It is on a day like today....

Annikki and I have been back in Finland for the last 24 years. We have relatives and friends, and our lives are full of work, friendship and family. (Joanna and family have gone to a friend's summer cottage to celebrate the Midsummer, so we do not have our grandkids around us at this time.)

Yet, as I sat down at this computer wondering what to write, a feeling of loneliness, not mine, but of those in Oulu who have no relatives or friends, crept upon me. I thought about Subramaniam Paneer, the brave young man who was handling the bodies after the tsunami in Tamilnadu and what he told me about how a CHAFF meeting on a Sunday afternnon was an event he greatly looked forward to as it changed a long lonely sit in his room into a wonderful day to meet up with friendly people.

My mind flashed back to the wonderful people who have graced our CHAFF meetings over the years - a Nobel Prize recipient, a visiting US professor, many conference delegates, CEOs of several international companies, and many many simple ordinary folk looking for companionship and a place to talk to someone else on a cold and wet holiday.

It brought my mind back to my days as a Rotarian in the wonderful Madras South Rotary Club where just an hours meeting on a Friday evening meant so much in the life of several tens of us.

There was a call for cricket yesterday by the Indians of Oulu who have settled in so wonderfully in our city. They prayed to the Rain Gods to move the dark clouds on Friday afternoon. They transformed the quiet Ahmatie field into a hub of sporting activity while all the Finns headed out to their summer cottages to have a midsummer ball. They town was empty, but the Indians played and laughed and had fun.

As I sit and watch the rain on this Midsummer Saturday morning, I can hear all those Indians chanting their prayers that this Saturday afternoon the rain clouds will simply disappear and their cricket can continue again, making their fellowship with one another an important aspect of their mental survival!

I have not heard lately how other ethnic communities are celebrating this day, and that I would love to know.

As Annikki's mother, Hilja, is back at home, our heavy work schedule will start as soon as she wakes. I will forget all the lonely people in Oulu for a moment. But that forgetfulness, I assure you, is only for a moment, as my heart goes out to all of you, so far from home and loved ones, that I do wish that the new CHAFF would somehow get back on track to fill that void in the lives of strangers to this city of Oulu.

Talking of Hilja, we have a new chair for her.



She used to have two chairs, a regular wheelchair for transport outside the home and a special chair for her mobility at home (shown above). However, this second chair had very limited functions, especially that there was no reclining position which is important when she wants to rest, not necessarily in bed.



The new chair which we received combines these two chairs - the wheel chair and the standard chair, but it has several more functions such as support for the calves, a reclining position, a good head support, and better mobility in the home.

At present we have all three chairs while Hilja (and Annikki) get used to using the new chair.

In the meantime, Happy Midsummer's day to all of you.

A new sport in Oulu, Gilli Dandu Cricket....

If one was walking around Oulu and looked in the direction of the Väliväinö Green, a delightful small park area adjoining India House in this quiet and peaceful suburb, the last few weeks strange things have been happening there.



The local residents watch with awe as grown men, Indians,



a faithful Finnish convert and



a well trained Finnish dog, (to do the fielding), make efforts to introduce a new sport to the region.




Looking at the handmade objects stuck into the ground, it reminded me of my days of playing gilli dandu in Bangalore in the mid fifties.



The large misshapen object being whipped around to hit a fast moving projectile had some resemblance to something they call a cricket bat.



And the ballerina like poses that the person throwing the ball at this misshapen broad blade stick reminded one of a Swan Lake performance in Covent Garden, London.

A new sport culture is coming to Oulu - and we must thank the Indian Software Engineers for bringing it to us.

Witnessing a Sun Halo

How many of you know what a Sun or Moon Halo is? I certainly did not, but Annikki did.

In The New Collin's Concise Dictionary (1987) it is described as a circle of light around the sun or moon, caused by refraction of light by particles of ice.

I had been reading Samu's Fun Facts book in the car last week. I read that a rainbow is actually round, but we only see half of it above the horizon, and the curvature continues below it.

Today was a truly beautiful summer's day and Annikki was pottering around in the garden, watering the flowers. When she looked into the fish pond, she was surprised to see a rainbow. And she was seeing a full circle rainbow reflection!

She looked into the bright sky, but the blinding sunlight meant she saw nothing. She went to different spots in the garden till she finally saw this enormous rainbow ring, the HALO, around the sun.

She came in, told me, picked up the camera, to try to she if she could photograph it. I joined her and also tried my luck at getting this phenomena recorded.

Top of the Sun Halo.

A rare photo of the bottom of a Sun Halo, the upturned rainbow!

The top right of the Sun Halo.

Without a wide angle lens or proper filters, the above three are the best we could do. Annikki rang the local newspaper and informed them, so tomorrow we may see a better photo on line. I also informed Tony, who was out in the garden, but had not looked up into the sky. He too was excited at seeing this unusual phenomena!

Facebook experiment continues

Although I am not blogging as regularly as before, I am around on the internet. I am still experimenting with Facebook.

I have two pages of photographs associated with my Facebook page at the moment. The first is called "History of JM" where I am putting up photographs of me from my childhood days till today. As I discover new photos from my past in my collection, I scan them and put them up in the annual order I think they were taken. Not much interest to others, but a sort of interesting work for me.

The second page is my experiment with photojournalism of today, where I am recording the days activities in the form of photographs and uploading them on my page called "Jacob's week in pictures". I am trying to make it more interesting as the days go on, but I am not quite a photojournalist as yet.

I am planning to start a new photo page on Facebook. If one wanders around our home, each and every nook and cranny which has the touch of Annikki (not my den which is a mess) is the creative paradise of a great artist. I am trying to photograph all her artistic creations that lie around the house, not as individual items but how she transforms even the simple wasp's nest into a creative artistic form. I am still searching for a name for this page, so if you have a suggestion, please do let me know.

I was planning a page of pictures from my alma mater, Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, but I discovered that one already existed on the alma mater Facebook Group page. I plan to put up the older pictures from my collection on this page rather than start a new page. I do not know whether the younger crowd that populates Facebook will appreciate this history, but it is worth the effort.

There is much to Facebook that I have not yet discovered. Hopefully I will be able to separate the wheat from the CHAFF and create an experience which is rewarding to all age groups that populate Facebook, not just the younger crowd.

Ali Baba's Grotto in Oulu

A friend of mine had tried to call me a few days ago, but my phone was not working.

Aku, Master Rulla Kebab Maker

I enquired his whereabouts from another friend and learnt that Aku was in the process of acquiring a new Pizzeria in Maikkula, a southern suburb of Oulu. It is located on Riihitie.

Samu had his football practice at a school football pitch in the area, so while he was busy, I thought to drop in on my friend.



From the frontage it looks like a very ordinary small pizzeria like one would find in almost every suburb of Oulu. But when I stepped in, I knew that the name was a gross misnomer!

Aku was not in, as Monday is his day off. I was hosted by Serbest, another young man from Iraq. Very courteous and friendly.






As I admired the small room, he pointed to a small archway at the end of the room and asked me to step in and see the larger room inside.






I was surprised to see such a world of treasures adorning a pizzeria . The children's corner was spectacular.

The next time Samu had football practice, we decided to stop and meet Aku. He made us a pizza and offered us a drink, but refused to accept any payment. The pizza was delicious reflecting the many years experience in Goreme, Finland's finest pizzeria, run by two other dear friends, Hasim and Kasim from Turkey.

I told Aku that he needs to rename the pizzeria as Ali Baba’s Grotto!

Shift from Spring to Summer

The days are now long here in Oulu. It is bright all through the 24 hours. The spring air is turning to a feel of summer.


The neighbours are busy at work. The house opposite is putting on a new roof.



Annikki was thrilled to see the early morning water droplets on the rose bush.



The grandchildren, Samuel, Daniel and Maria got back from England. It is wonderful to have them back here. the normal routine has settled with me taking Samu to school in the morning, bringing him home in the afternoon and playing with Daniel for a short while.



Maria spends her time smiling and talking to the world.





The first flowers are also now visible and the growth of the tubers are now at a great rate.




A walk around the Kampitie garden showed that the Cherry tree planted by Annikki last summer had survived the winter as the fresh buds have appeared.




The fish are enjoying the freedom of the larger pond after having wintered in the table top aquarium in the living room. We lost 2 fish over winter and one once they were transferred back to the outdoor pond.

There are now 10 goldfish swimming around the pool - a crow took one!

DNA Finland Oy continues to DEFRAUD customer

On April 6th 2008, over a month ago, I drew your attention in my Oulu Best Buy blog entry Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA to how, for over a month and a half, I was denied internet access by DNA Finland Oy by their pure incompetence and inefficiency.

Now it is May 18th 2008, and for over another month and a half, my Fixed IP, Full Rate ADSL internet connection has been running at less that 50%, and usually at below 10% of the Agreed Download rate.

You can view the entire download and upload test results from Speedtest.Net from 31st March 2008 to date 18th May 2008 on this Web page Speedtest.Net Results for IP Address 213.139.166.91

(Click on image to see the latest updated results.)


Even while I was discussing the problem and the question of refund of the huge telephone bills I had to incur in using my 56 kbps modem to keep my internet connection alive, DNA has been putting punitive costs on me for holding back a few days in paying my bills, while they have not bothered to make the refund which I extracted as a promise for thanks to Tuomas Helander, a DNA Finland Oy Oulu employee.

As DNA Finland Oy continues to defraud me, I want to know how many other of their customers is this company similarly defrauding?

The latest insult was when I went to the DNA Office in Oulu and talked to one young man who refused to give me his name.

First, he told me he could do nothing about this matter. When I was forced to raise my voice, he rang someone and said that someone would attend to my problem in 3 days, something that Leena Jokela had said would be done a week earlier and which Tuomas Helander (the only one in DNA Finland Oy Oulu Office who has made a real effort to help resolve this problem) had taken to trouble to contact the person in ELTEL who was to attend to this defect.

This young man who was totally non-co-operative when I went in with the figures showing my 8000 kpbs download connection was running at 731 kbps. He said that DNA had nothing to do with this as all aspects of online work was the responsibility of ELTEL and I should contact them.

I do not have any contract with ELTEL. My contract is with DNA Finland Oy. This young man could not get it into his thick skull that it is the responsibilty of DNA Finland Oy to get in touch with whomsoever they have entered into a contract with - NOT ME!!!!

This young man was insistent as I was living in an old house the connection was bad. He refused to see the results that on 5th April with Miikka Parikka resetting the connection a blip connection speed of 6233 kbps was seen.

When you have such ignorant and incompetent persons manning the desks in DNA, then you have this type of fraud and rape of customers taking place.

Such lack of dedication to handle a customers real problem for over 3 months seems indicative of every single person that I have talked to in DNA (except Tuomas Helander). It is also the incompetent people who refuse to give their name as they do not want their incompetence to be exposed!

The sooner this irresponsible and incompetent Internet Service Provider is punished for fraud and closed down, the better for Finland.

Never heard of the NOROVIRUS before Wednesday!

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

I have been missing on the Blogosphere and in my Google Groups for a few weeks. It has been because of the sheer workload and also as I have found the Facebook experience quite fascinating. I found many relatives, even quite distant ones, many many friends, Cathedralites, Stephanians, CHAFF and many other groups, including my School House Group, SAVAGE, on Facebook, that I have been familarising myself to all what could be done by me on Facebook.

Although I am achieving quite a lot in creating my corner in Facebook, it is no match for the direct Blog or a Google group - and that is why I am back at blogging!

In my 24+ years in Finland I had never missed a days work or events because of any form of serious illness. I have been ill (including a bout of painful herpes inside the mouth), but it was always possible to get to work and work without having to take time off.

But this last week was different.



While at the funeral of a dear friend, Willie, Michelle's husband, I felt claustrophobic in the Small Chapel, which meant I had to go outside for some fresh air. Annikki and I went back inside to place the wreath from the whole MATTHAN Family on the coffin, but I continued to feel very weak.

Michelle (with Willie) owns the best Chinese / Indian Restaurant in town - the Royal Garden.

Michelle is from Calcutta and is a close friend of our daughter, Joanna, and consequently, a close family friend of ours. Any visitor to Oulu usually gets a treat at one of her restaurants. So Michelle is known by our family and friends around the world. (Cousins Chacko and Ammu, niece Nirupa, niece Preminda with husband Chris and Malayika, Cathedralites Sunil (and Kamal) Sahni, Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah) Viney Sethi, Stephanians Ajay Verma, Prof. Ajeet Mathur, are just a few who have enjoyed the hospitality of Michelle and Willie.)

I suggested to Annikki that we go home and rest before attending the farewell reception for Willie at the Royal Garden Restaurant.

After getting home and resting for about half an hour I was violently ill and unable to lift my head. I did not know what had hit me. Annikki treated me all the best remedies that she has up her sleeve, Silica to line the stomach, magnesium tablets, and one pain-killer. I managed to retain a bit of everything to help me sleep off the next four to six hours, but the vomiting and diarrhoea did not abate. It was absolutely miserable.

Next morning Annikki read in the local newspaper about something known as the NOROVIRUS and the symptoms were exactly what I had been through.

A quick Google Search yielded all the important data and I was sure that absolute fasting with only liquids was the right answer.

By evening I was able to consume some of Annikki's great Fish Soup and it stayed in.

By the next morning the main symptoms had vanished, but at 5 am the Norovirus hit Annikki.



Despite her agony she took quick action to ensure that her mother, Hilja, who was supposed to be brought home that afternoon, was looked after while Annikki recovered from this virus. According to Jonana, who sent us a text message from Newcastle, it can be fatal for the elderly.

I had a good friend from Tampere, a town 500 km south of Oulu, coming to visit me on Friday evening / Saturday morning.



I did not want to disappoint Nadir or miss meeting him as his visits to Oulu are only once every two years. Rather than ask him to cancel, I booked Nadir in at a hotel across from the Railway Station, as the Norovirus is extremely contagious. I was clean but the house would have been disturbingly filled the virus.

We spent a few wonderful hours together and he was on his way on Saturday afternoon.

I would like to know which of my efforts you appreciate more - my blogs, my Facebook entries, my direct posts to you - or maybe I should just SHUT UP....

(OK Ubi, I know what you will say, but believe me you are not too old for Facebook. However, although it seems easy, it is quite complicated to work out all the ins and outs and it is not intuitive as it should be.)

May 3rd 2008 - Oulu's Hyde Park Style Corner

Many of you may remember my last year's blog postings:

Freedom of Speech - Whose?
Oulu’s Hyde Park Corner

The same event appeared on the calendar this year.

I prepared better for the event. Last year, Annikki was shouting at me from the living room window as I took off on my scooter, armed with one of her wobbly creations to act as my soap box. This year she insisted I have a proper stand and equipped me with two packing pallets which she knew would carry my weight!

Annikki and her sister, Anneli, who was here from south Finland, were present at the event. These photographs were taken by Annikki.

Kaleva conveniently did not carry a picture of me although I spoke non-stop for over an hour on 25 or more issues. They gave pictorial space to those who spoke for a minute or two, some of them on totally inconsequential topics which do not need a Freedom of Speech Day to be aired!






I announced from the main stage that I was having my own soap box to speak from (in English), so I was able to draw my own audience. Also each of the speakers on the prepared stage held forth only for a couple of minutes, a few drunks also stopping to shout "Viva Finland".

My rant however went on for over an hour as I tackled major subjects about Oulu - Police, Judiciary, Media, Bureaucrats, and a whole host of subjects including corruption, racism, suicides, lack of democracy values and oppression of foreigners and the less fortunate in Finnish Society.

One lady, who obviously worked in the Oulu University Central Hospital, took objection to my criticising the emergency section where patients are made to wait for as long as 8 to 10 hours to get attention. Although she disagreed with me she then ran off saying that I did not understand how many things they had to do in the hospital.

Another young man chose to disagree with me about the corruption in the Finnish Police. Only when I showed him a report which I had from the local newspaper that he chose to concede the point.

That made my point that the people of Finland live and breathe only what their media chooses to tell them.

I told the story of when we felt the earthquake in Oulu in 1984, the media chose to tell the public that it was Swedish jets breaking the sound barrier many hundreds of kilometres away which was causing earth tremors!

One Finn thought that I was being too aggressive - but when I told him that 10 years of sweet talking had not moved the matter an inch, he agreed that some things may require an aggressive attitude to get attention.

The Kaleva, in today's newspaper, covered the fact that I had a separate platform to take up my issues. However, they made a comment which was quite out of place: They said the Finns speak when they have something to say, but foreigners speak because they enjoy speaking. They are totally wrong, as I abhor speaking about issues and only do so when there is no other alternative!

I was especially pleased that so many O-Indians and Findians came out to take part in this event and cheer me on. I was also actively supported by Annikki as she was there to give her point of view on many issues.

What disappointed me was that not a single person from CHAFF was present at the Freedom of Speech Day!

CHAFF may be changing direction with the younger crowd. But if CHAFF Participants choose to bury their heads in the sand with regard to important social issues that affect all levels of people in the City of Oulu, then that change in direction of CHAFF is, in my mind, not a welcome one.

This is not the first time that this has happened. When CHAFF Participant Benjamin Hayes gave a absolutely great talk about the Asia Pacific region, O-Indians and Findians were present. But not a single CHAFF Participant thought it important to come and hear their fellow participant.

With the end of face-to-face weekly meetings, and the lack of enthusiasm to cheer on fellow activists, the meaning of CHAFF today is something I do not quite understand!

Annikki, her sister and I had a really great Kerala meal, including the wonderful fish curry with Nisha and Sunil as we visited them to see Sunil's mother, Sarala, who is visiting Oulu. What was amazing was that little Hannah carried out a non-stop conversation with Annikki and her sister IN FINNISH - and perfectly good Finnish.

After that we went to the Nallikari Beach to enjoy a beautiful sunset while Annikki went about her life-long task of moving the beautiful stones from the beach to our residence. :-)





We will continue to enjoy a glorious summer, but watch out for a few cold days in between.

Has Oulu International School started teaching Rubber Technology?

When I was studying Polymer Science and Technology in the London School of Rubber Technology, England in the early 60s, my lecturer in Rubber Technology used to say that formulating a rubber mix was much like cooking.

A pinch of this and a pinch of that.

When a rubber tyre is being made, it consists of several components, the carcass and the tread being the visible outer ones. The tread is the thick rubber around the tyre which carries the moulded pattern which defines the type of tyre it is - for wet use, for snow, for ice, for racing, etc.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this yesterday on the Introduction TV Screen when I went to pick up Samu from the Oulu International School (OIS).



It appears that the OIS CHEF is teaching the kids to cook the formulation to produce treads in the Happy Chef's Club! Rubber is a messy profession, quite unlike plastics, but I guess one can make a living out of it!

Well done OIS! :-)

But the signs (there are two of them I have seen) in Oulu which really give me a thrill are the ones at the International SAS Radisson Hotel -

A Quest for the Guest?

Please do send me pictures of signs which are fun.

I Wish You a Sandpiper

Posted on all my major blogs.

I received this in an email from Joan & Kevin Dean.

Thank you for sending this to me as I am blogging it exactly for the reasons outlined in this story.

I Wish You a Sandpiper


The . Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

The Sandpiper by Robert Peterson

She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live. I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sand castle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea. "Hello," she said.

I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. "I'm building," she said. "I see that. What is it?" I asked, not really caring. "Oh, I don't know, I just like the feel of sand." That sounds good, I thought, and slipped off my shoes. A sandpiper glided by. "That's a joy," the child said. "It's a what?" "It's a joy. My mama says sandpipers come to bring us joy." The bird went gliding down the beach. Good-bye joy, I muttered to myself, hello pain, and turned to walk on. I was depressed, my life seemed completely out of balance. "What's your name?" She wouldn't give up.

"Robert," I answered. "I'm Robert Peterson." "Mine's Wendy... I'm six." "Hi, Wendy." She giggled. "You're funny," she said. In spite of my gloom, I laughed too and walked on. Her musical giggle followed me. "Come again, Mr. P," she called. "We'll have another happy day." The next few days consisted of a group of unruly Boy Scouts, PTA meetings, and an ailing mother. The sun was shining one morning as I took my hands out of the dishwater. I need a sandpiper, I said to myself, gathering up my coat.

The ever-changing balm of the seashore awaited me. The breeze was chilly but I strode along, trying to recapture the serenity I needed. "Hello, Mr. P," she said. "Do you want to play?" "What did you have in mind?" I asked, with a twinge of annoyance. "I don't know. You say." "How about charades?" I asked sarcastically. The tinkling laughter burst forth again. "I don't know what that is." "Then let's just walk." Looking at her, I noticed the delicate fairness of her face. "Where do you live?" I asked. "Over there." She pointed toward a row of summer cottages. Strange, I thought, in winter. "Where do you go to school?" "I don't go to school. Mommy says we're on vacation."

She chattered little girl talk as we strolled up the beach, but my mind was on other things. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed. Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on the porch and felt like demanding she keep her child at home. "Look, if you don't mind," I said crossly when Wendy caught up with me, "I'd rather be alone today." She seemed unusually pale and out of breath. "Why?" she asked. I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" and thought, My God, why was I saying this to a little child? "Oh," she said quietly, "then this is a bad day." "Yes," I said, "and yesterday and the day before and -- oh, go away!" "Did it hurt?" she inquired. "Did what hurt?" I was exasperated with her, with myself. "When she died?" "Of course it hurt!" I snapped, misunderstanding, wrapped up in myself. I strode off.

A month or so after that, when I next went to the beach, she wasn't there. Feeling guilty, ashamed, and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage after my walk and knocked at the door. A drawn looking young woman with honey-colored hair opened the door. "Hello," I said, "I'm Robert Peterson. I missed your little girl today and wondered where she was." "Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in. Wendy spoke of you so much. I'm afraid I allowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance, please, accept my apologies." "Not at all -- she's a delightful child." I said, suddenly realizing that I meant what I had just said. "Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. She had leukemia. Maybe she didn't tell you." Struck dumb, I groped for a chair. I had to catch my breath.

"She loved this beach, so when she asked to come, we couldn't say no. She seemed so much better here and had a lot of what she called happy days. But! the last few weeks, she declined rapidly..." Her voice faltered, "She left something for you, if only I can find it. Could you wait a moment while I look?" I nodded stupidly, my mind racing for some thing to say to this lovely young woman. She handed me a smeared envelope with "MR. P" printed in bold childish letters. Inside was a drawing in bright crayon hues -- a yellow beach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneath was carefully printed: !A SANDPIPER TO BRING YOU JOY.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and a heart that had almost forgotten to love opened wide. I took Wendy's mother in my arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I uttered over and over, and we wept together. The precious little picture is framed now and hangs in my study. Six words -- one for each year of her life -- that speak to me of harmony, courage, and undemanding love. A gift from a child with sea blue eyes and hair the color of sand -- who taught me the gift of love.

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NOTE: This is a true story sent out by Robert Peterson. It happened over 20 years ago and the incident changed his life forever. It serves as a reminder to all of us that we need to take time to enjoy living and life and each other. The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. Life is so complicated, the hustle and bustle of everyday traumas can make us lose focus about what is truly important or what is only a momentary setback or crisis. This week, be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug, and by all means, take a moment... even if it is only ten seconds, to stop and smell the roses. This comes from someone's heart, an d is read with many and now I share it with you... May God Bless everyone who receives this! There are NO coincidences! Everything that happens to us happens for a reason. Never brush aside anyone as insignificant. Who knows what they can teach us?

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SANDPIPERS Scolopacidae

Sandpipers are a highly diverse family which include the ground-dwelling snipes and woodcocks to the highly pelagic Red Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius. Biochemically they seem to have arisen from a single ancestor but underwent an explosive evolution in the early Tertiary after a great wave of extinctions in the late Cretaceous period (Piersma 1996). Today, the wide variety of sandpipers, and the close relationships of many, present numerous identification challenges. The identification literature alone is impressive. Further, the beautiful patterns and colors on juvenal-plumaged birds are among the most striking in the world, while the striking breeding plumage feathers serve to camouflage adults on their breeding grounds on the arctic tundra. Many of these arctic breeders spend the non-breeding period well south of the Equator, brightening the lives of birders in the austral summer (our winter).

Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA

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

It is rarely that I post a Worst Buy Report but this is one which certainly deserves mention.

In November 2007 I informed DNA, my phone and Internet Service Provider (ISP) that there was something seriously wrong with my fixed phone line as it appeared that someone else was using it. There would be a regular tinkle many times a day, as if someone was putting the phone down.

DNA did not even register this complaint. This problem continued till, finally, on the 21st of February 2008, my fixed IP (full rate) internet connection stopped working.

I immediately contacted the Help Desk (0600 39 6900) and spoke with one of the Operators on duty. He tried to fix the connection but failed.

I was asked to take the Cisco ADSL Modem provided by Oulu Telephone Company (Oulun Puhelin OY) and have it tested at the DNA Shop on Torikatu.

They tested it and gave me a replacement, a Siemens Speedstream 4100.

I hooked this up and found the same problems persisted in that I could see I was online but was unable to reach the internet.

On Monday 25th 2008 I spoke with a Help Desk Pperator, Mr. Miikka Parikka. He went through various procedures with me and finally decided that he would have to tell the Service Engineers to take a look at the line as he was unable to resolve the issue.

Despite my protestations that from 2001 onwards I had been using the DHCP protocol to connect to the internet, Mr. Parikka insisted that I use the PPPoE. No doubt we always arrived at the same result as we had over the previous 7 years, “PPPoE Server not found”.

All the time since 2001 I have been using DHCP as I have had a fixed IP number. I reported that what was happening was that when I used the DHCP protocol I was being assigned a dynamic IP, and even with that the internet connection was not working.

I spoke to Help Desk Operators every single day that week, each time a different one, and each time they said they would call back.

Not one of them ever bothered to call back.

Then came the first shock when I spoke the Help Desk to a operator named Ms. Leena Nissonen on 3rd March 2008. She revealed to me that no work request had even been sent to the Service Department by any of the operators that I had talked to during the previous 10 days. This included Miikka Parikka, Jarkko Koivunen, Petri Savonen, Petri Salonen, Jari Anttila, Tuominen, Tony Munto and Jari Tuovinen.


This showed the callaous and irresponsible behaviour among those who man the Help Desk at DNA.

Leena Nissonen gave me a different phone number to contact, 0800 500 5000, which was the direct line to the Service Department to verify that they were doing the job.

I dialed the next day to find out what was happening. The lady operator who took the call said the work order had just been received and they were designating THEIR service engineer to look at the line.

I asked for this lady’s name, but she refused to give it to me.

For the next week I rang this number daily and they said that THEIR service engineer was on the job and they would call me back.

They never did call back - not even once.

Finally, on Monday 10th March 2008 I received a call from a service engineer I knew. He had handled a similar incident in 2003.

“Eric” told me he had been testing the line and he had found several major errors. After a few hours he rang me to tell me that he had found numerous problems with the line and he had corrected them. He suggested that I should try the connection when I got back to my computer.

When I tried the computer, however, I found that exactly the same problems continued. There had been no improvement.

So it was back to the Help Desk and several attempts to get the computer connected to the internet.

In the process I was referred to the Customer Service Section at the phone number 0800 300 400 where my original my user id and the password were changed as they thought that could have been the problem.

Even with this there was still no internet!

Again it was referred to the Service Group.

On Thursday 20th March, I spoke with a lady who said she would handle the matter before the Easter weekend and call me back. When nothing happened all day, I called again and spoke with the same lady who said she was on the job and she would call me back!

No call materialized, so again the entire Easter weekend I was without the internet connection.


On the Tuesday, when they were back at work after the long Easter recess, I got to the Service Group again. The guy who answered got a bit of an earful from me, especially as he refused to give his name. I really let fly accusing the Service Department of hiding behind anonymity because they were just an inefficient bunch of guys who did no work to solve anyone problems.

That really hit the mark as “Eric” turned up with his computer and tried the internet connection with HIS laptop to find the connection just was not working.

So Eric went back to the switch-box. He located the major problem (in the Gateway) and finally got the internet working, but...

The connection worked only using PPPoE. The IP was not static, which is what I have contracted for. It was a dynamically generated IP. Also the speed of the connection was not what I had contracted for but a measly 400 kbps. on download and about 160 kbps for upload. My contract is for the full rate ADSL connection which I was told is 8 Mbps and 1 Mbps, respectively. I was getting 1 / 5th to 1 / 20th of what I was paying for.

In the month of February I had to revert to my internal modem (56 kbps) and an alternate telephone line which cost me an additional € 55 to keep the internet for just 10 days for my essential work! In March I bought a wireless modem from Elisa at a cost of € 199 and with that and my 56 kbps internal modem I have been able to keep my essential work alive. (I have not yet received the bill for my modem access for the month of March!)

It is interesting that Eric is not an employee of DNA but of ELTEL, which DNA uses to rectify problems online.

In short, the DNA organisation could do nothing for the last one and a half months to rectify any problem as they have no one who is competent to handle this problem and they depend on an outsourced service too fix problems.


There have been letters to the Editor in the local newspaper giving more incidents like mine.

Finally, I got the internet connection working, not as a DHCP connection but only as a PPPoE service and with that I have been unable to use my router with which all my computers could access the internet.

I used several services to check my internet speed and it remained low, but also surprisingly the IP address was not my Fixed IP but a dynamically accessed one.

When I contacted the Help Desk they could give me no answer but asked me to contact Customer Service. When I contacted them I found they had given me the new user ID and password but failed to transfer this to my Fixed IP!

At long last they did that and using PPPoE I was then able to access the internet but only at the slow speed.

It should be noted that EVERY TIME I spoke to the Help Desk I had told them to inform the Billing Section of this problem. I even physically visited the DNA Bills Section and lodged my complaint, whereupon a guy there asked me to make my complaint online, which I had promptly done!

Then on 1st April 2008 (almost a mointh and a half since the problem originated) I got this email from one Ms. Aspa Pohjoinen as follows:

from "aspa.pohjoinen@dnaoy.fi"
to jmatthan@gmail.com
date 1 Apr 2008 16:29
subject internetconnection

Hyvä asiakkaamme.

Ohessa linkki, jolla tähän palautteeseen voi vastata. Älä käytä sähköpostin vastaa-painiketta,
sillä se ei ohjaa vastaustasi perille.

https://palaute.opoy.fi/r?aw=2008-03-14_16X07X37.511201&p=13QP01c

Vastaus palautteeseenne

Thank You for Your feedback. Yesterday You phoned and I repaired Your dynamic ip username.

There have been some troubles at the gate during the time 19.3 to 25.3. Installing man has
repaired it at the 25th of March.

We give You 50% back of Your monthly broadbands fee (24,50€) on Your next fee, which You will get
on April.

Ystävällisin terveisin,

Asiakaspalvelu

DNA Palvelut / Pohjois-Suomi
Arkistokatu 4, PL 30
FIN-90101 OULU
p. 0800 300400

http://www.dnaoy.fi

The fact that my internet connection was DEAD for over a month and a half was most conveniently ignored.


This blog entry is to show you without doubt that the worst Internet Service Provider in Finland must certainly be DNA. They have no competent persons in any department, they hide behind a screen of anonymity and when it comes to servicing the faulty line they do not even have their own service engineers but depend on outsourced persons!

Oulu - India Crazy Love Express?

2008 Crazy Days were here again.

I drove up to Stockman on my scooter on the opening day of the Crazy Days, Wednesday 2nd April, and found four little Indian boys who had been standing at the head of the queue.

They were waiting to get the tokens so that they could buy their cheap Finnair tickets to Delhi / Mumbai, € 395 from Helsinki (€ 465 from Oulu).

I arrived a little after 7 am. I had carried a small bag of biscuits for this tired set of guys who had been standing there from 5 am.

Reason for this show of enthusiasm - though not said, I believe that they were on their way to India to meet up with prospective brides.

Market value must be high as they are in a foreign land!

However, I know that some of these boys are not interested in the monetary aspects of marriage but want to find a suitable partner, preferably an engineer.

Best of luck guys!!!

Wonder why none of the single Indian girls here in Oulu were not en route on this gravy train?

Knowing how it feels to be LOVED!

Yesterday was a strange day. Joanna rang me early morning to tell me that I should take Samu to school as he was going downhill skiing and would I look after Daniel at our home as she had to go to town?

She was over before noon to leave Daniel.

Daniel, Annikki an I did several things including taking Daniel to the City dump to get rid an old TV and to the Tropical Spa to make sure the arrangements for one of our Indian Groups in Oulu were OK for the company party. When I came out of the Spa I found I had a flat tyre. As usual, my good friend, Kamu, in the spirit of CHAFF rushed to help me as I was not carrying my silicone foam repair kit.

Joanna rang me to tell me that she was very tired and would I keep Daniel till we picked up Samuel from the school and then came over so that we could go out for dinner to celebrate my birthday.

I passed by her house at about half past five and I was surprised to see Ildikó and Ilari's car parked in the driveway, but thinking that they were off for a holiday, they may have dropped in to say goodbye, it did not register. When I dropped in at the International Centre (Ville Victor) I was puzzled when Shahnaz said she would see me in the evening! Again, that did not register!

Well, the email I sent out today below explains it all and the composite picture made out of photographs taken by grandson Samu show some of the the people who made it such a great day for me.

Dear Findians, O-Indians, Chaff Participants, 59er Cathedralites, Other Cathedralites, Stephanians and many other friends all around the world,

Yesterday, I was given a great lesson - knowing how it feels to be LOVED.

As I reached the turning point to my senior years, the outpouring of love from all corners of this globe gave me a lesson which made me feel that a new era of my life is opening.

Thank you to all of you, some on the groups, others directly, others by text message, who took the trouble to communicate with me on my 65th birthday.

Ashok, as I took early retirement to help her look after Annikki's mother, I have been enjoying all the benefits and now move from half to full pension. So, I was already enjoying all the free benefits of a social security system I was taxed into the earth for when I was working!

From our daughter's family in England, Susanna, Chris and Asha, Hasnain and Willie in Toronto, Bill Patel in ???, Barbara from Italy, Ellis in New York, Ashok, Percy, Ooky and Rivca, etc., etc, etc., in Mumbai, friends from Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Chennai, Bangalore, Tokyo, London, New York, and of course Oulu, I received personal greetings. (Sorry I am not mentioning all of you as I still have not had the time to go through all the messages.)

It will take me some time to respond personally to all of you, but respond I will.

But the height of my birthday was a surprise party organised by my daughter and her husband in her home in Oulu. Neither Annikki nor I had a clue till we arrived at her home and found a string of cars parked outside. As I walked in, there was a steady stream of friends, a veritable United Nations, Australia, China, Finland, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Peru (in spirit), Turkey, Venezuela, trooping out to greet me.

Ilari gave a profoundly moving speech which had me in tears and Ildikó gave me the gift on behalf all the persons from so many organisations that I felt overwhelmed. I was in shock and was hit even harder by giving me a birthday present that I really love and need - a Canon Digital camera - so that the photographs on my blog and groups will improve! Burcu, Bala and Sameer gave me their own presents. Thank you all.

It was a bring your stuff party so we had some really great grub and the spread was enormous, so much so that Joanna forgot to take out the delicious chicken salad from the fridge!


Top Row: Joanna, Samu, Daniel;
Second Row: Ilari & Tony, Kiran & me, Andy;
Third Row: Shahnaz & Yrjö, Benjamin, Sreekanth, Ani with Maria;
Bottom Row: Elina & Ildiko; Burcu, Bill.
Missing: Annikki, Bala, Pooja, Mani and Anusha, Mathias, Sameer,
Vishu, Esa, Manuel, Osku

My sincere thanks to Joanna and Tony, Ildikó and Ilari, Pooja, Mani and Anusha (who drove down all the way from Raahe (80 km away), Shahnaz and Yrjo, Andy, Ani, Bala, Benjamin, Bill, Burcu, Elina, Esa, Kiran, Manuel, Osku, Sameer, Sreekanth, Vishu, nephew Mathias who just happened to be in Oulu, grandchildren Samuel, Daniel, Maria and above all my dearest of dearest, Annikki for making it such a wonderful birthday.

--
Jacob

Hopefully back on line

(Posted on all my major blogs)

Yesterday, after some 33 days of being without my internet connection, I was put back on line. Several errors were found at the connections outside our premises and also in the Gateway.

The first thing I did after getting back my connection was test my speed. I pay for a 8 M line, but I was shocked to find my upload and download speeds were less than 500 kbps.

Additionally, I have a fixed IP and I found that the IP that I was using was not mine.

Thirdly, all my computers are connected to the internet through a Router. i found that if I went on to connect my router, I lost the internet connection.

Lastly, during the last 7 years I have used DHCP to connect to the internet. I have not used PPPoE. I found that I was unable to connect using DHCP and my own Fixed IP but only through the PPPoE which was assigning me the random IP.

All these problems has made life continue to be difficult as I am using just a single computer to connect to the internet.

I have a backload of about 6 weeks of work. With this situation I will only be able to catch up by the end of April.

I have lodged my complaint with my ISP .- and hopefully I will get some action by the end of this week.

Please bear with me till I get back into full swing.

Silent prayer

Today, I said a Silent Prayer for my mother Ammachi), who would have celebrated her 94th birthday, had she been alive.

Ammachi (Senior Student) when she graduated in 1934 from
Women's Christian College, Madras.

She passed away in 2000, a few months after I spent some quality time with her.

I also said a Prayer for my late aunt who shared the birthday with my mother, Langfordammachi, who suffered tremendously in silence as she cared for my Godfather, Mr. George Matthan, my father's eldest brother, when he was ill with Parkinson's Disease.

Only God gave her the strength to care for him as she did. Each time I went to visit my Godfather, she was there smiling and talking about us but never about herself. But I knew deep down the tremendous battle she was going through.

As we now tend Annikki's mother, I realise how much greater was her pain than I had imagined.

A trying three weeks

When Annikki's mother came home from her interval care in the Old People's Home in mid February, we were a bit worried about her physical strength, as the new home she was sent to did not have correct instructions to try to keep her mobile and ensure her muscles stayed active.

In the morning of last Monday, The third day after she got home, when Annikki took her to toilet, we found that she had no energy to hold herself upright.

Annikki then had a terrible scare as her mother was fainting while Annikkki was feeding her. With great presence of mind, Annikki acted quickly. As I was around, we tilted back her chair to ensure that blood flow to the brain was maintained. We managed, with a great deal of difficulty, to get her back to bed, lifting her heavy body onto the bed.

A little later in the afternoon, while in bed and when Annikki tried to feed her some liquids, she threw up the food she had eaten earlier that day.

Annikki was quick to call the ambulance to admit her mother to the hospital via the emergency wing of the hospital. Intravenous drip was already administered before the ambulance left home.

After an investigation, it was decided to hospitalise her. She was treated with antibiotics till the flu / influenza attacks were brought under control.

She was finally discharged, two weeks after she was admitted. We brought her home.

However, the next morning, it became evident that she was extremely weak and that we, at home, did not have the equipment or skills to look after her in that state.

Luckily it was time for her interval care, so we took her in to the Nursing Home where she is now in the care of nurses.

Hopefully she will recoup her strength so that when she gets home in another week's time, we will be able to continue her care at home.

This is a very difficult time for Annikki as she has cared for her mother on a night and day basis over the last six and a half years. I have helped with all the outside home work, shopping, etc., and also with the heavier work of physically lifting her when required.

Let us hope that she will be well enough to resume her stay in her home that she knows and loves.

Annikki launches her new blog

I have been off blogging because of a problem with my ethernet connection, making me use my 56 kps internal modem rather than my 100 Mps ethernet.

No fault with my Mac.

The fault lies with my Internet Service Provider, and hopefully this will be resolved this week.

I have the proud privilege to announce a new blog by my better half, Annikki.

It is a world's first - The Mobile Snowman / Liikuva Lumiukko.

Her site is devoted to her winter passion, creating objects out of snow and ice. This has led her to a new art form - Snowmen that movee.

Her partner in this venture is our grandson, Samuel (11) who has had the passion to promote the idea and help Annikki develop it.

I had featured a few stills of her idea on this blog. Now it has bloomed into a site of its own, including a video clip which has been posted on YouTube.

The quality of the video taken by me is not ideal. I hope I can improve the quality and produce a movie of this concept.

My thanks to Vishwanath Mallabadi, a professional photographer here in Oulu, who has taken some better videos, which I am using to create a movie.

Congratulations Annikki and Samu. This is a truly unique development in art and play which children and adults all around the world (where they have access tto "snowman snow") will truly enjoy.