous wave of puzzle solving blogging rolling, I am disregarding Asha's request.

I am putting up below what is one of the more difficult of the puzzles.

That way I can get some rest.

I am reasonably sure that the first explanation will take about a week in coming!

Let us see from which part of the world the first right explanation arrives.

Click to see the enlarged image


There are no clues for solving this.

Happy puzzling.

Puzzle Popularity...

I was really overawed by the popularity of the first Optical Illusion Puzzle that I put on the internet.

Shalu Matthan (née Verghese), wife of cousin Anand, from Chennai was the first to send me the correct answer. Believe it or not, the second was our 8 year old grandson - Samu, in Newcastle.

Both were quick. Samu solved his in a few minutes! I do not know how long Shalu took.

Many gave up in desperation.

I understand some are still trying, so I am not going to provide the answer till Saturday!

Samu asked for an easier one, so here it the second Optical Illusion Puzzle.



What I want to know is how many times you read the text to get the answer correctly!

Send your HONEST comments to me directly by email.

Have fun.

Sweet Chilli returning to China

(Cross posted on the CHAFF Blog)

Chilli is one of the Chinese group of software engineers brought from China to work in Oulu for the American owned electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in Singapore.

Chilli took part in one of our Chaff meetings and all of us were endeared to her. She had already lived in Finland prior to this visit, having studied IT at Mikkeli.


Chilli, me and Bill

We were sorry to here that she is returning, prematurely, to China. Knowing her and her knowledge of Finnish Business Systems, I am reasonably sure she will be back.

As her farewell, the Chinese group who work at Flextronics Oulu had a dinner at the Pailin Restaurant.


Chinese group at Oulu Flextronics dined at the Pailin Thai Restaurant


Chilli, Pailin and Bill

Goodbye Sweet Chilli, and do come back to Oulu. You will always be welcome at our CHAFF meetings. And we hope you can start a branch of the spirit of CHAFF in China.

9 Steps to New Frontage for Kampitie

Annikki's mother, Hilja, was finding it difficult to use the front steps at Kampitie as the height of the step was too much. It took over an hour to bring her in the last time we took her out. So we had to resort to an Invalid Taxi and a wheelchair to take her in and out of the house.

Inside the house Hilja is still able to move around with her walker.

When we discussed this with the Social Worker in charge of Old Age Persons with Disabilities, the team of engineers and carpenters came and examined the premises.

They felt it would be easier to use the wheelchair if the front was broadened.

On Friday last, the carpenter came and finished most of the work. He then completed it on Monday. I recorded the progress of the work.

Old Frontage of Kampitie
It was difficult to turn the wheelchair twice
when getting in and out of the house

The new front was created in 9 steps. (Click to see the enlarged image.)


New front was created in 9 steps
1. Remove old front. 2. Put frame for platform.
3. Put support for platform. 4. Complete platform.
5. Completed platform. 6. Build steps.
7. Complete Steps. 8. Steps, front view. 9. Steps, side view.

And the complete frontage is truly unique after the handrails were put.



Kampitie has a great new front. It will now be possible to take Hilja out in the summertime to enjoy the garden and also take her for a walk in the wheelchair, something that has not been possible for a couple of years.

Now we have to wait till Annikki puts her fingers to making this frontage a work of art!

I can guarantee you it will be unique.

Culture Shock - Finland

Cross-posted at the CHAFF Blog.

A Friendship Day Special Blog Entry

Last Saturday, Ildikó and Ilari were early visitors to Kampitie to pick up our trailer. They were moving to their new home in Tuira, just north of the Oulu River.

They brought, for us, a copy of their book "Culture Shock - Finland" which has been published in German.


Culture Shock, Authors, Inscription, Cover

My spoken German is rusty, not having used it for several years, but my ablity to read German has not deteriorated too much. I did find several words that are new to the language, but I was able to derive the meanings.

The book was a good quick read. It contained all the salient points to introduce both a tourist and someone who is planning to be in Finland for some time to the intricacies of life in Finland.

It is not in the more confrontational style adopted by Annikki and me in our book "Hanbook for Survival in Finland". Like us, the authors provide a degree of balance, as Ildikó is from Hungary and Ilari from Finland. There is a balance in the views of Finns and Foreigners in what they have seen and experienced in Finland. The index is not too long, so it is easy to quickly find essential references in the book. I did a series of quick checks and I was able to get answers to many common questions that face foreigners when they arrive in Finland.

Both the authors are well travelled and they bring out their observation powers in their commentary about this lovely country.

I would have preferred the beautiful pictures included in the book to have been in colour, as Finland is such a colourful country, from the radiancy of the weathered old wooden houses, to the green of the forests, the blue of the lakes, and the fashion scene. However, being priced at just Euro 14.90 (in Germany) I think the publishers had to curtail the costs and stuck to black and white!

Chaff participants, Gisela Tauriainen, Kamu Tembo and me, do get a mention in the acknowledgements. I must confess I do not know why I got mentioned!! As far as I know I just enjoyed the conversations I had with two vibrant people who are so full of life and represent the youth of today.

Thank you, Ildikó and Ilari, for such a wonderful book.

P.S.: Believe it or not, I received a young German girl from Oulu Airport on Monday afternoon, Kerstin, who has arrived in Finland to do research in Microbiology at Oulu University, and she was carrying a copy of this great book!

New Series - Optical Illusions 01:

I start a new series to test your mental agility.

If you like the idea, do email me!

Here is a drawing to start with!



Hint: Something I use frequently which accurately describes Bush and Blair!

5 years on his spirit lives on...

Today is 5 years since Annikki's father, Matti Reinikka, passed on.

Matti Reinikka, 1916 - 2001

He was a wonderful man, full of life and full of his faith. He lived his faith in every way. Even though with a weak heart, he physically worked himself to the bone, every single day of his life.

Just yesterday, there was an article on the BBC website Finns open playgrounds for adults

At the Santa Claus Sports Institute in Lapland, a group of elderly Finns leap around on climbing frames, swinging on the swings and bouncing on a see-saw that is more of a people launcher than anything I remember from my days on the playground.

It is the latest Finnish wheeze to get people more active......

Someone like Matti did not need any playgrounds. He was busy from morning to evening, all through his life, doing things, active things, meaningful things, like going to the rubbish dump to collect wood on his little mopo with a trailer attachment, stacking it neatly in the garden all through the year, and then putting the right amount into the cellar, where he used his own creation, his wood splitting machine, using a motor from an old washing machine, to make the wood just the right size to go into the furnace.

He had the house at the right temperature with running hot water, all through the year. No automatic system for him!

In summer he mixed pleasure with essentiality - he would go fishing in a small boat and bring home a sack full of a variety of fish, caught by him. He would sit in the garden and clean the fish. Then he would smoke it in his own designed smoking drum, and then bring some up to us, happy to share his catch with his family members.

He really knew the art of catching fish.


Matti holds his prize catch -
the massive Salmon he caught

He was so happy when this picture of him, holding his best prized catch of the years of fishing, graced the cover of the book written by Annikki and me "Handbook For Survival in Finland". His life was the ideal example of a true survivor! He fought on the front lines right through the wars of the 30s and the 40s, and came through to understand what it is to love your fellow human beings.

Annikki inherited her father's faith and his skills of recycling everything, big or small.

The entire Kampitie garden was created by her out of all the waste materials that lay around the garden. These included the wood, an old cast iron bath tub, and a greenhouse which was on the point of falling down. She took one beam of the construction and created an art piece out of it.


Beam from the old greenhouse
becomes an art centerpiece

Old electric bulbs, aluminium candle holders, old aluminium food trays, nothing gets thrown away, but stored as Annikki develops her ideas and then creates what are most unusual products.


Matti with the women in his life.
Annikki is the second from the right

In Annikki, her art and Matti's recycling genes she has inherited, have become entwined.

The calendar of cakes, which has now encircled the globe, and with appreciation of her "Edible Art" pouring in from all corners of the globe, is just a tiny fraction of an example Annikki's artistic talent.

And to think Annikki does all this while she cares with love and affection for her 85 year old mother on a gruelling 24 hour basis, makes Annikki, in my mind, the most outstanding woman that I have ever known and a tribute to the life of her father. I am proud to be her husband just as I am proud to be the son-in-law of the late Matti Reinikka, a humble carpenter, just like his Master that he followed, faithfully.

Please pray for Dr. Samuel

May I request all of you to say a special prayer for the father of Rana Jacob in Calgary.

Dr. J. Samuel, known to all of us as Sam, is 76, and is not keeping too well in Ernakulam.

Dr. Samuel is the second son of Maliyakal Kurian Jacob, the youngest brother of my grandfather Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan.

Rana is his eldest son and is married to Beena. They live in Calgary, Canada.

Their daughter Nidhi was recently married.

Dr. Samuel had his 3rd heart attack and was in a bad shape last week.

But, the Grace of God was on him and saved his life.

He was in the Amritamiya Hospital and has now been discharged.

Since Dr. Samuel suffers from high BP and is a diabetic, further invasive treatments have now been kept in suspense.

Please join Annikki and me in praying for our uncle to keep him safe, and also for his children, Rana and Reena, in this hour of their need for comfort.

A bit annoying...

I must thank an Indian, Abhay Bulsari from South West Finland, living in the city of Turku, who runs a company called AB Nonlinear Solutions Oy, for pointing out this news item from BBC World 'lukewarm to India's role'.

This is a study of how different countries view other countries.



What drew Abhay's attention was the views of Finns about India. Only 27% of Finns view India positively and 44% view the country negatively.

Luckily, the business community in Finalnd today does not hold this view as there is rapid expansion now of Finnish companies starting to use Indian expertise and also use it as an outsourcing point. Two recruitment centres are expected to be opened in India to bring competent Indian scientific and engineering staff to Finland.

14 years ago this would have been unthinkable. When I first pointed out in the first issue of Findians Briefings, way back in 1992, that Texas Instruments had opened a centre in Bangalore with a direct sattelite link to Houstan, Texas, in 1984, not many Finns thought this was a good idea!

But the history of this bad image goes back much further. In 1975, I had identified Finnish technologies ideally suited for India. I approached a company and also explained to them, as engineering costs in Finland were high, maybe they could work with one of the larger and well established Indian Engineering Consulting companies, to capture the huge Indian market.

I was laughed out of the room - competent Indian Engineering skill?

India got the same technology from a French company.

Another example was when I asked the largest Finnish Sauna manufacturer to quote for the large volume of saunas required by the expanding 5-star hotels opening all over India. I got a negative response. I alerted a Swedish company. For the next 10 years almost every sauna sold in India was from a Swedish manufacturer.

A short while after this happened the Finnish company came running after me as to whether it would be possible to reopen the opportunity as their Brazilian market had suddenly dried up.

Prof. Ajeet Mathur, in his treatise "Finland - India Economic Relations - A Twinning Study of Trade and Investment Potential" published in 1998, pointed out the enormous potential. But again, the Finns have been slow to act and have missed most of the action, thereby not getting much of the deal as other countries capitalised on.

With Amma, Deepak Chopra and a few other leading Indians making waves in Finland, a few films and songs getting shown on Finnish television, the huge advertising campaign of "Incredible India" of BBC World, some inroads of a better perception of India is very slowly taking root amongst the general public.

But the business community realised that they have been losing out. They are desperately trying to expand opportunities in India, as otherwise their international shareholders may start asking uncomfortable questions.

Abhay was of the view that we should alert the Indian Embassy about this.

In my opinion, Finns are the losers if they do not wake up.

So let us not rock the boat.

Oulu Rotary Team in Kottayam

The Rotary Team from the Oulu District met up with Satish Abraham, a cousin of mine, when they were hosted by the Rotary Club of Kottayam.

Here are some great pictures sent to me by Satish. Satish is the one standing on the left in the first picture.

Satish Abraham, Heino Holappa, Katja Kalamäki,
Sini Peltokorpi, Ville Suomi and Kaisu Lehtomaa being hosted
by the Rotary Club of Kottayam at the Sailing Club on the
banks of the Vembanad Lake, Kumarakom

Satish's family owns one of the largest producers of Rubber Latex in India which is used to make thousands of things from rubber balloons, to condoms, footwear, gloves, mattresses, etc. Their company, which carries his family name, Padinjarekara, is a household name all over India.

His late grandmother, Annammakochamma, a wonderful dear lady, was the youngest sister of my grandfather, K. C. Mammen Mappillai. I loved her dearly. Everytime we arrived in our hometown, Kottayam, for a holiday, she would be over in a jiffy to greet all of us. She would invite us over to have a great spread at her home during our stay.


The Oulu Rotary Team boating on the
Vembanad Lake, Kumarakom

Satish has been close with our family for many years. He used to visit our home in Madras when we lived there. His wife, Vimla, is a perfect lady. They make a wonderful couple.

It is wonderful that Vimla's cousin's wife, Smitha, will be coming to Oulu as part of the return visit team. I am sure we at CHAFF would love to have this group spend time at our Sunday Club meeting with us!

Hilja comes home

We brought Hilja home today.

We used the wheelchair and an Invalid Taxi, which is subsidized for her.

To bring Annikki and her home it cost just Euro 2.40, whereas a normal taxi trip would haver cost Euro 21!

Annikki & Hilja waiting for the Invalid Taxi

The taxi has a lift attachment at the back, so Hilja did not have to be taken off the chair. She could be wheeled into the taxi.

The driver, who is experienced in handling wheelchairs, took the wheelchair into the house, with me just giving him a small helping hand.

Hilja does not use the wheelchair in the house, as she can manage with the walker. But to get out of the house or to come in, the wheelchair is now essential.

Hilja is in good spirits and glad to be home again.

Anniki is reenergized by the short holiday and especially by the wonderful messages about her cake designs as the 2006 Calendars are just reaching people around the world.

A picture that Annikki thought exciting

There are many pictures that are captured during a normal winter. But the one below is one that Annikki wanted me to capture.



This is a picture of a sheet of snow sliding off a plastic roof.

It happened because the ambient temperature rose causing the snow to melt at the interface with the plastic and start to slide down, slowly.

But then the temperature obviously went down sharply, freezing the sheet of snow - half slid off the roof.

With the Christmas lights still in place, and untouchable because of the snow sheet, this looks really exciting during the evening sunset.

Great difficulty....

Yesterday evening, Annikki and I had a great deal of difficulty in choosing which restaurant to celebrate our wedding anniversary. With so many friends in the restuarant business, we love the food of the restaurants that we frequent. The Royal Garden, New Bombay, Goreme, Pailin, Flavour Palace, Suola Aito, etc., etc...

Finally, since it was the Chinese New Year eve, the year of the Dog, we decided on Chinese. Annikki chose Michelle and Willy's restaurant, the Royal Garden, as she had not been there for quite a while (see below).

We did not pre-reserve or inform them that we were coming.

We found te restaurant quite quiet. They had a new waitress whom we had not seen before - a Punjabi girl, Ami. Her husband had been looking for a job in Oulu as a bartender, but not finding one had gone to Helsinki. Extremely pleasant girl.

We ordered Peking Soup, frittered chicken, fried beef with extra garlic and ginger, and the frittered banana with ice cream. Having determined that the cook was the Calcutta boy, Francis, we asked him to ensure that the garlic and ginger were a bit more than usual.

Annikki after a very satisfying meal

As we sat waiting for our meal, I just turned my head and saw Philip, Michelle's brother, who lives in a town in mid-Finland, Jyväskylä. It was nice to talk to him not having seen him for quite a while. He had come to celebrate the Chinese New Year with his sister, Michelle, and see his kids, who live with their mother in Oulu.

He told us that Michelle and Willy would be in soon to have the Chinese New Year's meal, and asked whether we would like to join them.

We apologised as we had ordered already. As he is a superb cook, we asked him to supervise the meal we had ordered. (Also, as Annikki does not eat prawns, pork, crab and a few other foods which are traditionally part of a grand Chinese meal, I thought it wiser to stay with the food which we had ordered!)

He, in fact, took the trouble and prepared our meal. It was really good.

As we were eating, Michelle and Willy arrived and asked us to join the Chinese New Year meal with them. We had to cry off as we had a huge meal in front of us.

Michelle sat and talked with us through the meal and gave Annikki some great news. Her youngest daughter, who is presently with her mother and father in Calcutta, would be rejoining the family shortly.

Annikki was thrilled at the news as she was virtually not on talking terms with Michelle when she had left the little baby with the grandparents the last time she had gone to see her parents. She was actually conducting a small boycott - bring back the baby campaign!!

We enjoyed our meal. Michelle offered me some delicious crab which they had made for their own meal. She had also a great tofu/meat cutlet, which Annikki and I tasted - delicious.

It is surprising that such good tasty dishes are not on the regular menu. But they maybe would not be appreciated by the traditional Finnish customer which frequents their restaurant.
'
We had a great evening with great food. Thanks to Philip and Michelle, we had a very enjoyable 39th Wedding Anniversary.

Guess what, I woke up at 10 am

Most of my adult life I have been waking up at hours between 3:30 am and 6:00 am as there are so many things to do and only 24 hours to do it in!

But this morning, our 39th wedding anniversary, I woke up ONLY at 10 am!

Being a Saturday, with both Annikki's mother, Hilja, and son, Mika, away over this weekend, my mind just stayed in slumberland.

I woke up with a feeling of what a great life I have had.

For a moment I even did not care what pResident Bush is doing to his people and the world. I missed my favourite radio programme, Mike Malloy (I will listen to it from the archives).

There have been many ups and downs in our 39 years of marriage, but always on issues outside of the two of us.

We have always been there for each other.

That was the feeling I had when I opened my eyes.

I let Annikki sleep on - she sorely needs the rest.

When I went to bed she was busy looking after the goldfish.

Iitu's morning greeting stretch & roll

We still have not decided which cusine we will choose to celebrate this wedding anniversary.

39 - Lucky Numbers 3 & 9

28th January has been a landmark day for all the last 39 years. 3 and 9 are supposedly my lucky numbers according to many numerologists who have offered their advice to me.

I hold no quarter for palmistry or numerology since 28th January has been a great day from 1 to 38 and 39 is going to be the same.

Annikki and I were married at Shrewsbury St. Mary's Church in 1967, 39 years ago.

And we have a great marriage and we are looking forward to 39 more such great years.



Viewed from our flat, where the only furniture we had was a wine barrel and a bed, is the church where we were married.

My dear wife, 39 years ago.


Myself 39 years ago


Us, 39 years on

Life has been kind on us. We have four great children, two wonderful sons-in-law, and 3 absolutely wonderful grandchildren.

Nothing could make us happier than sharing this wonderful day with all of you.

Former Catholicos Mathews II passes away

KOTTAYAM: The former Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan Baselius Mar Thoma Mathews II passed away on Thursday at the Catholicate Palace here where he was leading a retired life since November last. The end came at 5.20 p.m.

He was 91.

Former Catholicos Baselius Mar Thoma Mathews II


The body of the former Catholicos will be moved to the Old Seminary here, where he was a student of theology, for the laity to pay their homage. Later, it will be moved to Mar Elia Cathedral in the heart of Kottayam town.

According to the official spokesman of the Church, the last journey from Mar Elia Cathedral will begin at 3.30 p.m. on Friday to his final resting place at the Horabe Diara in Sasthamkotta in Kollam district.

The body will be interred in a specially constructed crypt on Saturday morning.

The former head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church stepped down from the high office on October 31 after handing over his crosier to Baselius Mar Thoma Didymus I, citing old age and ill health.

Ever since, he was staying at the Catholicate Palace in Devalokam near here.

He was the sixth Catholicos of the East after the reinstatement of the Catholicate in Malankara in 1912 and the 89th successor to the Holy Apostolic Throne of St. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ.

Born to an agriculturist family as the son of Idikkula and Annamma of Puthusherazhikathu Puthenveedu at Perinad (Kollam district) on January 30, 1915, Mathew had his primary education at a local school and later had his early religious training at the Old Seminary in Kottayam and Basil Diara in Pathanamthitta.

He later joined the Bishop's College in Kolkata for his Bachelor of Divinity programme and had his post-graduation from the General Theological Seminary, New York.

He was ordained as sub-deacon in 1938 by the then Catholicos of the East Baselius Geevarghese II and three years later on May 25, 1941 as a priest of the Orthodox Church.

It was during his stay at the St. George's Diara in Othara, which he helped to build, that he earned a name as a devout and able priest and endeared himself to all who came into contact with him and earning himself the pet name `Angel Achan' (Father Angel).

Under the special interest of the then Catholicos Baselius Geevarghese II, Fr. Mathew, then only 38 years old, was consecrated as Bishop in 1953 with the name Mathews Mar Coorilose, making him one of the youngest bishops in the Christendom.

Mar Coorilose was elected Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan on April 29, 1991 when his predecessor Baselius Mar Thoma Mathews I stepped down.

A widely travelled man, the former Catholicos was respected as a voice of ecumenism and moderation.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman and the former Minister R. Balakrishna Pillai are among those who condoled the demise.

Mar Joseph Powathil, Metropolitan of the Changanassery Archdiocese and chairman of the Inter-Church Council for Education, said the demise of the spiritual leader was a personal loss to him. He had the opportunity to closely enjoy his affection, fraternal relationship and friendship.

His demise will greatly move many members and several non-members of the Church. This highly learned individual has guided many people on the right path to achieve their personal peace with their inner beliefs. I have, at several weddings and other occasions, right from my childhood days, had the chance to talk at length with him. I always found him to be so simple and open-minded on views of living life that one felt very humble in front of him.

Many thanks to Satish Abraham in Kottayam for sending me this information.

60th Birthday of a sister

Annikki and I went visiting today. It was Annikki's sister's 60th birthday.

Aino (pronounced as "I Know") and Annikki set out to see the world together as friends, 44 years ago. It was I that split up the team.

Aino returned to Finland and is now married to a childhood friend, Kauko Kujala.

Aino and husband Kauko

Today, on Aino's 60th birthday, Annikki and I went over in the evening and spent some quality time with her husband and her. They had been expecting us already from mid-afternoon.


Aino on her 60th birthday

The bond between the two sisters is great. They love each other dearly as they had only themselves to depend upon when they went out into the big bad world from a protected Finnish society.

We laughed together today when Annikki and Aino recalled their visit to the London Zoo. They took a photograph of a lion at the zoo, and to their surprise, the lion turned its back on them and peed back at them!

Aino claims she still has the photograph of that incident.

Aino was so happy to share her 60th birthday with the two of us.