Merry Christmas to all our friends

(Cross-posted on the CHAFF Blog.)

It is Christmas morn. Annikki and my email Inboxes are filled with greetings from all corners of the globe.

63er Stephanian Ajay called me on a Skype video link from his farmhouse in Lund, Sweden. (I was able to see him, but as I am still having a problem finding an economic web camera for my Apple Mac, he could not see me!)

Chaff participant Kannan, who is taking his mother on a pilgrimage called us from Kashi, Varnasi, India.

Chaff participant Tingting checked in from her home town in Northeast China where she reported all the shops were open and brimming with customers.

63er Stephanian Aftab Seth (the twin brother of Roshan Seth who acted as Nehru in the movie "Gandhi") from Japan, 66er NCRTer Christie Robert from Malaysia, 60er Cathedralite Mehfooz Ahmed from Saudi Arabia, 62er Ranko Ivancevic from Cerbia, 95er Oulu University Ramesh Devu from Silicone Valley, California, USA; from India - 57er Cathedralite and 61er Stephanian Ashok (Tony) Jaitly (retired Chief Commissioner in Kashmir) from New Delhi, Cathedralite 59ers Viney Sethi and Vijay Shivdasani from Mumbai, cousin Satish Abraham from Kerala, Catheralites 43er Naval and 54er Armaity Patel from Mysore, etc...., from Finland Rotarian Ville Suomi, Women's Empowerist Ildiko Hamos, Chaff participant Pekka Keranen and family, on and on.... were among those who shared their greetings with both Annikki and me.

This made us feel profoundly humble that so many hundreds of you, of every age group, took the time to share your thoughts of the season with us.

On our part, we have made it a tradition to ask a couple of young foreigners who have no family here in Oulu, to join us for our very simple Christmas meal.

Year-before-last it was a young Tanzanian lady, Christine. Last year it was Kannan. This year we called two youngsters, Benjamen Hayes and Kanchan Gupta.



Benjamin is from Australia. He has been here for a few months. He is all what I call Australian, friendly, outgoing, understanding and a lovely human being.

We have a rule in our home that no gifts are exchanged at Christmas. For us, the time for giving is not one day, but the whole year.

Despite this, Benjamin brought me a CD which he cut of some of really best jazz tunes he has collected. Even as I write this I am listening to the CD "Jazz for Jacob". Forever-lasting melodiies, oldies rendered by many great artistes, as George Benson (Eternally) and Diana Krall's "Cry Me A River".

There is beautiful message on the back cover:

"And promise will come
To those whose kindness,
Leaves you without debt,
And bends the shape
Of things to come,
That haven't happened yet."

These are words of the New Zealand pop star Neil Finn, whose career from 1976 till today has been an inspiration to many, including me.

We had also asked Indian newcomer to Oulu, Bihari Kanchan Gupta, to join us. Unfortunately, he went for a walk on the previous day, fell and hurt his hand. He obviously consumed an overdose of pain-killers, which put him to sleep.

When I rang his doorbell to pick him up, and also rang his mobile several times during the course of the evening, he was in deep sleep and dead to the world.

He woke up after our meal was over, just about midnight, telephoned us, apologetic, but sadly, he missed a feast!



Annikki's mother, now 86, was also in a festive mood wearing the elf's hat, as she enjoyed what delicacies that were on offer.

I prepared the turkey. As I was thinking what filling to make, Annikki, as usual, came up with a most humourous and unusal suggestion. We had a box of chicken wings on the shelf. She suggested I stuff the turkey with that.

We laughed our guts out.

I had fun making a new Christmas dish, roast turkey stuffed with chicken wings beautifully flavoured with herbs and light spices carried in plenty of onions!

The meal was fully traditional Finnish in other ways.

The menu: Apple juice and orange juice to accompany Christmas brown bread made with a trace of molasses syrup, pickled herring, salted salmon slices, freshly tossed salad, potato salad, mushroom salad, turnip casserole, carrot casserole, roast potatoes, and, of course, the roast turkey stuffed with chicken wings! Afters were whipped cream with chocolate swiss roll and Annikki's own Christmas cake, full of all the rich dry fruits. Coffee to end the evening.

Mika, had his fill as well. Annikki's brother, who lives as a hermit in the forest, also landed up on the doorstep. Annikki put him to sleep in the cellar. He slept through the meal but enjoyed it later!

It was a true Christmas spirit as Benjamin had a tour around Annikki's garden and enjoyed the humour and simplistic creativity and beauty of what makes us so happy, day-in and day-out!

We finally thanked our Creator and Maker for all the simple things in life which make us so happy.

But, this year we dearly missed our grandchildren, Daniel, Asha and Samuel, who are holidaying in Florida with their parents!

Welcome to a new Indian in Oulu

Fazila was the first AISEC trainee that came here during our time. She became a fast family friend. Tanya was the next. She seems to have vanished into the billion plus in India.

Now we have a new arrival, Kanchan Gupta.

I met up with him a few weeks ago at the International Festival. But I lost his contact and was hoping he would check in.

I was happy when he called me. We met up a couple of times during the last week as he settles in to life in Oulu.

Kanchan is from Bihar and has also lived in Bangalore.



Welcome Kanchan and have a great time in Oulu.

Annikki and I had a chuckle today morning

The main headline in today's local newspaper was how Finland expects to get 100,000 tourists from India next year.

Knowing how the Finnish Embassy has been handling genuine business visitors from India in issuing them visas, asking them for all sorts of guarantees, banks statements, and other proof that they are not trying to come in settle in their "land of milk and honey", I think the Finnish Embassy will have to increase its staff a hundred fold if they hope to achieve even a tenth of this projection.

Quoting from the first page of our (authored by Annikki and me) book "Handbook for Survival in Finland" published in 1994:

The half-witted comment by a TV announcer describing the Ambassadors attending the reception at the Presidential Palace in December 1992 to celebrate 75 years of Finnish Independence typifies the ignoramus attitude prevailing among some sections of the population. The proud Finn had the audacity to say the Ambassadors must count themselves to be "Lotto Winners" to be posted to this great land. He would be shocked if he had heard what some Ambassadors have said about their experiences in his country.

Further, one Indian like me has been more than enough for the Finns. What if another 100 like me turn up and start asking embarrassing questions?

The Finns will go crazy!

It was only a few years ago that the Finns were talking disparagingly about the "poverty-ridden" India. India was depicted in all the school text books in Finnish schools with cows wandering aimlessly on the streets of big cities!

Former Finnish President Matti Ahtisaari was most insulting about India and its intention not to sign up to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty during one of his visits to India.

Isn't it interesting that just now the US has withdrawn its restrictions on transfer of nuclear technology to India!

The wheel has spun, and spun far from where the Finns thought it would end. They desperately want to be liked by the Chinese and the Indians as they try to get into their bulging pocketbooks!

Another intersting news item from Finland today was about Heikki Kovalainen being chosen to drive for Renault in the next season's Formula 1.

Short Biography of Heikki Kovalainen (from the BBC website)
Born: Suomussalmi, Finland, 19/10/81
Started racing: 1987
2000: Elf Masters karting champion
2001: Formula Renault UK, fourth overall, two wins
2002: Joins Renault driver development programme; five wins in British Formula Three
2004: Nissan World Series champion
2005: GP2 runner-up
2006: Renault F1 test and reserve driver

With Kimi Raikkonen driving for Ferrari, the arrival of this exciting young Finnish driver on the Formula 1 scene is going to be a great boost to race driving in Finland, already one of the most followed sports here.

Absent for almost 11 days

Thanks for all the concern - Annikki and I are quite well.

Both of us have been extremely busy.

I was helping my former school friends, the Mumbai Cathedral School Class of 56 (I am from the Class of 59) to put up their report about their 50th Year Reunion and processed close to 200 photographs and created a 2 hour online slide show for them.

Annikki and me strolling through a park in Rauma.
(Photo by Kannan.)

Oulu is sizzling at the moment. One wonders where winter has vanished. temperatures are in the +3 to +5 C range and with just 12 days to Christmas there is no snow on the ground. The days are dark as without snow the whole landscape becomes dark in the early evening. But just think, in 10 days the days will start getting longer!

Annikki's mother is in the Old People's Home for the interval care. Annikki is enjoying a much needed rest (if she can!). She has also been doing some spring cleaning and we are reducing the junk at home. I have taken a lot of stuff to the Flea Market and every day we have a few loads to put there. Today I will put a lot of old magazines up for sale.

More in a couple of days. Some exciting news may be in the pipeline.

How do they get your money?

After I posted my last blog entry, many of you have asked how these fraudsters get the money out of you when they are offering you money.

Over the years I have researched this very carefully.

I found that they use several techniques.

But, you have to be a real idiot, filled with greed, be in so serious financial difficulties, or believe that God has magically appeared in your life, to be tricked into parting with your money.

And I have met all these types during my time of investigating these fraudsters.

I give below one typical example which the fraudsters use.

These fraudsters work in groups. Sometimes they operate from several locations around the world. The most used method is to string you along with correspondence so as get your confidence you are working with very very senior officers in companies, politicians relatives, banks, lawyers. They show you offices and access in different parts of the world (all bogus).

As they continue the correspondence, they finally offer you several alternatives to get the golden jackpot. To get it, they say that they can transfer the money to any place that you want or that they can send someone with the money to a suitable location, etc.

In each of these cases there are expenses, such as filling out a particular authorisation form that will allow them to transfer the money or providing the money to cover the travel costs of the individual who will carry the money to you, cover the insurance, etc.

Most often used is the need to complete a specific FORM. This FORM X will only be available when you purchase it from the "BANK" which is a bogus BANK. You will be dealing with te "Financial Controller" of this BANK.

The FORM may cost anywhere between Euro 5000 to Euro 20000, depending on how much of a sucker they think you are.

Or the travel bill is usually upto about Euro 10000 to bring you the money.

Once you part with this money, the whole operation vanishes into THIN AIR.

There are several other techniques used by the fraudstaers, and if you are interested, do email me and I can let you have them by return.

But above all, it is GREED that drives people to continue cooperation with these fraudsters. And I think it is best to let those who lose money to suffer their loss!

These fraudsters are dangerous people. Do not fool around with them as they usually have all your sensitive information. You can be compromised in several ways.

BE WARNED.

Watch out! Now angle by fraudsters

I was one of the very first to expose the work of the Nigerian Fraudsters who used to contact people by phone and fax.

See my article of 1996 Missile of Black Gold.

They then spread their tentacles to the internet and email.

There have been many new angles used by them, but this is the first time I came across this one:

Barrister Peter Morgan (Esq.)
Of Peter & Morgan Chambers
16 Norman Williams Street Ikoyi
Lagos Nigeria.
Email Address: peter_morgan1@hotmail.com
Tell +234-1-819-7854
From: Barr. Peter Morgan.

ATTN: Jacob Matthan

I am Barr. Peter Morgan An Attorney at Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I am the personal Attorney to Engr. James E. Matthan, An American by Birth, who used to work with Shell Development Company in Nigeria. Here in after shall be referred to as my Client. On the 21st of April 2001, my client, his wife and their three Children were involved in a fatal car Accident along Shagamu Express Road. All occupants of the vehicle Unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several inquires to your Embassy to locate any of my clients extended Relatives this has also proved unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to track his last Name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.

I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where these huge deposits were lodged. Particularly, the Security Company Where the deceased had an account valued at about (US$10.5m) Ten Million Five Hundred United States Dollars.

The Bank Has issued me a notice to provide the Next of Kin or have the Account confiscated within the next 21 working days. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 8 months now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you have the same last name so That the proceeds of this account valued at (US$10.5M) Ten Million Five Hundred United States Dollars.can be paid to you and then you and I can share the money, all Necessary legal documents will be in place that can be used to back up any Claim we may make.

All I require is your honest Cooperation to enable us seeing this deal through.I Guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please do get in touch with me through this mailbox: peter_morgan1@hotmail.com for more details, once I have your consent and trust then we can proceed immediately.

Call me on my Telephone number if you have any question regarding this transaction. Tell +234-1-819-7854.

Your anticipated response is urgently needed.

Yours Truly,

Barrister Peter Morgan (Esq.)

The special reference to someone with the same surname is a completely new approach. SO BE WARNED.

Thank you 56ers!

(Cross-posted on all my major personal and alma mater blogs. This is a tribute I received for concerned blogging.)

Monday, November 27, 2006

(Click images to see enlarged version.)

Dear Class of 56,


Editorial page from Class of 1956 Directory, 2006.

To quote from the editorial page of your Class Directory:

“To Jacob Matthan go immense thanks for the support of his blogsite and his indefatigable research.”

Thank you, Meena, for writing these words which will be remembered by my children and grandchildren for another 50 years at least, even though none of them had the opportunity to be Cathedralites.

I do hope that I have instilled some of the “education” that I received from my glorious alma mater to these two generations of my immediate family.

You 56ers have made today of my most wonderful days of my life.

Courier Post this evening brought me the Class Directory and two absolutely precious Tee-Shirts.


Cover of 1956 Class Directory, 2006.

I offered one to my better half, but she said that they were for me.


Annikki & me, Rauma, 2006 October.

Of course, she told me not to wear it as I usually do, as I am, at this tender age of 63, in the habit of spilling my tea all over the front onto my large paunchy area.

When Ubi forwarded me the Reunion Report, my eyes were moist with the tears of joy and sorrow that welled in me. I was especially moved by the news of how Muku, another one of my heroes, came to the reunion get-together. His CV in the Directory explained to me the character of a man I admired in school.

I especially remember when young Aditya Malkani read about his father on my Seventh Heaven website (April 2001), well before it was made into a blog.

From: "Aditya Malkani"

Subject: Re: Picture Champion House 1953

Mr Mathan,

It was great to recieve your email.

I went to your very impressive web site and saw the picture from 53.

I almost had tears coming out of my eyes looking at pictures of my dad and reading about names that i had heard him mention so often.

I am currently a third year in Oberlin college and i will be graduating in may of 2002.

I have several school pictures from around 1956 that my father kept in good condition, if you like i can scan them and send them to you when i return to Bombay in July.

I wish in thirty years from now our graduating class of '98..manages to keep in touch, the way yours has.

Thank you ever so much for allowing me to learn more about my father's younger days.

aditya malkani

When Doreen discovered me and entered into a beautiful relationship, I have enjoyed every moment learning about her life and her family.

And when Ubi entered into my life via the blog, I was so thrilled to be in touch again with someone so immensely dedicated to the school, that it was my greatest pleasure to fulfil his every desire towards making your reunion a success.

And from all the accounts that I have received, it was.

When I received the Directory and turned open the cover and found the mention of ME in the editorial, Annikki and i were so overjoyed that we have still not stopped talking about it.

I explained to her about so many of the personages contained therein, many of you whom i remember so vividly.

Ubi was my hero, but that does not detract from the enormous respect I hold for so many of you who used to be willing to give time to us kids to help us.

What I learnt from many of you is what i practice on my blog.

I do hope that as many of you will send me photographs and details to share with over 3000 Cathedralites from 1945 to 2006 who tune in to this blog faithfully to see what YOU have to say.

I hope that you will allow me to be part of your 60th Reunion!

Thank you 56ers.

Jacob Matthan
Kampitie 6 B
90150 Oulu
Finland
Tel: 041 - 7067788
email: jmatthan@gmail.com

All complaints listened to

Starting with daughter Joanna in Newcastle, and going around the globe, there have been complaints about the photo quality on my blogs. So I borrowed a camera from Pailin and have taken some shots of the snow creations of Annikki this winter, and just in time.

The warm rains of today may wipe out her work by tomorrow morning.









The Laplander and the Kota (Finnish Laplander's Wigwam) are truly outstanding creations.







The boat and the lighthouse are also fascinating. The candle lights look glorious in the night in this garden. Annikki has a clear mind as to where each candle and lamp should be.







The melting snow has a way of twisting, as can be seen from this shot of the snow on the bridge arm.



Iitu, our 15 year old cat, was most intrigued to know why the two of us were in the cold winter garden and came out to draw our attention - she climbed the Thai pergola leg in desperation to make us notice her.








The berry tree was in a fascinating state with snow and icicles. The snow covered tree against the night sky was a great sight.

Annikki may not have much time for the next month to create any new snow artworks, but expect to see some more later on during this winter.

Annikki still in creation mode

When I got back last night I was in splits of laughter as Annikki had created a Lappish snowman (hilarious), and a Finnish Laplanders wigwam in snow, called as a kota.

Sorry about the quality of the photographs.





She in in THE MOOD. More to come folks!

REUNIONS?

(Cross-posted on my Seventh Heaven Blog.)

The Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School Founders Day programme will take place on the 14th of November and several class reunions will take place. (I have been especially involved with the 50 Year Reunion of 56ers, and may I wish them all a very very happy reunion!)

I am hoping that the Reunion Reports will be sent to me so that I can blog them.

This last week, I went through a reunion after 47 years, when Narayan Acharya (née Seshachar) took the trouble and made the time to visit me at this Arctic location. Ooky (Elijah Elias) is the only other classmate who has visited me here.

It was wonderful to establish a one-to-one reunion with Narayan.

Narayan joined school only in the 10th Standard and so was not a full-blown Cathedralite. He came from a great school run by American Jesuit priests in Jamshedpur, so Cathedral was not the "cat's whiskers" for him.

He made a few friends. He lived so far away from school, at Khar, that he could not take part in all the extracurricular activities which were part of our enjoyment of school.

But, as I remember, Narayan's entry to our class had a profound effect on the top echelon as he was a brilliant student, topping almost in every subject. His brilliance really shone when he topped the entrance exam to the Indian Institute of Technologies a little later in his life.

His likes and dislikes were based on his short exposure to the school, and were quite different from mine.

Our week together was really great as we exchanged opinions, agreed on many subjects and disagreed on many. We shouted at each other and on one occasion, when we had dinner at an Indian Restaurant, and we were the only customers late in the evening, we went at each other with hammer and tongs. It was great as it showed our Cathedralite upbringing in that we could argue on issues and not take offence!

This is something a Class Reunion does not accomplish. I have attended our class reunions in 1989 and 1999, and they were great events. (I do wish Shivi (Vijay Shivdasani) would send me the video and snaps from the second event!)

But there was no possibility to get to know each other as I got to know Narayan during his visit.

He went with Annikki and me to the Loy Krathong Festival, he saw the sights of Oulu as only I know how to show them, he met many of my friends, my adopted children (that is those who have adopted Annikki and me), and he even had dinner and listened to a lecture about Australia and the English Club of Oulu.

Like me, Narayan is a Jonah and Murphy’s Law follows him everywhere. His trip to Oulu was eventful with a series of mishaps, so much so that I went to the Railway Station several times and could not find him, till he finally found a landline phone to ring me. Most public phones in Oulu are dead as almost everyone has a mobile!

Narayan, for all his brilliance, has stayed away from new electronic gadgetry.

When I invited him here, I did not expect that Oulu would be anywhere near wintry conditions, but a few days before he arrived, we were hit by a blizzard and the temperature dropped sharply, so much so it appeared to be already mid winter. Narayan coped rather well in these conditions. I did feel sorry for having dragged him here under false pretenses.

He was able to see Annikki's Winter Garden.



This year we have a long boat - several metres long, and a lighthouse in front of our Thai Pergola! (More creations will appear shortly!)

Even before we both realised it, the visit was over and he took the train to Turku to catch the ferry to Stockholm, the train across Sweden to Malmö, the crossing to Copenhagen in Denmark, and the long journey from there to Frankfurt to take the flight to Philadelphia.



Thank you Narayan for coming and sharing your time with me.

Winter grips Oulu early

(Cross-posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog.)

Last Thursday we were hit by a blizard. As it ws still October, Annikki held out saying it was still autumn and this was something known as autumn-winter. She recalled having experienced snow in Oulu as early as the 1st of September.

It took me about half an hour to drive the 2 km from the City Centre to our home.

Come 1st November, Annikki announced that it was now winter, and the snow all around was sufficient proof to anyone that we were right in the middle of winter.

The tree in our garden was covered with berries. (I must apologise for the quality of the pictures taken with our crummy camera.)



Above is a picture of the berry tree against a dark night sky pre snowfall.





And here, above, are a couple of snaps the same berry tree after our blizzard a day later.

In real life it looks great to see the beautiful red berries being preserved with a thick layer of snow!

I invited a Mumbai Cathedralite classmate, whom I had not seen for 47 years, to visit me in Oulu on his way back from Bangalore to Philadelphia.

Narayan Acharya was known as Seshachar when he was in school. He joined school in the middle of our 10th Standard, and hence did not find friends easy to come by. But he was a really brilliant student and topped our class in almost every subject. (The last fact I did remember about Narayan was that when he sat for the entrance exam to the Indian Institute of Technolgies, he topped the list of several thousands who sat for that exam.)

A few years ago, when I was searching for classmates, I found someone by the name of Narayan Acharya, as I had been told that Seshachar had changed his name to this. So I emailed the gentleman. I found Seshachar's cousin who goes by the same name. Through him I got our Narayan onto our class mailing list.

After a rather eventful journey, as Narayan seems to be like me as far as travel is concerned (we both are living proof of the truth of Murphy's law), Narayan reached Oulu safely last night.

We have been catching up on our intervening years.

It has been a bit here, there and everywhere, but it has been really great meeting up with him.

But I digress.

When I invited Narayan I told him not to be worried about the cold, as November is usually not that cold. When he landed here yesterday the temperature was around -11 C.

He is going to experience one of our coldest Novembers.

Those who remember Narayan will think of him as being a small chubby person. He is now a handsome gentleman, standing quite tall.

I will have a picture of him in a couple of days, and hopefully, one of the two of us together.

Article about CHAFF in 65 Degrees North

(Cross-posted on the CHAFF Blog.)

An article about CHAFF has appeared on the front page of 65 Degrees North.

The location may change so the above link is only temporary.

An old friend checks in

Yesterday I received an email from a very old friend:

Dear Sushil,

It was such a pleasant surprise coming across your blog. A brother of mine happened to see the portion about St. Joseph's and hockey (January, 2005 issue)and suggested that I look it up. I was happy reading it but there was a tinge of sadness as well while going through the part about Kunjumon. He was such a fine person.

Now I'm going through the other postings on your site. They make interesting reading. I must congratulate you on the presentation and the language. You write really well. I am also impressed with the list of your publications and other career highlights.

The last time we met, I think was at Grand Hotel, Ernakulam where you had come for some meeting, decades ago. I was unaware that you had settled down in Finland. Otherwise, I would have loved to look you up while in Sweden some years back on work.

Your family is familiar from the postings in the blog.

If you have the contact details of Atul Shenoy and any of the St. Joseph's hostel inmates during my time there, 1951-55, please pass them on to me.

Will you kindly drop a line in reply?

Regards to you and family.

Sincerely,

Abraham Tharakan.

Abe was my dear friend in 1952-1953 when I was just 10 years old. He was a college student who lived in the hostel across the road from us in Bangalore. He was s superb hockey goalkeeper and that was why I became a goalkeeper in my life in Bombay and then Delhi.



Today, I remember my sister, Nalini, who passed away 46 years ago.

Well that is life.

My 80 year old Physics teacher sent me this

(Cross-posted on the Oulu CHAFF Blog, on the The Cathedral School Seventh Heaven Blog and the St. Stephen's Kooler Talk Blog.)



Willie Shiri lives with his wife Pushpa in Canada. He taught me Physics in the late 50s in Mumbai, for which I am ever grateful. We discovered each other on the internet a few years ago, and besides Physics, he continues to inspire me on many fronts.

This is a story he sent me. It cheered me up as I set out to launch our Chaff Help Fund. This story is not true but the message it conveys is very valuable and helps me to focus on little things that make differences in the lives of people around me.

Subject: MIRACLE

A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet..

She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.

Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.

She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good.. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!

"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to his question.

"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick... and I want to buy a miracle."

" I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.

" His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?"


"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little.

"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs."

The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?"

" I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money."

" How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago.

"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audibly.

"And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.."

"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents---the exact price of a miracle for little brothers. "

He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the miracle you need."

That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well.

Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.

That surgery," her Mom whispered. "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?"

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost...one dollar and eleven cents .... plus the faith of a little child.

In our lives, we never know how many miracles we will need..

A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law.. I know you'll keep the ball moving!

Here it goes. Throw it back to someone who means something to you!

A ball is a circle, no beginning, no end. It keeps us together like our Circle of Friends. But the treasure inside for you to see is the treasure of friendship you've granted to me.

Today I pass the friendship ball to you.

Pass it on to someone who is a friend to you.

MY OATH TO YOU...

When you are sad.....I will dry your tears.
When you are scared.....I will comfort your fears.
When you are worried.....I will give you hope.
When you are confused....I will help you cope.
And when you are lost...And can't see the light, I shall be your
beacon.....Shining ever so bright.
This is my oath.....I pledge till the end.
Why you may ask?.....Because you're my friend.

Signed: GOD

Yes, many of us at CHAFF know how much miracles cost, so your small contribution to the CHAFF Help Fund, however small, could certainly do miracles for many many people.

Last week at the meeting one retired CHAFF participant gave me 100 Swedish Kroner (Euro 11) as his contribution. It was a wonderful feeling when I accepted this contribution to CHAFF to help someone, somewhere and at sometime.

A very special person

My cousin, Mohanchayan, (JM: The sufix -chayan is one we use to address elders as a mark of respect) is a surgeon, a brilliant one at that.

Mohanchayan with his wife Shantakochamma
at wedding in England in April 2005.
(Photo from our daughter's blog called as Su's Billinghay Blog.)

I remember one day in Bangalore that he was called to a hotel where two of the people in the kitchen had a fight. One brandished a knife and cut open the stomach of the other. When Mohanchayan arrived there was no time to take the man to the hospital and he performed the operation on the floor of the hotel and saved the man's life.

Mohanchayan is so well revered that people from all over the State of Karnataka come to see him. He treats the poor for free and he requests the patients who are better off to support these actrivities by giving donation of medical supplies to help the poor patients.

He has also been our family physician for all of us and we called him all corners of the country to have his advice whenever we or our children felt ill. He had a way with children who knew him as a person rather than as a doctor and felt safe and sound in his arms.

A couple of weeks ago Annikki and I sent birthday greetings for his wife, Shantakochamma (JM: Like the suffix -chayan, -kochamma is used for ladies), who like her husband is a truly wonderful person. I received this reply from him a few days ago. Just remember Mohanchayan will be 75 next January!

Hi Annikki and Sushil!

Nice of you to send a birthday message.

Shanta's birthday was on Wednesday and the children planned to give her a surprise package of a holiday in Singapore. They made all arrangements for us and sprang the surprise on her on Sunday noon.
.
While I was in the hospital making rounds earlier that Sunday morning I felt a pain in my chest (not in the front but the back) which moved like a description of a classical heart attack.

I quicky finished and walked down to my room and lay down. The pain became unbearable and and I had my Pulse and Blood Pressure taken. As they were as normal, as always, I tried to make light of it and got up to go home but could not make it to the car so I returned and asked to know if there was an internist.

As it turned out there was one. He came and checked me and told there was no cause for alarm. I found the pain was wearing off and he left. After 10 mins I was much better and, therefore, went to the car to go home.

The pain hit again. I returned and asked the doctor to come back which he did and took a cardiogram which looked just like the one he had done 4 days earlier for my travel insurance.

He gave me a pain killer and coincidentally the pain went off.

I went home feeling fine. I found the children there and they were waiting for me to spring the surprise on Shanta. They wanted to take us out to lunch but Shanta, who was nursing a bad cold for a few days, decided to skip the lunch out so that she can rest and be ready to take the flight on Wednesday.

After lunch I was working in the garden repotting. I felt pain coming back, so got into bed and called the doctor to say that I felt as if I was having a heart attack. He reassured me that it was not one and probably I was anxious about travelling. He knew I could not think of going out of India and was probably having a panic attack.

Reassured, I stayed in bed and fell asleep.

Monday I did a full days work of operations and after lunch completed the repotting and was well all day and night. Tuesday also I was ok till immediately after lunch and the pain hit again. I took a sedative and went back to the Hospital feeling fine, as I had posted an emergency operation for the evening at 4 pm.

As luck would have it I found my old friend with whom we had started the hospital in the late 60s. We are the two who have survived of our group. I just went into his room and told him of whatt had happened on Sunday and again earlier on in the day.

He listed carefully and said "You silly fool, you have had an heart attack go immediately to a cardiologist. I don't want an cardiogram to tell me."

He picked up the phone, called one made an urgent appointment and he even told him which vessel he suspected was Blocked!

As I was absolutely ok and it was time for the surgery I completed the operation and at 5 pm, Anna (JM: his daughter) took me from the operation theater to the Cardiologist. He did all sorts of fancy tests and actually showed me on his computer where my dead heart muscle was.

He took me into the ICU and at 8.30 pm Tuesday evening and he undid the block, put in two stents, all in 30 mins and me fully awake watching it following the catheters going into my heart and doing the job!

He discharged me Friday and I am home with no restrictions. Saturday and Sunday I took rest at home and am working from Monday!

I am feeling no pain I am working as usual and today he checked me and has started with drawing down my drugs.

The Miracle of Modern Science and Technology.

So Shanta's Birthday was in the hospital with me! She insists it was the best Birthday present she has had for if things had not gone on as it did I would probably have died on the plane and not been recovering in the ICU.

I cannot understand what God is saving me for! I have lived a full and useful life have been able to bring up a family and now see my two grand children. All doing what I enjoy doing, surgery.

Love

Mohan and Shanta

Our reply to Mohanchayan was quite simple:

Dearest Mohanchayan,

What a truly amazing incident.

We all want you well and around us for many a year. Just as you, Ammnikochamma (JM: My cousin who is a Physician and now aged 77) and Bapukuttychayan (JM: My cousin who is Pediatrician and now aged 76) have cared for all of us over such a long period of time.

That is why God is looking after all of you as each one of you are in the prayers of each one of us every single day.

Annikki & Sushil

Thank God for people like Mohanchayan whom God has looked after all the years so as he could perform God's work of saving lives.

Yes, he is to me and many thousands of his former patients, a very very special person.

All Those Lies

This is a great video. I and millions of others have known the lies for many many years. And now with 600000 innocent Iraqis dead, double what Saddam killed over 24 years, we know what this American regime is capable of!

I went to a football match

I took time off today to go to a football match today - AC Oulu against a team from Helsinki called Atlantis.

This was a crucial match for both teams. If AC Oulu held on for a draw they would get promoted to the top football league in Finland. Atlantis needed to win to be able to get there instead of AC Oulu.

I had intended to go, as Soda was going and he was going to be a ball boy. Yut was also wanting to go. As a pensioner I would have to pay Euro 5 for my entry and Yut would also have to pay Euro 5 as a student to get in.

I went home to get some warm clothes on. As I was checking my email, my private phone rang. It was Christian Thibault, my German friend from Helsinki. He said he was travelling by coach along with the supporters of the Atlantis team, they were 50 km away from Oulu, and asked whether I would be attending the match.

I said I would. I asked him to get me a couple of free passes for Yut and me. He said he would organise that.

We reached the ground, and it was filling up fast.

The Oulu crowd poured in.

It seemed as all the football lovers of Oulu, over 4700 of them had decided to turn up to witness this match.


The teams warm up.

The supporter strength of Atlantis was just 20! So I decided to stand with Atlantis and dragged poor Yut to play the drums for the Atlantis side. I had a wolf whistle to blow in tune with the drums and bells.

We met a young Chinese friend, Kevin, at the field. When I asked him why he was here, he told me he was reporting live on this game to China as it was listed in the betting sheets there!

An Oulu game on the betting sheets in China?


Johnny, a great footballer during his time had
travelled to Oulu with the Atlantis side.

Many many Oulu friends were at the game. They were astounded to see ME standing with the Helsinki side supporters. A supporter of Oulu Football for over a decade and a half and I was siding with the opponents!


Christian, the big guy playing the pipe and Yut,
playing the drums (not visible) were among the lonely
but quite loud 22 Atlantis supporters mingled amongst
4700 Oulu supporters!

The game was rather one-sided as Oulu were a class better on this day. They won 2- 0 without too much hassle. The Atlantis side played a lousy first half till they changed a couple of players. Then they started to play better. they missed a couple of sitters, while Oulu converted two of their chances. Oulu was well on top by then.

I was glad as I was well clad, but my feet froze. Although the temperature was just around -1 C, when you stand around, then you get chilled. If you are constantly moving, then you do not feel the cold. I was glad that Annikki had made me put on my woolies. Wished she had checked my socks and shoes also!

The Lady Blogger from Baghdad...

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Politics Blog.)

makes me want to cry. She has been off-line for a long long time. On October 18the she came back on line with a posting The Lancet Study... .

Among the many important statements she makes, two stand out.

"For American politicians and military personnel, playing dumb and talking about numbers of bodies in morgues and official statistics, etc, seems to be the latest tactic. But as any Iraqi knows, not every death is being reported. As for getting reliable numbers from the Ministry of Health or any other official Iraqi institution, that's about as probable as getting a coherent, grammatically correct sentence from George Bush- especially after the ministry was banned from giving out correct mortality numbers...."

The statement about Bush and a grammatically correct sentence reflects clearly on the mental capacity of Americans. If he was "elected" once, we could point to "Bush Supporters". But to be "elected" twice labels "all Americans" as being irresponsible.

She adds:

"Let's pretend the 600,000+ number is all wrong and that the minimum is the correct number: nearly 400,000. Is that better? Prior to the war, the Bush administration kept claiming that Saddam killed 300,000 Iraqis over 24 years. After this latest report published in The Lancet, 300,000 is looking quite modest and tame. Congratulations Bush et al."

What are we in this world waiting for?

Do we want Bush to reach the figures of genocide that Hitler achieved before we do something to get rid of this despotic tyrant?

Our "irresponsible" Americans seem unable to do this and many on both sides of the political spectrum even cheer him on while he does his antics of destabilising OUR WORLD.

First video uploaded by me

(Cross -posted on the CHAFF Blog.)

Last Saturday, October 14th 2006 was the International Market in Oulu.

The Thai Community had a great show.

It was filmed by Juha Koskela and the video was edited by Unnop Khungrai. (They gave me a mention as the last line, though I do not know what I did to deserve that mention.)

If you want to watch this video, (it is the first video that I have uploaded) you will find it at this link. The video is about 37 minutes in length.

International Festival in Oulu

Also in the video is a Turkish Song by Hilmi and a dance by some Oulu Residents from Eritrea.

(Cross -posted on the CHAFF Blog.)

Going round in a circle?

People often ask me why I keep so much rubbish (?) in my room. Files and files of old junk (?).

Maybe this incident will explain why - although I would like to get rid of the all this useless (?) paper.

This evening I received a call from a lady, an Indian Citizen who lives in mid Finland, who is married to a Finn and has a daughter, who is also a Finnish citizen. They are planning a visit to India and was wondering about how long it would take to get visas for her husband and her daughter, aged 15.

I asked her why she did not have an Indian passport for her daughter. She replied that the Indian Embassy in Finland had told her that it was not possible to issue her with an Indian Passport and that dual nationality was not permitted.

The Embassy is certainly wrong about dual nationality, as it is permitted, but in case of her daughter, they are doubly wrong.

The following case will explain the correct position (hopefully?).

When Annikki and I arrived in Finland we found that our two Indian children would be denied their legal social benefits if they only held onto their Indian nationality. So Annikki, as their mother, who is a Finn, applied for Finnish nationality for these children.

They were granted Finnish nationality after a short wait. But within a short time of their nationality being granted, as the Finnish Gazette published this information, I received this letter from the Indian Embassy. (They were certainly following what Indians in Finland ARE UP TO!)

Letter from Indian Embassy.

I do not readily have access to the letter I wrote to the President of India, who at that time was Zail Singh.

In my usual persuasive language (you are all so familiar with) I told him that our two children were minors, that I wanted them to retain their Indian Nationality, while their Finnish mother wanted them to have Finnish nationality. In a symbol of defiance, I returned the Passports directly to him by Registered Post and copy of the Registration card, duly received by him, which was returned to me, is shown below.


Registration Card Side 1.


Registration Card Side 2.

I also sent copies to the Embassy of India in Helsinki, Finland and also to Prime Minister of India, who at that time happened to be Rajiv Gandhi.

I received a written reply from the Office of the President of India, who immediately forwarded the matter to the correct section in the Ministry of External Affairs.


Letter from the Office of the President of India.

On receipt of the copy of my letter addressed to the President, the Embassy of India immediately realised they had goofed. They quickly tried to correct the situation. It is not often that someone stands up to bureaucratic incompetence - and they realised that I was not playing any games with them.


Indian Embassy realises its mistake.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister's Office made their decision without any reference to the correct authorities.


Reply from the Office of the Prime Minister of India without reference to the competent authority.

Within a few weeks the Ministry of External Affairs gave their correct verdict which allowed our minor children to hold dual nationality.


Letter from the Ministry of External Affairs.

The Prime Minister's Office, however, showed their incompetence, as they did not refer to the correct authorities but continued to tell me that the kids could not hold dual nationality.


Letter from the Office of the Prime Minister.

But, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of India in Helsinki quickly put the Office of the Prime Minister right and they were forced to issue me with an apology!!


Apology(?) from the Office of the Prime Minister.

As a result of this incident, the then Ambassador, His Excellency K. P. Fabian, became a good friend and has remained one till today.

Annikki and I were able to help him out on a couple of sticky occasions about India and the Finnish media.


His Excellency K. P. Fabian, Indian Ambassador to Finland,
visited the Microelectronics Laboratory in the University of Oulu
- I am on the extreme left and Fabian is on the extreme right.
The Dean of the Technical Faculty is seen and my colleague,
Professor Leppävuori has his back to the camera.

His Excellency K. P. Fabian, Indian Ambassador to Finland, visited the University of Oulu as my guest where he gave a wonderful speech on the "North South Dialogue" which is published in my hit (and the most pirated book of 1994) book of 1994 "Seven Years Hard Labour in a Finnish Holiday Camp - A Finnish University".

The position today is a little different as not only children, but those who acquire another nationality by virtue of domicile, can retain their Indian nationality. (There are certain special circumstances, such as citizens of an enemy state, where this does not apply, but in all normal cases, the dual nationality is available.)

Not only that, spouses of an Indian nationals can acquire Persons on Indian Origin (PIO) status, which eliminates the need for a visa when they travel to India. However, I am not exactly sure of this issue, so please check it out with the correct authorities and do correct me if I am wrong.