A Mallu feast ends with tears

We have a delighful Mallu couple in Oulu. They are both electronics engineers.

They invited Annikki and me over for dinner. This was one of the very rare weekends that Annikki and I can actually go out together.

Isaac Sundarajan and I always get together for a meal when he arrives from the US, so I asked our hosts whether he could join in.

Nisha and Sunil worked hard (as a team - Sunil did the chopping, Nisha did the cooking) to turn out a wonderful Mallu feast for us.

Mango juice followed by vegetable spring rolls and kappa (tapioca) with super spicey chilli / onion chutney and garlic pickle for starters. Fried rice, tofu in garlic bean sauce, egg curry and cubed turkey for the main meal followed by delicious ice cream to end. And all this was served with mora (beaten yoghurt laced with onion, chilli flavouring).

Annikki was stuffed to gills, almost the feeling of attending the Egyptian meal we went through in the early seventies.

All three of us thoroughly enjoyed the great evening in the company of this lovely young couple.

We had much more in common than we thought, but that is another story.

But all good things must have a nasty end.

Nisha and Sunil have a beautiful daughter, Hannah, who is just four. She was also having a great evening and troubled no one during the entire evening.

As I got up to leave there was a nasty cracking sound as I stepped on one of her lovely plastic golden Christmas bells.

I knew I had really put my foot in it.

Tomorrow, even though it is Sunday, my task is to find her a string of bells that she will enjoy and forget about that one I broke!

A broken heart of a child is something I cannot live with!

Dawn of a new winter

We are now half way through October, but yesterday we saw the footsteps of winter fast approaching.





The ponds are freezing over during the night.



The bridge has frost all over it.

A gardener's work in such circumstances is never over. Annikki has slowly but surely been getting ready for winter, moving plants to their ideal locations and putting the summer stuff away while slowly bringing out all the stuff required for winter.

On Tuesday, she was going into a state of panic as temperatures below zero were being forecast. She was worried about our 14 goldfish in the outside pond.

On Wednesday, she made a concerted effort to catch the fish to bring them in to the indoor aquariums. She netted 12 out of the 13, the last one diving deep into the water to avoid capture.

The next morning the pond was frozen over. She had to break the ice, and a relieved goldfish was happy to be netted and taken in to the comfort of the warm water in the aquarium!

A lot more work to be done to ensure we are safe and secure through winter while continuing to enjoy the creations Annikki makes during the course of winter to warm our cockles!

25 years on

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.

On Tuesday, I went Oulu Airport to receive a friend, a very dear friend. In fact, my very best friend when I was in College between 1960 and 1963. He was my inseparable friend of those years.

Ajay arrives in Oulu.

Ajay Verma did Mathematics Honours between 1960 and 1963. Like me, he lived in Mukerji Court. There was only one Mukerji Building block those days. He was in T Block while I was in S Block. We went together for breakfast and dinner. Spent the evening hours after college together going for some scrambled egg on toast for tea and later, after dinner again went to the Cafe to have coffee and a smoke.

We played table tennis together in the JCR or played chess, draughts (checkers) or bridge. He was my bridge partner and together we almost won the first JCR Bridge Championship, except to beaten on the very last hand by the twins, the Rai brothers, Suraj and Chander, who bid an unbelievable 7 spades against our bid of 7 clubs and made that hand. Only the intertwined thinking of identical twins snatched certain victory out of our hands!

Ajay came to College from Pondicherry, where his mother lived in the Arubindo Village. He completed his pre-university from Loyala College, Madras before joining College, although he would have preferred to do engineering at one of the IITs.

Ajay left college and joined the Indian Army by going to the Officer School at Dehra Dun. From there he went into the artillery at Deolali near Nasik and then to Cooch Behar in West Bengal. He was sent to the front line in the war against Pakistan and had the narrowest of escapes when the shelter he was in was blown up just a couple of minutes after he had stepped outside for a cigarette. (So I hardly blame him for continuing this habit!)

He left the army after the war and joined Bata's as a trainee and worked in Calcutta and Faridabad. Ajay did not see much future then and set off to Canada to make his fortune. He stopped at Copenhagen, met his life partner, Else, and settled down in Lund, Sweden. He started work in the Hotel industry and worked for SAS Hotels and then in Airline catering till he finished his career with a series of jobs in SAS Radisson, ending at the Beijing hotel till his retirement late last year. He now consults but is enjoying himself in retirement dabbling in the Swedish stock exchange, more for fun than profit.

He has bought an apartment in Pondicherry and is off in a few days to winter there, away fron the dark and cold winters in Scandinavia. Unfortunately, before he could enjoy his time there, he got news last Friday that his 91 year old mother had passed away.


Ajay talks to Else in Lund.

In his "busy" travel schedule, he has done 15 long haul flights this year, he took a few days off to drop in on Annikki and me. I was wild with him when he told me that when we were meeting after 25 years, he was off in just 3 days. But things were happening in Lund, so I had to let him go.


Ajay sees a windy blustery autumn sunset in Oulu.


Annikki at the Nallikari beach.


Ajay at a windy Nallikari.

During the time in Oulu we had a rip roaring time that only dear friends can enjoy together. We shared news about our past lives and careers, laughed incessantly at all our past pranks, I showed him my small town and with Annikki enjoyed the bitterly cold wind and amazing autumn sunset of the Oulu Nallikari beach.

Like me, he is an early riser, being up ay 5 am, so we enjoyed long days together. It was with great sadness that I bid farewell to him on Friday morning and it was as if a void had descended on Kampitie after his departure.


It is already time for Ajay to leave.

The real spirit of Stephania prevailed in our residence for the short time he was here, urging me to give serious thought to organising a reunion of 1960-1963 Stephanians in Delhi in 2009, when Annikki and I are scheduled to make our next visit to India.

Antiques and Migrating Birds

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.

Sunday before last I met Ilari's aunt, Lizzy, at the CHAFF meeting.

Victor and Lizzy

Lizzy told me that she and her Dutch / English husband, Victor Glazer, had moved from Pudasjarvi to a neighbouring county south of Oulu, Liminka, and they had opened an Antique Shop, Viliga Oy (Address: Kauppakatu 6, 91900 Limika; Mobile: 050 5566069; 040 7608503; Fax: 08 3113151).

Ilari Sohlo was Joanna's colleague when studying for their Masters in English Philology at Oulu University. Ilari then became a close friend of Jaakko, our elder son. Subsequently, Ilari and his now wife, Ildikó and Annikki and myself have become good friends, bridging the generations!

Annikki and I are looking for some old fashioned chairs for our old fashioned dining table. Our present set does not have all the characteristics we desire.

Last Sunday, after the CHAFF meeting, we headed out to Liminka, for a dual purpose. To see the new antique shop and then to visit the reputed Liminka Bird Park where migrating birds are said to stop over on their way south.

An interesting signboard

Room filled with antiques

Annikki browses for her interests

Dolls galore

More antiques

The antique shop rambles through three large rooms and some connecting spaces. You look and you may find what you want. There is no one pressuring you. There is no one making a hard sales pitch. If you want clarification, ask Victor, who will tell you what he knows.

As this building was also used to serve as a bank, it has an enormous safe vault. Victor is using it to store some antique deactivated guns.

The concept of Lizzy and Victor is not just to have the run of the mill antique shop. They intend to make it a cultural centre which will host the work of artists, have performances by musicians and make the experience of visiting their centre a real experience.

Lizzy and Victor are visionaries. Annikki was taken by this effervescent couple. They could bring much character to the County of Liminka.

If the County authorities can stretch out their hand to help them develop their unusual ideas, we can predict that this small venture could make history. For instance, the dairy opposite the shop is lying unused. They want to use this for their cultural centre.

Annikki suggested to Lizzy that it may be interesting to leave all the dairy machinery intact, putting the exhibits in that setting, making the atmosphere unique and unusual!

The shop was well filled with customers on this Sunday afternoon. What was surprising was that people were also ringing in to ask about various antiques they have.

The shop has its own web page. Victor told me that this is undergoing a major upheaval.

Beautiful metal candle holders find their place at Kampitie.

Annikki found these really beautiful metal candle holders and they were quickly in their right place at Kampitie when we returned home!

Well done Lizzy and Victor.

Annikki and I wish you very well and we give it high marks on our Oulu Best Buy Blog.

After the visit to the antique shop we set out to visit the Bird Park. We found a large signboard pointing to the Bird Park. I drove in that direction. About 5 minutes later, we turned up at the main road again, where there was a sign for the Bird Park pointing back along the road we had come.

We thought we must have missed the turning to the Bird Park.

On this road there were two side roads, but both turned up blank - no Bird Park to be found.

Finally, after about a half hour of driving around we came across a young lady out for a brisk afternoon walk. Annikki told her our dilemma that we were looking for 200 swans who were supposedly in the Bird Park and we could not find this Bird Park despite the signs.

I do not know whether this young lady thought we were drunk.

She said we were driving in the Bird Park which is a residential colony and some migratory birds do settle down somewhere in this area. However, she had never seen any swans around here!

We gave up our attempt to find the Bird Park and swans and laughed all the way back to Oulu thinking about what that lady would be thinking about us!

Philip Mathew hits 60

Philip Mathew (known to me as Thambi) was a Stephanian a few years after me.



Younger brother to 64er Mammen Mathew (Rajen), Thambi is also the father of a couple of Stephanian boys of the 90s. His sons are married to daughters of a Stephanian of my era, 63er Abe Tharakan, who is the sea food mogul of India.

Thambi manages the Cochin office of the Malayala Manorama. I also think he is managing the English publication of Manorama Group, The WEEK.

Among his interviews I think has been one of Nelson Mandela.

Please join me in wishing him a great 60th.

Spreading like wildfire

The article which appeared in the Readers Digest Living Green: Ranking the best (and worst) countries: By Matthew E. Kahn, PhD, and Fran Lostys has been spreading like wildfire as Reuters carried it in all their language distributions.

Sunset Splatter

Western Sunset Sky

Jacob's ladder of Clouds

Sunset in the Southern Skyline

To calm our nerves we again went to enjoy the great autumn sunset.

Contemplation forced us to send this comment to the Editors of Readers Digest and also post a similar comment on one of their country editions (Australia).

As current residents in Finland, we (authors of "Handbook for Survival in Finland) disagree with ranking of Finland as No. 1.

It is far from reality.

It is a great country viewed from outside.

It polishes its image like an apple.

Peel the skin.

You see a core filled with worms.

Public sources used are those which only show the polished outside. See our blog entry at

http://jmatthan.blogspot.com/2007/10/finland-best-for-living.html

Annikki & Jacob

The sources used are given here:

We analyzed data from two top sources covering 141 nations to rank the planet's greenest, most livable places. Our analysis delved into social factors (income and education, for instance) and environmental measures (see our chart for who scores highest and lowest for some of them, and how the United States, the best overall, and the worst overall stack up)......

.....The World's Greenest, Most Livable Cities
Using different data, we analyzed 72 major international cities and ranked them in terms of being green and livable. The sources included The Millennium Cities Database for Sustainable Transport (2001) by Jeff Kenworthy and Felix Laube of Australia's Murdoch University, the World Bank's Development Economic Research Group Estimates, and our own reporting on local environmental laws, energy prices, garbage production and disposal, and parkland.

Paul Wolfowitz's, the creator of a beautiful Green Zone in Baghdad, World Bank as a source - a laughable idea!

Was there any consideration of the ghastly smell that covers many cities in Finland from the pulp production chimney stacks. One professor could not even stay a full day in Oulu as he would break out with a rash!

And here is a totally ridiculous statement:

To get greener, countries must do more to capitalize on national strengths. Finland, among the world's largest exporters of wind-power technology, produces less than 1 percent of its own electricity via wind power, despite average coastal wind speeds of 15 mph, 50 percent stronger than those in Chicago.

Finland has one major wind-power technology producer making 1 - 3 MW units and it is owned by an Indian company!

A look at the cities rankings shows only one Finnish city, Helsinki ranked at No. 21, and we would not like to live in Helsinki. Having lived in three other ranked cities, London (27) Chennai (65) and Mumbai (70), none of them could be ranked even close to another city where Jacob lived, Delhi and New Delhi, which is not even in the rankings!

This is a true case of "the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence".

How we wish the authors had stepped across that fence to check their facts with some ground level investigation!

As they say, a little knowledge is dangerous.

It is sad as this article will be quoted a million times around the world for a publicity hungry small country as Finland. The myth will be propagated while the truth is left far far behind!

The Rabbit has a shiny nose

All through spring, summer and autumn, I have been using the scooter and occasionally the SAAB I bought from Kannan to help him out financially. It gave me a chance to get the Rabbit reconditioned.

The 1984 Ford Escort Farmer has done yeoman service since I got it, thanks to Kamu, in 2000. It has pulled many a car out of trouble, especially in winter. It has towed several cars twice its size and half its age, rushed to start up stranded cars, and it has hardly cost a penny to upkeep.

Of course, I kept it in peak condition, changing whatever was necessary before any troubles came to a head. All the MOTs that it went through were clean sailing.

But Annikki and both daughters did not very much like the look of the car as part of the paint had faded!

So this summer I gave it to my dear friend Nassar, who has a Garage and Paint Shop in Haukipudas. I gave him carte blanche to do up the car. The colours - football fans Samu and me chose red and golden orange (which were my team colours in Oulu when I bought the car).

Earlier today, I drove out the 20+ kilometres on the scooter to Nassar's garage to see the progress.



Standing in the compound, gleaming in the beautiful autumn sunshine, stood the new look Rabbit. Not only had the outside been done, but Nassar had changed the air filter, changed the oil, done some welding work and also got it MOTeed!

I can put the SAAB to hibernation after a thorough service. Although the SAAB is a great car with a lot of power, and it is a super safe car, I will be glad to get back to driving the nippy and powerful Rabbit once autumn is over and I put the scooter away!

Now that the Rabbit is back with a shiny nose and a great tail, I may even think of selling the SAAB if I get a reasonable price. It will be sad to sell such a good car as, on occasions, we do need a larger car for our travels.

Finland best for living?

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, the Cathedral School Seventh Heaven Blog and the St. Stephen's College Kooler Talk Blog.

In a Readers Digest report just released titled Study says Finland best for living and which was covered by Reuters, caused Annikki and me to think about our combined life in India, Finland, Sweden, Germany and England over the last 60+ years.



This evening, we went to the Nallikari beach for Annikki to collect stones. (I just walk around doing some photography with my lousy camera) and help her carry the collection to the car!




The yellow, gold and red autumn leaves were strewn all around, truly beautiful.




The autumn sunset was glorious. It felt as if we were lifting off into space!

Looking at these photographs of today and the peacefulness that surrounded us on this beautiful autumn evening, maybe you and we can agree with what has been claimed in the report!

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The Nordic countries are the world's greenest and, despite the cold winters, Finland is the best country to live in, according to a Reader's Digest study released on Friday.

Finland was followed by Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Austria.

"Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters," the study said.

My having lived here for the last 23+ years (of course, Annikki was born here and lived the first 18 years of her life here) makes it difficult for us to either agree or disagree with even this specific conclusion.

Annikki said that when we came to Finland there were several reports saying how unhealthy the tap water was in Finland as it was over-chlorinated. In her opinion, things have not improved since then.

She queries the validity of this report as the source of the data is not known to us. If it came from Government sources, then both of us agree that it is a load of bull!

Finns are great at creating a golden image like a beautiful polished apple, but remove the skin and we will find many worms gnawing away inside.

Many environmental activists also may not agree with this study done by U.S. environmental economist Matthew Kahn, who looked at issues such as quality of drinking water and greenhouse gas emissions as well as factors such as education (totally stereotyped) and income (low after high taxes without corresponding benefits).

When we look at education in Finland, there is nothing even coming close to the level of "education" provided by my alma maters, Bishop Cotton School (Bangalore), which had 7 playing fields for its student in its town centre campus, Cathedral and John Connon School (Mumbai) and St. Stephen's College (Delhi).

Incomes are certainly not high. Retained income is low. Savings are virtually non-existent.

But people feel they are rich because of the easy accessibility to long term low interest loans that enable them to enjoy their "own" homes and new cars and other material benefits!

But that is certainly not a reflection of the income standard in Finland.

Certainly, I do not drink anything but tap water. Annikki and many others tend to buy bottled water. Many go to bore well taps located around the city to collect their drinking water as they do not think the tap water is healthy.

My philosophy has always been that tap water contains all the germs and bacteria that our bodies require to build resistance to the local environment. Avoiding that diminishes our natural resistance.

It used to be said that India had the greatest advantage with regard to germ warfare as all the Indian Government had to do was export water from Calcutta!

My health over the last 23 years compared to most others I know in Finland proves my point of view. I have had no major or even minor illness during that time and never lost a day of work during my working life.

Mathew Kahn obviously did not meet the many thousands of Finns who suffer terrible allergies to dust, pollen, cat fur, dogs and many edible items as nuts, milk, etc. etc. Our grandson, Samuel, is a typical example - allergic to tens of things!

This is a direct consequence of a bad environment and living practices, so this would contradict his conclusions.



Finland is a great place to live if you follow the rules we have laid out in the book "Handbook For Survival in Finland" written by Annikki and me which was published in 1994.

But for others - life can be very very difficult on all fronts.

Our new Findians Google Group, which should go online in a few weeks, will tell you many of the pros and cons of working and living in Finland and the changes that have occurred during the last two decades.

So stay tuned!

To Hirosenkoti

Annikki's mother, Hilja, has been in very good health these last two weeks. She was very happy to have a bath today and she ate very well.

After almost a year of different health problems, which Annikki has tended with great care and devotion, Hilja is now in fine fettle and she is full of beans, mentally. A lot of her muscle strength has returned, although not yet enough for her to stand unattended.



She objected to being dressed to go to the Hirosenkoti Old People's Home as she does not like being transported from one place to another.

But if Annikki is to recoup her strength, these interval care times are very important for her, although not so good for Hilja.

Hilja will be back home on the 17th of the month. Hopefully the mild autumn weather will still be around. But that is just hoping! I have scheduled to put on my winter tyres on the car by the 15th of the month.

Through the eyes of an Arab Israeli Human Rights Activist

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, Jacob's Politics Blog, the Move The UN Blog, and the Liberal Talk Show Ratings Blog.

The shrinking of Palestine

Yesterday, Tuesday 2.10.2007, between 18:00 and 20:00 hours, at the Kirjakahvila Nispero, Pakkahuoneenkatu 5, Oulu, owned by Jarmo Stoor and his wife, I had the privilege and honour to listen to Israeli Palestinian Human Right Activist Najib Abu Rokaya from the B´Tselem Human Rights Group. This is the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories which was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members.

How would it feel if you got married to the person you love and are then told by your "Democratic" Government that you cannot bring your partner to your country but have to move away to another country where your partner lives and also give up your natural citizenship?

This is what happens in Palestine AND ALSO in Israel when it concerns Arab Israeli citizens!

No wonder that former US President Jimmy Carter addressed the present situation in Israel as being akin to the Apartheid that was prevalent in White South Africa!

But I digress.

Najib knows the effects of the Middle East conflict on the day to day life of those who live under it. His expertise has been used by the BBC (among others) in reporting on the situation there.

Najib Abu Rokaya is an Israeli Arab. He was one of the Palestinians who during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War stayed behind the green line (the internationally accepted border at the time between Israel and the planned Palestinian government) of what was to become the State of Israel. Today those Palestinians form about 18% of Israel's population.

Najib is a human asset in the position of Arabs inside Israel from his understanding of the law and personal experiences. He operates inside the internationally respected Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem.

The primary purpose of the group is to monitor the Israeli Army, Israeli governmental institutions and illegal West-Bank settlements in Palestinian areas. B'Tselem addresses its public reports to the Israeli political leadership as well as the general public.

Najib is the fieldwork coordinator of B'Tselem. Due to his position in B'Tselem and previous political activities, Najib has intimate details about the Arab minority question and the
current situation of the Israel/Palestinian conflict.

In his talk he started by drawing attention to the fact that the move to set up the State of Israel began as far back as 1890 and one of the locations suggested was Uganda! However, after the holocaust and World War II the United Nations gave Israel around 54% of Palestine.

After the various wars this increased to 70+% but when one considers the situation on the ground in Israel, Israel controls 100% of the territory.

However, clever politicking by Israeli "peace-brokers" and a feeling of absolute uselessness of the ability to stand and fight by the people of Palestine, Israel has transferred the international obligations of "the Occupier" on the Palestinians while continuing to occupy the whole territory.

As was rather strongly put by Najib, the Oslo Agreement was b------t! All it contained were paras which were to occur "God Willing", or in Arabisc "Inshallah"!

The wall / fence which has been built by Israel between "Palestine West Bank territory" on Palestinian land is another example of Israel usurping territory under the guise of "Security". The real border is about 320 km. But the wall / fence is over 700 km in length. Administration of the lands ursurped by the Israelis under this excuse is being integrated by a series of measures which makes it almost impossible for the Palestinians to even look after their own lands!

The absolute stranglehold by Israel over the Gaza is another example of how cleverly Israeli transferred "the obligations" onto the Palestinian Government while ensuring that they had absolutely no way of meeting those obligations.

There are two sides to every coin.

Najib was able, as an Arab Israeli, to put before the audience the side of not only the Palestinians living in "their" land of Palestine and of Arab Israelis, but also the 4 million refugees which have been packaged out of their land by this never ending conflict, most of whom are today stateless!

The stories given by Najib of the trigger-happy methods of the Israeli forces who have been ordered "not to take prisoners" as they infiltrate and murder the Palestinians was heart rending.

That is the other side of the story which is never told by the western media as the it has always been the Palestinians who have been accused of suicide bombings!

The Palestinians of all shades live in hope that they will once again be able to live in peace in their land. But it suits Israel to have a state of chaos prevailing as that way they will be able to draw on their superior public media presentation skills to highlight the Palestinians as the aggressors while they continue to enjoy and expand their hold of entire Palestine!

Many thanks to this outstanding personality for sharing his thoughts with us in Oulu.

Using a helmet when riding a cycle or scooter

Many think it is a bother to use a helmet when riding a cycle or scooter.

This year, for the first time, I understood the significance as I clocked up a couple of thousand kilometres on the scooter.

Strike 1: I was going to a football match in early summer with my young friend, Soda, sitting behind me. I was not driving very fast when I turned right to go into a tunnel to cross the main road. As I turned the corner I saw three cyclists straight in front of me. They were riding abreast. Even as I braked I knew I would hit one of them. I chose the one in the centre as I knew that if I hit the ones nearer the sides, they could be thrown in a manner that they would hit the walls of the tunnel.

As both Soda and I had on our helmets, we both got away with some scrapes. It was lucky that cyclist, a young South Korean student in Oulu University, got away unscathed as he was not wearing a helmet!

Strike 2: I was driving along the scooter path to town, not very fast, when suddenly a driver turned sharply right into a side path, completely ignoring the cycle, pedestrian and scooter traffic which had right of way. The path of the car crossed the pedestrian/scooter road.

I reacted quickly turning my scooter perpendicular to the car. I was thrown off the scooter. The scooter crashed to the ground.

The driver was a lady with a baby strapped in the front passenger seat.

I just could not believe myself as to the bad driving by this lady who had swung across the cycle path without verifying if any traffic was on the path.

I was lucky that I had my helmet on as the scooter was thrown hard to the ground because of my evasive action. I can still remember how my helmet bounced on the ground three times as I hit the road!

Strike 3: I was driving back home from town when I decided to take a short cut which has no traffic. It involved driving up a steep incline and making a sharp left turn. Although my speed was really slow, as I turned left, there was a lot of fine sand on the road and the scooter tyres just lost their grip and I was thrown away from the scooter with my helmeted head crashing against the ground.

A bad bruise on the knee but no other damage.

In all three cases, if I did not have my helmet on the situation could have been catastrophic. If Soda had not been wearing a helmet when riding as my passenger, he too could have had a traumatic experience!

Accidents do happen. Many times for no fault of anyone. If you are not properly equipped the result could be tragic.

I am glad that I have always been properly attired when riding the scooter this year. It has saved my life.

Please follow the rules as there are many people who love you and want to have you around!

A Monkey story sequel...

A few of you may remember a recent blog entry where I mentioned how Prof. Ajeet Mathur, in a lecture in Oulu, gave the example of a monkey trained to wash the vessels at a Lorry roadside Dhaba for a payment of 2 bananas a day.



I just read, on Abe Tharakan's Blog, of monkeys in Indonesia being trained to pluck coconuts from the trees Kerala: Of monkeys and nuts. His last para in the entry was interesting:

"Once, during his frequent trips to coconut growing countries, Joseph Alapatt found that in Indonesia monkeys are trained to pluck coconuts. He requested the Minister concerned to send a squad of monkeys to Kerala on a trial basis. According to the article, the Minister replied "The labor leaders in Kerala would kill the monkeys as soon as the animals reached that state"!"

So much for monkeys replacing manpower in KERALA!

Two faces of sport in India

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, the Mumbai Cathedralites Seventh Heaven Blog and the Delhi Stephanians Kooler Talk Blog.

Cathedral School Hockey side in 1959:
I am the goalkeeper!

I have always been a hockey player and enthusiast.

(My interest in hockey, especially to be a hockey goalkeeper started in 1952-53 when I was a 10 year old living in Bangalore. I used to live opposite the St, Joseph College Hostel and sports grounds.I had many friends studying in the college. One was a guy called Abe Tharakan. He was the hockey goalkeeper for the college. I used to watch the team train and watched all their games. Abe inspired me to take up the game and the position of goalkeeper after I moved to Bombay in 1954. Today, Abe and I are good friends and he runs a popular blog Song of the Waves - I repaid him by bringing him into the world of blogging at which he has become a real expert and writes beautifully!)

I played for the First XI of the school for two years. I played for St. Stephen's College, Delhi, till injury cut short my further prospects to play for the College, the University and higher. When I played for the College, I played alongside some of the future greats of Indian Hockey, with Arun Shourie as my Captain.

In London, I played for my college and then played in the trials for London University. Injury again kept me from progressing my hockey career.


Shrewsbury Town Hockey Team:
I am fourth from left.

Then when I started my professional career in Plastics at Shawbury Village near Shrewsbury Town, I played for the Town team regularly, first in my preferred spot in the goal and then as the centre half in the line up.

I loved to play hockey. Though I wanted to see good hockey, I never got to watch it on TV as it has never been a popular spectator sport to merit much TV time.

I love football equally, and though I played it at school, I never progressed much, as my love for hockey was over-powering. However, as it was on TV in England, I watched a lot of it and learnt much about strategy and the game from the hours spent in front of the box. The real highlight was watching such greats as the Portuguese wizard Eusebio and the Brazilian Pele along with the English household names of Bobby More and Charlton, with England winning the World Cup in 1966.

I used much of what I learnt of the sport from watching the best players on TV to help me manage youngsters getting into the sport. I became a master of strategy in a game that I hardly played, even though, if I had played, I would have progressed as far as I did in the sport of my choice.

I played many other sports as table tennis, badminton (right up to the age of 55). I was active in athletics. I enjoyed TV coverage, however limited of each of these sports. My last sporting exploits was when I skied for the first time in my life at the age of 57 and finished the 20 km course tearing every ligament in my body. And then at the same age I raised a crew of long boat rowers to row the 30+ kilometers from Muhos to Oulu.

I enjoyed my gym training doing as much as 2 hours of intensive gym work to ensure all my muscles were kept fit and also helping me to solve serious problems with my back and also avoiding operations on my knees.

Now at 65, I keep fit by walking whenever I can, sometimes as much as 20 km keeping my pulse rate at as high as possible for my age - 140 to 150 pulse beats per minute!

My interest in cricket was generated by the excellent radio commentary that I used to listen to when I was just 7 to 8 years old. England playing against Australia and the Commentary broadcast by Radio Australia and BBC were the starting point, later followed by following the fortunes of the Indian Cricket team with stars such as Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Ghulam Ahmed, Polly Umrigar, S.P. Gupte, Bapu Nadkarni. And we had some good Indian Commentators too, but some exasperating ones, as well.

I did not liked watching cricket on TV as the sponsors hogged so much of time that I hated sitting through the irritating ads. However, when the International Cavaliers played the Sunday afternoon 40 overs, with great names as Sobers, Lloyd and others showing their unbelievable poweress with bat and ball, as well their superb fielding, and with NO ads intervening, I really took to watching ad free cricket on TV.

What I could, however, not understand was the super star status given to the Indian Cricket players. Yes, they may have been good players, and Kapil Dev's team winning the World Cup certainly gave the players the boost.

But considering that the Indian Hockey side dominated the Olympic and World Hockey agenda for generations, I could never understand why they were never given the super star status of the cricketing counterparts. It was no wonder that Indian Hockey sunk into the toilet.

This year was no exception. The Indian Cricket team won the Twenty20 Cricket Tournament and the whole of India and the politicians have been all rolling over to be seen with the cricketers.

In the same period the Indian Hockey side won the Asian Hockey Tournament against major rivals, and it was difficult to even find this mentioned in the headline news.

The news that the State Bank of India was doing something to correct this by giving each hockey player in the winning side $ 12,500 for the world beating performance was news, but in comparison to what has been showered on the cricketers, the air coverage time, the print space given to each sport, it really makes my heart sink.

India can quickly produce the best hockey players of the calibre of Dyanchand if it wants. It can beat other world sides if the Indian side was given only walking sticks to play with. But when the sport and its players are treated so shoddily, can we ever expect the Indian Team to ever become the real world class they are capable of being!

On a final note. the commercialisation of sport where one has to pay money to hear a cricket commentary between two country sides, unlike the time when I was a small boy, will only destroy the sport in the long run.

Mika is 34 today

Today is Mika's 34th birthday.

On this day both Annikki ansd I especally recall Mika's grandfather, my late father, who gave Mika his name, Michael, as 29th September is St. Michael's Day. As a result, Mika has a middle name also, Kuriyan, which was my father's name!



Annikki made a special floral raspberry topped cake. All the colourful flowers from the garden are edible.

We got him the really super spicey chilli beef dish from the Beijing Chinese restaurant that all three of us like.

It was a beautiful autumn day which started cold - below zero, and then climbed to +13 C with bright sunshine.

Fact of this day 13 years ago

I must thank the Scottish newspaper, Scotsman, for reminding of the tragedy that took place off the shores of southern Finland 13 years ago.

One of the worst maritime disasters in history occurred today in 1994 when the ferry M/S Estonia sank with the loss of 852 lives. Due to stormy seas, the ship's bow doors, which allowed the easy loading of cars onto the cargo deck, failed. This allowed water into the deck which destabilized the ship and started a catastrophic chain of events, resulting in sinking. Only 137 persons survived the disaster.

The disaster took place on September 28, 1994 between about 00:55 to 01:50 (UTC+2) as the ship was crossing the Baltic Sea, en route from Tallinn in Estonia to Stockholm, Sweden.

She was carrying 989 passengers and crew.

According to the final disaster report, the weather was rough, with a wind of 15 to 20 m/s, force 7-8 on the Beaufort scale and a significant wave height of 3 to 4 meters compared to the highest measured significant wave height in the Baltic Sea of 7.7 metres.

The official report says that whilst the exact speed at the time of the accident isn't known, Estonia had very regular voyage times, averaging 16-17 knots, perhaps implying she didn't slow down for adverse conditions. The chief mate of the Viking Line passenger ferry M/S Mariella tracked Estonia's speed with radar at approximately 14.2 knots before the first signs of distress whilst the Silja Europa officers estimated her speed at 14-15 knots at Midnight.

The first sign of danger was a strange sound of metal against metal around 01:00, when the ship was in the outskirts of the Turku archipelago; but an investigation of the bow visor showed no obvious damage. At about 01:15, the visor separated and the ship took on a heavy starboard list. At about 01:20 a weak female voice called "Häire, häire, laeval on häire", the Estonian words for "Alarm, alarm, there is alarm on the ship", over the public address system. Just a moment later an internal alarm for the crew was transmitted over the public address system.

Soon after this the general lifeboat alarm was given. Soon the vessel lurched some 30 to 40 degrees to starboard, which made it practically impossible to move about safely inside the ship. Doors and hallways became deadly pits. Those who were going to survive were already on the deck by then.

Mayday was communicated by the ship crew at 01:22, but did not follow international formats. Due to black-out she could not give her position which delayed the rescue operation somewhat. The ship disappeared from radar screens of other ships at around 01:50. Mariella arrived on the scene of the accident at 02:12; the first rescue helicopter arrived at 03:05.

The accident claimed 501 Swedes, 280 Estonians, 10 Finns and people from 19 other nations, by drowning and hypothermia. The water temperature was 10°C-11°C. Only 92 bodies of the total number of casualties were recovered.

The official report blamed the accident on the failure of locks on the bow visor, that broke under the strain of the waves. When the visor broke off the ship, it damaged the ramp, which covered the opening to the car deck behind the visor, with it. This allowed water in on the car deck which destabilized the ship and started a catastrophic chain of events.

The location of the hull is at 59°23′N, 21°42′E, about 22 nautical miles (41 km) on bearing 157° from Utö island, Finland. She lies in between 74 and 85 metres of water.

Tonight is a quiet and peaceful night as I think and pray for those who lost their lives on that fateful journey 13 years ago.

I thank our lucky stars that 22 years ago in 1975, Annikki, Jaakko, Mika and me, also faced such a traumatic situation and came out of it alive when, on a journey between Naantali in Finland and Kapelskar in Sweden, the Captain of a Viking Line boat forgot to do a well-marked sharp left turn and took the boat up onto Järvi Saari.

India in the Finnish news

Here in the near Arctic Finland, India, and especially Karnataka, appears to be much in the news.

There was an article in the Business Section of our local newspaper, Kaleva, the other day of an Oulu based company, INCAP, and its tie up with a facility in Tumkur, a town one hour north west of Bangalore. It is near enough to Bangalore to draw on the benefits of India's IT explosion, and yet far enough to get the benefit of lower costs than the exploding Bangalore.

(Bangalore is not just an IT centre, as it has developed during the last decade, as it has been long established as a major heavy, medium and light engineering centre in India.)

There was an almost full page section about Karnataka in another issue of the Business Section of the Kaleva. Much of the old stereotyping of Indian cities continues, and it was difficult for the writers, who had no idea of the past, to accept that there is continued great growth going on along with the the continuing poverty.

The figures about poverty levels indicated are nowhere near the claims of the Indian Government, but as it is still visible means that I do not give equal credence to the Indian Government hype, either.

Karnataka is no longer the same as when I grew up 60+ years ago. In my time, I have seen a beautiful garden city grow and be destroyed and made into a concrete jungle. I have also seen the level of corruption sky-rocketing that would make my grandfather turn in his grave. He had been the First Member (Prime Minister) to the Mysore Maharaja in the State of Mysore, pre-Independence. Mysore was reputed to have the cleanest and most forward looking and efficient Administration under the Maharajas.

My father, who was an engineer in the Mysore Electricity Board up until the early 1950s, migrated out of Mysore and moved to Bombay because of corruption at the highest political level in the State.

Similarly, one of the reasons that I quit Bangalore in the mid Eighties was because we could no longer live with the corruption in almost every walk of life in the State.

Another article that appeared a few weeks ago (2nd September 2007 - no online link available) about India was written by the Chief Editor of our local newspaper, Risto Uimonen.

He and I have not been on the same page for many years. I think he is arrogant, just as much he thinks the same about me!



The article on the whole is well written.

However, as can from the picture and the inset, he uses a term "neekerityttöjen" in the text, which is equivalent to using the derogatory "n----r girls" in the USA.

It shows a lack of diplomacy and language (his own) control by this individual.

Also, it shows his lack of understanding about the history and culture of India.

The Negritos, who are the broad-headed Negroids from Africa, were the oldest people to have come to India. These people are now only found in patches among the hill tribes of South India (Irulas, Kodars, Paniyans and Kurumbas). They survive in the Andaman Islands where they have retained their language. They are an inconsequential element in the population of India.

The use of the offensive language, totally without a basis for use, shows the crudity to which was stepped to and it reinforced my previous opinion of this individual.

Has the US already reached the Fascist Stage?

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, Jacob's Politics Blog, the Talk Show Ratings Blog and the Move the UN Blog.

Mike Malloy continues to head my ratings of Liberal Talk Show Hosts. Mike lives near Atlanta in Georgia and he and his wife, Kathy Bay, who is the Executive Producer of his show, put together their show every morning which airs on NovaM Radio, a liberal radio station from Phoenix, Arizona. I listen to him live, online, over the internet. Besides being a great host, Kathy is an outstanding producer, and boy, is she quick with suitable music and her comments.

I get up at 4 am every morning from Tuesday to Saturday to listen to Mike, as not only does he have a different view point from any other Talk Show Host, but in my seven years of listening to him, I have found him to be honest and in pursuit of the TRUTH.

His listeners are known as the TRUTHSEEKERS!

Many of us get together on the Democratic Underground Forum to share the experience of listening to Mike. It is a great community.

One caller to Mike's show today from New York really set my mind thinking.

Mike has been saying that America has already reached the Fascist State. Many disagree with him.

The caller said that, at this time of the year, there are many dignitaries attending the UN General Assembly, so security is normally at a height. However, what he experienced earlier this evening was totally unexpected.

The caller lives in a small suburban area of the New York where, in the back street, there is a good small restaurant. He had gone out for a walk in the evening. On his way home, several black limousines pulled up outside the restaurant.

Out of the last car jumped out several men in full riot gear, fully armed. They stepped all pedestrians even crossing the street. The people had to wait a full 10 minutes till the dignitary emerged from the car and was safely seated in the restaurant!

Does this happen in a democratic society?

I sincerely do not believe it can - not in any Scandinavian country.

Remember the killing of Olof Palme over 20 years ago. On February 28, 1986, the Swedish Prime Minister, leader of the Social Democratic Party was gunned down on a Stockholm street home from a cinema with his wife, Lisbet. as he and his wife were walking on the streets of Stockholm without any security personnel?

Has any such procedure as described by the New York caller been put into operation in any part of Sweden? NO!

I now tend to agree with Mike that the US, led by an imbecile, has entered the final phase of a Fascist State.

As another caller said, on Mike's show, that as she was at an US Airport with her toddler, there was an announcement that the day's terrorism alert was ORANGE and she and her toddler had to go through security checks where even the toddler had to remove his shoes for checking.

Fear Rules the US - and that is what Fascism is about!

Happy 75th birthday

I hope all of you will join me in wishing our dear cousin Somakochamma (Mrs. G. K. O Philips) a very happy 75th birthday.

The late Mr. and Mrs. K. M. Varghese Mappillai.

Somakochamma is the daughter of the late K. M. Varghese Mappillai, elder brother of my mother. Varichayan, as he was known to us, and his wonderful wife, Thandammakochamma, spent many years looking after the various estates near Chickmagalur. As children, we used to have great times in the Estate, far away from all civilisation!



Somakochamma's husband, G. K. O. Philips, was Managing Director of Crompton Greaves till his retirement. They now live in Bangalore.

Have a great day, dear sister.

Dr. Kurian George's daughter, Lalitha

After I posted the link to my second cousin's, Sarasu, blog, she replied that she was still learning the blogging process. She sent me info about another second cousin (her first cousin), Lalitha, who is the late Dr. Kurian George's second daughter.


The late Mysore Matthan.

The late Dr. Kurian George was the son of the late Maliyakal Kurian George, Former Chief Secrectary of Travancore Cochin, younger brother of my late grandfather, Mysore Matthan.


The late K. C. Mammen Mappillai.

We were particularly close to this family as they lived in Kottayam. We always visited them when we went to stay with my other grandfather, the late K. C. Mammen Mappillai.

As the eldest of the late Dr. Kurian George family, Padmini, is no more, Lalitha, who was widowed, is the eldest in that family. Lalitha was married to Raju and lives in Chennai.

Lalitha has given details of her family which I thought several of you would like to know. You can also find the details of the entire family (as supplied to date) on the web page devoted to her grandfather, the late Maliyakal Kurian George

Lalitha has four children, Ajit, Binu, Achu (Sneha) and Ammu (Prem).

Ajit is married to Dina, lives in Chennai, and they have 2 sons, Anish and Ajay. Anish is a Mechanical Engineer and worked with Nokia for 10 months. He is off to the US to do his Masters at Michigan Ann Arbour. Ajay is doing his 4h year in Mechanical Engineering.

Binu is married to Jibby and have been in Singapore for the last 23 years. They have one daughter who is doing her 4th year medicine in Singapore.

Achu is married to Allen amd they live in Bangalore. They have 2 sons, Ameet (Class 9) and Aashish (Class 6).

Ammu is married to Titus, and they too live in Bangalore. They have 2 sons, Rahul (Class 10) and Nitin (Class 8).

Lalitha has retired after her role as Head Mistress of the famous Sishya school in Chennai.

Many thanks to both Lalitha and Sarasu for all the details provided.

Maliyakal Stories Blog

I had a chain email from one of my second cousins, Sarasu.

Sarasu is Olivet Babychayan's daughter and lives in the US.

Olivet Babychayan is Mathen George, third son of Maliyakal Kurian George, one of the younger brothers of my grandfather, Mysore Matthan. He got the name Olivet as he used to run a company called Olivet Textiles and Olivet Handloom Products in Trivandrum.

Sarasu is the eldest daughter of Babychayan and is an IT Trainer. Her husband, Bijoy Isaac, works for the Government of Columbia in Washington DC and is Chief of Design and Engineering. Sarasu and Bijoy have two girls - Tameen and Zareen.

At the bottom of the email I noted a blog link.

Sarasu and Bijoy.

Sarasu has started blogging and her blog is called Maliyakal Stories.

She has only made one entry so far, but I am sure more will come.

I am adding a regular link to her blog in my "Blogs & Web Pages of Relatives / Friends" list.

Please do check it out, put a small comment against the entry and encourage Sarasu to keep blogging as she has many readers like me out in the wide open spaces.