Back to the freeze...

Tonight's weather forecast said that we are in for a very cold spell to round off our longest winter yet. As many of you would have noted, winter set in as we were driving to Helsinki in mid-October when a snow blizzard kept us company most of the 600 km.

Thankfully, we were in India through the months of half of October, the whole of November and right until the middle of December.

Annikki, Mika and me in Alibaug in Madhu Kapur's fabulous retreat.
(Photo by Hasnain Chinwala.)

We landed back in Finland in a snow storm and I lost my old SIM card in the snow at Helsinki Airport, when my phone shot of my frozen hands.

And it has been winter all the way since then with not even a short spell of above zero temperatures.

It has been the longest coldest winter in my living memory (26 years of my 67 ) and Annikki's (44 years of her 66) here in Oulu.

So when we watched today's weather forecast, they said that night temperatures are going below -30 C and this cold spell is going to last a few more days after which we will have a bout of heavy snowfall.

In about an hour, 00:30, I have to be on my way to Oulu airport to pick up three engineers from Poland and distribute hem to three apartments around Oulu. This is a process which will take about an hour - if their baggage arrives along with them. Recent history has been that baggage has been lost, which means another half an hour at the airport.

Well, it looks as if I am going to enjoy the coldest part of the night trekking around our lovely snow bound city!

Good night, all of you tucked into warm beds or lounging in air-conditioned bedrooms, and spare a thought for this Christmas Goat trekking around in his red-nosed snowcar! :-)

Why I cried yesterday

Yesterday, I sent a text message, mid-morning, to Gopa (daughter of Cathedralite 54er Sadhana (née Shah) in Keravaa, that Annikki and I were looking forward to receiving the CD / DVD sent from India.

She replied me in a flash that she had sent it the previous day.

When I was leaving home for the office, after lunch, I looked in the post box. There was an envelope, prominently marked that the CD and DVD were inside.

As I tore the cover open, two wonderful group photos, of our class and another with our spouses, at the Cathedral Church before the Founders' Day Service, fell out. I could hardly contain myself.

I had my portable LG DVD player at the office. I set it up and ran the DVD.

From the very first shot to the end, I was an emotional wreck. The DVD had recaptured almost all of the wonderful moments that we had experienced at the 50th Reunion of our Class of 59 in November 2009.

Viki giving me the T-Shirt and Cap as a token of appreciation.

I was deeply touched by the few words spoken by Viki Savara just before he handed me a cap and T-Shirt with our class logo printed on it. I wear it proudly and take it off when Annikki tears it off my back!

And even more moving was when Jangoo proposed the period of silence to honour those who were no longer with us.

Yes, I have been nagging, I was persistent, I was shockingly forthright, in getting as many of our class to be at this historic reunion.

My failure was that I could not get so many of them to attend, as personal issues had denied us the chance to meet many of our classmates. The loss is ours!

Besides those who have moved on to a better life above, we especially missed these 59ers, amongst others, Bobby, Biju, Deepak, Delbar, Geeta, Jeanette, John, Mario, Mark, Matilda, Narayanan, Narsys, Nergish, Pravin, Sigrun, Sujit, Trevor, Vikram, Wabhi, and the many spouses who could not make it.

Some of my tenants joined me to watch this as I played it through a couple of times, before I loaded the CD into my computer and watched the 350+ pictures so painstakingly put together by Hasnain (Chinnie).


A classic shot by Hasnain of Annikki and me.

After finishing a few chores I rushed home. Annikki was pleasantly surprised when she sat down and watched the DVD. As I watched it for the umpteenth time, I openly wept. (I got up twice at night and watched it again!)

I knew then what tears of joy really mean. The heart was filled with a great outpouring of love for all my wonderful friends who had made it to our reunion, as well as those who could not.

There has never been a Golden Reunion like this in the history of our school. It will be a long time before there will be another Golden Reunion to match that of the Class of 59!



Thank you Shivi, Piloo, Viney, Ooky, Vijay, Geeta, Madhu (w/o our late Ashok), Ashok, Anil, Armeane, Adi, Ratan, Anjali, Arun, Arvind, Asha, Atul, Bulsara, David, Farhana, Harmo, Inderjit, Jangoo, Ketty, Naubir, Noel, Parvin, Percy, Peter, Ramesh, Renuka, Robert, Saroj, Seeta, Sheryn, Venkat, Viki, Vikram, Vinay, Ellis, Zarin, Zenobia, and all the wonderful spouses, those staff members who made it a point to attend - John Billington, Bill and Pushpa Shiri, Jo D'Souza, Mehta, plus, above all, Chinnie, who, together, made this such a memorable event happen and helped preserve it in our hearts and minds for posterity.

I am looking forward to sharing the DVD and the photographs with our children and grandchildren as they too will treasure the moments captured here.

And now only one more step needs to be completed - the mailing of the 59ers Golden Directory!

Permanently Cured of Migraine in 1982

Someone asked me in the "Comments" as to how I was cured of Migraine in 1982.

I was a very chronic migraine sufferer, resulting in almost total paralysis and excruciating pain.

The simple village lady, a Muslim, who cured me of Migraine almost 30 years ago.

Since 1982 I have been completely and totally cured.

Annikki wrote this article in Findians Briefings sometime in the early 1990s.

I am reproducing this here as a service for migraine sufferers.

Migraine Cure
Free from India
by Annikki Matthan

Migraine from Mesopotamia to Scandinavia

The ancient cure in Mesopotamia for migraine involved drilling the head. Present day treatment, not a cure, in Scandinavia, requires the use of an expensive medicine, about $40 a time, which is reputed to be active even if it is taken at any stage during an attack, unlike earlier drugs which had to be taken before the onset of an attack.

There are over a couple of million sufferers of migraine in Scandinavia and all of them should be able to get rid of this terrible ailment if they desired without resorting to this temporary relief at high cost. Would you like to try and get rid of your migraine problem?

Jacob - paralyzed

Jacob was an acute sufferer. The attacks used to come on several times a year rendering him immobile. After hospitalisation and observation by experts, almost every known allopathic medicine was tried including caffeine tablets. Nothing worked.

The attacks would start and continue for a couple of weeks. They did not necessarily follow a pattern - when they came, they just came one after another.

Help from a non-medic

Our cook, seeing Jacob suffer, mentioned that her mother had suffered the same malady and had been relieved by a herbal medicine. Jacob was willing to try anything. The next day she brought a small bottle containing a brownish fluid. This was duly administered through the nostrils. The liquid was pungent and seemed to work.

For the next few days, till the next dose of the medicine, no attacks developed, although Jacob knew that they were still lurking in the background. This treatment went on for three doses, after which Jacob was fit and well and able to get back to work.

The cook told us that this was not the permanent cure but only a temporary one. A particular ingredient was not available at that time to administer the permanent cure.

Free for two years

Jacob was then free from migraine for close to two years. For various reasons he never got around to getting the permanent cure. We moved and lost track of our cook, hence we were not able to get the medicine.

Migraine restarts

The migraine attacks restarted, after two years, with the same intense intensity as earlier, rendering Jacob totally immobile. A factory worker, seeing his boss in such suffering, mentioned that there was a lady in his village who could cure Jacob. Jacob was again prepared to try anything as the caffeine tablets had absolutely no effect in stopping these attacks.

Village visit

Jacob went to a small village to the hut of an elderly lady. She offered him tea and biscuits. After the social chit-chat the lady asked Jacob to lie down on the bed. She went into the garden for a couple of minutes. When she returned she was rubbing the palms of her hand together in the process of crushing some leaves. After about a minute she squeezed her hands together over a spoon on the table and a green liquid oozed out onto the spoon. There was about half a teaspoonful of the liquid. She slowly poured it into the right nostril as Jacob suffered one-sided migraine, which was on the left side of the head.

The effect

Jacob recalls the next few seconds very vividly. It was if some searing hot lava had been poured into his nostril. He felt wretched and wanted to throw up. He jumped from the bed and ran outside to get rid of the terrible sensation that was grasping his throat. When he spat out his saliva there was a dark green colouration.

The onlookers laughed as they watched these antics which probably lasted about a minute or two. Then the searing feeling rapidly subsided. The lady offered him a cup of tea, which was most gratefully accepted. She indicated that although another dose would be worthwhile she felt as the reaction had been so strong, it was unlikely that the migraine would ever return again. This was in 1982.

Fifteen years on

Now it is fifteen years on and Jacob has not suffered a single attack of migraine nor even felt that there was an attack lurking in the background.

The cost

The cost for this treatment - absolutely nothing, no, not even $1, no presents, no grateful gifts in thanks. Jacob returned to ask the lady whether she would give him the name of the leaf that she had used. She explained that this art had been passed down from mother to daughter over several generations and it was strictly against her philosophy to pass on the information to anybody other than her daughters.

Jacob accepted the explanation for he knew that if he took the remedy and commercialised it, the love, affection and dedicated service of this lady to the people in the surrounding communities would be destroyed. A multinational would probably only think of the profits that could be generated for its shareholders by the drug.

Other alternative medicine cures

There are probably several types of alternative medicines out there for migraine, as also for many other ailments, if one looks for them. Jaundice is an ideal example where at least 10 different treatments are available in India.

It is strange that in some western countries they frown upon alternative medicine as if it is some hocus-pocus, untried form of treatment. They refer to allopathy as the scientific tested medical approach, scoffing at alternative forms of medicine. Surely these are really the illiterate as they do not realise that this hocus-pocus of alternative medicine has been around for many thousands of years. None of them has resulted in a phthalidomide type case.

It is better to realise that western allopathy drug treatment is the untested and untried medical technique. No doubt the analytical and surgical techniques used in allopathy are outstanding, but be very vary of the drugs - most of them do not cure, they only suppress the symptoms.

It is more likely that a remedy for an ailment, without harmful side effects, can be found in many of the alternative medical techniques that abound amongst the indigenous people around the world, including the African, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian and Maya Indians, especially amongst those who have preserved their heritage and not lost contact with nature and become a part of this commercial world.

Return visit in 1993

In 1993 Jacob paid a visit to the village to see if the lady was still around. She was very happy to see him. She would not accept any gift so Jacob bought a few night-dresses that her son was stitching as his trade as a tailor. Everyday he gives thanks for the kindness shown by this woman who cured him from his misery.

However, on our recent visit to India (2009) we tried to find the small village where the lady in question lived. We were so overpowered by the chaos, that we did not try very hard.

I had made my penance to her almost 15 years ago.

Oulu, a wonderful city

Many of you have asked me what attracts me to Oulu.

This is difficult to define.

Although I am an Indian, I would no longer consider it possible that I could, in my lifetime, return to live in India.

I have other options.

As three of our four kids are settled in England, maybe I would like to move there.

Having lived in England for 6 years, from 1963 to 1969, been married there in a sleepy town of Shrewsbury, and having had two children born while living there, there are many sentimental attachments to considering England as a possible home.

Given the choice of England and Oulu, with its extremes in climate, a difficult language, the high degree of corruption in all levels of life, our existence in Oulu has been a wonderful experience, and one which I am unlikely to trade in my lifetime.

Maybe I will visit India more frequently. Or maybe I will take more time to spend with our grandchildren in England.

But when one puts all the pros and cons in a balance, Oulu is still my Number One living choice!

How many of you readers think me crazy to accept living in this ultra deep freeze? As I drove to work today it was just -3 C. As I drove back this evening it was -13 C!

But the cold is not the reason for running to another place. It is the quality of life that counts. And the quality of daily life in Oulu for us will remain unmatched by any other location.

Findians Briefings - First Issue 1992

Our first issue of Findians Briefings was launched in 1992. I just came across a copy in my study and thought how perceptive we had been in our writing of that time.

Front page of 1st Issue of Findians Briefings.

Many have asked me how I came to call it Briefings.

It was named after my very favourite newsletter which I was then receiving called "communications briefings". I do not remember the frequency as some kind soul stole the entire past issues a few years ago.

It was a superb manager oriented publication with tonnes of fantastic advice in its 8 pages.

I had left the University in April 1992. My editorial work was going great guns. Thanks to my colleague, Professor Vilho Lantto of the Microelectronics Laboratory, I was given an interesting Consultancy job. By the time of the first issue, I had completed it successfully. My work as a supplier of Single Crystals from a British Company to many laboratories was also moving well.

Above all, Pertti Huuskonen, who was the Administrator of the Technology Village, where I had my office, had welcomed us into the Village. It had just about 100 companies at that time. I seriously believe that he followed the advice we had included in the issues of Briefings.

Since then, he has, with great vision, taken Technopolis to great heights with over 1000 companies now located in it. Oulu Technopolis is now an international institution.

My idea is to publish all the interesting contents of the Briefings on a separate blog, which I have started but not yet launched. The target will be 2012, to celebrate 20 years of historic existence.

Is it worth it?

Google announced its entry into the social networking by adding another bit to its Gmail web presence. They are trying to fight Twitter and Facebook - but it is my humble opinion that they are overstepping the mark with the introduction of their new "Buzz".

As it is, even with my 20 MBps site which is usually running at about 11 MBps, Google Gmail is SLOOOOW. I usually have to run it in the Basic format so as to get anything to load in a reasonable time.

That was the reason why I moved away most of my computing from from Yahoo to Google.

I generally appreciate the many Google products that I use. They include, beside the Search Engine, Gmail, Documents, Blogger, Translate, Groups.

They are all independent and work quite well as stand alone.

However, once you try to link them up, it really slows down the whole operation.

Gmail after 15 minutes of trying to upload a profile in Buzz!
Note the "Still working" dialog in yellow at the top.

Today, when I started to use Buzz, which can only be used in the Standard Mode of Gmail, it was more than Slow - it just hung my Gmail. The only way to regain control was to Reload the page and move to the basic format!

What is the point of adding another social networking site when I am quite happy with Orkut.

This appears to be a desperate and frantic cry from Google that they are unable to keep pace with Twitter and Facebook with Orkut, so they have launched Buzz as an antidote.

I think they are making a serious mistake. If they continue down this line, not only will they lose Orkut, but also Gmail to anyone who comes along with a reasonable amount of storage and a good search engine built in.

Picasa is not much use to me any longer as I have reached the end of my free uploads level. Google has not updated its payment method to include those that do not have credit cards. That is now becoming not much use.

My advice, as a Google early adopter, is to forget BUZZ, and concentrate on making Orkut much more international than it is presently. Trim Gmail to mail essentials. Increase the capacity in Picasa, and start a sectional approach instead of trying to be everything to everybody.

Competition is good and allowing some other players as Facebook and Twitter to coexist, only makes Google more interesting. Cutting the competition is never a good sign or a good strategy. It shows weak and shifting leadership at the top.

At the moment I am quite happy working with Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, LinkedIn, SiliconIndia, Plaxo, Pulse, Geni, Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, and a few more.

BUZZ is a wrong move in this equation!

Gaffes in choise ingredients and and and

Yesterday, I visited the top Department Store in Oulu, known as Stockmann. They have a restaurant on the top floor called Vintti and they advertise their Finnish / English daily menu at different points all over the store.

I just thought this one to be interesting:



One would certainly hope that a leading department store would have the resources to employ competent English speakers.

But their "choise" seems to have beeen rather poor. I hope the "ingredients" in their dishes are better chosen "and and and...." :-)

A day of Finnish “efficiency”

The Scandinavian countries conjure up the image of being super efficient, especially because of small population with highly trained professionals in every sphere.

Yesterday was a lesson in what not to believe.

I have already drawn the wrath of a few for exposing the lack of competence of Finnish doctors, who in the main are inexperienced. Yesterday proved a lesson in incompetence of the highest order.

In the morning I had my blood test and my ECG. That went OK as I did not have to see any doctor. The result will be with me on Wednesday. I will refer them to my Indian doctor before I meet with the Finnish doctor next Monday.

In the afternoon, one of the newly arrived Indian engineers called me to tell me that he had fallen on Saturday and his right hand was in pain. As it was too late to go to our local health centre, as he stays in one of our apartments close to our home, I told him that after i finished my days work I would take him to the University Research Hospital Out Patient Section, as that is the only one which functions after 5 pm.

However, I warned him to have his dinner and take his computer or something to read as the process could take 4 hours or more.

Do you think he believed me?

I picked him up after my dinner at around 19:30. After finishing a couple more house calls, we reached the hospital by 20:15. We registered and got the initial paperwork over and sat down to wait. The waiting room was quite empty with just about a dozen people, patients with their friend waiting around.

9:15, 10:15, 11:15. 11:45 and we were called in to see a doctor. The young lady showed her inexperience in the way she felt the injured area. Of course, she came to no conclusion, so decided to get an X-ray.

So, of I took him to the X-ray section. As I know my way around that department because of my recent injury to my finger, I was able to complete that process within half an hour. The X-ray was on its way to the doctor.

Back we were at the waiting hall.

We waited till 2:45 to be called in by a doctor who confessed that he could not read the X-ray with any certainty and advised that I call the nurses in the morning so that we could get an opinion of a qualified radiologist!

Six and a half hours, and my young friend was sent away with no diagnosis but with the comforting thought that he had been given one free pain killer tablet. He said he would savour with great relish his free tablet! :-)

The total time spent with each doctor was not more that 5 minutes. The X-ray took 5 minutes. For 15 minutes patient contact, we waited 6 hours and a half.

When I reached home, Annikki was amazed that it had not taken 9 hours. :-)

My friend is likely to drumbeat his experience with all his other colleagues working in Oulu. I do not think many will want to visit the Out Patients Department in Oulu University Research Hospital!

A true indication of the professionalism of Oulu Doctors!

Why this joy at eating masala dosais?

My blog readers in India must think me crazy by talking so incessantly when I get a masala dosai to eat here in Finland.

Any corner shop in Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Kerala (or for that matter anywhere in India), will offer a masala dosai and all these vegetarian dishes as common fare on their daily menu, so why this excitement when I am served a masala dosai here in Oulu?

The sad part is that we cannot walk into a corner shop in our town or in a radius of 600 km (or even 1000 km) to get hold of a dosai.

Some kind heart, like my wife, has to take the trouble to make it. That means, unlike in India, the heart and the stomach, and especially the taste buds, yearn to eat what is not so freely available.

I certainly had my fill of masala dosais,



vadas,



idlis,



gulab jamuns,



sweet curd, and other Indian delicacies, when I was in India for 2 months last year.

Almost two months have passed and the taste buds are yearning for all of them one more time.

My suggestion on our local O-India Google Group, which caters as a discussion forum for the 100+ Indians in Oulu, certainly got buzzing when I suggested I was intending to start a South Indian Vegetarian Restaurant in Oulu.

The local Indian Restaurant owner was quick to come back to say that he would start one if I could find him a suitable spot for a Take Away counter. He promised to bring a great Chef from India.

My suggestion to have the restaurant on wheels to take this nearby to where the Indians are working, also got a very favourable reception. They work in about four locations around the city of Oulu.

Now it is time to strike while the iron is hot.

Anyone interested to join me in this venture as a financial / working partner, is most welcome as, like me, all the Indians (and many Finns and Findians), who love Indian cuisine would be crazy over this idea.

(Why not make it a joint effort as a public limited company with the lovers of South Indian vegetarian food as the shareholders?)

I intend keep the prices within reason and serve up fresh food with freshly made spices and with fresh vegetable, as otherwise this would be doomed!

Yes, I yearn for a dosai, a vada, an idli, a gulab jamun,... as well as a K. C. Das sweet curd, a Gujarati Thali with sweet chapati, an Andhra Thali served with spicey gun powder, ..... yum yum! :-)

Your help sought - Findian missing in India / Nepal

This could happen to the wives or children of any one of us. So I am acting in our self-interest.

This is a request I got:

Pranita Shrestha missing person

Description:
Please help find my cousin's wife. We are especially looking to spread the word in India, so if you have any contacts there, please tell them about our search. Your support is greatly appreciated!

See Blog: http://findpranita.blogspot.com/

**********



Pranita Shrestha reported missing in India

Pranita Shrestha, a citizen of Nepal, has gone missing during a trip to visit her family in India. Pranita is 38 years old and married to a Finnish man. They live in Espoo, Finland (Europe).

Pranita travelled alone from Helsinki to Delhi on Tuesday 19 January 2010. The next day (20 January) at around 10pm Indian local time, her Finnish husband called her on her mobile phone. She was at New Delhi Railway Station waiting for a train. She told him she had bought a ticket and had been waiting for hours because the train was at least 9 hours late.

Pranita was planning to travel by train to either Jalpaiguri or Shiliguri in the north-east of India. From there, she intended by continue by jeep to Kalimpong to visit her parents. No-one has heard from Pranita since the phone call. Phone records show that her mobile phone was briefly switched on at 10.59am Indian local time on Friday 22 January.

Pranita Shrestha is 150 cm / 5 ft tall, weighs 51 kg / 8 st with brown eyes and black hair.

She was wearing navy jeans, a black jacket and ankle-length brown Puma shoes. She had a green upright, fabric trolley suitcase and a smaller, black and white bag also with a trolley system. In her left ring finger, she wears a thin, white gold diamond ring.

Pranita Shrestha trained as a staff nurse in Mumbai, India, and she speaks English, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Newari, Urdu and a little Finnish.

Until June 2009, she lived in the Maiti Devi district of Kathmandu, Nepal. She then moved with her son to live with her Finnish husband in Espoo, Finland.



Interpol and Indian police are investigating the disappearance of Pranita Shrestha.

A reward will be paid for any information that will lead to the return of 38-year-old Pranita Shrestha.

If you have any information, please contact:

1. Embassy of Finland in Delhi, E-3, Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, sanomat.nde@formin.fi, tel. +91-11-4149 7500 or
+9198111 16843

2. Embassy of Finland in Nepal, Bishalnagar, Kathmandu, sanomat.ket@formin.fi, tel. +977-1-4416 636, 4417 221

3. Mrs Arja Talonen arja.talonen@kuvalehdet.fi tel.+358-50-3662748 (English, German, Swedish, Finnish)

4. Mr. Ville Talonen, moroville@hotmail.com , tel. +358-45-6316 119 (English, Finnish)

5. Mrs. Byoma Tamrakar byoma.tamrakar@gmail.com tel. +358-41 5100864 (Hindi, English, Nepali)

6. Indian Police

Crazy signs! A lesson in simple English!

Many of you will remember my blog with this picture!

SAS Radisson is obviously organising some Quests

Yesterday, I went to drop Praveen (Aricent) at the airport as he was returning to India.

On the Finnair counter was this notice:



Sadly, old habits die hard. When I see mangled English text, it sort of riles me.

The traditional mistake of Finns writing English is that they capitalize You and Your, etc. This capitalisation is only when referring to God (and in India, one's mother). Another common mistake is te absence of the definite and indefinite articles as tey do not use them in Finnish.

Another traditional mistake in this notice is the misuse of the "arrival to" instead of "arrival in".

But the two really classic and hilarious mistakes in this notice are "morningsift" instead of "morning shift" and "immidiate" instead of "immediate".

Another possible misuse is the use of the word "shall" when it should be "will".

The use of "I shall" and "We shall" is when you use it as something may be done in the future. If you are intending to emphasize that the action will definitely be taken in the future, the use should be "I will" and "We will". This is exactly the opposite in the case of You and He / She / They!

I pointed out the mistakes to a really very charming girl who was at the Finnair check-in counter. She loves Indian Food, is friendly and helpful. If you find her serving you, only when your bags are REALLY overweight will she charge you. But then some of you guys do really have a weight problem! :-)

This sign is most important for our friends as most off you coming through either Frankfurt of Paris are having your baggage held up somewhere, causing yourselves a great deal of hardship. It is best that you check at Helsinki that your baggage is put on to your Oulu flight!.

Relaunched my car Rental Service

Great news folks. I have relaunched my revamped Car Renting Service. Already all the cars are boojed. I only have a few vehicles now.

Maybe you can bookmark the blog page where I have posted my latest brochure, as shown below, including the unbelievable rates.





It is Jacob's Car Renting Service

I will keep you abreast of the situation at the blog page. So stay tuned there.

Do you experience this urge?

Very occasionally, I get an urge to do nothing constructive or destructive for a whole day. No walk, no going to the office, no handling telephone calls, no writing letters.

Today was one of those days.

When I woke up in the morning, I read the Kalvea, our local newspaper, and did the EASY Sudoku.

I have just started to play this as I saw Bina, my cousin Thambi's wife, in Mumbai, enjoying it. Thanks Bina!

I have not yet got the hang of it, but today, for the first time, I finished the EASY puzzle. I tried to move on to the next level, but as it was taxing my brains, I stopped.

Toast with cinnamon and honey, followed by a cup of cinnamon and honey tea. I am continuing following my friend's advice. Next Monday is my blood test, almost three months after disaster was called by the doctor in Chennai!

Then, after a short nap on the sofa, I noted it was almost 11 am. I settled in front of the TV to watch Roger Federer and Andy Murray battle the final of the Australian Open Tennis Championship. Federer won quite easily as Andy Murray just did not have the power, the tactics, or the experience of his opponent, the world's greatest tennis player. The service and shots all around the court were exquisite.

While watching this I learnt that Indian, Leander Paes, and his partner had won the mixed doubles title at the tournament. I wonder whether theywill make much of it in the Indian Media. If he was a Finn, there would be virtually non-stop coverage as such victories are used to motivate the youngsters in this country.

Then it was time for a stretch out on the sofa for a second nap. Exhilarating!

It soon approached 16.45 and it was time to watch TV again, the final of the African Nations Football Cup, where Ghana was playing against Egypt. The game was quite unlike the European or the Latin American styles, although most of the players play in clubs in Europe.

Egypt won. It was not a very convincing win, as the Ghanaians did not have the finishing power in their line up.

Both events were enjoyable as I was not supporting anyone. i could just sit back and enjoy the sport!

Annikki prepared our regular Sunday roast chicken, vegetables and potatoes dinner. I had time to check my email, and do this blog entry in time for my readers who will check in early Monday morning!

Should I do this more often? Probably, although I did feel guilty when I sat in front of my computer and found so many lovely emails from so many of you, including news of a wedding in March 2010 of my second cousin's daughter. Their wedding will be in Nagpur, the very centre of India.

1989 December: Annikki at the pillar marking the Centre Point of India.

This is a picture taken in 1989 when Annikki and I stopped in Nagpur on our way to and from Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Nagpur was the closest airport at that time. We rented a car with driver and enjoyed a wonderful holiday in Kanha where we saw two tigers during our stay, both on our very first day there.

Memories of our past plus a relaxing day. What more could I ask before I enter the fray again tomorrow!

Surfeit of political postings?

Some of our regular readers have emailed us that Annikki and I have of late been blogging more on politics than on general life in Finland or India.

We are living in most critical times.

Annikki and I are socio-political writers. We do not write any fiction, but we write about life as we see it.

At the moment, the political scene is crowded with important information that we want our readers to know, be it in India, Finland, US, UK or any other country about which we do have the knowledge to write about.

Corruption is rampant in all these countries. Poverty, hatred, violence is spreading.

And President barrack Obama ended his State of the Union speech with the phrase "God Bless America".

Does that mean God should not bless any other country?

What special relationship has America got with God?

Is this not the saddest reflection of our times, as each country wants God to bless them in isolation of others?

Would it not be nicer for a world leader to say "God Bless all the people of this world - Agnostics, Atheists, Baha'i, Buddhists, Christians, Confucianists, Hindus, Islamists, Jains, Jews, Shintoists, Sikhs, Taoists, Wiccaists, Zoroastrians, and Druids, Tribals, ..."

Is that not what we want out of God other than His narrow focus on one particular country.

This draws me to an anecdote that I have used a couple of times on this blog, but which is worth repeating as it has a meaning at just this time.

Radha, Gnani, me and Annikki at
our daughter's wedding in Exeter, 1992.

The late Gnani Perinpanayagam was a brilliant Sri lankan born, British socio-linguistics professor who worked during the final few years of his life in Finland in Oulu University. He and his late wife, Radha, were very dear family friends of Annikki and myself. They came to depend on us for adjusting to their life in Finland.

He told us of an incident when he had been standing by an escalator in one of the large department stores in London. From his looks he did look like a "foreigner" in London. A white teenager, obviously not very educated, came up to him and demanded to know: "What are you doing in MY country?"

Gnani slowly turned to him and asked in return: "What are you doing in MY world?"

The stunned boy was speechless and moved on.

I wish politicians would realise that when they promote nationalism and patriotism, they also promote divisionism, which is the curse of our world today.

The uneducated masses tend to play on this and from this core, based on the seeds of hatred bred by these "politicians, come the terrorists and suicide bombers that kill innocent women and children, just as "educated" politicians as Bush and Blair did the same.

I hope the people of UK and America realise that it is THEIR politicians who are the problem as they spawn divisionism and hatred among people! They are the true breeders of "terrorism". Any fight they carry out on "terrorists" will be fruitless, as THEY are the real "Osama bin Ladens" of this world!

If only they would give "Peace a Chance" and start a "Department" or "Ministry" for Peace with the same budget as their "War machinery" or Defence Department which is really an Offence Department, what a different place this world would be.

We can hope!

"I'll do it again" says Blair

The Chilcot Inquiry is looking at events between 2001 and 2009, covering the decision to go to war against Iraq, whether troops were properly prepared, how the conflict was conducted and what planning there was for its aftermath. It is claimed that the terms of reference are unprecedented in their breadth.

Inquiry Chairman, Sir John Chilcot, says he will not shirk from apportioning blame where he sees fit. 179 British service personnel were killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. Many tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians died over the period.

The inquiry began in July 2009. Sir John and the four other panel members met some of the families of the 179 UK personnel killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 as well as former and current serving personnel. During the meetings, several relatives of those killed criticised the decision to go to war, saying the British people had been lied to about the threat posed by Iraq.

Sir John and his fellow panel members also spent weeks examining thousands of relevant documents from across government. Some documents have not been declassified, meaning that although the inquiry can view them they cannot be made public.

The report of the result of the inquiry is being delayed till 2011. This shows it is a partisan one as the result should have been before the British people before the next General election.

So not much good can be expected out of this. The time frame says it all.



This man, Tony Blair, should be put away for life. He is a psychopath!

Tony Blair told the Chilcot Inquiry the he was prepared to do the same again! That is - To kill thousands of innocent people!

What Tony Blair wants to do again is kill many hundred thousand innocent women and children to fulfill HIS belief that there are weapons of mass destruction anywhere where someone whom he does not like is in power.

This man, Tony Blair, is a war criminal on par with Bush, Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin.

There is only one place for the likes of him.

A secure mental institution, where his arrogance, stupidity and poodle-like behaviour are never again unleashed on this world.

In front of the Inquiry, yesterday, Tony Blair was arrogant and unrepentant about all the unnecessary killings of innocent Iraqis. He linked the Iraq war to 9/11, which is simply not true. Not a single Iraqi was involved in 9/11.

Blair claimed falsely that Saddam Hussain was not allowing the Weapons Inspectors to do their job. This is simply not true. There is ample evidence from both Dr. Hans Martin Blix and Dr. Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei what was the situation on the ground in Iraq. They were pleading for just a little more time to confirm their findings that there were no WMD in Iraq.

That would have been unacceptable to Bush and Blair as they wanted to spill blood - innocent blood, not caring whose blood it was!

Blair wanted, like Bush and Margaret Thatcher, to go down in history as a man in shining armour carrying his country to victory(?). Tony Blair destroyed the lives of several British men and women and their families to try to go down in glory in the history books.

A tragic victory (?) for whom?

Not for the innocent civilian women and children Iraqis that Blair and Bush have mutilated and murdered!

Tony Blair certainly goes down in My history book as a WAR CRIMINAL!

Obama cried "Foul"! Interesting!

President Barrack Obama's State of the Union speech was interesting in that it was full of contradictions.

He said he is phasing down the US military agenda abroad, whereas all he has done since is coming to the office is to ramp it up, continue the policies of the previous administration and show no direction in world politics, except rhetoric.

However the most glaring statement made by him was the criticism levelled at the US Supreme Court, which in its recent ruling, stated that Corporations had equal rights as individuals as to their role in election financing!

Obama may stand today for something different. He may have been supported by mass popular appeal.

That was because he had a great spin machine.

Let us look at the composition of the US Supreme Court today:

Chief Justice John Roberts

Associate Justices

John Paul Stevens
Antonin Scalia
Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor

Do you note anything in particular?

The Roberts Court (2005–present) began with the confirmation and swearing in of Chief Justice John G. Roberts on September 29, 2005, and is the current presiding court.[58] The Roberts Court is seen as more conservative than the previous court.[59] Some of the major rulings so far have been in the areas of abortion (Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood,[60] Gonzales v. Carhart);[61] anti-trust legislation (Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc.);[62] the death penalty (Baze v. Rees,[63] Kennedy v. Louisiana);[64] the Fourth Amendment (Hudson v. Michigan);[65] free speech of government employees and of high school students (Garcetti v. Ceballos,[66] Morse v. Frederick);[67] military detainees (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld,[68] Boumediene v. Bush);[69] school desegregation (Parents v. Seattle);[70] voting rights (Crawford v. Marion County Election Board);[71] the Second Amendment (District of Columbia v. Heller),[72] and campaign finance (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission).[73]

Do you remember when Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito were appointed? 2005 and 2006!

These two radical fundamentalist Justices were appointed under the previous administration when Obama was in the Senate.

What was he doing then?

Although he did not support the appointment of these two people, what was he doing in the Senate?

When Bush had no 60 vote majority, did Obama stand up and filibuster these appointments? Did he lobby his fellow Democrats and convince them of his belief of what lay ahead with the appointment of these two people to the Supreme Court?

Obama showed no leadership then, just as today he is swinging with the wind!

Obama can cry foul today, but he was a short-sighted Senator jockeying his position to power when these crucial appointments were made.

The rest of the democratic world could see what lay ahead.

If the man had no vision then, can you expect him to have any different vision today?

Obama can cry "FOUL" all he wants, TODAY. But he is the one, by his irresponsibility and lack of courage of convictions, that made what occurred in the Supreme Court last week, happen!

Future of SAAB

The international media has been speculating about the future of SAAB, the automaker owned by FORD and now to be sold to the Dutch company, Spyker.

SAAB is not just an automaker.

Here is the latest news about another division of the company.

The Finnish military defence department awarded a follow-on contract to Saab for an additional delivery of the widely deployed air defence technologies.

Swedish based Saab said that it has been selected by Finland to deliver an order for its Robotsystem 70 (RBS 70), a ground based air defence system.

This is an approximately Euro 25.29 million order. Global defence contractor Saab will deliver its RBS 70s, a short-range man-portable laser guided missile system, to the Finnish army.

"This is very positive and it further proves the capability of the RBS 70 system which until now has been exported to 18 countries located on all five continents," Tomas Samuelsson, Saab Business Area Dynamics head, said in a statement.

A shot in the arm for troubled car maker SAAB?

Can Finland afford this extravaganza? Is it really necessary for a small country like Finland to invest in such technologies? Or is it the Finnish male egoists that continue to play war games for their own pleasure.

Since all Finnish males go through the compulsory army service, where they are brain-washed, this would seem a logical move. Very few survive this brain washing process.

If any opposition is voiced, angry fingers will be pointed by the "nationalist"!

Is it for me?

Yesterday was an exciting day as I was waiting for 9 pm Finnish Time, 10 am US Pacific time. It was at that hour Steve Jobs, CEO f Apple Inc. was to unveil details of Apple's new product.

Unfortunately, just minutes before the scheduled time, when it was going to be streamed live on the Internet, the internet connection in the US collapsed leaving us all in limbo and watching the text description of what was happening along with many iPhone pictures of what was happening on the stage as this new product, called the iPad was being released.

iPad docked with a keyboard.

As excited as I was to see this thin product with over 100000 applications ready to go by the time it hits the market in 60 days, I wondered whether it was a product for me.

The iPad looks like a very large iPhone. It is a 1.25 cm thick, weighs 675 gms, and has a 24.65 cm LCD screen (with 1024 by 768 resolution). It will use a custom-made 1GHz CPU and flash storage and, Jobs claimed, will get up to 10 hours of battery life.

For connectivity, in addition to the optional 3G, it has 802.11n, WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1; it can sync to a Mac via USB. To feed those 3G connections, Jobs announced two new cellular data plans from AT&T in the US: $14.99 a month for 250MB of data, $29.99 a month for unlimited data; both are prepaid, neither requires a contract.

I am a multi-tasker - I am working on my computer, browsing, using email, handling my calendar, writing books, working on enhancing photographs, editing my photograph collection, blogging, updating all my address books, wishing my many friends on their birthdays, posting updates in Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo and other social networking sites, and / or listening to music or Talk Radio.

Yes, I really do multitask. So far, only a full fledged computer, like the Mac Mini, has that flexibility at a low price.

What I was looking for may not exist on the new iPad, or so it seemed as was explained. It does not seem to have the power and workability that I need.

Although I am an early adopter of Apple Products, it is only when I am convinced it will meet my requirements.

I see Apple moving closer to my vision of the multi-tasking keyboard, which idea I shared with Steve Jobs way back in 2002. But Apple has not yet fully grasped my concept. They are working towards my visions in very tiny incremental steps.

Will I buy the iPad?

Probably not, even though the price seems very attractive.

I think I will wait for Model 2 or even Model 3 of the iPad before I think of indulging. I think many Apple early adopters will probably follow my lead.

Well done Steve. Your team has created a good product, but not one YET good enough for me!

Interesting question - one which I had not addressed!

Today I met an avid reader of my blogs. Although an acquaintance of a long time, I have never had a chance to have an in depth word with him.

So he hit me right between the eyes when he asked me a direct question, which I have never addressed on my web pages or my blogs ever.

He asked me that in most cases I write on the blogs using the "Royal " WE. What he wanted to know was how much do Annikki and I have in common to write as WE?

Annikki is an introvert while I am an extrovert.

Me by Armeane Choksi.

Annikki is highly religious and focused on her faith. I am a secularist where all religions have the same meaning to me so long as it personal and not organised.

Of course we have differing views on most subjects. Our children will probably testify about the shouting matches we used to have when they were kids.

But, after discussion and debate, on everything we write about, we agree absolutely. Life in India, life in Finland, clothes (she chooses mine), hair styles (she designs mine), kids, grandkids, parents, grandparents, family, bureaucracy, police, lawyers, judiciary, and almost every subject about which we have very strong opinions - we tend to agree - but not without debate.

There are a couple of areas where we tend to disagree about life styles. One is the use of medical drugs and supplements . I tend to use none, except when ordered by a doctor for a specific condition. Annikki is a health fiend in that she reads everything there is to know, does not accept the advice of a doctor as she has read something different, and usually suffers much longer than me to get rid of a problem. The minute I feel any ailment approaching, I gargle with boiling hot water with sea salt added, and cool off the system with a teaspoon of honey. Lately I have moved to having cinnamon and honey. In the old days my mom kept me fit as a fiddle with ginger juice, lemon juice and some ground pure gold.

My migraine was cured by an old woman in the wilderness of India after all the doctors in the town had failed. My sinusitis was cured by a homeopath when nothing else worked.

So our differences are quite superficial, but our agreements run deep.

Over our 43 years of married life, we have had very few intense disagreements and usually they are settled before we get to bed.

Annikki is my friend. I look up to her as such a talented person you cannot find on the face of this earth. That talent is not for money, but for love. Whether it is her paintings, her cake designs, her garden designs, her house interiors, everything is to a perfection.

To see my views about her, I suggest you read my tribute I wrote about her on her 60th birthday! that was 6 years ago.

And I have not changed my mind one iota since that time!

Thank you for asking that question as, on the 28th of January we will celebrate our 43rd Wedding Anniversary and celebrate 19 years since the launch of Findians Briefings - our first publication together, of which this blog is one of the outcomes!

Work load keeps increasing

Many thanks to so many of you for the kind advice on how to handle my increasing workload.

But, it is not that simple when one is a writer and unofficial legal advisor.

I presently have four books under preparation, and each requires that I suffer no writer's block.

The first book is the Coffee Table Book of Cake Designs, called "Edible Art" by Annikki.



The fact that we very successfully did the Coffee Table Book for our Mumbai Cathedral School 59ers 50th Year Reunion, (ruined by the ICICI Bank with no remorse, of course) has only driven Annikki to complain that I have not given enough thought and put in enough effort to complete her book. That is true, as all of the work is on my table, Annikki having done her part in producing those fantastic cake designs over the last 25 years.



The second book, a real life story called "Last Will and Testament" will be on hold so long as some of my older relatives in India are still alive. I have completed this book. Recent developments only helped confirm my suspicions. Now I have the required proof of the misdeeds of the people concerned. But this book is on hold, although I continue to work on it at regular intervals.

Oulu "Lawyer" Kari Kantakoski outside the house
he has illegally appropriated for himself!

The third book called "Inheritance Nightmare" is another thriller real life story of the degree of corruption prevalent in Finnish Society. Although the original manuscript was ready many weeks ago, new facts keep coming to light which makes it mandatory for me to update the chapters till I am sure that I will not have to change it again for a couple of years. It shows the handiwork of a Finnish Master Conman working through the corrupt Finnish System!



The fourth book, which handles the ineffciency and incompetence of Banks in India, primarily with Annikki and my recent experience with the ICICI Bank, was originally just going to be a letter or web page.

But the grossness of their actions and their inability to take responsibility, plus a whole lot of new evidence which came to me through the internet and also by contact with persons who have had the horror of dealing with this bank, made us change it from the internet / letter idea, to a full fledged book.

Let there be no mistake about this - if you deal with the ICICI Bank, you do so at your own risk Ask my friend "Mr. N." who was promised a Housing Loan Application to be cleared in 48 hours. It took over 3 months!

Or take the experience of someone who, because of tragic circumstances, defaulted on a loan given by ICICI Bank. The bank, in a manner chosen especially to embarrass the loan taker in front of his community, sent the collection goondas at the midnight hour, to stir up a dramatic scene and cause the embarrassed individual to lose face.

I am assured that ICICI bank is the only Indian bank that follows such a horrible degrading practice.

But all this pales into comparison with what Annikki and i experienced between October 27th 2009 and January 2010. If any person was to view the data which is now contained in the book, whose title is yet to be chosen, I think they must be real fools to keep their money in this bank.

But more fool them then us, as we have already withdrawn all our funds from the ICICI Bank!

So this book, is now raring to go, once I find an appropriate title. Any suggestions?

In addition I have one application for justice to file with the European Court, another application to be filed with the Finnish Chancellor, another application to be filed with the European Ombudsman, and several small but major litigations to handle in Finnish Courts at different levels.

Most Finnish Lawyers are untrustworthy. Their only intention is to line their own pockets. These litigations and applications, therefore, have to be done personally by me! Annikki steps in whenever a Finnish Translation is required.

So this workload can never decrease, as each day sees many more steps of work coming along the way.

Oh, to be retired!