KTWV 10 Issue 23: The wisdom of a High Court Judge!

The battle of the elite in St. Stephen's College continues. What a shameful example to set for the students.

Correctly, the High Court Judge hearing the battles asked all these so-called leaders to sit across the table and sort out their issues amicably.

Settle scores yourself: HC to St Stephen’s, Thampu

But childishness and power politics, pride and greed are at the forefront and the world watches the washing of dirty linen in public.

Shame on all of you!

KTWV 10 issue 22: Next two months

All our blog postings for the next two months will only be on our main blog - Jacob's Blog

Enjoy your trip to India with us.

KTWV 10 ISSUE 21: ICE - In Case of Emergency

I received this very important email from a dear friend, which I felt should have the widest publicity, so I am putting it on all my major blogs:

We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.

If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) Campaign

The concept of "ICE" is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name "ICE" ( In Case Of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose. In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and Hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as "ICE."

For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc. A great idea that will make a difference!

Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our Mobile phones today!

Please forward this. It won't take too many "forwards" before everybody will know about this It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest .

Remember:- ICE will speak for you when you are not able to.

Thank you Naval for this wonderful input.

KTWV 10 Issue 20: Inheritance Nightmare/PERINTÖPAINAJAI

My next book, which is being published simultaneously in English and Finnish (translation by Annikki), is going to be a blockbuster.

In 1994, I exposed the serious problems within the University of Oulu. That book, "Seven Years Hard Labour in a Finnish Holiday Camp - A Finnish Unversity" was the most pirate copied book in Finland that year.

The book jointly authored by Annikki and me in 1994, "Handbook for Survival in Finland", which was also only in English, was sold out within days of publication.

Both Annikki and I have been researching and writing on several subjects, but this book was always at the back of our minds from 1992 onwards.

Now is the opportune time. We decided to leap frog many other manuscripts to publish this one. It gives a deep insight into how corrupt the Finnish System has been and is, despite whatever Transparency International has been writing.

I give below the Synopsis and Contents in both Finnish and English.

Also the pre-ordering information is given at the end so you can save some money if your order is received before the books hit the shelves. The book is written, printed, published and sold directly by us so we can give you value for money instead of lining the pockets of publishers and booksellers. Authors get a measly 10% after several years!

We do hope you will enjoy this book. The sequel "Last Will and Testament" by me will follow soon thereafter. That is a momumental work. It will not be published in Finnish.

INHERITANCE NIGHTMARE
by
Jacob Matthan
Author of the 1994 brilliant exposé
“Seven Years Hard Labour
in a Finnish Holiday Camp
- A Finnish University”

Synopsis

Like all the author’s books so far, this book is NOT fiction. It is the recording of the modern day repetition of Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” in Finland in the 2000s!

The author comes from a country which is the home of corruption. According to Transparency International, Finland is supposedly one of the least corrupt countries in this world.

This intricate narration of this true story, covering almost 10 years, shows the extent of malaise in the Finnish System - the judiciary, the police, the bureaucrat, the media, the banks, and above all the lawyers, who are supposedly there to uphold the rights of the innocent. It is a brotherhood network!

Kari Kantakoski is supposedly “a leading lawyer” in Oulu. The intrigue that he has been involved in to get the lion’s share of the inheritance of the family of a carpenter and his wife is still an on-going saga.

The level of audacity increased with each passing day as this lawyer flaunted the law using his “friends” in high places.

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied!

The Lawyer’s Association, supposedly to root out people like Kari Kantakoski, appears to be just a big joke! Kantakoski laughs at this organisation as he knows they would not lift a finger to indict him! The Association has been “investigating” this matter for 9 months while Kari Kantakoski carries on his plundering!

In Finland, the only recourse to justice is publicity, the internet, in particular. Certainly not via the Finnish media, as it is also part of the corrupt establishment.

This book, which will be on the internet and the shelves (in English and Finnish) in a few weeks, highlights in the greatest detail (with every supporting document) each step of the process of having to fight a corrupt system in which the height of corruption is the legal profession in this country.

Lawyers may be the butt of many jokes. That is not without sound reason.

The author leaves it to the reader to draw one’s own conclusions as to what is right or wrong, what is corruption and what is not, what is legal and what is illegal.

It is a sad sad tale.

If Transparency International were to look at this and many thousands of similar cases, Finland would lie 180th in the 180 countries that are reported on by them!

Contents

PREFACE
Chapter 1: Background to the Nightmare
Chapter 2: Matti's Death Estate Inventory Meeting
Chapter 3: Hilja's Dementia
Chapter 4: Renovation of Kampitie
Chapter 5: Public Guardian for Hilja
Chapter 6: Administrator and Executor for Matti's Death Estate
Chapter 7: Financial Misuse of Hilja's Bank Account
Chapter 8: Settlement of Renovation Cost
Chapter 9: Appointment as Care Giver for Hilja
Chapter 10: Eviction of Hilja and Court Decision
Chapter 11: Corruption in Oulu Magistrate Guardianship Section Functioning
Chapter 12: Attempt to Remove the Public Guardian
Chapter 13: February 2004
Chapter 14: Dire Warnings Ignored - Wall Deterioration
Chapter 15: Lawyers Fees
Chapter 16: Minutes of Meetings
Chapter 17: Secret Deals
Chapter 18: Hilja Passes On
Chapter 19: Matti's Death Estate Administrator / Executor Greed Uncovered
Chapter 20: Accounts Examined
Chapter 21: Forced Sale of Kampitie
Chapter 21: Hilja's Death Estate Inventory
Chapter 22: Fraud and Cover Up in Osuuspankki
Chapter 23: Keskinäinen Vakuutusyhtiö Turva Mopo Scandal
Chapter 24: Control of Kampitie
Chapter 25: Huoneistokeskus: Money Rules the Day
Chapter 26: Complaint to the Lawyer's Association
Chapter 27: Complaints to the Oulu Police
Chapter 28: Complaints to the Finnish Courts
Chapter 29: Transparency International
Chapter 30: Who Gets What?

PERINTÖPAINAJAINEN
Jacob Matthan
“Seitsemän vuotta kovaa työtä suomalaisella loma leirillä
- Suomalainen Yliopisto”
loistavan palastuskirjan kirjoittaja 1994

Tiivistelmä

Kuten kaikki kirjailijan kirjat tähän mennessä, tämä kirja ei ole Fiktio. Se on Viktor Hugon kirjan “KURJAT!” kaltaisten tapahtumien toisto Suomessa 2000 luvulla!

Kirjailija tulee maasta, joka on korruption kotimaa. Transparency International’in mukaan Suomen oletetaan olevan yksi maailman vähiten korruptoituneita maita.

Tämä mutkikas tosi kertomus, kestoltaan melkein kymmenen vuotta osoittaa suomalaisen systeemin pahoinvoinnin laajuutta - oikeuslaitos, poliisi, byrokraatti, media, pankit ja ennen kaikkea asianajajat, joiden pitäisi olla viattomien oikeuksien puolustajia. Se on veljeskuntaverkosto!

Kari Kantakosken oletetaan olevaan “huomattava asainajaja” Oulussa. Sotku, jossa hän on mukana saadakseen leijonan osuuden kirvesmiehen ja hänen vaimonsa perheen perinnöstä on yhä meneillään oleva tapahtumaketju.

Röyhkeyden taso nousee päivä päivältä, kun tämä asianajaja lailla pöyhkeillen käyttää “ystävään” korkeilla paikoilla.

Viivytys oikeudessa kieltää oikeuden

Asianajajien Liitto, jonka oletetaan kitkevän juurineen Kari Kantakosken kaltaisia henkilöitä, näyttää olevan iso vitsi. Kantakoski nauraa tälle järjestölle tietäen etteivät he nostaisi sormeakaan syyttäkseen häntä mistään. Liitto on tutkinut tätä asiaa 9 kuukautta. Sillä välin Kari Kantakoski jatkaa ryöstelyä!

Suomessa ainoa oikeuden turva on julkisuus, internetti erityisesti, eikä varmasti suomalaisen median kautta, koska se on myös osa korruptia valtajärjestelmää.

Tämä kirja, joka tulee internettiin ja hyllyille (englanniksi ja suomeksi) muutamassa viikossa, korostaa mitä suurimmassa määrin (kaikkea tukevilla dokumenteilla) joka askelta prosessissa, jonka joutuu taistelemaan korruptiossa systeemissä, minkä korruption huippu on laillinen ammattikunta tässä maassa. Asianajajat voivat olla monen pilan kohde. Eikä syyttä.

Kirjoittaja jättää lukijalle tehdä omat johtopäätöksensä siitä mikä on oikein ja väärin, mikä on korruptiota mikä ei, mikä on laillista ja mikä on laitonta. Se on surullinen kertomus. Jos Transparency International näkisi tämän ja tuhansia muita samanlaisia tapauksia, joista he raportoivat, Suomi olisi sijalla 180 mukana olevista maista joita on 180!


SISÄLTÖ

Esipuhe
Kappale 1: Painajaisen tausta
Kappale 2: Matin kuolinpesäkokous
Kappale 3: Hiljan dementia
Kappale 4: Kampitie remontti
Kappale 5: Yleinen edunvalvoja
Kappale 6: Matin kuolinpesän pesänselvittäjä- ja jakaja
Kappale 7: Hiljan pankkitilin väärinkäyttö
Kappale 8: Remontti kulujen sopimus
Kappale 9: Hiljan omaishoitajan nimitys
Kappale 10: Hiljan häätö ja oikeuden päätös
Kappale 11: Korruptio Oulun Maistraatin yleisen edunvalvonnan osastolla
Kappale 12: Yritys erottaa edunvalvoja virasta
Kappale 13: Helmiku 2004
Kappale 14: Välinpitämättömyys vakavista varoituksista - ulkoseinän rapistuminen
Kappale 15: Asianajan palkat
Kappale 16: Kokousten päiväkirjat
Kappale 17: Salaisia sopimuksia
Kappale 18: Hiljan kuolema
Kappale 19: Matin kuolinpesän pesänselvittäjä/jakajan ahneus paljastuu
Kappale 20: Tilinpidon tarkastus
Kappale 21: Kampitie pakkomyynti
Kappale 22: Hiljan perukokous
Kappale 23: Petos ja peittely Osuuspankissa
Kappale 24: Keskinäinen vakuutusyhtiö Turva Moposkandaali
Kappale 25: Kampitien hallinta
Kappale 26: Valitus asianajajaliittoon
Kappale 27: Valituksia Oulun poliisille
Kappale 28: Valituksia suomalaisissa oikeuslaitoksissa
Kappale 29: Transpanency International
Kappale 30: Kuka saa mitä?

ORDERING INFORMATION:

PROJECTED SHELF PRICE: € 59 per hard copy

Orders received and paid for before Publication: € 49 ONLY (including postage)

Payment to: Jacob Matthan's Nordea Bank Account Nro.: 249818-69968

Write in Message Box: International Nightmare

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
SWIFT CODE: NDEAFIHHX
Account No: FI91 2498 1800 069968
Account Holder: Jacob Matthan

KTWV 10 Issue 19: Being missed by some

(Posted on all my major blogs.)

Approaching sunset in Oulu, Finland at 10 pm on a lovely summer's day.




After I crushed my knuckle and went through the trauma of an operation, Finnish style, which I will blog after I get out of the hands of the doctors, I have tried to keep up with my schedules, but not with much success. Typing, driving and doing just simple tasks as taking of my jacket or putting on my shirt, with one hand is painfully slow.

The travel schedule has not reduced. My daily routines have increased substantially since Nisha, Sunil and Hannah are holidaying in India and also Ganesh has taken his annual holiday. Number of group arrivals in Helsinki has mounted substantially and juggling the apartments to keep everyone happy has been a Herculean task. But Sunil has been a great help, even though he is working through a dial-up internet connection from a Kerala village!

Last week I drove up to Rovaniemi, on the Arctic Circle, and back twice. Each a 450 km round trip. Then on Friday I did a round trip to Tampere, about 900 km. Levi, our Zambian friend from Helsinki, was there and, with my one hand, I helped him empty one flat, load and unload the trailer and finally dropped him at the station.

(Just as I reached the office at 21:30, I had a call from Levi that he had got back to Helsinki and he was driving to deliver a lecture when he smashed his car into another, fractured his shoulder and ruined his car!)

I must say I am living a charmed existence and walking a tight rope trying to keep all my schedules in order.

The next week will be equally hectic, but with Sunil and Nisha back, maybe I can ease up a bit. (One can always hope, but knowing my intent to work myself to the bone, it is just idle mental chatter.)

When people remind me my last blog update was so many weeks ago, I feel a terrible moral guilt as I love all my readers more than they love my ramblings.

The gentle reminders a tremendous boost for the ego.

I have been going through a nightmare trying to get a suitable location for the Mumbai Findians Evening on Friday 13th November 2009. Now I understand why they say that Friday the 13th is unlucky. Help me prove that is wrong!

Annikki and my 59ers Directory Project of 2009 is progressing nicely. Just arrived is a video from our 1999 40th Year Reunion. I am waiting to get my hand on that and extract some good stills for inclusion into the Directory.

The registrations for our 50th Year Reunion are coming along nicely. If you are a 59er and have not yet registered, please do it as soon as possible.

Many of you are not being careful. I have sent several of you information that your Facebook, email address, etc. have been hijacked and your address books are public property. These guys add your name to CDs that they sell and then you are receiving thousands of spam mail while thousands are being spammed in your name! Please be careful where you sign up.

I am busy planning our Indian trip for October through to December, 2009. If any of you want Finnish know how or want to start a business or exports to / from India, please let me know and I will try to fit you into our schedule - Kottayam, Cochin, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad (possibly), Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi!

One interesting news item from India - some of the better known colleges, like our alma mater, St. Stephen's College, may soon be giving their own degrees! Wonder how that will work out as I am already sceptical of people get 90+ average in school leaving to get into the college of their choice!

I have also been helping to organise our Indian Independence Day celebrations. About 70 people will attend and it is going to be a blast.

KTWV 10 Issue 18: Visit in December 2009

I am making the first announcement on the blog of my coming visit to Delhi in 2009.

Annikki and I will be in Delhi between the 1st and 10th of December 2009. I hope to take part in the Founders'Day programme in December.

Also, my plan is to hold a recreation of the first JCR Evening which I organised in 1961-62 when I was JCR President. Some people and things will be missing as Sukhia's buyrfies and Dipchand's haircuts. But many landmark issues of our era will be relived!

I think I would also like to organise a Reuniuon of Stephanians from the 1957 - 1965 era.

If you are interested in either of the above events, please get in touch with me.

KTWV 10 Issue 17: Dr. Anil Wilson's Memorial Service

The friends and family of Dr Anil Wilson invite you to join them in giving thanks for his life, love and work.

Memorial & Thanksgiving Service at St James’ Church, Kashmere Gate on Sunday, 12th July 2009 at 11 am.

“And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?” Kahlil Gibran

[Kindly send this message on to others who may wish to know.]

Regards
Aparna Wilson
Tel.: 9711787225

KTWV 10 Issue 16: Memorial Service for Dr. Anil Wilson

The Memorial Service for Dr. Anil Wilson, our Past Principal, will be held on Sunday, 12th July 2009, at 11:00 hrs at St. James Church, Kashmiri Gate, Delhi.

Those who read this and attend are kindly requested to pass on my personal condolences to Amit, Dr. Wilson's son, also a Stephanian, like us.

KTWV 10 Issue 15: Claustrophobia - A new definition?

(Posted on all my major blogs.)

Ever since the age of 12 or 13, when an uncle of mine taught me the art of relaxation using artificial stress inducement, I have never had a problem of going to sleep. Before my head is settled in the pillow, I am fast asleep. I do not wake up at night and toss and turn. I nod off as soon as the reason for waking up is attended to. I hardly ever dream. Sit in a car with a safe driver, and I can drop off into neverland within a couple of minutes.

I usually wake up fully relaxed, even if the sleep lasted only a few minutes.



I came back from the hospital on Thursday afternoon with my left hand in plaster from the forearm till the tips of my finger. The operation to repair the knuckle of my fourth finger in my left hand had been successful, but it meant that my arm would be in this plaster-cast for 5 weeks. Plenty of painkillers and a course of antibiotic for 5 days, so no real problem of pain.

When I went to bed on Thursday evening, I thought I was going to sleep in my usual fashion. However, when my head hit the pillow, and as recommended, I put my plastered arm in a suitable and comfortable position on a couple of raised pillows, I felt a tremendous and overpowering feeling of restlessness. Sleep was just not coming in the next few minutes. Each passing second was raising an anxiety within me. I was feeling claustrophobic, even though, bodily, I was not in any confined situation.

Then it dawned on me that my mind was reacting to the fact that my left hand had lost its freedom. It was caged, and the stress relaxation technique, which I have used for over 50 years to drop into my slumber, was blocked by an overpowering feeling of fear. My fingers and wrist had lost their freedom. They were confined and this feeling of confinement was causing my mind to say that I was totally confined. And the realisation that I would have to endure this confinement for 5 more weeks was mentally unbearable.

I jumped out of bed, feeling as if I could not stay put down. I walked into the kitchen and expressed my claustrophobic thoughts to Annikki.

She was cool and calm and told me that I should take each day as it came, and the 5 weeks would be over even before I knew it.

I went to the living room and plonked down in front of the tv, but my heart and soul were not into watching any of the programmes. I let tiredness possess me so much so that I allowed my body to react to a mentally created feeling of a body becoming tired. Then when I went to bed, it was not my relaxation that put me to sleep, but a feeling of great tiredness - quite different to my normal situation.

As soon as Annikki came to bed, I put my plastered arm around her, and that claustrophobic feeling suddenly lifted and I dropped quickly into my normal deep slumber.

When I woke up in the morning, although relaxed, I still had that feeling at the back of my mind that I was a caged person. My n degrees of freedom had been severely curtailed. I now understood how anyone who loses any degree of freedom, mental or physical, could suddenly feel claustrophobic.

In all my life I had never experienced this. It was indeed a major revelation to me about the sufferings of my fellow travellers on this earth who had lost their freedom, any part of it.

I will be glad when this hand is uncaged. I will value all the degrees of freedom that I enjoy much much more than I ever have! And I will appreciate the feelings of other men and women, and any animal, who are caged in any form.

KTWV 10 Issue 14: Passing of Dr. Anil Wilson

News has just reached me of the passing away of our past Principal, Dr. Anil Wilson, today in Delhi.



Dr. Wilson (1947-2009) was an educationist who served as the Principal of St. Stephen's College, Delhi from 1991 to 2007.

His schooling was from the Irish Brothers at the St. Edward’s School, Simla. He graduated in Science with additional English from the Punjab University. His post-grad degree in English Literature was from the Centre for Post Graduate Studies at Simla. He was selected by the Public Service Commission to work in the lecturer cadre in Colleges in Himachal Pradesh. He obtained the M.Phil and the Ph.D degrees.

In January 1991 he was selected to head St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Dr. Wilson was the eleventh Principal of the prestigious institute and the first to have been appointed without prior teaching experience at the college. Throughout his tenure as Principal, however, he continued to serve as a lecturer in English to all three years of the undergraduate honours programme. In 1996 he was appointed Pro Vice Chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh University where he also officiated as the Vice Chancellor, but before he could complete his term there he was recalled by St. Stephen's College.

He was Principal till 2007. He received the Beresford Hope Award which he received in 1984 from the St. Augustine’s Foundation, England; the Soka University Award of Highest Honour bestowed on him in 1992 at a special investiture ceremony held in Tokyo, Japan; the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for outstanding achievements and contribution to education in 1999; the Distinguished Educationist Award in 2001.

He was a member of number of national boards and committees. He was nominated by the President of India to the Executive Committee of the North Eastern Hill University in Shillong and was the nominee of the Governor of Jharkhand on the Executive Council of the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi. He has served on the Executive Council of the University of Delhi.

Dr Wilson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October 2008 and was undergoing therapy. In a highly courageous step, he had decided to donate his living body for further medical research on the disease. He passed away today, 25th June, 2009.

The funeral service is today at 5pm IST, at St. James Church, Kashmere Gate. Burial thereafter at Nicholsan Cemetary.

Before Dr. Wilson started blogging, he was a faithful reader of the Kooler Talk Web Page which became this blog. If you go trough the archives you will find communications from him when he was launching the official college web site.

Dr. Wilson's son, Amit, and I were in close contact for several years, but he then vanished from the scene. His daughter, Aparna and wife, Rita, have been in the news after the pancreatic cancer was diagonosed.

I convey my deepest condolences to the family of a man who served in one of the most prestigious positions in India, educating some of the best brains of our country.

May Dr.Wilson now rest in peace.

KTWV 10 Issue 13: Reason for excitement

(Also posted on all my major blogs.)

Many of you have emailed me to ask why I was so excited with the software "Cooliris".

There are many many reasons, but I will highlight the two major ones:

1. There is an old Chinese proverb which says: "A picture is worth a thousand words."
2. You can browse thousands of pictures in a couple of minutes, unlike text.

This is now the era of the photo-journalist. If he / she can succeed in capturing the truly great image that depicts an event and add a single one line caption to it, the number of hits one can get to that image or video, and subsequently the caption and then the text, even if the Google Search result was likely to be on the 50th page, is going to be amazing.

Just search for "Jacob, Oulu" on Google Search and you get 95,800 links. It will take months to through those links.

Search for it on "Cooliris" and see how much more you get and you can get to even the 5000th result in a jiffy!

Don't believe me - take any random name of a friend and see what you get!

Truly amazing results. And, you can go through all those tens and tens of results in a flash.

Beware of one problem with "Cooliris".

You can get motion sickness as you race through the thousands of images.

I tried various search combinations yesterday and was thrilled with the results.

But, when I got up from my office table, I was tottering as my eyes had been working overtime going through this huge bonanza of results.

Yes, there is a reason to be excited, but also a warning that this could seriously affect your brain!

KTWV 10 Issue 12: Rarely am I so excited

Also posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog, Kooler Talk Blog, CHAFF Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.)

Rarely am I excited about new computer software. Today I came across one which sent shivers down my spine in what it can do.

I downloaded separate versions for SAFARI, the Mac only browser and for FIREFOX, probably the best browser online presently till Google comes up with its Chrome Browser for the mac.

The software is called "COOLIRIS" and it allows you to see many thousands of images and videos from your computer or the web in the blink of an eye.

My time is so limited that I hardly have time to go through all my pictures on the computer. But here I could see all of them in a 3-D type motion and I could see all the top story pictures before you could say "COOLIRIS"

I suggest you enter "Cooliris" in your Google Search facility and then download the version suitable for your browser.

I found a great video called "Slam Dunk Kitty" amongst the literally thousands that came up as I flew through the selection that came before me.

And you can use this software with Facebook, Google, UTube and also your computer images and videos!

What's the bet that Google will acquire this software - which is absolutely FREE, before the lamb shakes its tail!

KTWV 10 Issue 11: Montek Singh Alhuwalia on BBC World

I got home rather late yesterday and found Annikki flipping through TV Channels.

As she skimmed through BBC World, I shouted "STOP".

There was the familiar blue turban shooting across the screen.

I knew that could only be one person with those turban tying skills - 63er Montek.

Annikki asked me whether Montek could hear anything as he pins down his ears so tightly. She suggested he might punch some holes in the turban at strategic places. I assured her that Montek never had a hearing problem! :-)

I have not seen Montek for 46 years now, but noted besides his turban, all his mannerisms have remained intact. His ability to put across his point of view cutting his adversary to mincemeat had, no doubt, sharpened with experience.

It was a repeat of a program: Global Recession: A Developing World Emergency?

They were talking about Globalisation, the G 20, the stimulus package, the bank bailout (vs. what Montek pointed out as the unwanted "bankers bailout"). Luísa Dias Diogo - Prime Minister of Mozambique, Robert Zoellick - President of the World Bank, Bob Geldof - Campaigner and Pop Star turned advocate for poverty stricken Africa, Montek Singh Ahluwalia - Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul - German Development Minister, along with Moderator Zeinab Badawi, made up the debating team.

I was not much interested in this topic, but what I did hear from Montek was an intelligent spiel!

Nice to see one more of our 60s crowd on international media.

KTWV 10 Issue 10: I was certainly wrong

(Also posted on Jacob's Blog and the Kooler Talk Blog.)

I now realise how divorced I am from Indian Politics and especially the mentality of the Indian people.

This was just in:

Only a few results have been confirmed so far - they included a win for former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor for Congress in Kerala's capital, Trivandrum.

In the old days, an outsider would never have got in this easily as Shashi did. I remember how K. T. Chandy, who had been Chairman of Hindustan Lever, tried and failed to get into Kerala Politics in the Seventies. He was called a "foreigner" by the Keralites!!

I do hope this change also ushers in a new form of Government, especially in Kerala, where the school final failed party members have dominated the Government.

Also the antiques who have dominated Kerala Politics for a couple of decades should now call it a day.

KTWV 10 Issue 09: The experience of our lifetime

(Also posted on Jacob's Blog and the Seventh Heaven Blog.)

I just loved this email I received from 49er Dawn Brown. It sums up our experience, vis-á-vis the kids of today.

My daughter explained that times are different.

True, but do the kids wish it were the same as our time or not?

To us'ns who are considered to be "over the hill" by the young uns': Huh!!!! Not only are we surviving - we are thriving and loving life. I have to admit though that my children are not in this group - the first three mentioned above!!

Blessings,

Dawn

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?

AND WE ARE ALL STILL SURVIVING...................

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks some of us took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a Ute on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Red Rooster.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Fruit Tingles and some fire crackers to blow up frogs and lizards with.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in creek beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!

We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthdays.

We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing at Maralinga in 1956.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade'.....

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

PS - The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age.

KTWV 10 issue 08: Am I disappointed?

(Also posted on my Jacob's Blog.)

Being Sunday night, I watched the Fareed Zakaria GPS programme on CNN.

Shashi Tharoor, fellow Stephanian, was on.

Was greatly disappointed to hear that Shashi is standing for the Indian Parliament and that too, as a member of the Indian Congress Party.

Shashi should be an independent Rajya Sabha Member as he is a man of immense international standing and should not stoop to the level of Indian general politics.

On his politics web site he gives his vision as the following:

My Vision
An India where everyone is able to have enough food, clothing and shelter;
An India where everyone is able to receive a decent education;
An India where everyone can have access to health care, sanitation and clean drinking water;
An India that is committed to economic growth but also attentive to the needs of its poorest and most vulnerable people;
An India which is strong enough to protect its borders and ensure the safety, security and well-being of all its citizens;

Even more interestingly he gives his Credo as:

My Credo
I enter political life in the firm belief that:
Politics is an opportunity for public service, not for self-advancement;
Government exists to serve the citizen and not the other way around;
Honesty and integrity are fundamental in public life;
The principles and values I have upheld all my life should not be altered to suit the political convenience of the moment; and
My only purpose is to work for the well-being of the people of my country, my state and my constituency
I have great pride in India and believe I can work to make it an even better land for all its citizens.

Interestingly, he is standing from Kerala. That is wherein lies the rub.

Keralites with 99% literacy will not normally elect an "outsider" to represent them.

However, we will know the result in a few days.

KTWV 10 Issue 07: Driving 1100 km on the same day

(Also on Jacob's Blog and the Seventh Heaven Blog..)

After a hectic weekend, when I went to Tampere with Sunil, in a van taking materials to set up four apartments and which included a side trip to Helsinki to check on how Raantel apartments were doing there, we left Tampere late on Saturday evening to return to Oulu so that I could speak at the Free Speech Day in Oulu Otto Karhi Park.

We arrived back at Oulu about 6 am on Sunday morning. I had a nap and went with Annikki to the public park, equipped with my speaking stand.

The opening procedure was just taking place and the Chief Editor of Kaleva Newspaper, a new person, was making the welcome remarks.

He ended by saying that each speaker would be given 5 minutes at the mike.

My talk, which this year was about "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied" would have taken the good part of 1 and half hours.

Ii approached the gentleman and asked that I set up my own stand as in previous years and be allowed to speak. He rejected the idea saying he had no powers to allow that. After much persuasion, he pointed me to a lady. She said that I could do that away from the main central area.

But it was clear that they did not want to move away from their prepared script. Annikki and I decided against making a speech this year under these conditions.

In short - this was no copy of Hyde Park Corner as this was a very controlled exercise to make Finns believe that they have Freedom of Speech - which they don't.

I had promised to meet Ajeet on Monday in South Finland. He and Sari are on a flying trip here to take part in a couple of conferences. So our Alumni meets were scheduled for Monday at 10:30 am, and this time in Toijala, wher he was staying.

I left Oulu by car at 3:50 am and because of the GPS Navigator (the cheap one), I did the trip to Tampere in just 5 hours (477 km). After attending to some Raantel work there, I drove on to Toijala to be greeted by Ajeet and his wife, Sari.

Our joyous Cathedralite and Stephanian Finland Chapter Alumni Reunion was a working one. 100 % attendance as usual!

I exploited the combined legal expertese of Ajeet and Sari.

Ajeet confirmed he would be in Bombay for the November 12th Cathedral Founders Day event. After my 50th year Golden Reunion Celebrations are complete, Annikki and I will go to Ahmedabad where I will give a talk at the Indian Institute of Management about the new developments in technology taking place and their implications on world society.

Then we would all spend a few days at Mount Abu, where Annikki and I have never been.

I left at 14:30, stopped at Tampere to attend to some more Raantel Oy work, left Tampere at 16:30 and arrived back in Oulu at 22:30.

A 20 hour round trip of 1100 km - and because of the hectic weekend of travel and work, this one partially knocked me out.

I got a good scolding from Annikki who thought I was on a leisurely train trip to Tampere!!

KTWV 10 Issue 06: GPS Navigator - Good or bad Development?

As my main Jacob's Blog entry for today, I have considered the Global Positioning System (GPS) Navigator, which I used for the first time yesterday, and whether it is a boon or a curse to mankind.

Do check it out and let me have your views.

KTWV 10 Issue 05: What is talent?

(Also posted on Seventh Heaven Blog and Jacob's Blog.)

I usually do not have much time for TV except to throw off my shoes, put my feet up, watch a comedy or detective play and sleep through half of it!

One programme, however, that I have come to like is GPS hosted by Fareed Zakaria on CNN International, late on a Sunday evening.

Zakaria has some fascinating guests. He runs his interviews which do not show his personal bias.

Today was a show in which he had a discussion with an author, Malcolm Gladwell.

Gladwell has written a book called "Outliers". Although I have not read the book and will probably never will, I was fascinated by the discussion and interview.

The main thrust of the view of Gladwell was that "Talent is the Desire to Practice".

I immediately sent this message to several young friends of mine. I wonder how many of them will see this message in all its significance and glory.

The key word is "Desire".

To succeed in anything one must have that "Desire".
To reach that "Desire" one must "Work Hard".
The Hard Work is what we call "Practice"
And Practice leads to "Talent".

Gladwell gave the example of the Beatles, who in 1959 worked 8 hour nights in a strip club in Hamburg playing music. This is enormously hard work. It was this hard work which resulted in the moulding of the most famous Pop Group in the world.

Gladwell made very significant points about the influence of culture on failure or success and also about the development of reading aboilities at a young age which results in the possibility of success.

This statement took me back to the days when Annikki was writing her thesis about the Montessori System of Education. What I heard today was the restatement of what Maria Montessori said 7 decades ago when she noted that a small child will continue to repeat a task till he / she masters it. The outcome is talent, in small steps.

I go back to my school days where I used to watch a dear friend, Elijah Elias, more commonly known to all of us as Ooky, come to school at some unearthly hour and keep on bowling at the nets to achieve pace and direction. That was the talent of Ooky in cricket! But it is this Talent born out of Desire and Hard Work achieved by Practice which has made him succeed in his career in later life.

I take the example of our grandson, Samuel, who at the age of 12 simply loves reading - a book a day.

If his reading is focused correctly, Samuel could be outstanding in his career.

I only hope that in his school in England they realise this. I hope at least one of his teachers has read the book, "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell or knows the principles of the Maria Montessori Education System!

Thank you Mr. Fareed Zakaria.

KTWV 10 Issue 04: My iMac died, Viva la Mac Mini!

(Also posted on my Seventh Heaven and Jacob's Blogs.)

My 10 year old iMac finally died. I tried to revive it. Failed.

I went back to my older macs, the Performa 6400 and tried to use that, but it was tooooo slooow.

I decided to splurge and get a new Mac.

I have a perfectly good Samsung SyncMaster 900 SL Monitor. I have many USB Keyboards and Mice, all in good condition. I have USB headphones, a dlink wireless USB adaptor, a La Cie Firewire / USB DVD / CD station, so I decided to buy the Mac Mini.



A difficult decision whether to buy the basic version mac Mini costing Euro 599 with a 120 GB Hard Disk or a 320 GB Hard Disk with 2 GB of memory.

As most of my work will be network computing, the extra hard disk was not important. Also I have many hard disks lying around, from 1 GB up to 60 GB.

I checked the memory prices and found that a 1 GB memory costs just Euro 30 while a 3 GB costs just Euro 60. I will have to determine whether it is user installable and then upgrade. So I spent just Euro 599.

Considering I got the new Leopard system, which costs Euro 128 and also the latest iLife software, which costs Euro 78, Thew Mac Mini actually cost me just Euro 400. Foor a 2 GHZ Core 2 Duo, with a 8 x Superdrive station which is a DVD±R, DL DVD±RW / CD RW, and with a NVDIDIA GeForce 9400M video card with 128 main memory with a DDR3 SDRAM, etc., etc., this must be one of the best buys that I have made in a decade.

On my way to the office I picked up Annikki from home to drop her at church. She was amazed to see the size of my new computer - 16.5 cm by 16.5 cm by 5 cm.

The whole computer set up was done in less than an hour, upgraded to the latest system and it is working just fine. The speaker system is a bit tinny, but as I usually used head phones, this is not a drawback for me. The Mac Mini recognised all the hardware I connected and went to the internet without any problem through the dlink adaptor!

Sunil, who has been commenting on my attachment, sentimental, to my iMac and eMac boxes which occupy almost all the space under my office table, may be quite pleased with the size the new Mac Mini box!! :-)