Guess what, on the 30th of April through to 2nd May, we had a Stephanian Finland Alumni Reunion, held at my residence, and we had 100% attendance (even poor Sree can claim that sort of success) - can any other chapter claim such a feat!!
All two of us were present - Prof. Ajeet Mathur from the industrial town in South Finland, Professor of International Business Studies at the Unversity of Tampere and Visiting Professor at the Helsinki School of Business Administration, and yours truly.
My dear wife tolerated all our chit-chat and served up some delicious food - Indian cuisine on one evening followed by Chinese the next - so remember to let me know if any of you are happening to visit this northernmost outpost in Scandinavia, and maybe we can organise another such reunion.
Here is some mail I received from Stephanians around the world.
Date: Sat, 04 Apr 1998 05:45:57 PST
From: Vikas Sahni email address supplied
Subject: A Stephanian in Dublin
I was in college for 6 years, 1980-86. I did my B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics, and then taught for a year.
I currently teach in Hansraj College.
I am in Dublin till 8th May.
I chanced upon Kooler Talk, while surfing around looking for old friends, and have spent a couple of hours visiting your site.
Is the real stuff (YES - SPICE) also available on the Web ?
Thanks,
Vikas Sahni
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1998 01:08:35 PDT
From: Vikas Sahni
Hi Jacob,
Thank for your reply.
As far as SPICE is concerned, KOOLER TALK has always tried to parody it, but failed ! No wonder, dear editor, that you have not been able to lay your hands on even a single issue of Spice.
When I was in college, Spice was the variety of life, and Kooler Talk existed only to be parodied in the next issue of Spice.
Do you also send the new issues by e-mail ?
(Ed: Sadly, No, as I get more returned mail then receipts as our very considerate 475 Stephanians in over 70 countries are too busy to let me know their change of addresses!!)
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 00:56:14 PDT
From: Vikas Sahni
Hi Jacob,
Thank you for your reply. I agree with you - email addresses change so frequently that I and many of my friends are using hotmail or usa.net accounts for stability.
(Ed: This was nice till some ISP's have put these two free service providers on their spam return list, so I hardly use that address for sending mail.)
I'll read the web version, and as you have mentioned, will print it and circulate it among my circle (Ed: Make a nice large one wth someone in there who can help sponsor some issues!!) when I am back in Delhi.
Vikas Sahni
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 04:07:08 PDT
From: alex joseph email address supplied
Subject: Fellow STEPHANIAN
Dear Sir,
I was browsing the net when I came across the Stephen's website. (Ed: This is not an official Stephen's web site, and I do not want to claim it to be, too much of a responsibility for this dinosaur - just my musings!!)
My name is Alex and I am also a Malayalee who, like you studied, in this great Alma Mater of ours.
Hope to hear from soon.
May God bless you and your family.
With regards,
Alex ( class of 97)
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 06:32:15 PDT
From: alex joseph
Subject: Thanks a ton
Dear Sir,
Thank's a million for your prompt reply. I am currently working for a buying house as a management trainee in the textiles division. I really like this field and am looking for opportunities in this field.
Are Indian textiles well received in Finland? (Ed: Yes, but sadly they are squeezing the blood out of our producers!!)
Sir, someday I plan to start my own business in this field and It all depends on God's grace.
Lets see how things work out in the near future.
Are there lots of Malayalees in Finland? (Ed: Alex, where in the world are there NOT tons of Malayalees?)
Do let me know sir once again thanks.
With Regards,
Alex
Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 13:49:58 PDT
From: juno V email address supplied
Subject: Mission college kooler yet
1967 graduate, Allnut North, various rooms, I believe h2 then h4. Few lines for Katy 1965-66?
Some of those who appear on the KT surfed a few minutes ago well remembered - Rajen, Philip. Not mentioned, but in this part of the wuruld - Arun Chacko at the WWF Trust Geneva, Rishpal Singh might still be the Gen Consul at Geneva (did not call back last month, so might be elsewhere now). Arif Hussain is also at Geneva. Brijesh Khandaria as well.
In Luxembourg a 54 graduate: Yogeshwar. Sharp clear mind, twinkling eyes.
And that leaves yours truly,
Verghese Varkki /Juno.
Were these not nice letters to receive?
And now for a diversion with couple of pictures of my grandson, Samuel, on the wings of his plane with my son-in-law, Computer Wizard Tony, and in-flight with his English philologist mom - who works as a Technical Writer for Nokia, my younger daughter, Joanna. I am working on the little fellow (already) and her to send Samuel to Stephania!! Hopefully, sometime soon, I will find an excuse to steal in in some photographs of my devastatingly beautiful granddaughter, Asha, her mom, Susanna, and my other son-in-law Chris, who is a brilliant violinist and musician (or so says his father-in-law)!!
For all of you who wrote in concerned about the accident that all three of them were involved in, as you can see from the pictures above, they are all fit and well. We, however, discovered that the accident was not due to black ice as I had reported, but the front axle of their Citroen, which they had bought just recently, had snapped. It was God's grace that they survived.
More next month,
Your Kooler Talk (Web Version) Honorary Editor
Jacob
