Midsummer Pelting in Oulu

This Midsummer in Oulu has been a game of ducks and drakes with the weather, sunshine and showers, one day of Arctic cricket and another rained off.

I was sitting at the computer today when there was a huge noise outside. Annikki was yelling down to the cellar, but I could hardly hear her. She came down and asked me whether I had seen what was going on outside.





As I went out the sky looked dangerous. The pond was bubbling like a kettle boiling.



Hailstones the size of walnuts were pelting down. The ground was covered with a white sheet of hailstones. The plastic roof above our heads was taking a pounding. The sound was deafening while the thunder rolled overhead and flashes of lightening appeared in the sky.







I ran up and out of the front door to see the SAAB and my scooter being lashed. Hailstones in lumps was sliding down from the roof onto the car.



I went inside to see our cat, Iitu, watching this from the front window - she usually dislikes any form of thunder and lightening, but this hailstorm got her interested as she was safe by my side.

I have not seen such large hailstones in Oulu during my 24 years here.

This was certainly a Midsummer happening never before experienced by Annikki or me!

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!