KTWV 08 Issue 04: Special action on 1st February 2007

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

This message was sent to me by my friend 59er Peter Miovic for the widest possible circulation. Since I believe in this cause, I am posting this on all my blogs and groups.

Hope you will take heed and spread it within your circle.

Send this message to as many people as you know!

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An action to bring climate change to the notice of Politicians and World Leaders

On February 1st 2007 take part in one of the biggest actions against climate change organised by the people.

L'Alliance pour la Planète (a group of environmental activists) send this call to all civilians:

Make our planet rest for five minutes!

Everybody is requested to dim his/her lights for five minutes between 7.55 pm and 8.00 pm on February 1st 2007.

This not only to save engergy for five minutes, but to bring this message in a way that will attract the attention of politicians and leaders.

It is time for them to take action and avoid the waste of energy.

During the 5 minutes we'll give the planet rest: it doesn't take long and it won't cost you a thing.

And it will make a statement before the Belgian federal elections that we as citizens want climate on the agenda.

And why February 1st 2007?

Because on that day a new file from the climatologic experts of the United Nations will be published in Paris.

Because it is with our Belgian neigbours, it is impossible to let this opportunity slip!

We have to get attention to the urgent matter of the worlds climatological situation. If everybody takes part in this action it will have an effect on media and politics that might have a real influence, this would be good on such short notice before the (Belgian) elections!

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Make this message go around the globe, send it to friends, family and local politicians. Put it in your newsletter and your blogs.

KTWV 08 Issue 03: 2007 vs. 2006

(Cross-posted on all our major blogs.)

2006 was a wonderful year, better than 2005; 2005 was a wonderful year, better than 2004, and.......

So what lies ahead in 2007?

Our Symbol for 2007 - The White Orchid.

Judging by the first 6 days, it is going to be a hectic year ahead, far more exciting than the previous few years.

We can see several changes ahead.

Already, the blogging world has changed. We have started something different in that we have, besides the blogs, started our own Google Groups.

The first two Groups that we started are the Oulu CHAFF Group and the Seventh Heaven for Cathedralite 59ers.

In a matter of just a few hours, the 40+ people of the Class of 1959 from the Cathedral and John Connon School, both the Boys and Girls, were aboard the Group. In a matter of a couple of days the list of persons grew by over 10 so that we have now identified over 70 members of our years at school. All our Group members are scouring the world to locate the missing persons so that we can hold a great 50th year reunion in November 2009.

This 3-year project which has excited everyone from the Arctic (Jacob) across the globe!

The Oulu CHAFF Group is only slowly taking off the ground. But the restart of the meetings in 2007 have started with a real coup with a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Arpad Hamos and his wonderful wife, from Hungary, gracing the first meeting on Sunday.

It is obvious that the Oulu CHAFF Group will have its work cut out for it during this coming year as there are literally hundreds of issues hanging over the fire. The amazing part is that those that once received help are now making significant contributions in helping others, taking the burden off the few that were origially involved in setting up this Assistance Forum. Much more ways of helping those in distress are becoming available and it is going to be an exciting year as CHAFF consolidates itself.

The main Jacob's Blog will remain intact and present a more focused look at the lives of two individuals, Annikki and Jacob, as it takes another major direction during 2007.

Important changes are just being discussed. But they are causing huge waves across the city of Oulu.

Several, we are sure, who will be quite happy to see the likes of us out of this City. But, there are an equal number who are appalled that we may make some move away from Oulu after the 23 years we have been here.

What is important to understand is that with the new power to the people of the internet, wherever we may be, in Oulu or in Newcastle, England or in Kerala, India, we will still be able to handle the problems, be parts of Groups, take part in the action in different parts of the world, without the need of the physical presence in any location.

In the computer world it is probably refered to as "virtual reality". Annikki and Jacob will be part of that virtual reality not only in Oulu, but in several locations around the world, throughout the year.

With that, both of us would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year and let good health and vitality follow you wherever you are.

In that we share a greeting which was sent to us by Thomas Grorge from Helsinki:

May this 2007,
Blessings harrass you,
Happiness attack you wherever you go,
May misery be hijacked from you, and
May thieves pickpocket all your worries.

KTWV 08 Issue 02: Steve Clemons is an expert on foreign affairs

But, Steve seems to have a very short memory, as do most Americans.

Steve is touting the wares offered by the Arlen Specter of today as an
Independent Republican, forgetting the Arlen Specter of 20 minutes ago.

Specter is as Independent as Lieberman!

I had to make this entry on Steve's blog:

After 6 years of sycophantic existence, all these guys seem to be growing some balls!

Have a heart, Steve. Do not play them up for what they are not.

They are implicit in the carnage that has been going on in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now, suddenly they seem SO concerned.

Ask the simple question - WHY?

Treat them as the War Criminals that they are!
Posted by Jacob Matthan at January 3, 2007 05:25 AM

Let us around the world not rest till we bring all these war criminals to the same level of justice given to Saddam! They will be happy, no doubt about that.

KTWV 08 Issue 01: When do we disown someone?

I hate to start this years Kooler Talk (Web Version) on such a morbid note. However, this is the raging story in North India at the moment, and a Stephanian is at the centre of this storm.

I have a rather large list of alumni in my data bank, but I too could not find this individual in my database.

There are two or maybe three faces to every story that appears on the internet. I present here two faces of one individual as reported by the Indian media this week. One links specifically to our alma mater while the other makes no mention of our loved institution:

This is story which appeared in Delhi Newsline part of The Express newspaper group.:

Batch of ’77 but Stephanians
don’t remember Noida accused

Pallavi Singh

New Delhi, January 2: Batch of 1974-77. History (Honours). Third Division.

This is all Delhi's St Stephen's College seems to remember of Moninder Singh Pandher, the Chandigarh businessman accused of the serial rape and murder of children in Noida's sector 31.

While confirming that he studied at the college, officials at the principal’s office added: “He is a horrendous exception to college’s glorious tradition of grooming gentlemen out of students.”

Even students in the History batch of 1977 that had 45 students do not seem to know him. “I just cannot recall him. I’m sure there is some confusion. I know all my batchmates but cannot recollect this guy,” said Sandeep Dayal, who studied in the same batch and works in a travel agency.

Since the day Dayal read about Singh in the paper, he has been frantically calling up friends from his batch to check if they can recall him. “It was so shocking to read about him so I just called up my batchmates but like me, they too are clueless,” he added.

Singh is also missing from the college’s annual directories that list its alumni for years 1980, 1984, 2004 and 2006.

Professor Mohd Amim, who taught History at the college between 1949 and 1993, said: “It’s up to the students whether they want to list themselves with the college. As of now, there is no trace of him.”

In his last 45 years of teaching, Prof Amim claimed to remember most of his students but none by the name of Moninder Singh Pandher. Prof PS Dwivedi who also taught History during the period was equally flummoxed. “We have had so many students and I can claim to know all of them. But who is this Moninder Singh Pandher,” he asked.

But while the mystery over Pandher’s years at the college continues, alumni and students at the college are seeking “stringent punishment” for him. “St Stephen's in our time produced thorough gentlemen. It’s difficult to believe that he studied in our college,” said Harish Pal Singh, deputy general manager at Itochu, a Japanese multinational company and an alumnus of batch 1977.

In contrast, this is what appears in the Chandigarh newspaper The Tribune:

Noida police searches Pandher’s city house

Yoginder Gupta & Ramanjit Singh Sidhu
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 1

A team of the Noida police today searched the Sector 27 residence here of Moninder Singh Pandher, the alleged serial killer of Nathari village in Noida, and recorded the statements of members of his family.

The Noida police reached the Pandher house around 5 p.m. and remained inside it for about one and a half hours. According to Mr Prem Singh Malik, DSP(East), Chandigarh, nothing incriminating was found by the Noida police, which thoroughly searched the house.

The Noida team, comprising three Sub-Inspectors and two constables, questioned Mrs Devinder Kaur and Mr Karandeep Singh, wife and son of Moninder Singh, at length. The police also recorded the statements of the father-in-law and the mother-in-law of Moninder Singh, as well as the servants employed by the Pandhers. All of them reportedly denied having any knowledge of the “nefarious” activities of Moninder. The family members, the sources say, fully cooperated with the police officials.

A member of the Noida police team told TNS that his other colleagues were interrogating Moninder Singh and his co-accused, Surinder, alias Satish, in Noida. He, however, refused to give details.

The SSPs of Ludhiana and Jagraon, Mr A.S. Rai and Mr R.K. Jaiswal, respectively, told TNS that so far they had not received any communication from the Noida police. The Pandhers have property in these two districts also. Mr Jaiswal said the Jagraon police, under the jurisdiction of which the Pandhers’ native village, Lohatbaddi, falls, had no crime record of Moninder.

The Panchkula SP, Mr Balbir Singh, also said that no communication had been received from the Noida police. The Pandhers reportedly have a farm in that district.

Meanwhile, Moninder’s connections with Haryana have surfaced. He not only is married in a Karnal-based family but also spent his childhood in Ambala, where his father, Mr Sampuran Singh, was a rich transporter.

Mr Sampuran Singh’s old associates in the Transport Market of Ambala city remember him as a gentle person. They say for Mr Sampuran Singh it was virtually a rags to riches story. He started his career as a cleaner in a transport company. He shifted to Ambala decades ago, where his paternal uncle(Mama), Mr Surjan Singh Dhillon, was a transporter. Gradually, with the help of Mr Dhillon, Mr Sampuran Singh rose to own a large fleet of trucks. He also remained the president of the Ambala Transporters Union for several years.

Mr Sampuran Singh enjoys so much goodwill among his former colleagues that though they were willing to share information about him and Goldie, as Moninder Singh was then known to them, they categorically told TNS that they should not be named in any news report because they had good relations with Mr Sampuran Singh and his family. The alleged involvement of Moninder in the heinous crime came as a shock to them.

The Pandhers had a house on the Spatu road, Amabala city, near Manji Sahib Gurdwara. However, Mr Sampuran Singh had shifted to Sector 27, Chandigarh, before the marriage of Moninder Singh. A person who deals in automobile parts still remembers having attended Goldie’s marriage at Karnal and later the reception at their four-kanal Chandigarh house. While Mr Sampuran Singh’s family stayed in Chandigarh, he used to frequently visit Ambala to supervise his business. He also owned a petrol station on the Ambala-Chandigarh road. Now this filling station is run by the company itself.

A former friend of Moninder said that he studied in Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. He had reportedly qualified the IAS written examination, but did not appear for the interview because he felt that the salary of an IAS officer was too meagre to attract him.

Meanwhile, Mr Rajinder Chopra, a former constable of the Chandigarh Police, today expressed his suspicion that his 17-year-old son, Jatinder, who had been missing since October, 2000, might have been kidnapped and killed by Moninder Singh.

It takes all types to make this world.

I wonder what is in store for us Stephanians this year?

On this macabre note, may I wish all my Stephanian friends around the world a very happy and prosperous New Year.