And now it was Annikki's turn

Annikki was jealous that as I had joined the exalted company of Moses and Jesus, she wanted to walk on the sea!


So, there she is walking on the sea!



The ice had cracked but it was still several centimetres thick, so Annikki led the way.



And here is a picture of the shoreline as we stood about 400 to 500 metres on the sea. I have attempted to build the panoramic view from four shots, but I am not competent enough to get all the exposures on our cheap camera right to get the stitching as a perfect composition!

As we have changed to summertime, sunset is now past 7 pm. Annikki was busy collecting silver willow cuttings from the sea shore before we returned home.

Anti-Racism Week in Oulu

(Cross-posted on all my main blogs.)

Next week, 19th to 25th March 2007, is Anti-Racism week.

Tero Raiskio and I have been involved, as CHAFF Participants, with the Oulu based organisations - Amnesty International, the Finnish Red Cross, the United Nations, the International Schoolof Oulu and Setlementi, to organise a series of events to draw attention to this.

Ildikó Hámos kicked off the proceedings with a talk about CHAFF to the Oulu City Club of Rotary International. This was organised by another CHAFF participant, Ville Suomi, who is also a Rotarian.

Ildikó then helped me in a talk about Ethnic Minorities and their problems in Oulu and Finland. This was aimed at a group of students of the Heinatori School in Central Oulu. This was organised by Päivi Jurvakainen of the Oulu Office of the Finnish Red Cross.





I was able to distribute the new Oulu CHAFF laminated information cards to all those who took part. They were kindly printed for me by Unnop Khungrai of the Thai Pailin Restaurant.

Late in the evening, I was able to get the posters that announce next weeks events, from Päivi, who returned to her office to print them after she had gone home, so that I could distribute them to all the major restaurants run by foreigners in Oulu.

The Poster was designed by Zambian artist and CHAFF Participant, Kamutaza Tembo. He came up with 3 brilliant ideas. The Organising Committee chose the one shown above to highlight all the events.



The feeling is so symbolic as the Finnish Flag in the form of a heart shaped key holder with three keys (white, black and yellow) symbolising the ethnic minorities is simply superb and absolutely original.

The other designs by Kamu are also being used for other documents associated with the Racism Week.

To help defray the costs of Kamu's designing work, Isaac Sundarajan, CEO of Codenomicon Oy, Hasim and Kasim, partners of Goreme Pizzeria, Unnop Khungrai, proprietor of the Thai Pailin Restaurant and Oulu Councillor Raimo Kuismin, joined Annikki and Jacob. Our special thanks to them for giving their hand to help a truly outstanding artist.

To see other works of Kamu, please click on a link in the sidebar, where I have set up a page of some of his great art works dating back to the time he was a young budding artist in Zambia.

Hilja celebrates her 87th Birthday

Annikki and I helped Hilja, Annikki's mother, celebrate her 87th birthday today.



Hilja certainly enjoyed the attention she got. Even through her dementia she recognised that it was HER birthday. She smiled almost through the whole day. She enjoyed sitting in the kitchen basking in the sunshine of a late winter's day.



She enjoyed her birthday cake made by Annikki, having a second helping as well.

The card from daughter, Aino, and her husband, Kaukko, already arrived yesterday. Son-in-law Kaukko rang to convey greetings today.

Son Erkki and family, in Tampere in south Finland, sent flowers for Hilja's birthday.

Hilja got a new air mattress yesterday. This relaxing mattress, a very new invention, is especially designed to ensure that she does not develop bed sores if she is forced to stay in bed for long periods.

A couple of weeks ago we got a hoist to help take Hilja out of bed and to help her move from one place to another. It has taken a great deal of strain of me, as Hilja is heavy. Lifting her bodily from the bed to the wheel chair and from the wheel chair to the toilet seat were certainly back-breaking tasks.

We look forward to Hilja enjoying her 88th birthday next year.

Both Annikki and I are very happy that she has been able to enjoy her home for the last 6 years, rather than being all alone in an Old People's Home, since the passing away of husband, Matti.

It has certainly been a stress on the two of us to look after Hilja, but the joy of having looked after her knows no bounds.

Moses parted the Red Sea, Jesus walked...

In the Old Testament of the Holy Bible, Moses is reported to have struck the Red sea with his Staff and the sea parted allowing the Israelis to cross to the other side to escape the Egyptians who were chasing them.

In the New Testament of the Holy Bible, Jesus was seen by His disciples walking on water to the ship they were sailing in.

Both these items are now the subjects of serious researchers who are trying to attach scientific explanations to what was regarded as miracles.

Well today we can add one more to their studies.

Tero went to the Island of Hailuoto on his Scooter last Wednesday to spend the night there. On his way back on Thursday, his scooter packed up on the island, forcing him to call me. As he came back to the mainland, I was able to pick him up near the ferry jetty.

We decided to go early this Saturday morning with my trailer to pick up his scooter. The trusted SAAB took us by 07:30 am to the jetty, only to find that the next ferry was over an hour away.

I decided I would drive the SAAB and trailer over the sea to the island. With bated breath I drove Tero (whom I saw crossing himself all over) on the sea to the island. It was quite a bumpy ride with visibility, due to mist over the sea, down to a couple of metres.

We loaded the scooter onto the trailer and we wended our way back on the sea back to the mainland.

As we reached the jetty on the mainland we passed the ferry making its way to the island.

Quite a miracle, I would say - driving to an island on the sea!

A Volvo on the Ice Road.

Oh! Before you rush off to equate me and the SAAB with Moses and Jesus, did I fail to mention - the sea was frozen over and we went by the 9 km long ice road! :-)

Last Saturday night, the eclipse

I forgot to mentioin that last Saturday night I rushed off to Samu's house and picked up his telescope as Annikki wanted to see the total lunar eclipse.

I set it up at the bottom of the garden. By 10:20 pm I was ready.

However, Annikki had miscalculated as the eclipse only started at 11:22 pm.

Shadowy Annikki peering into the telescope.

We watched the eclipse start. As it was progressing slowly, we kept going indoors as it was freezing cold outside.


The red glow of the night sky.

The eclipse progressed slowly. We did not see much red as was being described on the internet.

I was also watching the progress from a live webcam from somewhere in the Atlantic, where the moon was really quite red.


Total eclipse means RED.

We watched the eclipse till it reached totality. Only when the reverse process started did Annikki decide it was time to go to bed.

An evening well spent!

Samuel is 10

In many ways it was a sad birthday for grandson Samu.

His father, Tony, is away in Calofornia. His paternal grandparents are in Kalajoki, Finland and his maternal grandparents, Annikki and me, are here in Oulu.

Samu, our eager beaver football star

I had promised to ring Samu in the morning at 07:30 English time. Although I tried several times, the Newcastle line was not clear.

So as soon as I felt he would be back from school, we rang Newcastle, and in turn I and Annikki (in that order) sang our hearty "Happy Birthday" greetings to Samu. He actually tolerated his grandparents singing!

To give Samu something substantial, both sets of grandparents joined with Samu's parents, at Joanna's suggestion, to get him a new bike in England. So, when I was able to ask Samu whether he liked it, he described the colours, red and black as those of Real Madrid! Obviously he liked it as he was able to equate it to his love.

It is difficult to bear our grandchildren, all three of them, Samuel, Asha and Daniel, growing up so far away from us. They are children for so short a time that each day lost is a great tragedy in our hearts.

As I have told Samu many times, in a few years he will have many other interests and friends and his grandparents will be old foggies.

Samu has always expressed that it will never be so.

So long as we share the same interests - that is MY interest in HIS interests, we will remain as close as is possible for grandson with grandfather.


Samu, the Superdog

I am looking forward to "Superdog" returning for the summer holidays this year. Although it will be for just a short while, I certainly will enjoy every minute of our summer time together.

How I wish that little Asha will also be with us this summer, just as all of us cousins used to go to Kottayam to spend our holidays with our grandparents when we were kids.

Those are days that I can never forget, even in my old age!

One of my rare lectures

(Cross-posted on the CHAFF Blog.)

As you all know, I HAVE RETIRED!

So, when Emelia Frantsi asked me to give a lecture (in English) at the Oulu University to her social anthropology group about immigrants to Oulu, I was hesitant at first as I have not indulged in lecturing for many a year - probably six.



However, the fire still burns in my belly to share my experiences with students. Here was an opportunity to find out whether the time was ripe for the re-writing of our book "Handbook for Survival in Finland" that Annikki and I wrote way back in 1993 and released it in 1994.

Culture Shock, Authors, Inscription, Cover

I have been toying with this idea for several months. Since Ilari Sohlo and Ildikó Hámos, the authors of the book "Culture Shock Finland" in German are now in Oulu, I really have a burning feeling that between the four of us (two Finns a, one Hungarian/Austrian and a Findian) we should be able to turn out a middle of the road book, especially as Ildikó is now on several committees and sits on various organisations which are handling matters related to ethnic minorities and the problems in Oulu and to some extent, Finland.

I do not as yet know what I will use as a title for this lecture. I intend to use a few extracts from our previous book, which although 12 years old is still valid on several sore points.

If any of you are interested in attending this lecture on Wednesday April 4th 2007 at 14:15, I can ask Emilia for permission.

It will be many years till I give my next lecture!

Indian lady joins Nokia Board

The drumbeat is growing as Nokia woos India as the enormous market is just opening up for it. Nokia now needs India more than India needs Nokia. In that corporate game, Nokia has appointed a well-known financial expert, Lalita Gupte, to the Board of Nokia.

The Nokia Governance Committee will propose that Ms. Lalita D. Gupte, Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann, and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo be elected as new members of the Nokia Board for the term from the Annual General Meeting in 2007 until the close of the Annual General Meeting in 2008.



Lalita was the former Joint Managing Director of ICICI Bank Limited, the second-largest bank in India, and is currently non-executive Chairman of the ICICI Venture Funds Management Co Ltd. She is also member of the Board of Directors of Bharat Forge Ltd, Firstsource Solutions Ltd and Kirloskar Brothers Ltd.

Lalita joined ICICI in 1971. She represents half a generation away from me. It is likely that during my time in India, when I was on the Expert Committees vetting projects for ICICI that our paths may have crossed, but I cannot swear to that! I seem to remember that she took part in one investigation where I appeared as the Technical Expert for the project!

However, one story that I have told many times stands out at this juncture.

Prof. Seppo Leppävuori with the late Mr. K. M. Mammen Mappillai and his wife at their Madras home. Photograph taken by Paul Collander of Nokia Research (1987).

In 1987, Paul Collander, who was a Senior Researcher in Nokia Research in Espoo and my then colleague, Professor Seppo Leppävuori, went on a working visit to Singapore. At my insistence, they decided to stop over in India. They met up with my uncle, the late K. M. Mammen Mappillai, who was then Chairman and Managing Director of MRF Ltd.


A 20-year younger beardless me on the extreme left and His Excellency K. P. Fabian, Indian Ambassador to Finland on the extreme right, on his visit to our Microelectronics Laboratory, University of Oulu.

Backed by the then Indian Ambassador to Finland, His Excellency K. P. Fabian, I organised a visit for them to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, one of the best post-graduate research universities in India.

Both Seppo and Paul were very excited by what they saw. On their return, Paul published an internal report to the Board of Nokia about the immense possibility of using India as a base for advanced research for the expansion of Nokia.

Paul sent me the reply he got from the then Managing Director of Nokia, Kari Kairamo:

"Paris is too far for Nokia."

That visit did, however, set the stage for along and valuable cooperation between the IISc and our University of Oulu, Microelectronics Laboratory, with exchange of professors and researchers. On a couple of occasions I lectured to the Microelectronics and Electronics wing of IISc. We hosted Prof. B. S. Sonde, who was then the Head of the Electronics Department. Prof. Sonde later went on to be the Vice Chancellor of the University of Goa.

The appointment of Lalita to the Board is the culmination of a long battle to make this (Finnish?) multinational recognise the importance of India in the equation of world powers in the field of telecommunication.

Let us hope that this gentle lady will contribute to making the thinking of Nokia more humane than it has behaved in the last two quarters on 2006, where the company has caused great uncertainty amongst the many wonderful Finnish engineers working in their Finnish operations!

If you cut off the hand that feeds you for short term corporate gains, we in India know what will be the outcome. I am sure that, given her true skills, Lalita will play a role in correcting a now floundering multinational in the act of good governance.

And, dear Lalita - on your next visit to Oulu, do drop in and see us. We have now three current India related CEO's in Oulu (an Indian CEO for a Finnish company, a Finnish CEO for an Indian Company and an Indian CEO for an Indian Company).

However, you could meet the first member of this group, now happily retired, ME (CEO of nothing, nowhere!).

Finest leather products in Oulu

(Cross-posted on Oulu Best Buy Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.)

It is quite a long time since we put up anything significant on the Oulu Best Buy Blog. We have recently put up one very negative entry, and another one is due shortly. All of a sudden Jacob was called to see what he thought needed to be a Oulu Best Buy entry.


Kasim, the football star in full flow.

Hasim with grandkids, Asha and Samu.

Kasim and Hasim, the owners of the Göreme Pizzeria in Ranta-Kastelli shopping center, Oulu, the best pizzeria in Oulu and probably Finland, have been Jacob's dear friends for many years. They are like his own children.

They have set up and built a fabulous reputation for their pizzeria over the years and that is because of their very personal involvement in the way the pizzeria is run. They are what we term "hands-on" owners who can cook, clean, serve and know every customer on a very personal basis.


Location map for both the Pizzeria and Leather Products Shop.

It is interesting to see that they have diversified their activities. They have started a fine leather products shop in Oulu, next to the Pizzeria, where they can make sure their personal involvement will keep their customers happy.

The leather products like jackets, coats, overcoats, handbags, etc. are designed by a top Finnish designing team in Vantaa, Finland. The designs are sent to Turkey where they produce the finest of soft leather from the goats. The goats are specially selected because there is no blemish on the surface and large hides are used.

Then the skill of the Turkish craftsmen produce the range of products which is being offered for the first time in Finland in Oulu.

Jacob was astounded by the quality of the leather products. But if one remembers that the Finnish word for fur id "turkis" which is because of the first fur traders to Finland came from Turkey, Hasim and Kasim are going to redefine the word "turkis" to mean the finest of Turkish leather products.

There is a 40% introductory discount on the products till tomorrow, Saturday, so make sure you rush there and see what they have to offer. Do tell them that Jacob sent you there.

You will get the same service which their pizzeria is famous for!