We get a reindeer!

There was a lonely large wooden sleigh at the bottom of the garden in Kampitie.

Annikki has been wondering what to do with it for several years.

It used to be the sleigh that her father used to go to the forest with in winter, pulling it behind his mopo, so as to collect wood to heat the house.

Knowing Annikki, when I saw it emerge from the depths to the beachside, I knew that she had something in mind.

Then, with great resolve she said that we are going to get a reindeer.

And yesterday was D-Day. After hunting high and low, she got the only one which was available in Oulu. Our cat, Iitu was thrilled to have this new companion.



So we now have a reindeer pulling the sleigh in the garden.

My mind flashes back 42 years..

Here I am, sitting at my computer in a cellar in Finland, listening to US Liberal Talk Radio on the internet.

The Talk Show Host, Thom Hartmann, has been playing clips from John F. Kennedy.

My mind rolled back 42 years, a few months after I landed in London to study plastics. We had just noved in a semi cellar appartment on Eton Avenue, near the Swiss Cottage Tube Station.

It was a large room which was brrr... cold.

It was evening, and having returned from college, I tuned in to my transistor radio which I had brought with me from India.

As I started to do my studies, news flashed on the radio of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.

There was no television to watch, so it was the verbal and graphic reporting of the announcers that brought us the news.

That was 42 years ago.

Last Friday, Thom Hartmann released a 900 page book, where he is the co-author, on the latest theory of who killed John F. Kennedy.

Will the conspiracy theories never end?

Daniel with Grandma and Grandpa

Annikki and I are missing all our grandchildren, Asha, Samuel and Daniel. At least we can speak at length with Asha and Samuel, but that is not yet possible with little Daniel

Daniel was not even a year and a half when he left for Newcastle with Joanna and Samuel.

We have missing the little guy.

So I thought I would put up a few pictures of Daniel with both of us before he left for England.

Just for memories sake.

Click on image to see enlarged version


Daniel and Annikki April 2005


Daniel and Annikki May 2005


Daniel and Annikki June 2005


Daniel and Annikki July 2005


Daniel and me August 2005


Daniel and me September 2005


Daniel and Annikki September 2005

That is what memories are made of!

Birthday Cake for Harriet?

The world was celebrating the 175th birthday of the supposedly oldest living creature on this earth, Harriet, the tortoise that Darwin brought back from his travels.

National Geographic picture of Harriet,
the 175 year old tortoise

Harriet lives in Australia and there are many articles about her on the internet, probably the most complete one being Harriet, The Galapagos Tortoise. Disclosing One and a Half Centuries of History. Reptilia Number 2, March / April 1998. by Scott Thomson of the Applied Ecology Research Group. University of Canberra. P.O. Box 1. Belconnen, ACT, 2616, Australia. and Steve Irwin(2) & Terri Irwin of the Queensland Reptile & Fauna Park (Australia Zoo), Glasshouse Mountains Tourist Route, Beerwah, Queensland, 4519, Australia.

I am sure that the birthday cake that Harriet should have had was this one made a few years ago by Annikki.



This cake, completely edible, including the stones (toffee), the butterflies, fishes, shells, etc., (sweets) and other edible decorations were designed by Annikki, and the cake was made in December 2000 for the 4th birthday of Kachun, eldest son of Michelle (from India) and Willy (from Malaysia), who own the best Chinese restaurant in Oulu, The Royal Garden, opposite the local railway station.

Email us your "snail mail" address if you want a FREE desktop 2006 calendar containing 12 great pictures of Annikki's "Edible Art" cake creations. They will be posted directly from the printers.

Only the first 500 to send us their request are eligible for this limited printing of the calendar.

Pictures of this and other designer cakes will appear in Annikki's hard-bound coffee table book "Edible Art" due out in 2006. You can write now and order your copy. Expected price will be announced on the blog in a few weeks.

Dara Singh, King Kong, Flash Gordon

Many did not believe the names of the top wrestlers that I had given in a previous post. Some associated King Kong with a gorilla which was in a film that appeared much later than the actual history of this giant in the wrestling ring.

There was much interest in the three top wrestlers of the 1950's. I have located some data on the internet.

It is important to mention the referee who used to be in the ring with these wrestlers. His name was Wong Bok Lee. Some believe he is the same as Wong Bok Chong, but I had not heard this as I remember him clearly as Lee. He used the Flying Drop Kick to control wrestlers in the ring if they did not listen to him.

One of the most exciting fights I saw, the lighter Dara Singh lifted the almost 200 kg King Kong over his head and was twirling him round and round. King Kong was yelling at the referee that this was not in the rules. When the referee tried to come and stop this Dara Singh virtually threw King Kong out of the ring and he fell just a few feet from us. Was he mad. he jumped up, rushed into the ring and tried to attack the referee - who drop-kicked him out of the ring!!

Wrestler: Dasho Dara Singh

Dara Singh from a film poster
Real Name: Dara Singh Randhawa
Hometown: Village Dharmuchak, Distt. Amritsar (Punjab)
Marital Status: Surjit Kaur Randhawa (1961)
Height & Weight: 188 cm (6' 2") and over 130 kg
Debut: 1951
Finishing Move: Body slam
Favorite Moves: Overhead whirl
Notable Feuds: Professional Indian Wrestling Championship in 1953,
Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in 1959 by defeating Canadian Champion “Flash Gordon” George Godianko
World Wrestling Championship in 1968 by defeating Lou Theze of America;
Birthday: 19 November 1928

Wrestler: "King Kong"

King Kong at his prime
Real name: Emile Czaja (pronounced shya)
Hometown: Sydney Australia
Marital Status: Married to Ellie (1956)
Height & Weight: 183 cm (6') - over 182 kg (400lbs)
Debut: 1937 in India
Gimmicks: Brute behaviour, Evil man, ...
Notable Feuds: Dara Singh, "Sheik" Wadi Ayoub
Died: 1970 (Car crash)

Wrestler: Flash Gordon" (also known as Wonder Boy, Firpo Zyzbsko)

Flash Gordon was in several battles with King Kong and Dara Singh
Real name: George Gordienko
Hometown: Winnipeg, Canada
Height and weight: Over 182 cm (6') and over 130 kg
Famous for: Flying drop kick, even when being held by opponent!
Notable fueds: Dara Singh, Bhu Pinder
Born: 1904
Died: 1974 (Melonama cancer)

We used to go outside the hotels where they use to live just to see the food being served to these enormous men, who, to us small kids, looked like giants.

King Kong used to swallow chickens by the dozens. Dara Singh used to eat an enormous number of chapatis.

The myths that were told us by the press agents made them seem to be invincible men, so to see them fighting in the ring was like watching two invincibles trying to destroy each other.

Of course, we did not know, then, that the fights were all fixed!

Welcome to Oulu, Isaac

I got a nice shock this morning when I picked up our local newspaper, Kaleva.

There was a great story about a new CEO for an Oulu headquartered company called Codenomicon Ltd.

The name is Isaac Sundarajan.



This picture of Isaac which appeared in today's Kaleva was taken by Pekka Ala-Aho. Pekka is an outstanding photographer in Oulu and his wife Tarja, a senior journalist at the Kaleva, sold their house to our daughter Joanna and her husband Tony. Tarja used to be our neighbour in Kampitie back in the 80's and has seen Joanna grow up as a little girl. They have their own photo art gallery in Nallikari.

I tried to get him on the phone, but as there was no answer, I sent an email.

Issac rang me back straight away as he was free from the meeting.

A product of Christian College, and then Guindy Engineering College, in Chennai (Madras) this brilliant engineer has got a top post in an up and coming Oulu company Codenomicon Ltd.. The company develops and markets state-of-the-art software testing tools for proactive elimination and prevention of security vulnerabilities.

Isaac's background has included executive management roles in leading software, EDA, and systems companies CoWare, Cadence, and Intel. During his eight years in CoWare, he played key roles in helping CoWare grow into a leading provider of systems-level design tools and a company with significant revenue. In the last several years at CoWare, Sundarajan managed sales, services, marketing and engineering functions. He also played an active role in the companys M&A strategy and was instrumental in acquiring a DSP software product line. He was the General Manager of the acquired business unit that grew in revenue and proved successful.

Isaac also held senior management positions in sales, marketing, business development and services in Cadence. In Intel he was an engineer and manager in design, CAD and test engineering. Isaac has a MS in electrical and computer engineering and an MBA.

Isaac works with Ari Takanen, the founder of this company, who is from the same department in Oulu University that I spent many years in (different laboratory).

Much after my time, Ari and his colleague, Marko Laakso, were the two guys who the discoverers of the e-mail security hole that had the computer world tizzy during the 1998 era. I covered this in great detail in one of my now defunct Findians Briefings issues way back then. If my memory serves me right, I think I may have even interviewed one of these guys.

And I was right, as I discovered this from my personal archives of Findians Briefings Volume No: 06 Issue No. 01 - - 14th August 1998!!

Findians Exclusive 1: Virus Email

BBC, Yahoo and all the major internet news providers last week were shouting their head off about a story that the University of Oulu had reported a bug in the Windows Operating system relating to email.

Being from Oulu, many readers have asked us to provide a background of the group and the people behind this research.

Oulu University is unique in that it has a a technical faculty, a medical faculty besides as well as the pure arts and science faculties.

The Secure Programming Group is part of the Technical Faculty. Their work is being carried out in the Department of Electrical Engineering in the Computer Engineering Laboratory.

The other sections in the Electrical Engineering Department include the Microelectronics (which works on laser assisted testing and micro-manufacturing, thick and thin film and sensor technologies as well as on high temperature superconductors), the Electronics (including measurement technology) and the Telecommunications Laboratories. The Department also has its own Applied Mathematics Division.

We are pleased to give you the exclusive answers provided by the Secure Programming Group to our questions:

Q. What is the background of your group doing this research into bugs in computers?
A. You can find a short introductory report about the Oulu University Secure Programming Group on the internet.

Q. Why was this group started, when, who all are involved, any significant papers published by the group at conferences, etc.
A. This is a long story and we would prefer not to get into these. The group members include

Juha Röning (associate professor, Computer Engineering Laboratory),
Marko Laakso (researcher, Department of Electrical Engineering), and
Ari Takanen (researcher, Computer Engineering Laboratory)

Q. Why has there been no report directly from the group about this bug?
A. Until the dust has settled we do not want to say anything. Our position is not to make any statements about the problem, we just simply don't have all the facts necessary. We will try to help in a coordinated technical response by the vendor independent security organizations.

Q. Why are comments or interviews not given over the phone?
A. Security issues are considered sensitive matters by us. Due to a language barrier (Ed: All of them speak perfect English!!), comments made over the phone about these matters may be easily misunderstood and misinterpreted. That is not what we want.

Q. What is the BUG significance?
A. We, as OUSPG, have not made any public statement about the significance of the bug. It is our job to stick to hardcore and verified facts. We do not want to escalate the seriousness of this problem by speculations. Due to our involvement with this, we believe that statements made by the vendors, security organizations and independent experts are a better channel for the impact evaluation. Otherwise, we are glad to help you in anyway we can, and here are a list of important documents that have appeared on the web in this connection:

List of links on documents related to the mime-bug

---------------------------------------------------------

Information
---------------------------------------------------------
Editorial by Russ Cooper, maintainer of NTBugtraq
Information Bulletin by CIAC
Netscape Security Notes
Netscape Security Update
Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS98-008)
Microsoft Press Release
Media Alert ... Media Alert ...Media Alert: E-Mail Security Issue

Publications by the media
---------------------------------------------------------
ABCNEWS.com
BBC - Invasion of the killer e-mail viruses
CNN (Reuters)
CNET News.Com
InfoWorld
MacWeek
New York Times
PC Week
PC World
San Jose Mercury news
San Jose Mercury news
Star Tribune
Time
TechWeb (Reuters)
USA Today
Wired

Examples
---------------------------------------------------------
BUGTRAQ: One of the Outlook overflows

Other documents related to the subject, in the internet
---------------------------------------------------------
The Tao of Windows Buffer Overflow" by DilDog
Smashing the stack for fun and profit" by Aleph One
About the Internet Worm of 1988: RFC 1135: The Helminthiasis of the Internet

Our special thanks to Marko for giving us this exclusive background.

I have invited Isaac to join Annikki and me at our home at his convenience. His family is still in the US, but no doubt, when he settles in, he may have some time to drop in and have a chat with us old folk and to share some of our common experiences from our days in Madras. Maybe Annikki and Isaac can even have a chat in Tamil! (I speak just a smattering of Tamil as I mainly speak Malayalam and Hindi of the Indian languages.) I know daughter, Madras-born Joanna, would just love that when she gets back from Newcastle.

Isaac must have been studying at the Guindy Engineering College just at the time we were living down the road from there at our Velacheri house!


The JM family at the Velacheri Road house in 1974
Photo by Mathew Varghese, Helsinki

I wonder whether he attended any of the lectures I gave at his college at that time - though hardly likely as I was lecturing about Polymers, and he is a computer's guy!! I knew very little about computers in those days.

I am sure son-in-law, Professor Tony Manninen, and Isaac may have a lot in common, although I may not, as I use only Apple Macs and computer security is one subject I have never ever had to worry about in my 22 years of computing!

Superb Political Cartoonists

Publication of a couple of cartoons has a great impact on my blog readers around the world. They just loved it.

However, in this post, I am not being egoistic.

There are several superb political cartoonists in the world.

When in India, I would never miss the cartoons of Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Laxman, the equally famous brother of the late R. K. Narayan, the superb writer born in Madras (Chennai) in 1906, who died a short while ago in his home, in Mysore. Their father was the headmaster of a school in Mysore.

Laxman's cartoon series called "The Common Man" has been around for over 50 years. When I lived in India, they were on the front page daily in the Times of India. It was usually just amall rectangle, while once a week he had a larger sized one. They were powerful statements. It was the first thing I used to get to in the newspaper when I woke up, even before I turned to the sport's page.

The picture below is of the main hero of the cartoon, The Common Man, who would be standing in the corner of the cartoon, just observing the situation and saying nothing.



This ancient cartoon by Laxman is one which is timeless. With the present tragedies of the tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina and right to the present earthquake tragedy in the Kashmir, it still tells us much about the politics behind disasters.



I really missed the political cartoons when I first came to Finland. Then I discovered that our local newspaper, Kaleva, had a political cartoonist which ranks among the best in the world, despite the fact that his language of communication may be Finnish with a limited audience.

I thought that this cartoon, which has a very simple caption, translated as "Bush's Nose", which appeared last week was one of his best:.



And this one from Jari, which I saved from December 2002, is probably one which is as topical today as it was when it was first published:



Life would be boring without political cartoonists.

Viva les Cartoonists!

Samuel is just going to love this!!

In the 50's, when we lived in Bangalore, we had the international wrestlers who used to come there. The show was held in the Sampagie Stadium, quite close to where we lived on Lalbagh Road, near Richmond Circle.

As Appachen, my father, was in charge of providing safe lighting for the stadium, we used to get free tickets to see these heroes.

Dara Singh, King Kong, Flash Gordon, The Masked Angel, are some of the names that I remember. Dara Singh was the good guy while King Kong was the evil guy. The drop kick, the scissor grip, and a whole lot of wrestling manoeuvres that we all became familar with due to these great entertaining evening sessions. It was great fun, much better than watching stuff of TV.

We followed the stories of these wrestlers and how they consumed 50 chickens for a meal or 100 eggs in a gulp.

I have, during the last year been sharing these stories, on a first person basis with grandson, Samuel. Samuel would insist for more and more - and it was difficult to get all those fabulous evenings out of my memory into words. But I certainly did.

In the light of that, I think that this cartoon will have Samuel, and hopefully you, greatly amused!

Pond cleaning mainly over

The pond at Kampitie had not been cleaned all through summer. So after the fish came in, Annikki got around to cleaning the pond to make it ready for her winter plans.

It was a real Herculean task. She worked late late into the night scrubbing it clean, taking out all that had settled at the bottom. These two pictures show how she worked getting it just the way she wanted.





Having got it clean, she has put the new water in and it looks great. Then she wanted to put some underwater lights.

Thanks to a suggestion from Susanna, we had a set of string neon Christmas lights. Again, with my McGyver spirit, I have rigged it up so that it can work on or under water, even in sub-zero temperatures.





Annikki is planning some major design issues once the pond freezes over. Wait for some interesting artistic developments on the pond front.

A lighter entry about my walking habits!

My walking habit!

Bug in Blogger software

Many of you have reported to me that you are sometimes unable to reach links that I give.

I have found a bug in the Blogger software, which I hope will be corrected.

When you click on some links, an error page opens. You will find that my URL, http://jmatthan.blogspot.com, has been added BEFORE the link URL.

Please remove my URL from the URL box and click the RETURN button so as to reach the link.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but it is outside of my capability to solve this.

Malayala Manorama going into TV?

Hot of the press is the news that Malayala Manorama may be planning to go into the TV arena.

I am sure brothers Rajen, Thambi, Chacko, and nephew, Apu, who are now at the helm of Malayala Manorama will certainly relish this challenge.

Knowing them intimately, they will probably plan it with great precision and make it an outstanding success.

Malayala Manorama is over 117 years old. It has changed from being a small and influential local newspaper to a national and international powerhouse [second only to us "findians" :-)]

With a report in IndianTelevision.com Malayala Manorama plans to launch news channel in 2006, this speculation has come to the fore.

MUMBAI: Malayala Manorama Limited is planning to launch a news channel, strengthening the growing trend of print media companies expanding into television business.

Malayala Manorama's top brass is still tight-lipped about the channel's genre. But according to sources close to the company, Manorama will be launching a news channel, MM TV, coinciding with the Kerala assembly polls which are due in April-May 2006. Manorama might enter the entertainment space at a later stage.

There are two factors that make industry observers believe that Malayala Manorama will play the news channel card first. It would like to leverage its strength as a print medium powerhouse. The group controls 21 publications, including the English-language magazine The Week and need not worry much about infrastructure facilities as well.

The other most crucial driver is the upcoming assembly elections in the state of Kerala, which is expected to take place during April-May 2006. Any news channel in India would salivate at the prospect of debuting ahead of elections that gives the channel enough political fodder to whip up for the audience. The same formula was executed recently by the Malayalam channel Kairali TV as it launched its news channel People TV during the local elections in September.

Manorama has already done its ground work in the programming and infrastructure areas. It runs a television software division called Manorama Vision, which has already established itself in the business by catering to all the major channels, including Asianet and Surya TV. Second, it has built a state-of-the-art studio in Kochi. Additionally, according to some reports, the company has initiated talks with leading foreign channels for sharing content.

Malayala Manorama has been working on its television project for the last two years. It is learnt that the company is still waiting for its news channel uplinking licence from the I&B Ministry. In October-November last, it had carried out a recruitment drive for the administrative and human resources divisions. Now, slightly opening the lid, Manorama has kicked off another recruitment drive for journalists and technical staff.

2005 is the year Malayalam television market saw the birth of five channels, taking the total number of television channels in that space to 12, including DD Malayalam. The total market offers an advertising pie of Rs 1.8 billion and the news channels command approximately 20 per cent (on the upper side) of the total ad pie, according to industry estimates. Asianet News, Indiavision and People TV constitute the market's news channel community presently.

Industry observers feel that irrespective of the clutter factor, Malayalam television still offers opportunities to new players.

"The Malayalam television programming hasn't evolved on par with the Indian television standards yet. What is still lacking is a clear understanding of the TG and a certain USP to offer. If the new channels (including news channels) are able to better the standards, they have better chances to survive," points out a senior executive of Asianet.

With the large number of influential Malayalees settled all around the world, here is the opportunity for the Malayala Manorama to have a worldwide network of programmes and also capitalise on this huge international Mallu audience. However, a new vision will have to be part of the plan, as the old model is failing.

Malayala Manorama certainly has the leadership to go the new route.

Doogle is disappointed!

Dorota and Patrick are friends in Oulu that I have been visiting regularly during my Saturday or Sunday daily walks.

Dorota in Kampitie, October 2004

I share a cup of tea with them and chit chat about goings on in our small town. They have a bushy looking dog (not sure whether he is a Welsh or Lakeland Terrier) called Doogle.

Doogle seems to like nothing better than lick my toes when I visit them.

In Finland, the custom is that you take your shoes off at the door when visiting someone. In late spring, summer and early autumn, I normally use open sandals without socks. Whenever I get to Dorota and Patrick's place, I would take of my sandals, much to Doogle's delight.

Today, being almost winter, I had my socks on.

There was almost a questioning look of disgust in this pooch's face.


Doogle questiions "Et tu, Brute?"

Dorota has gone to Oxford University to do her doctorate. Patrick is alone, which is evident as he has been trying to get out of the mundane task of cooking meals at home. He obviously is quite happy with the single meal which he has at work, and the liquid refreshments that keep him active in the evening. :-)


Patrick proves that a liquid diet can get your weight down!

Changing subjects, you might like playing with this great doll, like I did, even at this grandpa's age. Press those buttons a few times as there are a variety of actual statements to listen to!

Bon Voyage David

David, our new Honduran friend, leaves back for his home country tomorrow, leaving behind his wife, Mantu and son, Kai.

I am sure he is going to miss his baby son, Kai Antonio,

Kai Antonio, son of Mantu and David

We hope that he is able to return to Honduras without any problems. Heavy rains have been lashing the country after Hurricane Beta. It was sad to read about the coral reefs that stretch down from Mexico right to the shores of Honduras.

Safe journey, David, and hope you come back soon. Love to meet up with you again.

Destruction of the character of Oulu

Many of you will remember this picture of grandson Samuel in the cement igloo at the beautiful new park near the Oulu beach which I covered in an earlier blog entry.



While, on the one hand, the City Authorities are bringing new and wonderful creative designs to Oulu, with the other hand, they are intending to tear down some of the great history of this city.

Right in the centre of Oulu, just next to the Railway Station, there is a real granite igloo. Here are some photographs that I took last summer.

Granite Igloo viewed from the main Oulu street


Stunning view of the Granite Igloo



Back of the Granite Igloo


Close up of the granite blocks


Doorway set in reinforced concrete

The design of the Granite Igloo, the air raid shelter belonging to Finnish Railways, can be seen in this old design document which I unearthed from the internet.


Design plan of the Oulu Railway Station Air Raid Shelter

There are so many interesting things that can be done with this air raid shelter to make it a tourist's paradise and a children's dream come true.

However, the intention of the Oulu City Authorities is to knock down this beautiful landmark in the centre of Oulu, along with the characteristic railway station made of wood, and to erect a cement conrete glass structure which, to them, symbolises "International Oulu".

I am grateful that the tireless and ageless artist HILKKA INKALA, is campaigning against the destruction of this monument. I only have a Finnish version of her fascinating biodata.

I will be commenting in detail about this stupid idea of what THEY think to be the "International Oulu" concept in a separate blog entry (so stay tuned to this blog).

My blood just boils, just now, to think of the indiscriminate destruction they are planning for the memories of many Finns who went through much hardship during the war and after, and for whom these memories, as this air raid shelter, mean so much.

Ever break a glass table top?

I remember when I was in school in Bombay in the 1950's, I can home one day just wanting to eat some walnuts. I asked my cook, our very dear fellow and a wonderful cook, Krishnan, whether he could break open a few for me.

He got the walnuts and also a hammer, as we did not have a nutcracker, and sat down to break them open.

The first one split open. As he was cracking the second, the head flew off the hammer, right across the room and landed on the beautiful black glass dining table top, cracking it into a series of crazed patterns.

Krishnan was horrified, thinking he may lose his job as this table had cost a few hundred bucks.

It ended not so badly as he just had a reprimand from my mother! (Dad was diplomatically not allowed to blow his top.)

The table top had to been thrown out and a new one obtained, which must have cost quite a small fortune at that time.

It is a pity that we did not have Annikki around then.

Recently we had a similar incident at Kampitie.

Annikki was a bit disturbed for a few short minutes, but then she brightened up. She created this masterieceout of that cracked glass.



She tried a few different glues and then decided to use a quick-setting epoxy filler adhesive to stick together whatever pieces she had salvaged. Using some really good glass paint, she created this beautiful mosaic pattern on the glass, and we have a very unusual and unique glass table top!

This is not the first time she has applied her creative mind to restoring glass. A year or so ago one of our mirrors fell and broke. She used a black glue to create this artistic backdrop on our dining table.



An unusal item in this picture is the flower pot on the wooden stand in the front left corner. It is entirely edible with the pot, stems and leaves being baked out of gingerbread mix, the flowers being artiistically cut sweets and the mud inside the flowerpot being delicious cake! Here is a close up of the "Edible Gingerbread Flower Pot".



Send us your smail-mail address to receive a table top 2006 calendar containing 12 beautiful pictures Annikki's designer cakes. The calendar is just now being printed in China. This calendar will be mailed out FREE to the first 500 people who send us their snail-mail address. It will be mailed around the world directly from the printers in China.

The printers will later, in 2006, finally publish the beautifully bound 100 page hardcover book, with photographs printed on the best glossy art paper, by Annikki which is called "Edible Art".

We have not yet received the pricing for the book. We will blog it as soon as it is received so that you can pre-order the book.

Did I become Angus MacGyver?

Richard Dean Anderson acts as Angus MacGyver in the television series MacGyver

Now that the goldfish are safely in the indoor aquarium, Annikki asked me empty the garden pond.





With my bad back, I sat down to think what Richard would do.

I looked around the garden and frowned at the various size buckets Annikki had thoughtfully left lying around.

Unlike my dear wife, I am not a glutton for hard physical work.

Also, I had walked for quite a while this morning as I went to meet my young friend Soda. I had told him I would take him to his new school today. It had been a lovely morning for walking and I enjoyed my three hour walk. In addition, our car was being repaired.

After my walk, I arrived at Soda's parent's restaurant. Soda and I went by bus to his new school.

Soda at his new school - merikoski

When I reached home, after collecting the car, the MacGyver in me checked in.

I found the 3-year old Euro 15 water fountain I had been using in the pond.

What if I took off the foam filter, the plastic base, as well as the fountain stem, and attached a plastic hose to it, and then tried to use this as a submersible pump (which costs upwards of Euro 99)?

Voila! - it worked.

While I lounged around, every now and then telling Annikki what hard work it was emptying the pond, within a couple of hours all the water had been pumped out!

Iitu shared my secret as she appreciated my "smart alec" solution.


Iitu appreciates her master's hard work - mental

Happy Diwali, Happy Birthday Jaakko!

Today is the 1st of November 2005.

It is the 37th birthday of Jaakko, our eldest son, who lives in Birmingham, England. Our elder daughter, Susanna, and her family, husband, Chris, and daughter, Asha (8), will be with Jaakko to celebrate the day with him.

To brighten his birthday and also show you the grand festival of lights, I have chosen to use one of his most famous sunset photographs which uses "light", one of Jaakko's most favourite themes.

Happy Diwali to all of you. Happy Birthday, Jaakko.

Surprise, Surprise, from Honduras

We had our regular Sunday meeting of foreigners at the Internet Cafe. This has grown from three to quite an unmanagebale throng!

During the meeting I noticed a young man surfing the Internet just behind me. He was listening to our discussions and appeared anxious to also join in. But he was just a bit too reserved to make the first move.

When we ended our meeting and I was just sitting around talking to the hangers-on, he got up from the computer. As is my habit, I asked him where he came from.

"Honduras", said David.

He explained that he had just been checking if his house was still standing as Hurricane Beta was heading straight for it.

David explained that was a biotechnologist who had become an airline pilot and was flying for the local Honduran Airline. He said that he had come to Finland as his Finnish wife had come here to have their baby, which was now just three weeks ago. David said he would be heading back to Honduras next Sunday and would not be able to join our next week's meeting, but hoped his wife would join us.

He explained that his wife was an Oulu girl, 33 years old, and she had been working for the UN on Aids Eradication in Honduras when they had met.

One thing led to another and I speculated that, just maybe, that his wife knew our younger daughter, Joanna.

He went back to their flat, which is about 50 metres away.

Before I realised it, there was a familiar looking young lady standing in the doorway of the Internet Cafe.

She exclaimed that she had come to see ME!!

I looked at her. Although the face was very familiar, I just could not place her, till she said her name - Mantu Mankila!

Then everything fitted into place.

Mantu had been Joanna's classmate in junior, middle as well as in high school. She had visited our home several times. Her father, Pentti Mankila, had been Joanna's Physics and Chemistry teacher. Mantu's mother, Terttu, is a top reporter in our local newspaper and had come to our home a long long time ago and had interviewed our son, Mika, and written a story in the Kaleva about him!

Joanna thought that Terttu was a great mom!

I was just as excited as Mantu as we shared notes.

Unfortunately, I was not carrying my camera when we met. I hope I can get a few pictures of Mantu and her family for the blog later this week.

Mantu has done many things in her life and she is quite a lady, as I learned from the internet:

Here is just one quote that I picked up:

Mantu Mankila, Finland
Coordinator of the STD/HIV/AIDS Prevention Program - Department of Gracias a Dios
Foro Nacional de SIDA
Casa azul, a donde Digna Salmeron
Puerto Lempira, Olancho

Mantu Mankila works with Foro de SIDA, an organization that operates throughout Honduras. Mantu coordinates the Moskitia chapter of the organization. The Moskitia is the Honduran jungle; boating is the primary means of transportation, education levels are low, and the people live in poverty. Different ethnic groups living in this area include the Miskitos, Tawankas, Pech, Garífunas, and Ladinos. In this region, it is costly and time-consuming to get tested for AIDS, people are uninformed about the disease, and HIV/AIDS victims are stigmatized.

Mantu works closely with Dr. Yoel Sanabria and the Departments of Education and Health to implement a three-pronged AIDS prevention strategy. First, they train facilitators who then teach AIDS prevention techniques to local community members. Second, they conduct AIDS prevention workshops with doctors and local medicine men (zukias), who then deliver condoms and educational materials to community members. Third, they work directly with adolescents to teach them about sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, they distribute condoms and air radio spots in both Spanish and Moskito, the local language.

The world, from India, Finland and Honduras, is a very small place. It was truly lovely to meet this lovely couple - Mantu and David, and we are looking forward to seeing their baby. In the meantime we pray that their home in Honduras is kept safe from the elements.

Delhi blasts - Shocking! Responsibility?

Both Annikki and I were shocked at the blasts that hit Delhi yesterday evening.

I am particularly familiar with the Paharganj area as I spent many hours there during my college days and also my working life in India, as it is next to the New Delhi Railway Station and also near where our family company, MM Foam, had its Northern India Regional office.

We watched three major TV Channels, BBC, CNN and even the vile war-mongering Rupert Murdoch channel, the Unfair and Unbalanced FOX.

Although all the anchors of these channels were saying that the possible criminals were Islamic terrorists, I was not convinced by any of the arguments. The Finnish channels did not ascribe any motives and only gave a factual representation of what had happened and what was happening.

Let us look at the regional situation today.

The Earthquake has meant that all the Kashmiri terrorists are extremely busy trying to find news and help their loved ones. They are unlikely to be going about the business of destabilizing the situation which could save the lives of their loved ones. The only groups that are not happy with this are those who would like the continued tensions to exist between these two countries - and these are the major arms dealers, US, Britain and France. The US, in particular, does not want growing links in solving the problems as that would mean their efforts to keep their operatives in the area would be seriously disorganized.

The relationship between Pakistan and India is stable at the moment. It is unlikely that the Pakistan Secret Service ISI would have asked any of its operatives to have spent their time destabilizing this relationship. Once again, the only groups that are not happy with this are those who would like the continued tension to exist between these two countries - and these are US, Britain and France.

The Iran - India relationship, which includes a closer relationship with Pakistan, is exceptionally strong as the recent deal on gas and oil between these countries is one hand of friendship that has been offered by India in these troubled times. Once again, the only groups that are not happy with this are those who would like the continued tension to exist between these two countries are US, Britain and France and especially the Oil and natural gas giants in the international arena. India has been particularly active in the United Nations against the campaign by the US to whip up war-like tensions with Iran.

The situation in Afghanistan is particularly troubling, and the Al Qaida is taking a serious toll of the Afghan illegitimate Government and the US and its coalition forces. India is not co-operating with these and the recent visit of the Afghan puppet pResident to Pakistan was an effort to get propped up by them. Hence this farcical Government and its puppet masters, US, Britain and their coalition certainly would like to keep the stable destabilized.

The success of the Bonn Conference that established an interim government in Afghanistan owes much to US-Indian cooperation. Working together, American and Indian negotiators convinced Afghan participants to reach agreement on the Bonn Accords. But Bonn was just the beginning. Afghanistan will require constant and intense international attention and support in order to overcome the legacy of more than 20 years of violence.

Accomplishing this task will be exceedingly difficult for the Afghans, even with outside help. India-US collaboration will play a crucial role in meeting the challenge of restoring stability in Afghanistan. India, like the United States, has been a major contributor of relief and reconstruction assistance for that blighted country. (JM: But the US does not want India to destabilize their power structure there, which is what is being demanded by the group of other countries bordering Afghanistan (China, Russia, etc.) and with which India has shown sympathy.)

An even greater challenge, and one I anticipate with real optimism, is to repeat our mutually supportive diplomatic efforts for all of South Asia, the adjoining regions of Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, and the world as a whole, including close cooperation within the UN system. The United States and India remain co-chairs of the Community of Democracies and will continue to work together to promote democracy throughout the world. Our collaboration can only make the world a safer and more just place.

The relationship between the Palestinians as well as Israel with India is particularly good. US is frightened it will not figure in the final equation, if India takes its status as a superpower. It is likely that as the strength of India grows, India will act as a mediator in many international crisis areas, including Israel and Iraq, Israel and Iran, Israel and Lebanon, Israel and Syria, as well as Israel and Palestine. This is especially troubling for the US, which was the reason the recent reform of the UN and the expansion of the Security Council was thrown out by the US.

The relationship and trade between by India and China is growing by leaps and bounds, much to the horror of US and the EU countries. Every effort is being made to ensure that this ship is rocked, both by putting pressure on China on its currency and on India by any means possible.

The increase in co-operation between Venezuela and China and India, and the increase in cooperation in trade and exploration for oil, is particularly troubling to the present US malAdministration. hence destabilizing each of these countries by any means possible is on the top of the agenda of the the secret service. "After Iraq it is Venezuela - the next oil confrontation between America and Euro Zone and this time a new super power coalition of India, China, Russia and Brazil makes the difference"

The deepening crisis of the Bush administration both on the domestic and foreign policy means it is looking at any means possible to turn the focus away from what is happening, both in the US and in Iraq. It is not the first time that the US administration has used diversionary tactics to draw attention away from itself.

Although I have no proof in physical form, my gut instinct and my review of policies in place in each of the countries listed above, and I am usually right, tells me that the blasts in Delhi were engineered by US undercover operatives and not by Islamic terrorists, as only someone with the death and destruction criminal brain of John Negroponte, of much fame of being associated with the hit squads in Ecuador the Reagan era and also the present hit squads of the occupation of Iraq, has the focus to ensure this type of diversionary tactics.

I hope the Indian Government looks deeper at the techniques, issues and likely instigators, before associating these terror blasts with Islamists. To me, it points directly to the PNAC (Project for the New American Century) destabilizers. Remember that it was PNAC that put forward the vision for the invasion and occupation of Iraq!

Remembering 2 great people

I remember 2 great people today, both of whom were dear to several of us.

My grandfather, the late Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan, of the Maliyakal family, was born on this day in 1877. He died in 1951 when I was still a small boy.

Till today I can remember him in all his glory as a great upstanding individual.

I want to share a picture which was sent to me by a niece, by marriage, where her great grandparents share the high table with Dewan Bahadur. Ahalya is Rahul Matthan's wife. Rahul is the son of Anand and Shalu Matthan. Anand is the son of the late George Matthan, who was the eldest son of Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan. The late George Matthan was also my godfather.

Here is the story in Ahalya's own words.

I took a keen interest in the family tree that you built. Before Rahul and I met in Paris we had no idea that our families knew each other/ knew of each other, and this photo that I will attach is our favourite conversation peice. In the picture are my great grand-parents, Rao Bahadur Justice Medapa and his wife, Mrs Medapa (who passed away when I was 18); and with them is Diwan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan. Apparentely, they were friends and knew each other, not only because of their work environment but I believe from my grand-mother that they got on well. I don't know if this will be of any interest to you, we cherish this photo! I have a whole album of this particular event that my grand-mother gave me - it shows them sitting at the high table, at an official tea-party - and is interesting in the kind of lifestyle and professional obligations that they obviously followed because they represented the judiciary and bureacracy of the state of Mysore.

Thank you Ahalya for sharing this with us, as Dewan Bahadur Mysore Matthan is fondly remembered, not only by many many members of the Maliyakal family worldwide but also thousands of people whom he reached out and helped with no thought of return, a rare trait in this world.

I hope you will share with us some more photographs from your collection.

The second person whom I want to pay tribute to today is my late dear elder sister, Nalini, who left us on this day 45 years ago. I loved her dearly. As each day passes I think of her in fonder terms than the day before.

Her cherubic face is well represented in this photograph as a baby.



Here we have her, in all her beauty, on the day of the wedding reception in Bombay in 1959.



Let us humbly remember these two people, both of whom are revered by many of us for what they stood for - love of our Lord.

Berries drop on iced pond

The birds swarmed to our garden this morning. The last tree filled with berries in the Kampitie garden was covered with hundreds of birds.



Here is one bird busy at work getting filled.



But they were a bit messy as they dropped half their food on top of the now thinly iced pond.



The next few days will be interesting as we observe some skating birds!

"The Little Dutch Boy"

There is a story, which is a myth, about the "little Dutch boy" who, on his way to school, saw that there was a leak in the dyke. He stuck his finger in the hole to stop the leak and stayed there till a passerby saw him and rushed for help.

The story originates in America, but it has a moral.

Well, here in Finland, we now have the story of the "Finnish grandma" and that is not a myth!

A few months ago, when we bought a new refrigerator cum deep freeze, Annikki redid the small room in the upper floor. Annikki found the floor to be not level. She was going to rip up the floorboards to remove any offending material to level it. I strongly objected and quickly made a small platform with four legs whose height could be adjusted so as to level the base of the fridge.

It was in place for several months, although Annikki was never happy with the solution.

Last Friday was a terribly tiring day. I went to bed early, about 11 pm. I was fast asleep in a couple of minutes. Around midnight, Annikki came up to put off the light, as I normally do not put it off before jumping into bed. I can sleep through anything.

Annikki was planning to get to bed early as she intended to go to church on Saturday morning, something she has been unable to do for several months.

Just then she saw the refrigerator, which stands just outside the bedroom door, shaking dangerously. She cried out to me to tell me that the fridge was going to topple over. In my sleep I told her to just forget it and let it topple over if it had to.

She shut the bedroom door.

I slept like a baby lamb right through till 5 o'clock in the morning. I usually sleep an hour longer on Saturday mornings. I did not find Annikki in bed.

When I opened the bedroom door I saw her sitting on a stool holding up the fridge. She had been there all night!!

I was shocked as I had no idea that the situation was that desperate. Annikki had heard me snoring right through the night, so she had not woken me up!

We got the fridge off the stand and on the floor in a couple of minutes. I found one of the legs had collapsed, causing the platform to rest on just three legs.

Annikki got to bed by 6 in the morning, missing her church.

After she had rested, she explained her vigil, which she described with great laughter and tears. She said that she kept shifting positions, and occasionally dipped her hand into the deep freezer to attack the chocobars which were housed inside. She managed to get her Bible Study book and read through part of the night.

She insisted she go to the church, even though the service was over, to explain why she had not been able to get there in time. She laughed when she got back to the car. She had obviously given a very garbled explanation to her church friends, who must have wondered what she was saying!!

The reason Annikki has a terror about platforms is because of an episode which happened in Madras, India in 1974.

We had a very heavy piece of machinery in our Velacheri garden which was resting on a platform. Our elder boy, Jaakko, and the son, Anbu, of our cook, who was Jaakko's best friend, were playing near it on a tricycle.

The cook, Neela, was making masala dosais. When they were ready she called the children in. They rushed into the house to eat their dosais. Just as they came in the piece of machinery toppled over and flattened the tricycle on which they had been playing.

It was just a couple of seconds that saved the kids from becoming chutney for the dosais.

Ever since, Annikki has an aversion towards platforms of any form.

This episode of last Saturday convinced me that I will not be building any platforms in future!