Animals...

Yesterday was a glorious summer's day, warm, and just right for a swim.

When Annikki and I looked out of the kitchen window in the afternoon, there were many tens sparrows flitting around the pond.



A few were taking a bath in the shallow overflow portion of the pond.



To our surprise we found numerous sparrows, in turn, having a bath in the sand. They were really enjoying it, rolling on their backs with their legs in the air and then on their tummies, sort of scratching it, to clean it?

This morning, Iitu, our cat was in a very catish mood. As soon as I opened the newspaper, she would jump on it - an attempt to stop me reading.



I tried a couple of times to move her, but she refused to budge.



She would change her position every time I made a new try to get her off the rag.

I gave up, as her Buddha like composure on top of our local daily drove me nuts!

Harish passes on....

Many Matthans will remember Harish Chittiappa from Coorg, not only because he was an Old Cottonian (circa. 1958) but also because he was a loved member of our Kuriyan Matthan family.

Harish worked as my father's right hand and left hand when dad was the Chief Executive Officer of Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE). He enjoyed the total confidence of fellow Bangaloreans, fellow Cottonians, fellow Coorg, TCE Board Member Mr. K. M. Chinappa, as well as dad.

When dad retired because of ill health and then was asked to start up the Bangalore office of TCE, it was Harish who came back to Bangalore to work at his side to make it one of the biggest offices of TCE in India.

When I was running my Consulting Company out of Madras in the 70's, it was Harish who used to be constantly in touch with me pointing me towards potential clients who were too small for TCE to handle or asking me to do the work for TCE in my area of expertise.

Harish was much more than a brother. He would come home whenever I was in Bombay for a chat.

Many a time, he used to turn up with delicious oranges from their estate in Coorg.

I was informed by Aditya Sondhi that Harish passed away on 27th July 2006 in Bangalore.

I have conveyed deepest condolences to the Chittiappa family through fellow Cottonian, Aditya. I have copied them to brother, Puttu (M. N. Chittiappa), but my email address of Puttu is over 5 years old.

May Harish rest in peace.

Relaxing Thursday

The visit of Annikki's sister, Anneli, gave everyone a chance to relax for a few moments.



This sisters collected sand from the Nallikari Beach and



then enjoyed a few moments basking and



chatting and laughing in the sun glow.

We then saw a glorious sunset at 10:30 pm.

Yes, summer is ending as sunset has moved from 12:30 am to 10:30 pm. Soon it will be sunset at 3:00 pm - Brrrr!



Annikki pointed me to these roses blooming on the seashore.

Creative phase continues

After her last success with the Thai Pavilion, Annikki has not stopped her creative phase. The latest is a very simple flower stand.

She took some birch branch cuttings, which we normally feed to the wood burner, and tied them together with rope, put it standing up, and we had two great looking flower stands.





With the right flowers in simple flower pots - this looks absolutely great in the garden! Of course, you can also use these flower stands indoors!



Annikki's sister, Anneli, from South Finland is visiting us in Oulu and the two sisters have been talking non-stop for a couple of days.

Joanna, Tony and family, who are holidaying about an hour and a half from Oulu, drove in yesterday to meet Anneli.



Daniel mets up with friend Iitu.



I took Samu for his football practice, and he was in great form yesterday, scoring 7 of the nine goals. He still has to practice, but each time I watch him I feel he is improving by leaps and bounds.

And while I slept...

When I woke at my usual time of 4 am this morning, standing in the middle of the Kampitie Garden was a Thai Pagoda! I do not know the equivalent of the name Aladdin in Thai, so, I will say "Unnop"!



During last week, I constructed a rough trellis structure after Annikki dug deep to put in the foundations. In the process she found her father's building rubbish grave of 52 years ago as well as the chicken bones from their building time lunch hours! We have a collection of 50 year old bent nails!





On Saturday evening, when Joanna and family came and she cooked us a scrumptious dinner (creamed garlic flavoured roast potatos, roast chicken - 3 types, and a tomato cucumber salad - Pailin and Unnop contributed by sending us their fabulous Thai Glass Noodle spicy vegetarian salad), the structure was just about standing.



I completed it on Sunday evening. Then Annikki and I had painted it a nice forest green by Sunday night. The structure had taken a character of of its own.

Yesterday Annikki and I scoured the shops for a suitable roofing material. After much thought we settled on a willow fence which we put up yeaterday evening.

Late yesterday evening, I gave Unnop a large sheet of pine wood ply and an electric pendulum-lift keyhole saw yesterday evening.

Annikki was busy getting the garden tidy when I went to bed last night at about midnight.

At about half past one, when I usually go down for a glass of water, I looked out of the kitchen window and noticed some activity in the garden. As I was in my dazed sleepy state, I did not make any move to find out what was going on!



At 4 am, when I got up, Annikki had still not come to bed. So I dressed and went into the garden to see her covered with paint and the most beautiful structure standing in the garden around Annikki's famed bathtub pond, which has become the breeding place for our goldfish. We now have about 30 goldfish fry in the tub hiding under the lotus flowers and leaves!



Not only had Unnop, Pailin and Soda come and put up the finishing touches which converted the trellis into Thai Pagoda, Annikki had painted it and furnished the inside with her African Wind Chime, metal cow bells, as well as flowers and hanging plants in coconut shells.

We now have the centre-piece of the Kampitie Garden in all its glory.





I am surrounded by creative artists - Annikki, Joanna, Pailin, Unnop - all true geniuses in their own right.

I thank my Maker every day for blessing me with so much love, affection and talent (that I lack), and for making my life so complete!

Indian Government starts blocking blogs!

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

Freedom, democracy and freedom of speech have been thrown to the winds by the irrational action of the Government of India when they told Indian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to various blogs. This can only be done by blocking access to the entire blog service provider and my blogs are, therefore, not accessible by my readers in India.

I also learnt that most, if not all, Indian ISPs have followed the directive.

Economic Times, India Tuesday July 19th 2006:

DoT casts a cloud on bloggers' paradise

Cathedralite 56er HS Uberoi, one of my faithful readers of my "Seventh Heaven" blog alerted me to this when he emailed me with this:'

Dear Jacob,

I don't know whether you are aware that effective today the Government of India has blocked access to ALL blogsites.

I cannot believe that even your nostalgic Cathedral School and St.Stephen's College sites cannot be accessed by us in India!!

I am at a total loss for words!!

Yours in shock.

Ubi

If you have friends in India who want to continue to access my blogs, even occasionally, please email them and ask them to contact me by email and I will give then the surefire way to continue access.

No Government can stop the internet - as there are many many ways round any censorship, many not known to the stupid politicians who think they are being clever by imposing such foolish bans!!

I will not publish all the methods here for reasons which are obvious.

Strange leaf colour? Saturday puzzle?

As Annikki and I walked around the Kampitie garden yesterday evening, truly enjoying it in all its glory, Annikki pointed to some leaves which had a strange colouration.



She said that she had not seen this earlier. It was now visible on different plants leaves.

Any of you have a clue for this strange purplish coluring?

Annikki thought it was possibly due to the high UV in the sunshine at these latitudes which is also the reason for a high incidence of skin cancer here!











The flowers are still continuing to bloom and the garden is most colourful although we are fast approaching the end of summer and moving into the autumn in about a month's time. The temperatures have been sizzling but rain is expected tonight and possibly ground frost tomorrow morning!

Suomen Cup 2006?

Cup for what?

Ice Hockey, Salibandy, or one of the many traditional sports of Finland, as the mad mad Swamp football, or who lasts longest in the hottest of hot saunas?

Today, I travelled about 10 km north of Oulu to see the Suomen (Finnish) Cup 2006 for Rugby.



It was a truly glorious day for an outdoor sport. A virtually cloudless sky and a gentle breeze which made the summer temperature of 30 C seem quite comfortable.





The Oulu team were practicing till the very last moment!



The event was organised by an Oulu Team member, Mikko Koljonen, who was unable to play because of an injured shoulder.

There were not many teams - Oulu, Helsinki and the Barbarians, composed of some Finnish Intertnationals from Helsinki Warriors, and a few others.

The event started at exactly 12 noon with the Oulu side playing against Helsinki.

The Oulu side literally walked all over the Helsinki side winning with a comfortable score of 24 points to 5.



After a break. Oulu played against the Barbarians.

Despite the Internationals in the Barbarian side, Oulu were comfortable winners with a score of 26 points to 12.



The coach of the Oulu side, Roger Holden, was happy with the performance oif the Oulu team.

One Oulu player, who has suffered a dislocated shoulder in an earlier event, still wanted to play in ther Suomen Cup. It did not do him much good. The shoulder was badly affected yet again.

The play-off between Helsinki and the Barbarian side was only a formality.

The games were 10-a-side.

It was decided to have a 15-a-side game to end the day, with a mix of the teams.

The organisers made a very informative leaflet about the whole sport of Rugby and its entry into Finland. They hope to bring it out earlier in coming years and distribute it at more places so as to generate an interest in a sport, which the Finns consider to be less dangerous than even football.

Certainly, Rugby is a great sport, and unlike football, has many aspects to it which are truly interesting. To a newcomer, the decisions of the referee and the signals he makes may look quite strange.

For instance, a team is only allowed to pass the Rugby oval ball "backwards"!



Referee for this game was a former Rugby player from Oulu, Erasmus van Niekerk (I hope I got his name correct), who hails from South Africa. He was fair and correct. Not a single decision was queried by any players on the ground!



Oulu Coach Rogen and Referee Erasmus shared a word after the second victory of the afternoon of the Oulu team.

A great afternoon. I must thank my friends of the Oulu Rugby side for inviting me to attend. I certainly hope many more in Oulu take up this exciting sport. They will certainly enjoy the excellent spirit of the Oulu team members.

Well done Oulu!

Saturday Puzzle - Logic needed

Last week's puzzle would normally be described as a Paradox.

But it really is NOT one.

No one came up with the right answer!

I am sure that Hashim will insist that as he was not here but in Turkey, that was why he could not answer the puzzle! Shalu in Chennai must have been on holiday! Susanna in Billinghay was probably enjoying her Sabbath week from puzzles! Dr. Gonzales was probaly mourning the loss of Brazil in the World Cup to worry about temperatures. Our 9 year old grandson, Samuel, has been away at a summer camp, far away from any computer - so I am sure he has a valid excuse!

Knowing him, I am reasonably sure he would probably have solved it. :-)

The way of answering this question is to convert 0 Celsius (C) to Fahrenheit (F).

This means the 0 C temperature is 32 F.

If it is twice as cold the next day, then it would be 16 F which converted would be -8.9 C!

So we can see that

0 x 2 = -8.9

No paradox here.

This week's puzzle will really test your logic skills.

You enter a room in which there are three light switches. These are connected individually to 3 light bulbs in the next room. You are unable to see into the second room from the first.

You can turn on and off the switches in the first room as many times you want.

How can you find out which switch belongs to which bulb, if you may enter the room with the bulbs ONLY ONCE?

Have a great week.

5500 kilometres to Oulu

(Cross-posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog.)



We have a new colourful poppy in the Kampitie garden.



Aiti is back home at Kampitie and yesterday was enjoying wearing her floral summer sun hat.

As the crow flies, Tuusula is probably less than 600 km from Oulu. However, our dear friends, Gopa [our foster daghter and daughter of my dear friend, Cathedralite 54er Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah from Pune)] and hubby, Timo, took the long way round. They had travelled to Switzerland, where Timo attended a course on modern print technologies for newspapers.

They took their new acquisition, a Renault, for a spin, camping along the way. They returned via Germany, Denmark, crossing from Copenhagen to Malmo in Sweden and then drove over the top of the Gulf of Bothnia to reach Oulu at around 20:30 last night.

A total journey of close to 5500 kilometres from Tuusula to Oulu!

Pailin and Unnop had made a special Thai meal of spicy rice noodle salad, chicken red curry and vegetarian green curry (all without fish sauce as Joanna is allergic to fish) for them.



Joanna and Tony, accompanied by Daniel, joined us for dinner. Samuel is away at a summer camp - and Joanna is missing our little rascal, but probably not more than me as I miss our turbulent discussions as the World Cup football has reached the final stage.



The salad was a little too spiced for Timo, but he and Gopa, tired after their long journey, had a good meal and then enjoyed a relaxing sauna in the cellar while Joanna and I watched the French beat the Portuguese in the semi-final.

(We watched the first half together. Joanna and Daniel returned home to weatch the second half. Tony left earlier as he wanted to go for a jog.)







Gopa and Timo were up early and left for Timo's home town, about an hour and a half from Oulu, as they go there to settle things in the house as Timo's mother has now been moved to a Care Centre for the elderly where she can be looked after because of her failing sight and hearing.

It was great seeing Gopa and Timo after such a long time and having them stay a night, as usually they push off after a cup of coffee!

Kampitie - Lotus theme

Over the years Annikki has been developing the "Lotus Theme" for the Kampitie Garden. Now it is almost reaching its fullest realisation.

She started by creating the lotus motif stone paving in the garden. (Do notice her latest creation - a sand pit with a stone border inside a sand pit!)



This year she has fresh lotuses blooming in her drum tank.



The main pond is filled with lotus flowers and leaves.



And the bath tub is blooming with artificial lotuses!



Yes, I think Annikki has reached her zenith in making Kampitie the "Lotus Garden" of Oulu!

Why I root for France

The family and friends have been sharply divided.

Annikki detests all team sports per se. Susanna and family live in a Footie-Free Zone. Tony lives in an active sport free zone. Computer games is his speciality. Joanna supported Brazil and has now switched lotalty to Portugal. She was a Ronaldino supporter and is now a Ronaldo (Portugal) supporter!

Samuel does not quite know whom he supports as he has great interest in almost all the good footballers.

Kerstin, the young German lady who lives on the top floor of Joanna's house, is naturally standing behind the German team!

But me?

From Day 1 I have been rooting for France.

Is it because of the mastery of Zidanne or the strategic play of Henry?

Actually not, although most French players have great standing in my book.

I root for France as there is only one player of Indian origin playing in this World Cup and he plays for France.



Vikash Dhorasoo originates from a Telungu family but is of Indo-Maritius origin. He was born in France and has been a top player in French football for several years. he is not young as he is already 33 years.

France beat Brazil in the quarter finals, but Dhorasoo did not get a chance to play. He will have to wait till Zidanne goes off the field to get his chance. He did play in a couple of matches, coming in as a replcement, and he played extremely well.

Way to go - let us hope one person of Indian origin gets a World Cup medal - preferably GOLD!

Jack-Ass? Who is he?

Following my last blog entry about Jack-ie Chan, I was told that many youngsters are watching a TV programme of stunts called "Jackass".

How many of these youngsters know the meanings of the word "Jackass"?

There are two meanings

1. A male donkey
2. A fool

I wonder who is "the fool" they mean when they make the programme?

For sure it is the audience, who try to laugh at the stupid antics. The biggest of these fools are the ones that try to copy or do more stupid antics that the ones shown.

Way back in 2004, as can be seen from this report from BBC, Boy burnt in TV-inspired prank, a young 15 year old boy tried to duplicate one of the stunts he saw on the programme. Joe, from Darwen, was treated at Booth Hall Children's Hospital and is scarred for life.

The programme makers try to hide behind the excuse that the programme is shown well after the TV watching hours of children and that they display a warning before the start of each programme.

When you have "JACKASSES" watching these programmes, immaterial of their age group, then neither of these excuses hold good.

It is my opinion that the stunt attempted by my young friend in Oulu, just 15 a couple of days ago, was not only a Jackie Chan copy but also inspired by some stupidity that he saw in the "Jackass" programme.

He was a stupid Jackass. I sincerely hope he has learnt his lesson!

Jackie Chan? Who is he?

I was really disturbed the other day when I heard that a young friend had had an accident when attempting to do some trick riding on a bicycle in a dangerous location.

I was at his side at the emergency wing of our local hospital.

This incident wasted over a dozen hours of my valuable time as well as many hours of doctors, nurses who could have been saving lives of seriously ill people and even children. It also caused anxiety and worry to his family members.

This was an act of stupidity which cannot be pardoned.

During the conversation about this incident, the talk turned to super heroes "Jackie Chan" and "Bruce Lee".

Sadly, or may I say, fortunately, I had never heard of the "so-called exploits" of these super-heroes.

I was given to understand that young people are tempted to attempt what these "super-heroes" do in their movies.

It should indeed be a crime attributed to the movie makers as they do not give enough publicity to the fact that almost all the "stunts" that are supposedly done by these super-heroes are actually done by stunt men.

The super-heroes just get the credit for something they never could do themselves.

In my time as a youngster, one of the super heroes was "Tarzan". It was well known that only the swimming tricks were done by the actor himself as he had been the Olympic Swimming Champion. The rest of the Tarzan tricks were done by professional stunt men.

The fact that stunt men do these tricks is hidden away in the small print at the end of a movie, and in unreadable type, leading impressionable youngsters, like my friend, to believe in the myth built up sbout their super-heroes.

Stunt men are highly qualified professional men in absolutely tip top physical and mental condition who practice every stunt many hundreds of times in special safe conditions before they ever attempt a stunt for film. In almost every case there is a fail-safe safety proceduere followed so that no one gets hurt.

In addition, many stunts are done in slow motion. Then the speed of the film is increased to give the "impression" of a stunt.

For instance, the stunt attempted by this young boy of riding down a narrow staircase on a bicycle is usually done in a movie, step by step, and the stunt is achieved by speeding up the film after much editing.

There used to be a TV series where, after the show, some of the stunts and how they were filmed were actually shown to the audience, just so that no one would be tempted to try any of the stunts.

Even a circus clown practices and practices many many hours a day before he attempts to do a trick in public. Circus clowns may be laughed at, but they are true professionals dedicated to the work as that is the way they earn their living.

They are not like the stupid teenagers who try to do things they see some "super heroes" doing in a movie.

I hope this young boy has learned his lesson with this incident as no one was impressed by his foolish act and no one would have been impressed even if he had "succeeded", as a fluke achievement is not one which gets an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records!

All it has done is made people think that this young boy is rather stupid.

To get into this publication, any attempt has to be performed in controlled conditions and in the presence of observers appointed by the Guinness organisation.

Just doing a trick has never got ANYONE into the records book.

Stumped!

The previous Saturday Puzzle stumped everyone except one reader of the blog from Brazil, Dr. Robert Gonzales, and our 9 year old grandson, Samuel.

Here is Samuel busy on the beach collecting sand for the Kampitie garden last week.

Samu and Annikki collecting sand from the beach.

The answer - A short man (a dwarf)!.

The man can press the bottom button of the lift in the morning with no problem.

However, when he comes back in the evening, he can only reach the button for the 10th floor, so he has to walk up the remaining flights of stairs.

Why can he push the button for the top floor if it is raining when he leaves for work in the morning?

Simply because he carries an umbrella with him, with which he can reach the button of his floor on his return journey!

Today's puzzle is a real brain teaser for the mathematically minded.

Although it is going to take you back to winter on such a beautiful summer's day when the temperature is hovering here in Oulu around +30 C, let's give it a twirl!

If the temperature in the morning in some place is 0 degrees Celsius (Centigrade) and the Weatherman on the TV Channel says, "It will be twice as cold tomorrow," - what temperature will it be tomorrow?

0 x 2 = ?

Have a great week!