Fascinating letter from Shallu

When I wrote about Shallu's father, Dr. Nainan Varghese, I did not expect such a fascinating reply from her. She had sat her mother down in front of the computer and they had read through the blog. Her mother was in wonderment that we could communicate our thoughts and feelings and our treasured possessions of photographs so well through this medium.

As to the story about her father, Shallu said - what her father had told me was so typical of him.

I learnt that Shallu's mother and my mother had been classmates for a year at Women's Christian College, Madras. Shallu's mother then went to Madras Medical College. My mother had many a time mentioned Shallu's mother to me, but I never knew this part of the relationship.

Also, they were also fascinated to read my story about Basu John, who had been a close family friend of theirs.

Shallu's elder son, Rahul (a brilliant lawyer), Geeta's son Lalit (Geeta being the daughter of Babyappapen, younger brother of my father) and our daughter, and our younger daughter, Joanna, were born the same year in the same month - January 1971!!

I also learnt that Shallu's younger son's wife, Kavita, is a writer, having written the book

Brahmins and Bungalows : Travels Through South Indian History/Kavita Watsa. New Delhi, Penguin, 2004, vi, 290 p., (pbk). ISBN 0-14-303146-5.

    Contents: Prologue: over the bungalow wall. I. The heart of Anglo-India: 1. Srirangapattana: the Isle of lost dreams. 2. Mysore: a large and handsome town. 3. Bangalore: the vanishing cantonment. II. Along the Arabian: 4. Padmanabhapuram: a palace made of wood. 5. Devbagh: beyond the realm of prose. 6. Goa: five hundred monsoons now. III. Coromandel colonies: 7. Madras: the forgotten fort. 8. Pondicherry: the empire that never was. 9. Tranquebar: day of the danes. IV. The temple trail: 10. Hampi: city of victory. 11. Mamallapuram: masons and Moonrakers. 12. Thanjavur: in the womb of the south. V. Kodaikanal: Epilogue: woodsmoke and roses.

    "Kavita Watsa has been seeking new horizons ever since a mischievous great-uncle put her in a horse cart and took her to a Mysore arrack shop at an impressionable age. In this sparkling mosaic of South Indian travels, she treads roads ancient and modern, opens antique travelogues to see what others saw, and reminds us of the myriad peoples and forces that have shaped life south of the Vindhyas. With an almost Victorian sensibility for bends in the road and turns of phrase, Watsa presents a rich blend of landscapes and architecture--from monsoon-lashed Goa to a coast that inspired Tagore, from desolate Hampi to burgeoning Bangalore, from charming Pondicherry to sun-baked Tranquebar and beyond. Crowned by exquisitely rendered memories of the cool woods of Kodaikanal, Brahmins and Bungalows is a witty, elegant, loving portrait of a deeply cosmopolitan land."

The power of blogging is taking root. I promise I will split the blog into the various components within the next couple of weeks, so you do not have to wade through all the rubbish, as my rantings on politics, which is meant for another audience!!

Samuel and Daniel with me

With Samuel and Daniel
Originally uploaded by Geordy.

We, Anneli (Anniki's sister), Annikki and myself, just returned from a fabulous meal cooked by Joanna. We literally licked the platter clean. Even our very conservative grandson, Samuel (Samu), ventured to taste the Thai green curry, which was especially good. The tandoori chicken in gravy was delicious. There was a delicious fried vegetable dish and fresh salad. Sweet was chocolate eclairs, with nougat ice cream and hot toffee sauce.

I took several great photos and short videos, but the one alongside was not one which I just took. I will blog the ones I took later as my upload limit for Flickr.com for this month has been reached. I also have to learn how to blog a short video.

When Geordy George (from Deepika International, Kottayam) and Dr. Balakrishna Janardhana (Bala), Assistant Professor from the Department of Kannada Studies, University of Agricultural Sciences, in Hebbal, Bangalore, visited us earlier this month, Bala took a few pictures.

Here is one of Samuel, Daniel and me that I particularly liked.

It was kindly uploaded on Flickr.com by Geordy.

Thank you Bala.

Thanks to Shalu

Anand and me

Many thanks to Shalini, wife of Anand (son of the late George Matthan Sr.) and daughter of the late Dr. Nainan Varghese, for providing me with the name of her daughter-in-law (Kavita) and also correcting me that Pushpa's only son's name is Rohan George. Pushpa is the second daughter of Jacob Matthan Sr. (me being Jacob Matthan Jr., but not the son of Sr., only a nephew). The Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan page has been updated.

One small story about Shallu's late father, who was one of the most famous haemotologist that India has ever known. He met me at a party one evening in Madras where my parents were also present. We were all standing together and my dear mother was ranting about how much dessert I was consuming and that I would soon become a diabetic like my dad.

Dr. Nainan Varghese chipped in and told my mom that I would never become a diabetic!!

Coming from such a renowned expert, I was taken aback, as were both my mom and dad. He went on to explain that as both my mom and dad were considerably shorter than me, I am 6 foot 2 and half inches (191 cm) while both of them were below 5 foot 6 inches, the level of inherent growth hormone in my system would always keep me from becoming a diabetic as I had the natural anti-dote.

We all laughed, but he was deadly serious, as he had made this a serious study and was convinced that the immense volume of data he had collected had no exceptions till that date!!

And, in truth, I have been a borderline diabetic for many many years. I have never reduced my sugar intake, usually in the form of chocolates, biscuts, ice creams, barfi, sweet curd, and every other delicious form of sweetmeat that I can lay my hands on (my mouth just waters when I think of carrot halwa, jelebi, gulab jamuns or a tin of condensed milk), and I remain as such, a borderline diabetic. The moment I do some gym work, within two days my blood sugar will fall well below the borderline!!

Bit late blogging today

Annikki's younger sister, Anneli, who lives near Helsinki, in a small town called Masala, has come for a long weekend. I had to go and pick her up at the station.

These two sisters are very close.

Hilja with her daughters Anneli & Annikki in Oulu, 2003

Anneli has two sons, both very accomplished musicians. The elder, Matias, completed his schooling from the Sibelius School For Music, has finished his compulsory army service, and is now going to train for a part in an Opera while waiting to join the next stage of his higher education after summer. Tuomas is also a very very talented musician, but has still a year and a half left to finish his High School. He specialises in the playing the Cello and also has an excellent voice.


Hilja with grandsons, Matias & Tuomas, Oulu, 2003

Anneli, a trained Childrens' Teacher, heads a Government day-care centre in Masala and is also in charge of all the day-care centres, including those being run in private homes with the permisssion of the Government. She is glad to get a couple of days off to see her mother and sister, a long journey, as it is about 700 km from Masala to Oulu.

To give Annikki a chance to enjoy the time, we will have Joanna and family over for dinner this evening, which I will get from Michelle's Chinese Restaurant "The Royal Garden". Michelle is a family friend, a Chinese girl from Calcutta, whose food cooked for us, some of it super-spiced, is just great!!

This was the birthday cake that Annikki made for Michelle's son, Kachun for his 3rd birthday, a turtle just about to enter the sea from the seashore. Everything is edible, the rocks are toffee, and the water is clear jelly. The toffee forming the turtle's back was of special interest to all the kids, along with all the other sweets used as decoration. The head and feet of the turtle are the especially sought after licquorice sweets that children love.

One strange and unique factor about Annikki's fishes, which is a feature of her series called "Pond Cakes", is that they grow in size. They absorb the water from the jelly and literally grow!!!


Kachun's birthday cake, 2000, Turtle on the seashore

Cross-written Postcards?

Ever since I picked up this postcard in Helsinki about 20 years ago, cross-written postcards which were older than 100 years became my obsession. I searched everywhere, but only found a couple more.

Cross-written postcard Side 1 1895


Cross-written Postcard Side 2 1895

The writer was obviously trying to get more onto a postcard and hence save postage costs. In the process, a beautiful effect was created.

I asked antique dealer houses, Sotheby's and Philips, for valuations about 10 years ago. They said they had no price for these, as examples were rare.

Since this first piece, I have picked up a couple of Finnish ones, but not been able to locate any others from other countries. Antique postcard collectors in Canada have indicated that they have seen some across the Atlantic, and some Italian and French monks are said to have used this method.

However, no further examples have come to light.

The reason for collecting something is the challenge of finding what one is looking for. I found these very ordinary postcards had been turned into something quite beautiful. It was not the value that attracted me, as when I started collecting these, they were less than a Euro each. Now they are worth a few hundred Euro each.

So, although it does not give me any sleepless nights, I do look in antique shops wherever I go to try and find some of these rare postcards. And that is the fun of a hobby!!!

Thanks to Geordy

with samu
Originally uploaded by geordy.

I must thank Geordy George for sending me this very expressive photograph of Samu with me taken at daughter's, Joanna, house when he and Dr. Balakrishna visited us in Oulu.

Shall I talk about "great" cakes, like Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette was Queen of France. She married the Crown Prince of France in 1770. In 1774 she became Queen of France when her husband was crowned as King Louis XVI.

We seem to be living in similar times. Marie Antoinette was executed on October 16th, 1793. There was no proof of any crimes by her. Something like the Bush regime these days when innocents are tortured and put to death with no proof of any crime being committed by them. Bush calls this "colateral damage"!!!

The famous phrase when Marie Antoinette supposedly told that the peasants who did not have any bread was "Let them eat cake." There is no proof that Marie Antoinette ever said this. It was used to build a case against her to ensure she was put to death in the Revolution. Something like Bush and Blair WMD claims?

I digress, as what I want to blog today is the birthday cake that Annikki made for our son-in-law, Christopher Rogers (Chris) who celebrated his 40th birthday just after Christmas in 2004.

Annkki called the cake "Symphony of Fire and Ice" as our son-in-law is a professional musician who has played with several British Orchestras (Bournemouth, Birmigham, etc.) when he has had the time. Presently, he is in charge of Strings Education for schools all over the County of Lincolnshire in UK.

The cake depicts ice atop a pine log and this melts into a V-shaped burning cut pine log. This burnng log is the traditional way that Finnish foresters keep warm in the forest when they burn the inside of the wooden log (a delicious swiss roll in this case). The log normally burns for a long long time, giving both heat and light in the icey cold winter forest.

The basic cakes under the decoration had to be made from a special mix as Chris is allergic to gluten.

The first picture shows the buring fire log. (Four candles to depict 40 years.)

Chris's 40th birthday cake 2004

Tthe second picture is a close up to show the melting ice as it drips water (actually, frozen fizzy lemonade), which wet and softened the dry cake, giving it taste and texture.


Chris's 40th birthday cake 2004 - close up

Everything was edible. The decorations are what one finds typically in a forest as pine needles (made from sweets) and berries - both the rare cloudberry (yellow) and the more common red berries, both real, in the snow, lovely thick cream. The brown pine logs were sponge cake (swiss rolls) which were thick chocolate cream coated - delicious!!!

Needless to say, the cake was not only delightful to look at, but also delicious to eat. It took a long time before anyone dared to put a knife to the creation, whereafter, it was devoured rapidly by a hungry appreciative crowd!!

Memories are made of this

With all my ranting on politics and my nostalgia for Cathedralites and Stephanian news, I still have time to rummage my old photos and live through of some of the memories that are generated. In doing so I came upon this picture:

Picture of Susanna and Jaakko taken in 1971

One may claim that it just a picture of our two first born, Susanna and Jaakko, at their joint birthday party held in our home in Defence Officers Colony, Nandambakkam in November 1971.

This picture was taken by a friend (who was also related to me), the now late Dr. Basu John, who was the owner of a well-known photographic studio in Chennai called Klein and Peryl, who was photographed by Jaakko in 1999 relaxing in his home:

Picture of the late Dr. Basu John taken by Jaakko in 1999

That's nice, one could claim - subject takes descriptive picture of photographer 28 years onward.

Jaakko also took a picture of the enlargement of 1971 photograph as it lay in the late Dr. Basu John's home in 1999. It was something that Basu John was very proud of.


Jaakko's photograph of an enlargement of the original photograph as it lay in the late Dr. Basu John's home in 1999

Still no big deal one could say, till we look at the size of the enlargement and recall the history of the camera that took the original picure.

The original was taken a camera jointly developed by the late Dr. Basu John and myself in 1971, made out of black plastic pieces stuck together, with a lens and optics designed by the brilliant brain of the late Dr. Basu John, while the body and other plastic components were designed by me.

And our calculated market price of launching this camera as a mass produced item in 1972 had been estimated as Rs. 30 per piece, or less than Euro 0.50 (less than a dollar)!!

However, there was much beween the cup and the lip.

A little while later, as Dr. Basu John was sitting with me in my office in the house where the photograph was taken, there was a telephone call to him saying that his studio was on fire. He rushed to the studio. But it was just too late. Some parts of it had been gutted by the fire and all the development plans for this cheap camera had gone up in flames.

After this, neither Dr. Basu John nor I had any inclination to follow through this project.

However, just to be sure that our concepts had been right, Dr. Basu John enlarged the original negative to as large as was possible in his studio, just to see when the image would breakdown.

That is the image you see in Jaakko's photograph when he visited the late Dr. Basu John's home in 1999.

Even at this enormous enlargement, the photograph, even at the edges showed no sign of breaking up!!

The late Dr. Basu John was a great photographer, a wonderful brain as regards optics.

On this day, of no particular significance, I take my hat off and hang my head in remembrance of this outstanding member of the Malayali community of Madras / Chennai.

Some visitors having problems seeing all the blog entries

A few of you have emailed me that pictures and older blog entries seem to have vanished.

They have not vanished.

When you come to the blog, you are seeing what is known as the "Current Posts" page which shows just 10 or so of the most recent entries.

To see earlier entries you should click in the particular month in the Archives section which you find in the left sidebar. This will reveal all the posts of that month.

I am still trying to work out how I can show you an Index of posts. If I figure it out, and also sort of categorise each entry based on relevance, you will read about it here.

Cheers.

Nice joke and a personal twist

I had a visitor to Oulu, Geordy George, a couple of weeks ago. He is from Deepika International, part of the Rashtra Deepika Group. a publication group which is almost 117 years old. Geordy has become a family friend.

As you may know there is fierce rivalry between two Kottayam based newspaper group, Rashtra Deepika and the one owned by the Kandathil family to which I half belong, the Malayala Manorama.

Geordy sent me what I thought was a very nice joke which I reproduce below:

Hi

Who works for India ??????
The population of India is 100 crores
1,00,00,00,000; But 19 crores are retired.
-19,00,00,000: That leaves 81 crores do the work.
81,00,00,000: There are 25 crores in school,
-25,00,00,000: Which leaves 56 crores to do the work.
56,00,00,000: Of this there are 22 crores employed by the Central Govt,
-22,00,00,000: Leaving 34 crores to do the work.
34,00,00,000: 4 crores are in the Armed Forces,
-4,00,00,000: Which leaves 30 crores to do the work.
30,00,00,000: Take away from above total the 20 crores people work for
State Governments (State Government employees officially do not work!)
-20,00,00,000: And that leaves 10 crores to do the work.
10,00,00,000: Total unemployed are 8 crores
-8,00,00,000: And that leaves 2 crores to do the work.
2,00,00,000: At any given time there are 1.2 crore people in hospitals,
-1,20,00,000: Leaving 80 lakhs to do the work.
80,00,000: Now, according to Indian Statistical Institute,
there are 79,99,998 people in prisons throughout the country.
-79,99,998: That leaves just 2 people to do the work.......
2

You and me!!!
And currently YOU are sitting at your computer reading mails.
So I am the only person in our country who is working!
And that's why India is surviving!!!

Now, please go back and do your job because, for a change, I want to rest.
And I don't want India to suffer because of that.

Geordy

Geordy left his jaw wide open and I was prompted to reply:

Dear Geordy,

False logic.
I am sitting at my computer in Finland.
So who is that other second guy who is working?
Must be that guy in the Malayala Manorama!! :-)
Thanks for the laugh!!

Jacob, Oulu, Finland

Happy birthday Reenu

Join Annikki and me in wishing Reenu, wife of Rajive, who is the son of K.O. Kuriyan (Vellichayan) and Babykochamma, grandson of the late K. M. Oommens (Mambaltheappachen and Mambaltheammachi), a very very happy birthday.

Reenu and Rajive live in Kottayam near Velichayan and Babykochamma. His two brothers, Ashok Kuriyan and his wife, Meenu, and K. K. Mammen Mappillai (Prathap) and his wife, Geetha, live in Bangalore.

Sadly, no picture of Reenu on our archives, so will somebody help us fill this gap.

Happy birthday Susan

Annikki and I would like to wish Susan Kurian (née Verghese), daughter of Mammen Verghese (Thambachayan) and Annammakochamma from the Oopootil family, a very very happy birthday.

Susan is the wife of Prem Kurian. They live in Bangalore.

Susan is the granddaughter of the late Kandathil Mammen Verghese Mappilai and his wonderful and gracious wife, the late Thandammakochamma.

Sadly no picture in my archives of this one of the 5 beautiful sisters (Tara, Roshin, Mammy; Susan and Ashwathy) whom I count a great honour to be my nieces.

I am sure all of you will join me in wishing her many more such birthdays in years ahead.

Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan site updated

Thanks to all the inputs, I have updated the Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan website.

The site of his father which links to all his brothers and sisters and their Families will be updated shortly.

Bookmark the sites for your convenience. Do send me photographs that can be used on these sites.

Today will be put to rest a person I can never forget

Although I met this gentleman only a couple of times, in 1975, he is one I will never forget. He oozed with character and love for his fellow human beings. He was the sweetness equal to the product he represented as his classification in Rotary - confectionary manufacturing.

His visiting card, which I have faithfully preserved for the last 20 years, shows his character.

Visiting Card of Rolf Klärich given to me in the summer of 1975 during a Rotary meeting in Oulu.

Rolf Klärich passed away on the 20th of January 2005.

He is the only Finn to have served as the President of Rotary International. He held his term during 1980-81.

His theme for his Presidency was "Take Time To Serve".

"1980-81 Rotary International President Rolf J. Klärich (confectionary manufacturing), Rotary Club of Helsinki- Helsingfors, Finland.
Rotary vision: That its members Take Time to Serve - any time, anywhere - and make the organisation work.
"The time we take to serve those who need us can be the turning point, not only in their lives but also in our own."
- Take Time to Serve, THE ROTARlAN, July 1980"

He was born in Oulu on 5th February 1922. A Rotarian since 1953, Klärich was a member of the Rotary Club of Helsinki-Helsingfors. He started his Rotary life as a member of the Merikoski Rotary Club in Oulu and he twice served as the Governor of the Northern Region of Finland.

He also served Rotary International as vice president, director, Foundation trustee and trustee chair, district governor, International Assembly group discussion leader, information institute counselor, group discussion leader, and committee member and chair.

Klärich, a retired confectionary manufacturer, held several civic and industrial organization offices.

For his service as British consul of Finland's Oulu Province and his work to promote international understanding, the former Rotary International President was made an Honorary Officer of the Order of British Empire. He served as Vice Chairman and then Chairman of the English Club of Oulu, the august position which my better half, Annikki, held several years later.


Rolf Klärich, Vice Chairman of The English Club of Oulu in 1955, shaking hands with Trevor Cash. Copyright English Club of Oulu.

Klärich is survived by his wife, Katarina (Käthy), and daughters, Veronica, Yvonne, and Birgitta. A memorial service will be held for family and close friends at the Old Chapel in Helsinki today when he will be laid to rest.

Condolences may be sent to the family at Välskarinkatu 7 A 4, FIN 00260 Helsinki, Finland.

Interesting article on S. M. Krishna, Governor of Maharashtra

S. M. Krishna (SM) crossed my path about the time he was appointed as Industries Minister in the Karnataka Government.

We have a common friend, C. Raghunatha Reddy and his wife Gaythri, who were very anxious for S. M. Krishna to meet this young brash consultant who was making a name for himself in India.

Raghu visits me in Oulu in 2003

On several occasions from the Cellulose Acetate factory in Mandya to many other confidential matters, I had the opportunity to meet and discuss with SM, both during his tenure in the Karnataka Government and then when he moved to the Centre in New Delhi.

When I finally made up my mind to leave India due to several parallel circumstances, I felt that I should inform SM of my decision.

He had just been appointed as Minister of State for Industry in the Central Government. While wishing him well in his new post, I explained to him the reasons for my decision to leave India for good.

I have preserved his reply:


Farewell letter from S. M. Krishna, Minister of State for Industries, Government of India.

The handwritten scrawl at the bottom reads: "PS. I hate to see you go......"

There is an interesting article Governor Krishna settles into the 'City of Dreams' about this upstanding politician who has very gradually moved up the ladder, safely and surely, and is now at his pinnacle as the Governor of the State of Maharashtra.

I would like to wish him well and hope he can now relax from those chores that he had to do during his political life. He can enjoy his tenure in my second home city.

He may remember his infamous statement when he addressed the Karnataka Assembly and said that jobs in Karnataka should be reserved for the "sons of the soil".

I threw this back at him shortly after he made that speech. I asked him at that time that as my grandparents originated from Kerala and one had become the First Member (Prime Minister) of his state, then known as Mysore, as I had been born there and had my first wonderful 11 years of my life in the State of my birth, as I had then moved to Bombay and studied there for 5 years, where I had been totally at home, as I had done my University in Delhi for 3 years, again a fabulous city, as I had moved to England to my higher studies, work and got married to a Finn, all in the space of 7 years, following which I was living in Madras, when he made his statement, which "son of the soil" was I?

SM had replied that what he said did not apply to people of my stature in society.

I had retorted that any statement made by such a powerful and educated man, such as himself, should never discriminate between people based on caste, creed, colour, religion or place of birth!!

And now, here is SM in my third home State, a State I love greatly, Maharashtra, as its Governor - "son of the soil" SM?

I am very distressed today...

so, I am not going to write about what I should write about!! (Maybe tomorrow, when I get my anger under control.)

Instead, I am going to show you some of Annikki's gingerbread creations of December 2004. The creations were totally and completely edible. And we have eaten them.

It is what Annikki calls "Biodegradable Edible Art".

The first photograph shows Annikki in the process of creating one of her masterpieces. In this, the light which lit up the straw in the barn is visible.

Annikki at work creating a gingerbread construction, December 2004

And here was the outcome for grandson, Samuel, but I was not able to include the lights showing in this particular photograph. Note one of the several implements on the ground. The red moon is hiding in the hills. the grass is string green sweet.


Gingerbread Latto (Finnish straw storage barn) created by Annikki for Samuel, December 2004

Annikki then just had to make another one for our granddaughter, Asha, who visited us over Christmas.

The red lights create the impression of the fireplace. The tent was made out of rolled marzipan. In an earlier year she had made it out of rice paper. The stream around the wigwam is made from melted sugar. The rocks are black and brown toffee sweets.


Gingerbread Kota (Finnish Laplanders wigwam) created by Annikki for Asha, December 2004

And finally, she recreated a gingerbread flowerpot, which had been a great hit many years ago, but this time she embellished it with a lighted candle!!

The flowerpot, leaves and the flower stems are made from gingerbread. The pot is filled with a cake mix, which could be watered with fruit juice from a watering can! And the tulip flowers are sweets fashioned by Annikki's artistic flair.


Gingerbread flowerpot created by Annikki December 2004

They were all delicious - (and anger management has succeeded)!!!

News of a Maliyakal Wedding and another Kandathil birthday...

Our cousin, Rana, from Calgary has informed me about the engagement of his daughter, Nidhi.

If you are in the vicinity of Calgary this August, Rana and Beena would like to invite you to attend the wedding.

Rana and Beena wrote

"Sushilchayan,

Trust you and family are keeping well. Beena and me were reading today your blog and found it very informative and interesting. In fact your friend Abe's brother, Suresh Tharakan, and Jose Vellapally's cousin, Markos Abraham, and me stayed together in YMCA Bangalore in 1972-77.

I am attaching a picture of our eldest daughter, Nidhi, along with her finacé, Anoop, taken on their engagement in Calgary. The wedding is planned for Aug 27th 2005 in Calgary.

Anoop and his parents belong to Bangalore and live now here.

Nidhi is the eldest great granddaughter of Late Mr. K. Jacob and great-grandniece of Late Dewan Bahadur K. Mathan.

Regards,

Rana & Beena Jacob"

Yes, indeed, Nidhi is a Maliyakal.

You can see the details of the Maliyakal family at my web site which was created with a lot of help from many Maliyakal's around the world. Please correct any wrong facts on this site by emailing me or provide me with additional facts if you have any!! Pictures would be very welcome.

I am sure many would love to know more about Anoop and his parents.

Anoop, may I congratulate you on getting such a beautiful partner, and Nidhi, this tall and handsome young man is really a great asset to have at your side.

Annikki and I wish you all the very best - and if there is a glimmer of hope for us to get some time off, we would love to get to Calagary for your wedding.

Nidhi, Rana and Beena Jacob's daughter, with her fiancé, Anoop, at their engagement in Calgary.

Annikki and I would like to wish Mammy, daughter of Thambachayan (Mammen Varghese) and dearest wife of my good friend, Anian (K. P. Philip), a very very happy birthday.

Sadly, no picture of Mammy in my files!! I am sure Anian will help out by sending me some family snaps soon.

Mammy and Anian live in Singapore. There is some chance that they may move to Brussels, which should mean we may see them here in Oulu!!

Remember him fondly and with respect

Annikki and I quietly remember her father, Matti, who passed away 4 years ago, today.

Left to right: Matti, Anja, wife Hilja, Anneli, Annikki and Aino

A God-fearing man, a simple but truly accomplished carpenter, was much more than a father to me during all my years in Finland. He understood the true meaning of the word "love" and "neighbour".

May his soul rest in peace!!

Recognise this "Birthday Boy" en route his wedding ceremony?

I wonder how many will recognise this nervous handsome young man and his helpers on his wedding day?

Rajen, Mathukuttychayan, late Kunjumonchayan, Senchayan and Suresh prepare to go to the church for Sen's wedding. Copyright: My father, the late Kuriyan Matthan.

Senchayan (Mammen Philip), a brilliant Cambridge economist, and part of a family of renowned economists comprising of his father, K. M. Philip (Peelukuttychayan) and Dr. Peter Philip (Suresh) finished his college from Madras Christian College, Tambaram before joining Cambridge University, UK.

Didn't he look smart? Today, he still remains cool and smart as he celebrates his 67th birthday.

I am sure all you 53er Cathedralites and Kandathils will join Annikki and me in wishing him a very happy birthday.

Sen now lives in Chennai. His two kids, Kavitha and Karun, both absolutely brilliant minds but truly humble human beings, take after their dad on both counts.

Senchayan's home used to be our Saturday or Sunday afternoon relaxation centre for a few of us who wanted to play a few rounds of friendly bridge in Chennai in the early seventies. We downed many a bottle of cold beer during those sessions. (That was well before I stopped imbibing!!)

Thanks for all the great times and pleasant memories, Senchayan!!

I had to laugh to myself...

Cathedralites

I do get a lot of email from all corners of the globe. It has not reached the enormous proportions of early last year. I had to laugh to myself when I got this one:

"Dear Jacob,

I was surprised to see my name in your newsletter. I am
Neelam Lakhani, and I have no recollection of playing
football, cricket or table tennis with you, as I read on
your Cathedral Newsletter. Incidentally I'm not from
Cathedral.

In fact, I don't even recall the names Jangoo Moos,
Percy Mistry, Amin Choksi. Care to jog my memory?
Or is this another Neelam?

Regards,

Neelam Lakhani"

It prompted me to reply with some wit:

Dear Neelam,

If you go to my blog at

http://jmatthan.blogspot.com

and look at the picture for the blog entry in the archives
for December 13th 2004, the shorty in the top row
extreme right, standing, with glasses is NEELAM LAKHANI!!

Neelam was in my House of which I was House Captain.
I am the guy with the head circled in the seated row.

Does it look like you in your younger days, or has
dementia set in?

Regards

Jacob

Actually, sometime about 3 years ago, the correct Neelam did contact me by email, but I lost his email address. If anyone knows where he is, I would love to get back in contact with him!!

Vinoo celebrates birthday, two weddings...

Annikki and I would like all of you to join us in wishing Vinoo (K. M. Mammen) in Chennai a very very happy 56th birthday.

Vinoo as pictured in The HINDU in 2004, Copyright: Photographer N. Balaji, Credit: The HINDU

Vinoo presently heads MRF, carrying on the tradition set by his father, Kochappachen.

It is extremely difficult to keep this company, which is the recognised top of the tyre industry in India and about the 7th or 8th largest one in the world, at the pinnacle position.

I am sure that the next generation of Mammen's that come along will have a tough task keeping this old family created multinational in its leading position, especially since the world tyre industry is undergoing a very radical change in many many respects.

It will need a visionary leader to continue to keep MRF ahead in both technology as well as market image.

I remember well how Kochappachen organised the first MRF brainstorming session in Chennai, way way back in 1970-71, so as to try and determine how to get to this top position. I wonder how many who were present remember the bundle of great ideas that were thrown up?

Vinoo's son, Rahul, a Stephanian, was married about a month ago. Annikki and I take this opportunity to wish the happy couple the very best and a long and happy married life. Rahul heads the corporate planning department in MRF, having taken over from a dear friend who retired last year, S. R. Ratnam (of The Hindu newspaper family).

Ratnam, an engineer, who used to work in procurement, was groomed, like me, by one of the greats who ever worked for MRF, the late Prem Sadanand.

Prem was Staff Assistant to the Managing Director till his early demise. This was the hot seat in MRF which took all the bad vibes and received the least praise for his historic efforts!!

But Prem had broad shoulders and he taught Ratnam and me a lot of things in our short association.

I must also wish, Thambi's (Stephanian Philip Mathew) son (Stephanian) Riyad who was married last week to Stephanian Abraham (Abe) Tharakan's daughter Keya.

Abe was one of the few Malayali's in college at my time.

(Besides Abe, the others I can remember were cousins Suresh and Rajen, second cousin Ranjit Jacob (retired in Madras), George Verghese (Kottayam industrial giant), Thomas Chandy, Ninan, Jose Vellapally (now a Supreme Court star lawyer), Rajen Narayanan (great tennis and table tennis player), outstanding artist Prakash Joseph who gave the original Kooler Talk its real look of professionalism, the late Jacob Eapen for a short while, and myself in the students, Economist Mathew and organic chemist Raphael in the staff, and undoubted the most popular of all - Sebastian in the canteen who produced us some great scrambled eggs).

Here is a picture from my files of the happy parents of the groom, Thambi glancing over his shoulder with a Hollywood movie star look!!


Bina and Thambi, parents of the groom

Thambi runs the Cochin Unit of Malayala Manorama and main centre for the publication of The WEEK. Abe has a fishing export industry, reputed to be one of the largest successful ones in India.

Kindness, friendships and more

This morning I went early to take grandson Samuel to school as his dad, Tony, had driven up to Rovaniemi (200 km north of Oulu), famous as a tourist city called the home of Santa Claus. Tony was not going to see Santa Claus!

After dropping Samuel at school, I went to my car mechanic as there were some small problems with my ancient rally jallopy. He fixed them and charged me just Euro 25 for almost an hour and a half's work. The usual rate is about Euro 50 per hour!!

I thought that I would check my car battery as a late cold winter spell is expected. I drove to friend's shop, a family business which specialises in batteries.

Mika did not ask many questions. He installed a new battery, the very best - a Varta heavy duty. I waited to pay at the cash counter as there were several customers. Mika came from the yard and told me, loudly, it would cost Euro 70, which I duly handed over. He took the money, bent over the cash machine for a couple of seconds. I thought he was preparing the bill. He then took some money out of the cash machine and handed it to me, telling me it was "my change"!!

There was Euro 70 being returned. I could not understand what this meant, but before I could protest, he insisted it was "my change" and asked me politely to leave!!

I did not know what to do, as I am used to paying for whatever I buy. Here was, for no apparent reason, my friend of long standing, no doubt, insisting that I do not pay for a brand new battery, and one of the best in the market which costs well over Euro 100!!

I got home to find a couple of emails. The first was an excited one from Gracie Hayeem. She enclosed an email she had received from another 69er:

"Dear Miss Hayeem:

Barbara shared your e-mail address with me, and your warm note.

I do remember you most fondly -- vivid images of a beautiful teacher with long shapely legs (we often sat on the floor so legs were eye-level) and gorgeous skirts who would lead us in song and reciting our alphabets. I remember our reader with you -- "Sing Mother sing, Mother shall sing..." I think I was in Miss Lely's class, but it is all one big happy blur.

I am now in New Orleans with my husband and two daughters (19 and 14). I did a Ph.D. at UCLA, finishing in 1983 and have been teaching at universities since (at Penn State, on sabbatical at UCLA and now at Tulane).

I meet Shyla (Boga) and Sheba (Eapen) on my visits back to Bombay which are often , and recently have started e-mailing Barbara. I call Zarine on the phone. I left Catherdral in 1966, and finished the last three years of school from Delhi.

It's Mardi Gras here and soon it will be Jazz Fest. New Orleans is always good for music and food. Having you and your family visit would be a joy. We live in a 130 year old house close to the beautiful Audobon Park and walking distance to the historic tram line which would take us down to to French Quarter.

Warm regards,

Mita (Chatterji) Sujan"

Now. wasn't that nice.

Sheba is the younger sister of one of us 59ers, the late Jacob Eapen. Jacob came to St. Stephen's College with me and we both got called for IIT Karagphur. He decided to join while I stayed on in St. Stephen's.

And then there was an email from New Delhi from Cathedralite 57er (as well as 61er Stephanian), Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, retired from his stint as Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir. He had just spent last evening with his old classmate, Abe Hayeem, Gracie's younger brother, who is an architect, lives in London and is touring India with the folk group (see earlier blog entry for details).

I was glad that Tony is well as I had not heard from him for a few months. He is enjoying his retirement. Tony was extremely helpful to me in the 70's when he was George Fernandes's IAS Personal Secretary when George was the Industries Minister!! I always think of Tony and the kindness he showed me.

And then the snail mail arrived. It contained a cover from my foster daughter, Gopa Haikkonen, who is 54er Sadhana (née Shah) Madhusadan's daughter who is married to a Finn and lives in South Finland. The cover contained a CD which was the 50 year reunion celebrations of the 1954 Cathedralite Group.

I was deeply touched when in the introduction Suhas Phadke mentioned how I had played a (tiny) role in getting this gig together. Thank you all for remembering me!!

California, New Orleans in the US, Oulu and Tampere in Finland, New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune in India and Londn, U.K. - the world is just a very small oyster and there are lovely kind people existing everywhere. For that I thank God and hope that all of you will keep in touch with me and help share your kindness and good cheer all around the world.

Who is your neighbour? (Part 2)

I recount here the story of one of our dear family members who suffered in the tsunami but was saved by the grace of God.

I hope that it will show especially all of us, who have lived a privileged life, about who is our neighbour and who is the Good Samaritan.

I must thank Georgie for feeding me the exact details of this incident.

"Regarding Dilip, he was fishing in the Muthukad Lake in front of Kovalam Taj Hotel. He was in the water ankling. Suddenly people started running. Before Dilip could run he saw a mist, and within seconds, the wave was on him. He was drifted inland. On the way he got hold of a thorny bush, He held on to it. Although his hands and body were bleeding, he held on to the bush. After the wave retreated he got down, but badly bruised. His shirt and pants were gone. He was in his underwear. He was sitting on the road asking for water. Lots of cars went by. Finally a cyclist came to his help. He stood in the middle of the road and stopped a bus and gave him water. Then a motorcyclist came by. The cyclist asked him to take him to the Hotel. But the hotel watchman would not allow him in as he was in his underwear. Then Dilip mentioned the name of the manager of the hotel and threatened him. Then the watchman allowed him in. But when he went to the reception he again had the same problem. But Dr. Mohan Das was in the lobby. He recognised Dilip and gave him first aid. Then he telephoned Elamma and Vikram. They brought an ambulance and took him and got admitted him to Kaliappa Hospital."

When I wrote to Dilip's mother expressing my concern and expressing our prayers for her about what had happened, she wrote back to me:

Dear Sushil,

Thank you for your prayers.

It was the sheer grace of God that saved Dilip. He is back to normal now.

Praise the Lord.

So many thousands have lost their lives, Innocent little ones!!

I do not understand any of this.

Love,

Accakuttykochama

I hope every family member understands what God is telling us. Recognise His Power. Understand that all around us are our neighbours. It is our turn to be the true Good Samaritans in future.

(To be continued...)

Some personal photographs from my collection

I have pleasure in wishing a dear cousin's equally dear husband a very happy 78th birthday today. Wing Commander (retired) A. G. Mathews lives in Defence Officer's Colony on the outskirts of Chennai. Annikki and I used to live in this Colony way way back in 1970-1972. It was a delightful place.

Mammykochamma and Kuttachayan, as they are known to us, were my guardians in Delhi in the 1960s when I was studying in St. Stephen's College. And they were great guardians!!

Kuttachayan enjoying a glass of cheer at Suchi and Michael's wedding reception in Chennai in 1999

I was overwhelmed with email from all over the world about two great personalities I mentioned a few days ago. The first was my mother's cousin, the late K. C. Mathulla who passed away on 28th January 2005. Many recalled his fine, helpful and loving personality. Going through my photograph collection I found this picture taken by Annikki when the two of us paid our personal respects to him in 1994. Dressed in his favourite clothes, lungi and bush shirt, he narrated many stories to us about life in general after his wife had passed away.

I was amazed that how well informed he was about our lives although we had not seen him for over 10 years.


Pappachayan with me in 1994 at his residence in Mumbai

Both Stephanians and Kandathil family members were overjoyed at the news of Rajen (Mammen to many) receiving the Padma Shree. I had a message from our college Old Students Association President, Shankar Ghose, asking how he could contact Rajen to invite him to the Re-Union Lunch they have in College on the 2nd Sunday of December every year.

Here is a picture of Rajen with me in 1989 when both of us were considerably younger!! Note the resemblance - Rajen is miniature version of me!!! :-)


Rajen with me at the MRF Guest House in 1989

Who is your neighbour? (Part 1)

The recent tsunami that hit India and neighbouring countries has raised the issue as to who is one’s neighbour?

In this three part short blog article, I wish to touch on this as it has affected me, Annikki and some of our family, as well as many many loved ones.

When we moved to India in 1969, it was Annikki’s first experience in a third world country. She saw great and wonderful things around her. She enjoyed fabulous company, food and riches, as a family wedding was in progress in Bombay.

In all the hustle and bustle, she felt she should share some of this wonderland that she saw with her parents and friends in Finland. So we went and bought some small gifts to send to them.

Ammachi, my late mother, advised us to pack the gifts and send them from the Malabar Hill Post Office, as the staff there were more competent in handling such postings because of the large number of foreigners staying in that locality.

Annikki happily packed the presents. I drove her to the post office with the kids in tow - Susanna being just 2 years and Jaakko being less than a year.

I went into the Post Office to send off the parcels while Annikki and the children waited in the car.

It took me about 10 minutes. When I got back, I found Annikki was very very quiet.

I saw a tsunami of tears streaming from her eyes.

I wondered what had happened. I looked around to see if anything could have troubled her or the kids, both of whom seemed quite happy. I SAW NOTHING.

When I got in the car, I asked her what the matter was. First, she did not say anything. Then she pointed to a little girl in tattered clothes carrying a little baby, in even more tattered rags.

That was Annikki’s first encounter with a beggar.

It moved her deeply to see these little children on the broad and beautiful hill street in a rich neighbourhood in such horrible clothes and going from car to car, begging for something to eat!!

In my initial glance, I had not even noticed this ragged little girl and baby. I WAS BLIND.

Being brought up in India, I had been immune to such sights. The scene passed over my eyes without a second thought. Such poverty and tragedy as depicted in the little girl was something we, and many many Indians, had not the eyes to see, the ears to hear or the mouth to speak!!

What was I to say, now that I had noticed it? I knew it existed - but I had been conditioned to not notice it and to ignore it. How could I explain to Annikki that this sight would be repeated a million times as we lived in India?

How would one be able to sleep at night knowing how one’s fellowmen, little children like these, were lying on the streets, being exploited by their parents, and the rich would abuse them and pass them by.

Being a person of Christian upbringing, the question as to who was my neighbour as well as the parable of the Good Samaritan passed through my mind.

I seemed to know what was passing through Annikki’s mind as we both looked at that little girl, probably a couple of years older than Susanna, and the baby, probably the same age as Jaakko.

At that moment, there was nothing to be said. It was time to act in our own small way.

I made a mental resolution that I would not accumulate wealth for myself or my family at the cost of these poor. We would go out of our way to help any of these little children who came across our path, in some small way, not by encouraging their begging, but by making some contribution to their lives which would help them irreversibly.

I made a decision that when any child, rich or poor, crossed my path I would show kindness and not the hardness that some of the strong show to the weak.

In the next 15 years of our stay in India, I think both Annikki and I kept to the norms and standards we had set for ourselves in an unspoken way on that occasion. Maybe we contributed, in our small way, to the upliftment of the weak with our work at our home and in the Madras South Rotary Club, one of the finest Rotary Clubs that I have ever come across and was proud to be a member of for several years.

Later in life, when I was offered the chance to become a Rotarian in another city, I refused. None of those clubs I visited had the personal dedication to the ideals that Annikki and I had set for ourselves.

We did not do anything for credit or glory. Most of it remains unsaid and unsung, the way we had intended. To get publicity of praise was not our objective. As defined in our good book, when there is an act of charity, let not the left hand know what the right hand has done.

(To be continued...)

Shilpa and family visit Australia

Kandathil News

Shilpa is Kunjumonchayan and Omenakochamma's younger daughter, a brilliant lawyer, who is married to Joseph Pookkatt. They have one daughter, Ily, and they live in New Delhi.

Kunjumochayan at Suchi & Michael’s wedding reception December 1999



Meera, Omenakochamma, Shilpa, Anammakochamma (Jr.), Annikki, late Annammakochamma (Sr.) with Annikki’s art cake at Suchi & Michael’s wedding reception December 1999

Thanks to my good KI5 (Kandathil equivalent of MI5) informant, Georgie, in Chennai, I was able to access some delightful photographs of Shilpa and her husband, Joseph, holidaying in Australia.



Shilpa and Joseph in Australia 2004 (copyright Shilpa Mammen)

And here is a picture of Shilpa with her daughter, Ily, also from Australia.



Shilpa and Ily in Australia 2004 (copyright Shilpa Mammen)

If you want to see the whole collection of 49 photographs from their trip, and it is worth going through them, visit the Kodak Online Website by just clicking on View Photos at the Ofoto Web Site to get started. You can become a member and keep your own photographs there for sharing with others.

I remember Ily when I was getting my teeth attended to in Chennai at the Apollo Hospital Dental facility. While I was being gassed by the dentist, I could here some very loud screaming from just outside. I wondered whether that was the previous patient in the recovery phase!!

When I came out of my ordeal, I discovered that it had been baby Ily, with Shilpa, the new mom, getting used to the loud voice of her beautiful new daughter in her parent's home!!

Kandathils, Stephanians - Hip Hip Hurrah

The President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, has conferred on Mammen Mathew (Kandathil, Stephanian, commonly known to all of us as Rajen, Rajenchayan) the PADMA SHREE Award. This important news was announced on Republic Day at New Delhi. This award has made it a record for any one family in Independent India (see below). 

Rajen gets the Padma Shri award from Abdul Kalam

 

Rajen, former US President Bill Clinton and former Indian President Shri K. R. Narayanan

Besides being my dear and constant companion when we were together in St Stephen's College, Delhi, Rajen was also very dear to both Annikki and me when he came to England. It was Rajen and his friends who campaigned for me and made history in the college by getting a second year student elected to the post of JCR President of the College. Together we made the JCR from a dumb unloving unfriendly place into one of the most liveliest places to hang out in.

Later, I was one who was involved in giving him the courage to choose his life partner, Prema!! I still remember him sweating away in the car when he went to see his to-be for the first time!! He ran through more than a few of my handkerchiefs and hand towels at that time!!

Rajen, with another outstanding Stephanian classmate, architect Ramu Katakam, who is also now a member of the Kandathil family by marriage, hitch-hiked across the globe from India to London to land at my doorstep in the mid 1960's. Both were going places, and Rajen has shown us the way to the top.

I must mention the other two of the four Stephanian musketeers of Rajen’s year, Azhar Siddique, who went into hotel management and made a great name for himself in that field, and Suresh Mehra, who runs one of the finest garment export houses from Hyderabad.

Rajen studied journalism on the job at Bristol in Wales and then in the USA. In 2002 he received the rare honour of being appointed as a Reuters Trustee, the first Indian to be appointed to this position. He has been the Chairman of the Indian Section of the Commonwealth Press Union, President of the Indian Newspaper Society, and the Editors Guild of India, and has also been on the Press Council of India.

Today, he is the guiding spirit of the Malayala Manorama Newspapers Group, India's most outstanding newspaper and magazine publishing centre, founded by our greatgranduncle, Kandathil Varghese Mappillai, given shape by our grandfather K. C. Mammen Mappillai and then guided in turn by the late K. M. Cherian and then K. M. Mathew, till Rajen took the helm.

Rajen is assisted by his two younger brother, both professionals, Philip Mathew (Thambi), also a Stephanian and father of 2 Stephanians, Amit and Riyad, and Jacob Mathew (Chacko), sadly not a Stephanian but the father of one, Harsha.

Rajen's daughter-in-law, Miriam (Anu) Mathew (née Paul) was an outstanding Stephanian and a leading executive in a US bank till she returned to India to take the helm of Manorama Online. Her husband Jayant, is also in the newspaper business and a student of our leading Stephanian friend, Sreenath Sreenivasan, Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and an expert on convergence journalism.

The other Award Winners in our family:

1. The late Mr. K. M. Cherian (Chetpetappachen) - first awarded the Padma Shree and the later he was given the Padma Bhushan. Our dear cousins, Dr. K. C. Mammen (Bapukuttychayan), one of India’s leading paediatricians and Mrs. P. V. Jacob (Sarasukochamma) are Chetpetappachen’s surviving children.
2. Mr. K. M. Philip (Peelukuttychayan, Pappa) was give the Padma Shree three ago back. He was the World President of the Y. M. C. A. after many years of outstanding and honorary service in the Indian Y. M. C. A. At the age of 92, he is still physically and mentally fully active and still takes part in many business functions. His wife, Chinammakochamma is also fully active at the age of 85. She was the leading light of the Mumbai Y. W. C. A. for many many years. A dearer lady so full of fun and laughter one will not find on this earth. His two children are Sen Philip and Dr. Peter Philip (Suresh, a fellow Stephanian of my era, an outstanding economist, the business brain behind the launch of the FIRST Kooler Talk, classmate of such leading Stephanians as Sayeed Rizvi, Sarwar Lateef, Zaffar Hai).
3. Mr. K. M. Mathew (Mathukuttychayan, Rajen's father) was given the Padma Bhushan, nearly a decade ago. His wife, the late Mrs. K. M. Mathew (Annammakochamma), who passed away in 2003, surpassed all what her husband and her children have done in her service to the women and children of India. His daughter, Thangam, Rajen’s sister is the mother of 2 Stephanians, Adit and Rohan. (See above for details of his sons - Rajen, Thambi and Chacko.)
4. The late Mr. K. M. Mammen Mappillai (Kochappachen), half a decade before he died in 2003. His wife, Kunjukochamma is a hostess extraordinaire, a person who has made any person entering over the doorstep feel as one of the family. Kochappachen, aided by his six brothers (Cherian, Oommen, Eapen, Varghese Mappillai, Philip and Mathew) and one sister (Mariam, my late mother ) and the sister-in-law of their deceased brother, (Mrs. K. M. Jacob, Pallammachi), built the MRF tyre company by their sense of unity and devotion to one another as well as the entire Syrian Christian Malayali Community. Kochappachen was physically assisted by his wife’s brother, now retired Technical Director of MRF, Kurian George (Georgie, my dear friend in Chennai who keeps me abreast of all the best news from India these days) and technically, mentally and morally assisted by my late father (Kuriyan Matthan). MRF was stabilised and brought forward as India’s leading tyre company by his son, the late Ravi Mammen, and is now run in the family tradition of professional management by his two surviving sons, Vinoo and Arun. Vinoo is the father of 2 Stephanians, Samir and Rahul. His only daughter, Remani is an outstanding artist running her own creative art design company.

It is important to mention Mr. M. K. Mathulla, founder of H.M.T. and a die hard Kandathil, got a Padma Shree some 20 years ago.

In this tribute of honour to Kandathils, I must also say a fond farewell to a dear friend, also a Kandathil, Mr. K. C. Mathulla, who died in Mumbai on 28th January 2005, my wedding anniversary. Mathullapapachayan, as I knew him, had been one who had been of greatest strength to me. When I arrived in India with a "foreign" wife, it was he who, with his Mauritian wife, the late Gabbykochamma, gave me the most practical advice on how to live in India. Besides that, it was he who took me to a leading homeopath and cured me completely of sinusitis, a terrible scourge that I had suffered for many years. It was he who cured Annikki of her acute tonsillitis, again with homeopathy through a well known homeopath in Bandra, Mumbai.

May his soul rest in peace.

Sadly, he had no issue. His dear wife, Gabbykochamma, who suffered from painful arthritis for many many years, left for her heavenly abode to await resurrection several years ago. I will remember this humble and great man, who was dear cousin and friend to my mother and a wonderful uncle and mentor to me, in my daily prayers forever.

Do you wiggle your toes?

I do. And probably that is the reason I am reasonably trim except for that unhealthy paunch!!

"People who cannot sit still for more than a few minutes provide a clue to keeping slim and trim, a US study says."

A report in BBC entitled "Fidget off the fat, research says" says that fidgeters keep trimmer than those who do not fidget.

And it is not easy to learn how to fidget.

So if you see any of your kids or grandkids fidgeting - don't stop them!!

The reason I wiggle my toes is that I suffered from frostbite when my strong winter shoes cracked across the sole when I was on a long distance hike in the dead cold of a bad winter. It seemed to lead to a sort of dead sensation which I did not connect with that event. Tests at the local University Research Hospital did not reveal the reason for this strange sensation. (Which was strange as there are hundreds of cases of frostbite every year in our town.)

When I was in India a few years ago, as usual I went for my Executive Health Check-up at a hospital in Madras. I mentioned my strange sensation to the doctor.

The doctor narrated to me a sad tale of a leading Indian actor who was filming in the Himalayan snows and suffered a severe case of a frozen leg. Not knowing how to handle a frozen leg, his helpers dumped his leg into boiling hot water, leading to serious consequences.

The doctor mentioned that the sensation I described was sort of similar to what he had seen from that case. At that time I was able to put two and two together and I came to the conclusion that my sensation was due to frostbite. I had been scared that what I was feeling was a prelude to Parkinsons Disease as many members of my close family have suffered this fate.

So ever since then I have been wiggling my toes to keep the muscles on my feet loose. It has helped, except that my dear wife gets annoyed when I wiggle them for 15 minutes at 4 am when I wake up and before I get out of bed, and she is trying to get to sleep!!

Now I have a good excuse to keep wiggling my toes.

And finally, many many thanks to all those who emailed me yesterday on our celebrating our wedding anniversary. We had a great day (including quality time at the flea market and with the grandkids and an extended call from ourgranddaughter in Lincoln, England) followed by an absolutely heavenly Greek Cypriot meal at my Cypriot friend's restaurant, so large in portions that Annikki could not get through all of hers. Obviously fidgeting had increased my appetite as I had no problem with finishing mine!!

What a GLORIOUS day!!

Today, January 28th 2005, is truly a Glorious Day.

It is 38 years since Annikki and I got married in a small beautiful English town called Shrewsbury in Shropshire.

Sadly, we are barred from visiting that town by our local friends. When we visited there the last time, about 14 years ago, as we drove into the town, it was hit by an earthquake!! :-)

As my mother used to say, if I had been married to an Indian, I would have been thrown out on the streets a long long time ago. Annikki deserves that cup the my father used to say was his trophy for having been married to Ammachi for all their years together!!

And here is a recent photograph of us with 2 of our 3 grandchildren . Asha and Samu.



Annikki's mother is in her interval care in the Old People's Home. Mika is also at his 3 day a month interval care.

We were able to sleep late. We are looking forward to a day of shopping - Annikki as usual at the fleamarket, while I potter around a few shops - looking for nothing particular in mind as I have everything I need. After that we will choose to dine at some restaurant, one of the vast array of friends' restuarants to choose from - Chinese, Thai, Indian, Turkish, Greek, Mexican and, of course, Finnish. Depends on what we feel like in the evening. Maybe not Turkish, as we did that last year and maybe not Chinese as we did that the year before!!

Many thanks to all the rest of you who remembered us through emails on this great day.

As we enjoy another honeymoon year, it is on to the 39th!!!

Vinay is 61, Geordy arrives in Oulu

Cathedralite 59ers - let us wish Vinay (Dabholkar) a very happy birthday. I have sent him a card from all of us. Vinay was the most outstanding student of our class - fighting for first place with Wabhir Zayani. He was good in all the subjects, not just in Maths or English or Geography. If I am not wrong he was also the youngest in our class!! Although not an active sportsman, he always had a keen interest in sports and knew who was doing what on the sports field. Vinay's home was in Horniman Circle and I used to go there on Satuday mornings, ostensibly to study Marathi. We got past the alphabet every week, after which it was cops and robbers!!

Keralites, I welcome Geordy George of Deepika International to our home town here, Oulu.

Deepika is, like Malayala Manorama, an old-established (118 years) and leading newspaper from Kerala.

Geordy and a couple of others, one from Bangalore and another from Punjab, are here to visit Nokia's Technical Documentation Centre.

No doubt we will meet up in a couple of days and spend a few hours chit-chatting, while I get a chance to use my Malayalam (a bit rusty at the moment).

At this link you can read more about Deepika Global

I am up a bit early because...

Yesterday, Sunday, was a busy day.

There was an afternoon meeting of the English Club of Oulu to discuss the 70 year celebrations to be held in October of this year. Annikki and I were two of the first to become Life Members of this Club. Annikki had a stint as Chairperson running the Club in the 80's (after having been the kindergarten teacher for the Club) when she was one of the most active ever. Lunch, on the house, was the very traditional Salmon Soup, rather a filling and delicious Finnish preparation.

As soon as I got home, Annikki informed me that there had been a call from the Oulu Railway Station as a new but dear friend from WIPRO who was passing through. I caught up with Abey Thomas from Kerala / Bangalore and 3 of his colleagues, one from Trivandrum, the second from Bangalore and the third from Mumbai at our favourite eating haunt on Oulu, Michelle's Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant - Michelle being from Calcutta. Unfortunately, Michelle is holidaying in India with her three kids, so the food was only second best.

I picked up a meal for Joanna, Tony and Samuel, as Joanna has been suffering a nasty bout of tonsilitis and little baby Daniel has a bad chest. While they enjoyed their meal, I had the privilege of walking around with my 8 month old grandson.

Got home to find Annikki had cooked a delicious chicken curry and made her own speciality India roti, which is cross between a tandoori nan and a paratha.

Off to bed after a couple of chats on Skype with friends and up again now at 2 am for another exciting week.

However, the reason I am blogging so early is because today is the 17th anniversary when my very dearest cousin, K. C. Mammen (Kunjumonchayan) of Bangalore passed away. Those of you who did not have the opportunity of knowing Kunjumonchayan, he was the most loving affectionate person on this planet. Having lost his father, K. M. Jacob (Chackochayan), from whom I got my name, and one brother (Anian) when very young, he lost his second brother, Roy, in the mid sixties, also at a young age.

To me, Kunjumocnchayan was more than just a cousin, or even an elder brother. Once, when I had a difference of opinion with my father, it was Kunjumonchayan who diplomatically ironed out our problems!!

When I was living in Bombay, he came to gain work experience and stayed at the YMCA which was behind our house. He used to be over for the Sunday meal at our home, which was also huis home. In the meanwhile, I used to run over and meet up with him in his room almost every other day. He was always fun and games and forever smiling and happy. There was never a care in the world if you were with Kunjumonchayan!!

I often wonder why God takes away the people who provide so much joy to all around them so early in their life. I think of his dear mother, Palammachi, who has over the last 63 years seen her husband and then her three children taken away from her. My heart bleeds for her. However, at the age of 86, she is blessed with a wonderful daughter-in-law, three lovely grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, all of whom are in my mind every single day as I remember my dearest cousin of all who is no more but lives in my heart every hour of the day.

Snowpeople 2005 by Annikki

I had sent out an email with an attachment, but unfortunately the attachment did not arrive and the download link was broken.

I am posting here the photograph for your viewing on the blog.

You have two snowpeople, a snowman and a snowgirl, holding hands. They are carrying lanterns. The snowman is waving his hand.

They are standing in front of the ice-covered pond and Annikki's mother can see them as she sits in her regular chair in the kitchen.

Some Birthdays Today

Today is the birthday of my very good internet friend who keeps me up-to-date with what is happening in India - Georgie.

Our relationship goes a long way back as he used to be an inmate in St. Joseph's College Hostel on Lalbagh Road, Bangalore, in the early 50's, when our home was across the road from the hostel. I used to be a frequent visitor to the hostel as I had made many friends there. At the tender age of 9 -11, I used to be scorer for the College cricket team and a good friend of L. T. Subba who later played for Mysore in the Ranji Trophy Tournament. I learnt to be a hockey goalkeeper from my friend Abraham Tharakan, the St. Joseph's College goalkeeper, which gave me the grounding to become school and college goalkeeper later in life. Above all, I got permission to fly my kites on the large hostel playing fields.

Recently, another hostel inmate of that time, Atul Shenoy, a Mumbai Cathedralite, also remembered this little fellow who used to haunt the college corridors and have Masala Dosais in the hostel canteen!! I was in the process of tracking down Atul's brother, Arun. Glad to say that Arun was tracked down and was able to attend the 50 year reunion of their Cathedral Class of 1954 in November 2004!!

Georgie had a very busy life when he was in MRF. Besides regularly seeing him at Kochappachen's (the late K. M. Mammen Mappillai) home, I used to meet up with him infrequently at some Rotary Club meetings when I had to make up my attendance!!

Now that he has retired from his position as Technical Director of MRF, a post he filled so admirably for many a decade, it is nice to see him lounging on the internet and to share news and views with me.

By co-incidence, when Yakub P. Mathew discovered me a few days ago when I had made a post about the interview with my Stephanian friend Kamalesh Sharma on BBC Hard Talk (see below), he mentioned that Georgie had visited him in New York last year. It is indeed a small world.

I hope all of you will join me in wishing Georgie a very very happy birthday and many many more to come. Unfortunately I do not have a recent picture of Georgie to share with you.

Another relative who has her birthday today is Ammu. Chacko and Ammu are one of the few relatives who have taken the trouble to visit us in Oulu. Here is a picture of of the birthday girl from my image files.

The Jacob Mathews, 1999
Happy birthday Ammu from both Annikki and myself - I won't reveal your age as the police may accuse your husband of cradle snatching!!

Proud to be a Stephanian

BBC Hard Talk on BBC World on Thursday 13th January 2005 featured the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, none other than my good friend and Stephanian colleague, Kamalesh Sharma. Kamalesh had just gone into the MA course when I joined as a fresher in 1960.

On my very first night in college, there was a knock at my window after dinner. It was a time when all us freshers were living in fear of who would catch us to rag us. But for the rest of this story kindly visit

Katy Issue 7 14th July 1996.

Kamlesh had previously been the Indian representative at the United Nations, where he had faced some tough interviews, and one on them was on BBC World Service Radio. It was after this that I was able to re-establish contact with my old friend.

Kamlesh stood up as a true diplomat when faced with the aggressive questioning on Hard Talk.The whole objective of the interviewer was to question why India had rejected to receive Aid from the developed world and seemed to be focused on "India's pride" and the "desire of India to be a superpower in the region". Some of the questioning, as is usually the case in Hard Talk, bordered on the ridiculous!!

I was impressed by how Kamalesh stood up and in a quiet and gentle manner brought the aggresson down in a manner which made the interviewer look quite ridiculous with her one track mind. His Stephanianness stood out above all!!

You will be able to download and see the interview in a day or so from the

Hard Talk Web Site.

It is not yet on the web but should be in a day or two.

Well done Kamalesh!!

Tragedy of the Tsunami - Our deepest concerns

An Open Letter

Dear President & Prime Minister of India,

My wife and I share with you and all the people of the region the grief that is in many homes, and among the many homeless, these days, as the effect of the Tsunami tragedy unfolds here on an hour by hour basis.

Today, we, in Finland, also mourn around 263 of this countries nationals who appear to have been engulfed in this horrific wave. To see over 120,000 people of the world die in this tragedy and many millions more in dire situations, breaks our heart, mainly as we realise our helplessness.

It appears that none of our immediate family was lost in this event. But many dear friends still appear unaccounted for. We hope and pray that they are safe and well.

What concerns us more, however, is the news that India would be joining with the US Government in organising the relief efforts in the region. That is of greatest worry to us.

As you are aware the US Government has been part of an “illegal” war in Iraq where many hundred thousand people are being done to death, even as we write this to you.

No less a person than the most respected Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, has declared that the war on Iraq is illegal.

Also, in a effort to control the region, the US Administration have wiped out the indigenous law and industry in Iraq, and also given numerous no-bid contracts to their favoured companies, such as Bechtel, Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, to name just a few.

The rape of a tortured nation continues despite the human tragedy of that region.

For the Indian Government to be associated with a criminal Administration in such a massive relief operation associated with the Tsunami, would cast the Indian Government in the eyes of the world in a very bad light.

May we urge you that the original stance taken by your Government that the Indian Relief effort could and would be managed by itself without any association with outside Governments, would be upheld.

May we bring to your attention that the US Administration is very anxious to get information about the strategic defence organisation in the crucial Vishakapatnam - Port Blair axis, and any relief effort with the involvement of the US Administration will be to compromise the defence capabilities of your and our nation.

We all know that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Condeleeza Rice, and many others in the US Administration, past and to be installed, have provided false statements in many public fora, including the UN.

It is our greatest concern that you will safe-guard the Indian nation from playing into the hands of this neo-con right wing Christian religious fundamentalist group whose only objective appears to be to establish their foothold, by means fair and foul, in the South Asia region.

Being Christians ourselves, with the family traditions of the late doyens of Kerala, K. C. Mammen Mappillai and Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan of Mysore, and Padma Bushans, the late K. M. Cherian, K. M. Philip and K. M. Mathew, and Padma Shri the late K. M. Mammen Mappillai, makes this even more nauseating as this American Christian fundamentalist group only poses to be Christian as they further their personal agenda.

May we repeat our deepest condolences to all the people of India who have been affected by this tragedy.

As the old year ends and the New Year dawns, we hope that the region will be blessed with peace and calm as it rebuilds itself from this horrific calamity.


Yours sincerely

Annikki and Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

Some Cathedralite / Stephanian News

Willie (Cathedral Physics Teacher 50s & 60s) in Canada has just updated me on some Cathedralite / Stephanian news.

He has only received a one sentence input of this year's Founders Day in Mumbai. Hasnain (59er) is travelling in India, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Will someone feed me with info.

Roshni, (wife of Stephanian Raj who is the son of former Prinipal Sircar of my era in Stephen's), who is also the aunt of my sister-in-law, is back in Canada after a holiday in Bangalore. Willie does say that Bangalore has become over-populated and polluted and as a possible result, Roshni was ill with bronchial trouble. I am fully in agreement with that statement about Bangalore judging from my last visit there a few years ago.

Willie and Pushpa are off for a 10 day, 6 island, cruise in the Eastern Caribbean. Hope both of you have a great holiday.

Ilari starts his own blog

Ilari Sohlo was a very wonderful and critical analyst who used to have his sharp columns in Finnish and English to our fortnightly web magazine "Findians Briefings". He was one of the contributors who pushed up our web hit figures amogst the younth audience world-wide.

I have just read through his first blog entry. I welcome him to the wonderful world of blogging where he will do far more justice than just a fortnightly column in a web magazine. Expect a hard-hitting blog on a variety of issues from him!!

Presently he is in Hungary but will embark on a trip to India in a few weeks. There should be an interesting travelogue blog coming out of here. His blog is available at

http://goingsohlo.blogspot.com/

Ilari and his partner, Ildiko Hamos, are the authors of new book about Finland, which will be published, in German, in a few weeks. It contains great photographs from this beautiful country.

Report that Finland tops global school table

BBC is just reporting that Finland tops global school table.

The article says that Finland's CLAIM to have the best school system was reinforced by the latest international comparisons. The results are from just 40 countries and it is a reflection of maths and reading abilities and it consists of an appraisal of 15 year olds.

Having been married to a Finn for the last 38 years, had four of our children pass through various stages of the Finnish school system (after their earlier education through the Indian system) and one through the Finnish University system (another two through the British University system), plus my own experience, having been personally educated through the Indian and British systems, and then working with University students, researchers and staff over a period of 7 years, I must strongly disagree with both the Finnish claim as well as the assessment of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Finnish reading skills are indeed excellent, but it is not because of the school system. It is part of the culture and the construction of the Finnish language, which is phonetic and develops way past any other language in the use of compound words. This helps everyone to increase their eye-grasp from the mere 5 to 10 letter words (normal to most other languages with the Roman script) to words as long as 20 and 30 characters or even more. Anyone familiar with commercially exploited speed reading systems will understand what I am talking about where it is possible to increase reading speed by over ten times with little loss in comprehension.

The maths education in Finland is highly laborious and it is quite queer as to the way that maths is taught - it does not give much to doing mental maths. It also leaves those poor in maths scarred for life. I am sure from watching my wife (a product of the early Finnish system of the 50's) to one each of my sons and daughters, products of the 80's, and now my grandson (00's), that the system is nowhere near any of the other systems that I am familiar with - English, Indian, American, French, German and even the closely related Swedish system.

However, the more realistic way of assessing the school system would be to assess the level of "education" provided. In that, the Finnish system is totally at the tail-end of the world table. My own experiences in handling Finnish students in a Finnish University, as well as in various other fora, tells me that my understanding of education just does not exist in Finland.

The Finnish kids are great at mouthing and parroting the words of the "teacher". They have little assessment skills, no debating skills, very little international skills, a large amount of "nationalism", and many more defects which expose a totally flawed schooling system.

It is many a time that I would throw in utter rubbish at my university students, and they would gobble it up as the gospel truth!! They have poor reasoning skills, and the lack of the ability to make an argument, makes them, in my humble opinion, very poor students.

Also, having edited countless articles for international conferences and scientific journals, masters and doctoral theses, over the last 20 years, I have found that the students were generally very poor in presenting their arguments. Exceptions, however, prove the rule. I had one student who finished his normal 5 year masters in less than three and completed his doctoral thesis in record time - but such examples are few and far between.

Finland is, however, the best country internationally in presenting an "image" and polishing that image that even they believe that it is the fact.

Sadly, my personal experience has been that there is a vast difference between the image created and what lies underneath - just as the claim that Finland is the least corrupt country.

My analysis and experience is that Finland is one of the the MOST CORRUPT COUNTRIES on this globe!! And, that corruption starts at the top of the political system, and runs through the judiciary and the entire legal system, the police, the bureaucrats, and right across the corporate system.

But that is another story, part of which was exposed in two of our books "Handbook for Survival in Finland" jointly authored with my wife and my own book "Seven Years Hard Labour in a Finnish Holiday Camp - A Finnish University". Both books were published a decade ago.

Visitors from South Finland

Yesterday, we had visitors from South Finland. Gopa, Sadhana's (Cathedralite 54er) daughter, her husband, Timo, and his son, Peteri. Timo's mother lives about 80 km east of Oulu and they had visited her over this long weekend, as today is a holiday - Finnish Independence Day.

We had lunch at Michelle's Chinese restaurant. Michelle is of Chinese origin but very much a Calcutta girl. The food she makes us is great. Annikki could not join us as she was busy looking after her mother, so we brought back food for Mika and her.

Tonight, most Finns will be glued to the TV as they see the parade of their dignatories at the Presidential Ball in the Palace. Ladies dress up to see who gets the best coverage, sometimes those with the least coverage, in the tabloids!! Annikki watches if she has time. I do not as they never show the foreign dignatories. They always break for the news when the Ambassadors are being welcomed by the President and her husband.

Last night, Annikki was busy with her art creations from snow and ice in the garden. They are truly outstanding. I hope I can learn to put some of those images here on the blog.

Whenever thoughts flash through my mind on any subject, I will post them on this blog. So do come and visit it when you have a few moments to spare and do post your comments.

First post in Jacob's blog

I have blogged before, but due to problems with my server in Canada, the entire set of blogs and my domain name, findians.com, have vanished with about 10,000 web pages created over the last 9 years..

In this new blog I hope to share my personal thoughts and feelings on a variety of subjects with the thousands and thousands of my friends around the world - including over 80,000 findians, my Maliyakal and Kandathil family roots, my wife's Reinikka and Räihä family roots, my alma maters - Bishop Cotton's School in Bangalore, Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay (Mumbai), St. Stephen's College of Delhi Unversity (Delhi) and the National College of Rubber Technology (now the London Metropolitan Polymer Centre in the London Metropolitan University, Holloway, London), as well as my professional life as a Polymer Researcher and Consultant and a Microelectronics Materials Specialist. I will also cover my life as Mac addict and my successful life as a web page designer.

Today is 6th December. It is the Finnish Independence Day. It is also the birthday of a dear friend who is married to my niece (daughter of my cousin), K. P. Philip, who lives in Singapore. Happy birthday Anian on your 48th birthday.

To see my very very undistinguished biodata you can make a trip to my site which I have called Polymer Technologist, Microelectronics Materials Engineer, Macintosh/Apple Addict, Innovator, Motivator, Connector, Technology Leader - JACOB MATTHAN.

Personal comments, however critical, are welcome. I am in a firm believer in the motto that only criticism can help improve a human being - and God only knows how much of my life needs improvement!!

Annikki and I are both retired now, but life is more hectic than ever, as you will realise as you share our life with us.

Welcome again to Jacob's Blog.