Artist creation detail

If you now go around the Vesaisentie garden, which last year was one long green lawn, one seems a transformation with the hand of a creator.

Annikki is meticulous in whatever she does. She works till two or three in the morning to get things exactly right.

When I walk around the garden I notice nothing initially. Then, as I take out my camera, I start to notice the incredible amount of detailed thought she has put into every nook and corner of the garden

I am no professional photographer. If one were to go around the garden, what I have depicted below ametueurishly, would been given a new meaning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you for giving me such a beautiful garden to get rid of my tensions! And thanks to Christian for so many lovely additions into the garden.

What do you do?

Have you ever received a post like this:

Hello,

My name is XXXXXX XXXXXX. I am 23 years old (Vig), Single, Native of American, Caucasian, Heterosexual, Female, 5\'11\" (149cm), 105lbs (47kg), located in XXXXXX, XXXXXX, United States. Christian by religion.

I'm a full time Student and I'm majoring in marketing and getting a minor in International financing.

My body style is average weight I am physically active, I never smoke and drink.

I am the only girl in the family of three children, am the second child. My father and mother are still alive. My father is 55 years old, why my mother is 48 My elder brother is 26 and younger brother is 20. Get in touch at
xxxxxxx.xxxxx@yahoo.com
With Love,
XXXXXX XXXXXX

When we were children we used to write to pen pals around the world, using the traditional pen and paper. I used to wait for the replies. 2 in 3 would reply. My parents used to encourage writing to penpals as it kept us busy on a Saturday morning.

Growing up in that era, what does one do now when one receives what seems to be a genuine email-pal request?

Being 66, with many hundreds of email friends on the internet, such requests will find their way into the trash can. Unless there is a personal introduction, a common interest as a hobby, this would be a waste of time.

But yet it could be a desperate cry for help from across the Atlantic.

Sadly, I am having to take a pass on this person.

What is your opinion on such emails?

Being missed by some

(Posted on all my major blogs.)

Approaching sunset in Oulu, Finland at 10 pm on a lovely summer's day.




After I crushed my knuckle and went through the trauma of an operation, Finnish style, which I will blog after I get out of the hands of the doctors, I have tried to keep up with my schedules, but not with much success. Typing, driving and doing just simple tasks as taking of my jacket or putting on my shirt, with one hand is painfully slow.

The travel schedule has not reduced. My daily routines have increased substantially since Nisha, Sunil and Hannah are holidaying in India and also Ganesh has taken his annual holiday. Number of group arrivals in Helsinki has mounted substantially and juggling the apartments to keep everyone happy has been a Herculean task. But Sunil has been a great help, even though he is working through a dial-up internet connection from a Kerala village!

Last week I drove up to Rovaniemi, on the Arctic Circle, and back twice. Each a 450 km round trip. Then on Friday I did a round trip to Tampere, about 900 km. Levi, our Zambian friend from Helsinki, was there and, with my one hand, I helped him empty one flat, load and unload the trailer and finally dropped him at the station.

(Just as I reached the office at 21:30, I had a call from Levi that he had got back to Helsinki and he was driving to deliver a lecture when he smashed his car into another, fractured his shoulder and ruined his car!)

I must say I am living a charmed existence and walking a tight rope trying to keep all my schedules in order.

The next week will be equally hectic, but with Sunil and Nisha back, maybe I can ease up a bit. (One can always hope, but knowing my intent to work myself to the bone, it is just idle mental chatter.)

When people remind me my last blog update was so many weeks ago, I feel a terrible moral guilt as I love all my readers more than they love my ramblings.

The gentle reminders a tremendous boost for the ego.

I have been going through a nightmare trying to get a suitable location for the Mumbai Findians Evening on Friday 13th November 2009. Now I understand why they say that Friday the 13th is unlucky. Help me prove that is wrong!

Annikki and my 59ers Directory Project of 2009 is progressing nicely. Just arrived is a video from our 1999 40th Year Reunion. I am waiting to get my hand on that and extract some good stills for inclusion into the Directory.

The registrations for our 50th Year Reunion are coming along nicely. If you are a 59er and have not yet registered, please do it as soon as possible.

Many of you are not being careful. I have sent several of you information that your Facebook, email address, etc. have been hijacked and your address books are public property. These guys add your name to CDs that they sell and then you are receiving thousands of spam mail while thousands are being spammed in your name! Please be careful where you sign up.

I am busy planning our Indian trip for October through to December, 2009. If any of you want Finnish know how or want to start a business or exports to / from India, please let me know and I will try to fit you into our schedule - Kottayam, Cochin, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad (possibly), Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi!

One interesting news item from India - some of the better known colleges, like our alma mater, St. Stephen's College, may soon be giving their own degrees! Wonder how that will work out as I am already sceptical of people get 90+ average in school leaving to get into the college of their choice!

I have also been helping to organise our Indian Independence Day celebrations. About 70 people will attend and it is going to be a blast.

"Findians" gets hijacked

Findians was a word I coined 42 years ago when I, an Indian, married Annikki, a Finn.

My first novel, yet unpublished, was written in 1975 and was entitled "The Adventures of the Findians".
I started a company in Finland in 1992 and called it Findians Ltd.
Findians Briefings was first an in-house monthly newsletter which started with a circulation of 110 readers and soared to 6000 in the matter of a half a dozen issues.
This was converted into a fortnightly webletter in 1994 with a worldwide readership of around 80000 by the end of 1999.
The domain name findians.com was registered in India in 1999 and had its server in Canada when I was threatened to have my internet access in Finland cut for writing the truth about the levels of corruption in Finland.

Finally in the middle of 2003, when spammers overran that domain name, I was forced to close it but never the "findians" concept which has been active right through till today. I stopped several who tried to usurp that name over the years.

Imagine my surprise when I found that someone had hijacked the "findians" name in their URL http://www.findians.co.uk/



Interesting development!

A number of questions arise.

As Findians, Annikki and I (who have been described as "anarchist hippies" by the usurper) stood for justice, freedom of speech, fighting for the rights of minorities, good schooling, promotion of the alma maters of school and college, spreading of information of all facets of life, religious tolerance, secularism, nationalism, etc., etc.

Will the new "findians" continue to promote these time-honoured family values or superimpose their own values under this banner.

A "findians" named or linked site usually goes the top of the search engines in a matter of hours simply because the enormity of links to that word and the previous 5000+ sites.

We hope the person who has taken this name is not just to jump on to the band wagon but intends to promote the values of "THE FINDIANS". For the persons information:

The Findians Google Group is still in existence.



The Findians current phone number is still being used by me: +358 8 531 5335.

And many of the articles and web pages that started under the Findians domain name have beem moved our personal webs servers of "jmatthan", "amatthan" as well as "findians" on netplaza.fi!

So, I do say that someone using our trade-marked name without as so much as a "by your leave" is a most most interesting development!

Indian Twins to the North Pole

Recently, I read a request for the loan of an Indian Flag as someone wanted to take it to the North Pole.

As Atul had brought 2 Indian Flags during his last visit to India, I asked him to loan it to this guy.

Venkat is part of a pair of identical twins from Hyderabad. His twin (Lakshman) is a cosmetic skin care scientist working in Denmark since 2001. Venkat came to Finland in 2003.

The only difference is that they have chosen different fields in their career paths. Venkat is into engineering and Lakshman is into microbiology.

They both talk, look, walk, eat, travel..the same.

Their main hobbies are travelling....around the globe in their free time.

These three photos taken when they took the flag from Oulu at the northernmost land point in Norway (Svalbard) prove that these two boys are identical.







[Photos courtesy Venkat (copyright).]

Thank you boys for carrying the flag from Oulu to the North Pole. And a special thanks to Atul for his generosity!

Who is reading this blog?

Recently, I wrote about a dear couple who were my dearest friends when I lived in Madras. Suddenly, today, I saw a comment by their daughter, whom I have not seen or heard of or from for the last 10 or more years.

It is important that when writing a blog that one understands that Google Search has become so invasive, that if you mention someone, it is more than likely that your views will be read by that person.

Sadly, I am a person who writes from the heart. If I dislike someone or their ways, I write my piece as truthfully as I can see the situation. If I like someone, I say it out loud.

If anyone who does not like what I write contradicts me, I give that person the fullest ability to publicly air their views.

In my 15 years on the web, there have not been more than 2 occasions where someone has objected to what I have written. I have always been able to justify my views.

It was so lovely to get a comment posted on my blog from Bobos, the daughter of Titi and Prem. It raised a lump in my throat and tears welled in my eyes to think that "little girl" still remembered me!

A Wasps' Nest

Have you ever wondered how a wasps' nest is built.

If you have seen one which has been vacated, you will be amazed to feel the quality of the fibre created by the wasps, and also see the honeycomb structure where the wasps must be laying their eggs.

The other day, Annikki had a narrow escape when she went to throw two bags of materials for recycling in the trailer. She carefully put the two bags at the bottom of the garden.

When she came back to the spot, there was nothing except a couple of wasps wondering where their houses had vanished.

However, they did not waste much time.

Soon there were dozens of wasps hard at work. We could only see what was happening above the shelf, but it appeared that many tens of wasps were working under the shelf.

Slowly the number of wasps above the shelf diminished as the structure took shape.

The series of pictures below show the progress of the nest above the wooden shelf.

We will get a picture of the intricate construction below when the wasps leave us in late autumn.

 

 

 

 

It was an eye-opening experience which also demonstrated the intelligence of this species!

Green Door vanishes

Annikki is in a new phase of creativity.

It is the Mirror Phase.

She believes that the mirror effect will create a new dimension in the garden.

 

 

So the "Green Door" is now no more.

Instead we have an "Aluminium Mirror Door".

THe Aluminium Mirror was created out of recycled fast food aluminium trays, a roll of aluminium film and a roll of aluminium coated plastic sticky tape.

The effect is stunning.

I am hoping to catch a shot when the evening rays hit the mirror.

A waspy story

Annikki was cleaning around the back entrance to the house when she noted two bags which Joanna had put stuff in to send to the charity recycling centres.

She lifted one and was confronted by wasps and a huge buzzing sound from inside of the bag.

She acted quickly in that she got a large rubbish bag, and after enveloping the other bag, she carried it outside of the Vesaisentie garden to a small forest area behind the house. There she left the wasps to settle down.

She came back to attend to the second bag and found the same situation, so she moved this also to the new location in the forest.

When she came back she found that a few wasps had be left behind and they were whizzing around.

She could do nothing about them and thought that they may just leave.

A few hours later, when she went to see the situation, she saw the wasps were very busy making a new nest. They were working very industriousally and slowly but surely they were making a regular nest.

 

 

The work is in progress. The above two photographs show how the wasps are bulding their new nest. I hope to document the stages of building of this.

Billy's spicey noodle

I had to be in town on Saturday. I stopped at Billy Lu's Chinese A-Wing Dragon fast food. I ordered my usual - chicken noodle, super spicey!

I was having my salad when there was a great howl from the kitchen.

Billy yelled that he had put in prawns in the dish by mistake. I assured him I was quite happy to have prawn noodle, spicey.

 

But Billy, being the kind soul that he is, added the chicken as well. I got a special dish from him, prawn and chicken noodle, super spicey.

It was just great.

Maybe he should add it too his repertoire!

Undoubtedly the best fast food in Oulu.

New Thai restaurant in Oulu

Omena is an old Thai friend. I was on my way to my accountant's office near the railway station when she ran out of a new Thai restaurant and asked me in.

 

Being in a hurry, I did not go in then, but on my way out I stopped there.

I ordered a "Chilli Fish" dish.

A supoerb spicy salad with a tang was starters. Really good.

There was plenty of fish, but very little chilli. The dish was too dry for the accompanying rice.

But the salad was well worth the stop.

I love Thai food, so I may give it another try.

But I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant. Luckily I know where it is!

Raantel OY IS a Best Buy!

One of the tenants, a lady software engineer, who stayed in our Raantel Oy apartments in Oulu returned to India last Sunday after almost 6 months here. Before she left, she sent me this touching email:

"This is just a small note of thanks to you for all the help you have provided in these 8-9 months. Even though I might not have spent hours talking to you but your presence has always made me feel homely. I have never faced any problems as such, but if any, you were always there! It would have been difficult to thrive in a foreign country with lots of insecurity and lack of proper information. With you around nothing was difficult and out of reach. Thanks a lot for everything !"

Raantel Oy Headquarters and Community Centre at Ahmatie 16 in Oulu.

Another lady, who came with her one year old son to be in Oulu where her husband was on an assignment told me at the airport that she so enjoyed her stay with us that even if her husband comes for just a month, she and their son will come with them as they felt so much at home in our apartments and in our company.


Sunita, Karthik and Rajesh leave back for India.

These appreciations shows that Raantel Oy has achieved its objective as THE BEST BUY if you stay with us in our apartments in Oulu, Helsinki or Tampere.


Carom game at the Family Afternoon
at the Raantel Community Centre.

Raantel Oy is not just about giving you an apartment to live in. You become part of our community. With this I think I have achieved what I set out to do!

Claustrophobia - A new definition?

(Posted on all my major blogs.)

Ever since the age of 12 or 13, when an uncle of mine taught me the art of relaxation using artificial stress inducement, I have never had a problem of going to sleep. Before my head is settled in the pillow, I am fast asleep. I do not wake up at night and toss and turn. I nod off as soon as the reason for waking up is attended to. I hardly ever dream. Sit in a car with a safe driver, and I can drop off into neverland within a couple of minutes.

I usually wake up fully relaxed, even if the sleep lasted only a few minutes.



I came back from the hospital on Thursday afternoon with my left hand in plaster from the forearm till the tips of my finger. The operation to repair the knuckle of my fourth finger in my left hand had been successful, but it meant that my arm would be in this plaster-cast for 5 weeks. Plenty of painkillers and a course of antibiotic for 5 days, so no real problem of pain.

When I went to bed on Thursday evening, I thought I was going to sleep in my usual fashion. However, when my head hit the pillow, and as recommended, I put my plastered arm in a suitable and comfortable position on a couple of raised pillows, I felt a tremendous and overpowering feeling of restlessness. Sleep was just not coming in the next few minutes. Each passing second was raising an anxiety within me. I was feeling claustrophobic, even though, bodily, I was not in any confined situation.

Then it dawned on me that my mind was reacting to the fact that my left hand had lost its freedom. It was caged, and the stress relaxation technique, which I have used for over 50 years to drop into my slumber, was blocked by an overpowering feeling of fear. My fingers and wrist had lost their freedom. They were confined and this feeling of confinement was causing my mind to say that I was totally confined. And the realisation that I would have to endure this confinement for 5 more weeks was mentally unbearable.

I jumped out of bed, feeling as if I could not stay put down. I walked into the kitchen and expressed my claustrophobic thoughts to Annikki.

She was cool and calm and told me that I should take each day as it came, and the 5 weeks would be over even before I knew it.

I went to the living room and plonked down in front of the tv, but my heart and soul were not into watching any of the programmes. I let tiredness possess me so much so that I allowed my body to react to a mentally created feeling of a body becoming tired. Then when I went to bed, it was not my relaxation that put me to sleep, but a feeling of great tiredness - quite different to my normal situation.

As soon as Annikki came to bed, I put my plastered arm around her, and that claustrophobic feeling suddenly lifted and I dropped quickly into my normal deep slumber.

When I woke up in the morning, although relaxed, I still had that feeling at the back of my mind that I was a caged person. My n degrees of freedom had been severely curtailed. I now understood how anyone who loses any degree of freedom, mental or physical, could suddenly feel claustrophobic.

In all my life I had never experienced this. It was indeed a major revelation to me about the sufferings of my fellow travellers on this earth who had lost their freedom, any part of it.

I will be glad when this hand is uncaged. I will value all the degrees of freedom that I enjoy much much more than I ever have! And I will appreciate the feelings of other men and women, and any animal, who are caged in any form.