Kooler Talk (Web Version)

KTWV 13 Issue 01: I hate repeating myself

2012-01-14T17:18:00.000+02:00

In January 2010, I had a blog entry which asked the question whether the reason why our college was in the news was for the correct reasons. At that time it was the bitter legal battle between the Chairman of the Council and the Principal.

Today, when I got my daily review of the news from India, two articles stood out - one from The Hindu snd the other from The Pioneer, and they reported on the demonstration by the staff of our alma mater against the autocracy of the Principal of the College.

What has been the common factor every time news has been splashed in the headlines of the Indian media has been the actions of the Principal, right from his initial appointment to his removal, his re-appointment and several times in-between on his minorities reservation policy, the rush to act independently in the Mani Shankar Aiyar issue and now in the legal battle with Dr. M. S. Frank, the Vice Principal, not to the mention the totally unnecessary spat with the portions of the alumni.

Common fsctor appears to be the Principal.

In Finland, the cause would be identified and removed!

Let us begin the New Year with a resolution that the cause for any unsavoury news about our alma mater in the media will be laid at the doorstep of the Principal. He has to be held responsible for it. After all, he is the "Head" of the Institution. If the name of the College is being tarnished, then it shows his incompetence. He must pay the price with his job being on the line.

Any takers?

KTWV 12 Issue 9: Old values vs new ones

2011-09-29T07:43:00.000+02:00

Many of you are expecting me to keep Kooler Talk (Web Version) as a daily news letter.

This is quite impossible. This is a nostalgia site and not an up-to-the-minute news site about our College.

Stephanians and Laal Sitara are doing an excellent job on this front. I think the competion is spurring them to do things bigger and better than the other!

Laal Pitara is not a Stephanian site as its objectives are just to have a great time on-line. I notice it has been used as a StephLeaks site.

But I am sure that will sort itself out.

There is a wonderful effort by all sides to bridge the gap. Athough I do not want to be a wet squib, I am not of the opinion that there can be a Fidel Castro, or Mao Tse Tung, or Col. Gadafi at the head of our bunch. Any person cannot stand up and take genuine criticism cannot be the head of our alma mater..

What is more important is that I have been informed that some traditions seem to have been maintained but locations changed. One person lamented that the staff were not part of the fun and frolic.

The reason staff were with us in the sixties was because there were many who had been students just a few years earlier and still had a "student mentality". They had not become steeped in the staff / student divide.

57er Ranjit Bhatia returned to College after his stint at Oxford and participation in the Olympics. He was very much a glamour figure amongst the students and hence did not fit the staff profile. So also 58er Raj Sircar.

The Cafe used to have a liberal sprinkling of staff members enjoying the mince or scrambled eggs. Even older staff members used to make it a point to interact with us in the Cafe. Principal Sircar, Vice Principal Shanklind and Dean Rajpal also dropped in occasionally and had a cup of tea with us. So we were never remote from the senior staff members. Princi and Vice-Princi had no reservations, but Dean kept a stiff upper lip.

I do not remember many alumni members dropping in. When they did, they were usually quite well known and they would make it a point to interact with all of us. Cricketers Prem Bhatia, Inderjit Singhji and many other prominent sports personalities were those who did come to College to mingle with us humble students - and we really enjoyed their company. It was so good to share the table with such greats and revel in their success. It spurred us lesser mortals to try for the moon.

When I visited College in 2009, I did drop in at the Cafe. Not a single person went out of their way to ask who I was or what I was doing there. Not that it matters, as I am not a very noteworthy person!

The Cafe seemed a very strange and distant place after 46 years. The atmosphere appeared to be somehow "wrong". I(t was not the small friendly warm environment.

After I attended the Founders Day Chapel Service a lot of peopledid talk to me and express their joy at reading this blog. Also after the Founders Day ceremony in the Assembly, where Past Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam addressed us, I did take part in the gathering outside and met a number of students and Alumni.

The difference between my day is vast. When there is a gathering now, students get-together in their own groups and talk to one another. We used to look around for people you did not know and go and talk to them. After all, you have already exchanged many views with those you know, but you open doors when you meet with the new people around you.

That was the biggest difference I noted in the throng.

I also did wander around the staircases and corridors and took pictures of pictures. These are part of my memories of the College.

KTWV 12 Issue 8: Stand corrected

2011-09-17T07:23:00.003+02:00

I am very grateful when someone takes the trouble to correct something I have written.

I had said that the Holy Spot where we used to be dunked and dunk others on Holi was no more. I had seen a barbed wire fence dangerously near the spot when I visited the College in December 2009.

12er Sherry Mathews emailed me to say the tradition continued but the dunking was done by digging a pit in front of the JCR.

Was the dunking just a childish prank meant to get prudes on the same level as the rest of us.

Although it did not have any religious significance to roll people in mucky murky water, it was when we threw in a few staff members, including one year, Principal Sircar (rather gently and to the roars of almost all the residents), that it had an impact on all the students and staff that we were one community. Usually it was quite cool on a March morning and the water could be quite cold, but by the time festivities were in full swing, after breakfast, the warm sun was out and dried us rather quickly. Then we used to march to the VC's house and greet him, still caked in mud.

Would I like to roll in muddy waters still?

To be honest, I still do as I play with my grandkids, who love spurting water at us grown-ups in the sand pit.

One year I was very harsh on one of my grandkids, as I rebuked him for doing that. That evening I felt terrible as I thought of the days when I was much much older than him (he was only 7 and I had been 16+ when I had done just that).

I only thought of it again today, thanks to Sherry. I must apologise to this 14 year old for my harsh words. It is never too late for an apology, although I do not know whether the young lad will even remember the incident.

However in an apology, the important thing is for me to get it off my chest and to really feel sorry about what I did. Otherwise just saying some words has no meaning.

Yet another value I learnt from days in College.

KTWV 12 Issue 7: Taking Stock of Online Activity

2011-09-16T08:35:00.001+02:00

15 years ago, Kooler Talk (Web Version) was the lone voice of Stephania on the internet. We were a happy family which grew to about 3700 people who would occasionally read my musings and compliment me on driving up the nostalgia. I do not think I had any problems. Principal Wilson and even Valson Thambu, made an effort to communicate with my readers and me at various times.

It all changed with the advent of Orkut, LinkedIn and Facebook. I am sure that there must also be some other places where the presence of the alma mater exists.

The Orkut SSL, St. Stephen's College Group has been dormant since 2009 and has just 61 participants listed. There are 2 Groups on LinkedIn, St. Stephen's College Alumni and The Stephanians Network. Some discussions do take place there occasionally. I would have thought more of our Stephanians would be part of these, as LinkedIn is a more professional oriented site.

Coming to Facebook, we now have 4 Groups, Laal Sitara, Stephanians, St. Stephen's College and the last one which I assume is supposed to be a parody site, Laal Pitara.

(I do not want to quote Facebook numbers as they are really quite irrelevant!)

To be the truthful, I do not know which site represents which viewpoint, not that I should care. Some claim to be the Official Voice of the Alumni and the other claims it is the Official Voice of the Alumni.

Facebook is a site for social intertaction - not a site for Alumni Associations to be fighting over the right to be the Official Alumni Association.

Whenever I see a site which is linked to any of my alma maters, I join it to see what is happening. I find many discussions, some good, some bad, some indifferent - and I absorb them all. But it does not mean I endorse everything that is claimed by the Administrators of the site. Because of my running Kooler Talk (Web Version), many try to impress me with their site.

After all, I am a Stephanian, and therefore I have been brought up to make up my own mind about thrings.

I stand on my own principles and that is why Kooler Talk (Web Version) which has been online for 15 long years, with occasional breaks to recharge my batteries and my finances. It has stood the test of time. It is my take on the nostalgia that I experience whenever of I think of my alma mater.

I do have a similar site for my Mumbai School, also 15 years old now and it has also been very popular.

We have many who have been in both institutions. I came to India in 2009 as I organized the 50th Year reunion of my class of 1959 from my Mumbai School.

My plan is to hold the 50th year Reunion of the Class of 1963 in Stephen's College in the year 2013. We would recreate some of the very nostalgic events of the 3 years that I was in College. But it is a little more difficult than my school Class of 59. In 1963 all those who joined college in 1958 and left in 1968 could be considered to be in my Group of 1963.

To this end I intend to start a Google Group for this 50th year Reunion.

If all of you from these years are interested, do get in touch with me through any channel we share in common. I expect that it will be an historic event as people as 58er Rahul Bajaj, 61er Kamlesh Sharma, 63er Montek Singh Alhuwalia, 60er Mani Shankar Aiyar, 62er Swaminathan Aiyar, 65er Mammen Mathew, 66er Philip Mathew, 63er Suman Dubey, the 63er Seth twins (Aftab and Roshan), the 63er Rai twins (Chandra and Suraj), 62er Rathikant Basu, 63er Siddarthh Singh, 61er Bulbul, 63er Badrinath, 82er Niranjan Desai, 63er Ajay Verma, 62er Dr. Peter (Tubby) Philip, 61er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, and many other great names would be in the participants list.

If I am to toast the Staff as well of that period we would have Anthony Stone, Raj Sircar, Ranjit Bhatia and quite a few more.

I am looking forward to interacting with all of you as I slowly but steadily move to getting the Google Group online in then next couple of months.

KTWV 12 Issue 6: Being drawn into a controversy

2011-09-15T08:59:00.000+02:00

One seemingly clever individual has been pushing me andy KTWV to come out against his rivals. Very shoddy and shameful. He wants to promote his vision against another, through me thinking he has pushed me into a corner for being a member off another Facebook Group.

Rather un-Stephanian behaviour led by personal rivalries.

Gloating is not Stephanian behavior.

Firstly, Kooler Talk (Web Version) is only MY take on things. I do not represent the views of even one other Stephanian. So what I expound here has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone else and their views.

I do not know the present laws of India as I have not lived there for the past 27 years. In the past 10 years, I have only made one visit to India, a 2 month Bharat Darshan in 2009!

The present controversy about one of the Stephanian Facebook Groups certainly requires a comment.

It was written that if a Facebook member of that Group did not inform the Group about her/his not wanting to be a member of an Alumni Association, then she/he would automatically be counted as a member of that Alumni Association. It implied that she/he would be required to pay Rs. 1000 as membership fee.

Correct me if I am wrong!

In Finland, such a statement is not valid according to Finnish Law.

If one wants to join an Association, the Association has to send all the information about it, in hard copy, along with an application form. This must be filled in and signed by the individual. (Pdf formats and electronic signatures are now permitted.)

There was a scam here where people used to send bills based on such a situation, where a negative was taken as a positive.

So to think that because you are a member of a Facebook Group, you automatically become a member of an association is inherently wrong. Facebook Group membership, which is social interaction, does not make you liable in any way to something else.

Not that I have anything against the particular Association, but the procedure to become a member of an Alumni Association must be correctly followed.

As I said, I am domiciled in Finland and the laws of Finland apply to me. I do not know the relevant laws in India.

Regarding the membership fees of Rs. 1000 - I could donate this money to this Facebook Group (or the Alumni Association) for bringing out such an excellent publication - they new SPICE.

Also there have to be different categories of membership - Honorary Members, Life Members and also Members who could pay annual fees. The Memorandum of the Association must be available to all potential members before joining the Association. There must be laid down procedures of how the money collected is used - the annual budget. There must be rules as to the cheque signing authorities granted to people at the helm. etc., etc..... There must be rules of joining as well as removing people from membership!

Neither of the present Stephanian Alumni Associations adhere to the very format of an Association (as the laws of Finland dictate). I am a member of both the Facebook Groups, as also many other Facebook Groups. But none can claim that I am a member of any Associations formed under their banner. (I am a member of the Oulu University LinkedIn group but that does not automatically make me a member of the University Alumni Association!)

My request to all Sterphanian Facebook and LinkedIn Groups is to sort out differences and come together to form an Alumni Association OUTSIDE of the College. Allow room for different opinions and have a representative selection of people on the Board.

In two of my other alma maters - Bishop Cotton School, Bangalore and Cathedral School, Mumbai, the Alumni Association is in no way linked to the schools. They function independently of the Schools and that is the way it should be. The Alumni Association should not be a rubber stamp for the institution.

A healthy Alumni Association would work well with its alma mater but would also be a balance to greed and nepotism that sometimes creeps in!

KTWV 12 Issue 5: Vir Sanghvi on Mani Shankar Aiyar

2011-09-14T06:12:00.002+02:00

Although I have great regard for Vir Sanghvi, I must take issue with him when he headed his recent piece - "Parallax View: University fundamentalism is no different from religious fundamentalism".

Belonging to any club, society, hobby group (philatelists, numatists, etc., bears exactly the same conotations as belonging to an alumni chapter. I could rate him belonging to a "foodie" group on the same parallel of Foodie Fundamentalism to Religious Fundamentalism.

There are literally hundreds of alumni chapters of alma maters spread around the globe. (I think Vir Sanghvi's Mill Hill School in London has a very active alumni association.)

I remember asking my friends to become a member of their alumni association, being a money making proposition on the internet in the mid nineties. I did try my hand at that!

It has absolutely nothing to bring it on par with religious fundamentalism. It is related to man's basic need to be part of a social group with which one can identify oneself and one's interests.

Religious fundamentslism is about usurping power with deception to control the masses.

In this process of alumni bonding, there has to be a catalyst.

I started my online webletters to my alumni colleagues in the mid nineties because of a very personal experience.

With the advent of the internet, it was fun to go through the hundreds of search engines (prior to the advent of Google) to see if one could track down old friends. In 1996 I hit the jackpot when I traced a long lost friend, him in California and me in the European Arctic, our roots, Indian. Within a short pace of a few months we were having a whale of a time exchanging notes about our lives after we had parted.

Then one day he told me to put him on hold as he had got a match and was going for a kidney transplant. He never came back!

That day I vowed to re-establish contacts with all my past friends so that we could share our appreciation of each other. In 2009 we held the 50th reunion of our school classmates, and it was if not a day had passed since we went our different ways.

We paid tribute to those that were no more, gave comfort to those who had been left behind by them, and revelled in each others success. Classmates, and their spouses, assembled in Mumbai from USA, Canada, Malaysia, Finland, UK, and those that could not join us from Germany, Australia, were there in spirit.

This had nothing to do with fundamentalism. It had everything to do with friendships and bonds built by us having been in close proximity with each other, not only in the classroom but also on the sports playing fields. Not only were we friends, but we shared our parents. Many of our children were also friends. We were a community with common interests in our nostalgic past. There was no power politics or fundamentalism involved.

I definitely take umbrage at the spin put on University comradeship by Vir Sanghvi - he certainly got this one wrong. And Mani Shankar Aiyar (and yet another Stephanian of my time - Arun Shourie) certainly do not represent the views of Stephanians . Exceptions prove the rule.)

KTWV 12 Issue 4: Hansraj / Kirori Mal / Stephania ruckus

2011-09-13T21:11:00.000+02:00

The recent rather denigrating statements by 60er Mani Shankar Aiyar has drawn much debate in the local press in Delhi as well as Stephanians who are communicating via the internet.

What Mani said was totally nonsensical, obviously meant as a booster for his sagging political fortunes.

(But I do not understand why Valson Thambu had to visit Hansraj College to apologize on behalf of the College. Will he now run to apologize to Kirori Mal college? Valson Thambu should have rung Mani Shankar and talked to him about it! Neither the College nor the alumni have anything whatsoever to do with any of Mani Shankar's many out-of-order remarks!)

But Mani Shankar has been famous for these rather wild sarcastic remarks even when he was in college. It was his way of trying to be snooty, but it did not wash with most people. He would occasionally stand at the head of one of the dinner tables in the dining hall, rather nattily dressed, and make a comment about something or someone. Nobody laughed! He just smiled to himself, pleased as punch with his clever wit.

His brother, however, 62er Swaminathan Aiyar, used to be equally sarcastic, but he always had a twinkle in his eyes, which meant we understood what Swami meant, and we laughed it off or laughed with him.

And the difference between the two brothers is as between chalk and cheese. Swami was always dressed in a very casual, almost untidy, way, and he walked around with his hunched shoulders trading remarks with everyone. Everyone liked Swami, crazy as he was.

Not so with Mani Shankar, who had his close band of friends.

Their professions show the difference. Mani Shankar was in the Foreign Service for 16 years. He had to maintain a stiff upper lip and clean exterior. That lip got loosened when he joined politics. He has been the centre for many controversial statements, such as the Veer Sarvarkar incident in the Andaman prison, which even had the then Prime Minister disassociate himself from Mani Shankar's outburst.

Outspoken as he is, Swami is a excellent journalist and a good economist as well.

Mani Shankar never related much with us juniors, so I was a bit surprised when he stood for Parliament. Swami was, however, one of us, as he was friendly with everyone. He used to enjoy the crowd in his smoke filled room playing Flash or Bridge!

There have been a few Stephanians who have made remarks quite out of keeping with our Stephanian heritage. One only needs too think of 59er/61er Arun Shourie who has written and said the most outrageous things so as to draw attention to himself. While in College Arun was a very controlled individual. He was my hockey Captain and a very dedicated and disciplined individual. He went on to win the prestigious Magsaysay Award in 1982 for his outstanding journalism. His columns were full of valid criticism.

Then his head got bigger than his boots. He had a love-hate relationship with Ramnath Goenka of the Indian Express. When he was publicly humiliated by Indian Express owner, Goenka, he wound up a very bitter person and focused on the method where he would be in supreme power. He then used some of his journalistic ability very unwisely. Many of his radical statements offended almost every rational thinking Stephanian. However, we did not have the Principal of our Institution running after those deeply offended by Arun to apologize for what Arun had written.

I hope that Mani Shankar has the decency to personally apologize publicly to those offended by his remarks, as any true Stephanian would do! Mani Shankar's statements have nothing whatsoever to do with our College and our Alumni.

KTWV 12 lssue 3: Sudoku Junkee

2011-09-13T06:33:00.001+02:00

Ever since the wife of 67er Philip Mathew (aka Thambi), Beena, got me hooked on Sudoku, not by saying anything, but just by spending a few passing minutes in the living room in Mumbai in December 2009, I came back to Finland and found our local newspaper had 3 levels published every day.

With great difficulty, I managed to finish the lowest level after a few days. I struggled with the second level. Occasionally I would finish it before I went to sleep at night. Then there came the day when I completed all three levels and I proudly blogged picture of that.

Over the last 2 years there had not been many days when I completed all three. Having a mild form of ADSL, my 20 to 30 minutes in the morning would see the easy one completed and parts of the the medium and hards levels also done. I would become agitated and bored at the same time.

Annikki would keep the newspaper in a special place. In the late evening, before I went to sleep, I would try to finish them - not very successfully.

Suddenly, about two weeks ago, I hit winning streak as I completed all three levels in the morning. I was happy. After a few days I found I was completing all three levels in the morning but usually taking about 45 minutes.

Voilá - today, I completed all three levels in 25 minutes! This is well within my ADSL time limitation.

As I convince myself of the dementia that I suffer from - and that is not a joke, as I learnt a few weeks ago, when I could not remember where I had put down my glasses, and I am blind as a bat without them, I am pleased to note that my senses, although failing, could be revived by some special actions.

I discovered a site called Lumosity, where it became evident that my dementia was not a problem related to my brain but my failing eyesight and hearing. The site is great as I was able to establish that if I tried hard enough, I would be able to reverse part of this deteriorating situation. (I only did the free stuff which they have to introduce the site to you, but that was enough to pinpoint my problem.)

Unfortunately, I am living in the fast lane, and I have not had the time to work at this faithfully.

So, if like me, you feel that dementia is setting in, all is not lost.

I am physically stronger than most of the young Indian IT engineers that come to Finland and stay in my apartments. Also, I am am quite multi-faceted in that I can do many things, such as change a light bulb :-) - which most of my young friends who are engineers, find it difficult to do!

I am not joking, as most of these very talented guys who come here as outsourced engineers, have a very limited do-it-yourself skills.

I think our colleges, and probably our dear alma mater, should have a screening room to televise MacGyver, the guy who manages to create things out of normal day-to-day stuff to get himself out of a jam! Bit dramatic, as it is a television series, but thought provoking in itself to drive one to think out of the box. This is a description of MascGyver (McGyver in my day) from Wikipedia:

"MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles during seasons 1, 2 and 7, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, during seasons 3–6. The show's final episode aired on April 25, 1992 on ABC (the network aired a previously unseen episode for the first time on May 21, 1992, but it was originally intended to air before the series finale). The originally aired episodes for the initial seasons (? - ?) used the title 'McGyver' but later changed it to 'MacGyver' to apparently provide him with a first name. All current copies show the later spelling. The show follows the intelligent, optimistic, laid-back, resourceful secret agent Angus MacGyver, played by Richard Dean Anderson. He prefers a non-violent resolution to violence where possible and refuses to handle a gun. MacGyver works as a troubleshooter for the fictional 'Phoenix Foundation' in Los Angeles. Educated as a scientist with a background as a Bomb Team Technician/EOD in Vietnam ("Countdown"), and from a fictional United States government agency, the Department of External Services (DXS), he is a resourceful agent able to solve complex problems with everyday materials he finds at hand, along with his ever-present duct tape and Swiss Army knife."I can assure you that such skills are absolutely necessary in tomorrow's world. Let us hope we can ensure that future Stephanians are equipped with this ability. (I will touch upon another serious lacking of these brilliant minds in my one of my forthcoming issues of KTWV!) Stay tuned.

KTWV 12 Issue 2: What has this to do with Stephanians?

2011-09-12T07:48:00.000+02:00

When I woke up this morning at 4 am and picked up my locals newspaper at the front door, I was feeling on top of the world. I glanced through the Finnish newspaper, as we have division of responsibilities - I read the international press while my wife covers the local one I moved to the Sudoku page and finished all the three levels rather quickly. I was feeling rather chuffed about getting through the early part of the autumn morning so wonderfully.Then I received an email from a dear school friend in Canada attaching a UTube clip. After I watched it, I felt how inadequate I was. I learnt in my subsequent email exchange with my friend that it was our school Physics teacher, now 85+ and also living in Toronto, that had sent him this clip of a composition by Johann Sebastian Bach.I replied him (and our Physics teacher) with copies to my two elder grandchildren, both very talented musicians.The clip shows us how mundane and boring, as well as how untalented many of us are. Here is precision skill and knowledge which has been uniquely expressed through wine, champagne and brandy glasses!Something we Stephanians must learn to do without emptying the contents of the glasses, which would probably be our first reaction? :-)I am now in the swing of Kooler Talk (Web Version). I shall have some exciting posts ahead, so keep the lines open and knock me down, if you can!

KTWV 12 Issue 1: A time for KTWV to come back?

2011-09-11T21:57:00.001+02:00

Kooler Talk (Web Version) is BACK.

It is sad that I restart Kooler Talk (Web Version) at this time of great problems within our
alumni.

I have to now stand up and have my say. That is what Kooler Talk (Web Version) has always done during the last decade and half. Unfortunately, for the first time I have to be vicious - quite against the natural grain of my character.

It has been over a year since I made a blog entry. As the old cliche states "Much water has flowed under the bridge".

In my old age, dementia has been slowly setting in. Although past events are crystal clear in my mind, much of what I have written during the past decade, or even the past week, has faded from my memory. (A test at the Lumosity web site revealed that it the disassociation of the various faculties, eyesight, hearing, the sense of smell and taste, that causes this form of dementia. It is not really the traditional form of dementia.)

I visited my blogs to read some of my past scribblings. (During my Bharat Darshan in 2009, I was only blogging at my main blog "Jacob's Blog", which presently remains locked. Much of what I wrote during that period, which included a visit to the College and attending the Founders Day event, is at the moment still unaccessible to Stephanians.)

What a shock I got!

I seem to have written, with uncanny accuracy, what I see happening today in our alumni and in the College. I takes no credit for this. It was something which was obvious to anyone who could read the lines - not between the lines. I never make people to read between the lines.

I had written:

"The college is in the media limelight for all the wrong reasons".

Let me be crystal clear.

The common factor "for ALL the wrong reasons", then and now, has been and is Valson Thambu!

I am very happy at the positive and constructive things the alumni Facebook GROUPS (Stephanians and Laal Sitara) are doing. I am also thrilled at the Groups on LinkedIn, and many blogs run by Stephanians.

Yet, there is room for more involvement and improvement.

All the young Stephanian alumni at the helm of these various presentations of their take about our College are very sincere in what they are doing. They have the great respect for our alma mater and want to do something positive. I do hope they will resolve their personal differences and work towards a common goal.

The only person who is scared of their activity has to be one with a guilty conscience. That person feels that his "authority" will be usurped. His real intent would stand exposed.

I sort of laid out part of the goal I saw for the alumni in one of my blog entries last year. (Remember, I have been online for 15 years!!! I have said a lot during that time.)

I would like to state some of the obvious:

We should have the finest faculty in all branches we intend to teach in our learned institution.
We should have the brightest and best students in the College.
We should have professional management to run the College, both the teaching, the education and the premises.
We should optimise all the aspects of running an educational institution.
We should modernise in keeping with similar institutions around the world.
We should involve alumni who have experience in managing a national education institution.
We should change our focus to handle the problems that face the India of tomorrow.
We should stop the reservation policy for anybody which is only detrimental to all communities in the long run.

I note that one leading contributor recently posted in one of the Facebook Groups about being open about what one says. I have always refused to publish details of subject matter sent to me with an anonymous label.

Let us go back a few years when we had the ad hoc appointment of Valson Thambu as the Principal of our College.

During the short time he was there he tried to change the secularity of the college into a fiefdom for a narrow band of Christians. He brought great disrepute to our alma mater!

I am born a Christian but value all the good of all religions.

Our college was not set up just for Christians. Read 61er Tony Jaitly's history of our College. You will see the first four students admitted to our College were Hindus and the fifth a Muslim!

Then Valson Thambu was removed. We hoped an experienced Administrator would be appointed!

While the process of re-appointment of the Prtincipal was going on, back Valson Thambu was, with a "doctorate" in theology from an Agricultural University! Do read an earlier blog entry of mine on this subject.

Despite the excellent credentials of many of the candidates to head our College, Valson Thambu was again appointed as Principal in a very clandestine manner. The collusion was more than obvious, again bringing great disrepute to our alma mater.

Then, there was a huge public war between the Bishop (the Chairman of our College) and Valson Thambu as they battled to get control of the funds of the College.

This unseemly washing of dirty linen in public was screamed across the headlines of many national newspapers.

I witnessed all this sitting here close to the Arctic Circle, 7000 km away from Delhi. I wrote to many Stephanian alumni to DO SOMETHING!

The College was again the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

And now we have the alumni scandal, where Valson Thambu has taken a "cease and desist" approach to something creative, constructive and positive done by a section of the alumni.

Why?

What has this alumni association done to degrade the name of our alma mater? Why this dramatic over-reaction?

Who gave Valson Thambu ANY authority over my right as an alumni to discriminate or accept the good of two alumni groups? Certainly not me!

If one reads his 8 page "cease and desist" letter - it would be easy to put the name of Valson Thambu to all the accusations he has leveled against what he calls the "Imitator" alumni association!

It is Valson Thambu who is the Imitator Principal!

If people want to do good for our alumni, why attack them publicly with such a ridiculous liturgy rather than talk and sort things out in a Stephanian way.

Although I belong to both the Groups on Facebook, neither Group has asked me for any money. Nor have they made any demands on me, except for my time and my good wishes.

As I said in one earlier posting, Valson Thambu is past the maximum level set by the Peter Principle.

Conflict diverts attention from the real situation, his legitimacy as the Principal of our College.

Valson Thambu has no management skill that I am aware of. His actions from Day 1 when he took over as the Principal proves my point. His doctorate is highly questionable. The doctorate relates to a subject not even taught in our College (or was so when I last enquired).

There very "cease and desist" letter signed by him proves beyond a shadow of doubt his lack of competency to head our alma mater!

So on what grounds was he appointed to head our College?

His knowledge of the English language or a hidden agenda?

I hope all the wonderful members of the alumni will get together and make sure that we have a harmonious relationship amongst ourselves and not be at the beck and call of the dubious holder of the title of the Principal of our College.

Valson Thambu is all what our various previous Principals were not - a very divisive personality. And as I have said before - there is not one Christian bone in his body.

I will be back on line with my traditionally nostalgic reminiscences of OUR College. Stay tuned.

My approach is quite different from the wonderful SPICE or any other College related group.

And your inputs, criticisms, brickbats, are always welcome.

I am so happy that new SPICE is out. It is a great read. It is a wonderful professional alumni presentation - and Valson Thambu wants to kill this creativity? WHY?

(The original SPICEs were way after my time in College. I understand they were controversial and racy!)

Kooler Talk (Web Version) will remain what it has always been - MY personal take on life in and after my wonderful experience in St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

Welcome back to all our regular readers. And welcome to our many new readers.

KTWV 11 Issue 25: Absconding?

2010-09-05T12:35:00.000+02:00

Many readers have accused me of absconding.

They are true in one sense that I have not devoted as much time as I usually do to keeping the Kooler Talk blog going as it should.

Reason: Although retired, my hobby has become a national business and I am commuting 1200 km return on the same day once a week almost every week.

My wife calls me crazy, and she is right!

After the last trip i have now stationed a car in Helsinki so I can visit all my apartments when I get there.

Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa are triple linked counties and it covers a huge territory. My apartments are in all three counties.

Also, my mind is not as active as regards our alma mater as it should be. News from the capital has not been flowing as freely as it could or should.

However, with the catastrophic Commonwealth Games just less than a month away, I am sure I will have plenty of gup-shups and PJs to share with you as my correspondents from our capital keep me abreast of the mayhem and chaos which is expected during the two weeks of the events.

Let us hope and pray that no major calamities occur. Having seen what we did last November/December, there are going to be thousands of hiccups.

KTWV 11 Issue 24: Stephanians not registered

2010-08-21T15:02:00.001+02:00

I am getting worried in that I had a huge number of Stephanians who were regularly accessing the Kooler Talk Blog.

Ever since I put in the registration clause, the readership has tailed off.

Why?

is registration for your only solid alma mater blog a difficult step.

Do ask your Stephanian friends who have not yet registered to contact me by email and I will add them to the list.

Then drop in whenever you need an update on nostalgia!

KTWV 11 Issue 23: An important request to ALL our readers

2010-07-10T13:39:00.002+02:00

Dear Readers of all our blogs,

It is with great sadness that we have to announce that we will now have to make all our major blogs accessible only to those who register with us.

The subjects we have covered over the years include the wrestler Dara Singh (probably the most popular and controversial blog entries, ever), St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, Bishop Cotton School, Bangalore, the UN, talk Shows in the USA, politics, the Kandathil and Maliyakal families, Kampitie, Vesaisentie, Annikki's creative art, achievements of our children and grandchildren, CHAFF (Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners), Findians, our numerous friends, relatives, our travels, recipes, and life in general. Above all, t they contained the nostalgia the people love.

Due to circumstances far beyond our control, which affect the lives of many of our loved ones, we have to create the SETTINGS of our blogs so that only those whom we invite can read them. This is very sad as our blogs have reunited many friends across the continents.

With over 120000 readers around the world, some reading more than one of our blogs, for a decrepit old blogger and his wife sitting near the North Pole, this will prove to be a Herculean task, but one which has to be done for the safety, security and well being of many of our loved ones.

Please take the time and effort to send us an email telling us which of our blogs you want to be added to so that you can access them freely.

Our sincere apologies to each and every one of you lovely readers who have kept us going for almost a decade and a half by your readership, your inputs and your outputs!

Yours in great sadness as technology besides being a positive aspect of life can also be a very negative one.

Annikki and Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

KTWV 11 Issue 22: Now that the Bharat Darshan is over...

2010-06-09T21:22:00.000+02:00

Many of you are speculating that now that the 50th Reunion of the 59ers is over, and i did manage to attend the College Founders Day in Delhi, that I have lost interest in the school and college and their activities.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

All assume that as I am retired, I have infinite time.

True, I do have infinite time, but each hour of that infinite time is booked solid. Blogging used to get about an hour in that schedule, before. Now it is down to a few minutes. If my brain stays inactive during those few minutes, then that day's blogging is lost.

But I still am getting emails from all of you and they are being preserved.

Will I make it to the Reunion and Founders Day this year?

That is a really huge question and it still remains unanswerd. But, it will not be a Bharat Darshan like last year. Just Mumbai and Delhi and Bangalore, and Chennai, and Hyderabad, and Kottayam, and... Well, if I do get there, it will have to be a Bharat Darshan, I guess! :-)

KTWV 11 Issue 21: Old Cottonians act

2010-04-08T08:47:00.000+02:00

I have mentioned on my many blogs the unfortunate media publicity attached to some of my alma maters.

I am heartened to see how the Bangalore Old Cottonians Association (OCA) have acted swiftly to ensure to show that they are actively concerned about their alma mater. Past Old Cottonians, as both my late father and uncle, who served as Chairmen of the OCA, would be proud of the stand taken by the present OCA.

I reproduce here the letter that was sent by the present Chairman of the OCA to the Moderator of the Church of South India as per the resolution passed at an Extraordindary General Meeting of the Old Cottonians in Bangalore. Sitting here in Finland, I was kept abreast of the developments and I too fully support the actions of the OCA.:

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS EMAIL TO OTHER OC's YOU ARE IN TOUCH WITH AND ON YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES.

5th April, 2010

The Most Reverend Vasantha Kumar
Moderator,
Church of South India
Mission Road
Bangalore

Dear Sir,

We, as the Old Cottonians' Association, have a considerable stake in the upkeep of the fair name of Bishop Cotton's Boys' School and all that this entails. Principals and members of the Board of management may come and go, but once a student passes out of the school, and leaves its gates, he becomes an Old Cottonian and this status remains throughout his life and no force on earth can take it away from him.

We earnestly hope that other stake holders in the school should realise this and act accordingly.
Recent happenings in the school have caused us great concern. Old Cottonians from all over the world have expressed their deep worry. As a consequence, the OCA held an Extraordinary General Body meeting at the Rotary House of Friendship, Bangalore on the 3rd of April, 2010 and the under mentioned resolution was passed and the same is being communicated to the various persons connected with the management of the school.

Accordingly I quote below:

"The Old Cottonians' Association (OCA) noted with anguish that the matters concerning the administration of Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore had recently become the subject matter of various media reports, which had tarnished the good name of the Institution.

The OCA further noted that under Article 2.2 of its Constitution containing the "Aims and Objects", the OCA was entitled and obligated ".... to be in constant interaction with the Management of the School in the matter of maintaining the standards, traditions and conventions of the School."

It was therefore unanimously RESOLVED that the Board of Management of Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore be called upon to take immediate corrective measures to ensure that the incumbent issues be fully resolved, so as to restore the smooth functioning of the School in keeping with its rich traditions and standards, and to keep the OCA informed of the said measures.

It was further RESOLVED to offer the assistance and support of the OCA to all concerned to enable the resolution of all outstanding issues.

The Chairman and Management Committee of the OCA were accordingly requested to communicate the aforesaid resolution to the Principal, Bishop and Board of Management of Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore, and to await a positive reaction to the same before undertaking any further course of action."

Yours faithfully

MICHAEL WATSA
CHAIRMAN
OLD COTTONIANS' ASSOCIATION

I wish my other alma mater alumni, The Stephanians, would also act with the dignity and purpose shown by Old Cottonians.

KTWV 11 Issue 20: Secularity in Educational Institutions

2010-03-31T01:15:00.000+02:00

(Posted on all my main blogs as this is one of my more serious postings meant to get the broadest reach.)

I learnt from the Times of India of 25th March 2010, Bishop Cotton school principals to resign, that my second alma maters, the Bishop Cotton's Schools in Bangalore, both the Boys and Girls schools, are going through a huge upheaval. The alleged interference of the Church in their running and the seemingly marginalisation of the Principals (also known as Wardens) into puppets, possibly all in the greed for the rich pickings associated with running a well-known educational institution, appear to have taken these two schools from reality into a fantasy world. Accusations are flying left, right and centre.

Sitting 7000 km away from that base, I do not know who is right or wrong, but it is such a shame to see the schools where my late father (he was also the Old Boy's Association Chairman for many years) and all his siblings, and a greater part of my generation of Matthan's, including my four children, being destroyed by these bickerings and the unfortunate media stories being put out.

A similar situation of the differences between the Church and the Principal is causing the rot of the fourth of my alma maters, St. Stephen's College in Delhi. The Alumni in different part of the world are taking actions, but that may not stop the rot.

However, my Mumbai alma mater, The Cathedral and John Connon School, seems to have overcome this problem, or it probably has not yet come to the forefront.

Trying to remember my days in each school and college, I knew I was in a Christian Institution in all these three cases (and also my first, The Good Shepherd Convent School in Mysore).

In Bishop Cotton's Boys' School we had to go, being a Christian by birth, to the Chapel for morning service before the start of school, every single day.

In Mumbai, we had School Assembly every morning with the reading of the Bible by one of the Prefects and singing of hymns. But it was not grossly evident that it was a Christian school.

My 59er class consisted of Atheists, Christians (a handful), Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Sindhis, and probably various other sects and sub-sects. Not once did it cross my mind that my classmates were from different religions.

The only time I was aware the difference was we took our shirts off for PT. I noticed a few of my classmates wore quite different vests - the Parsis, as they had a sleeveless type muslin (?) vest quite different from the rest of the class. Other than mentally noting this difference, and I never even bothered to find out or understand the reason for this, we were all equal in every other respect during our hours in school.

The only differences were those imposed by the time table, as the Christians had to do Scripture as a subject while the non-Christians were exempt from this.

These secular values, and the continuation of the same which I imbibed in St. Stephen's College of the early 60s, has stood me in good stead through my life. I learnt to respect people for what they do and achieve and not because of their religion, caste or creed.

I wish this would be the universal philosophy across the world, as the wars that plague us today are based on these stupid artificial values, called as faith - be it by any religion anywhere in the world where the religious hierarchy fights for power and prestige, misguiding the masses along the way.

KTWV 11 Issue 19: History of our College

2010-03-25T07:30:00.001+02:00

I have written about the book authored by 61er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly for the 125th Anniversary of our College. Tony, like me, was a 57er Mumbai Cathedralite and then a Stephanian. The character of both these great institutions he graced do come through in this book.

Tony joined the college for exactly the same reasons as me - to save a year! Little did either he or I know at that time that we were joining to the most prestigous educational institution in India!

Yesterday, I completed reading his treatise for the third time. Although quite a slim book, it is crammed with the most interesting facts about our alma mater, that I have not been able to absorb it all in just one or two readings.

Almost everything that we need to know about the history and character of our college is included. The author has not blown his own trumpet in the book. He is an outstanding personality and was, during his time in college, on several fronts - on the sports field, in the theatre, in studies, and also as a Stephanian in Rez.

He has also not blown my trumpet ;-) , as although I get a mention as the 1961 JCR President and also the publisher of this outstanding blog (!!), he failed to mention that I was the only 2nd year student ever to be elected to the JCR Presidency, the organiser of the first JCR evening made up wholly of our internal talent in acting, music, comedy, and also the organiser of the first JCR indoor tournaments - chess, carrom, bridge, draughts, table tennis.

In fact, other than mentioning my JCR Presidency, Tony, covered almost every other institution in the college, but forgot that the JCR existed as the main centre for the residents in college, the main meeting point for all residents in the evenings and also for day scholars who had to pass the time of day between lectures. The JCR President was the Head of all residents and served on various Committees including the all important Mess Committee! I did a lot of campaigning to change the quality of our food in 1961-62, but it fell back to old standards in 1962-63!

I was lucky to have Shanky (R. I Shankland) and Sircar (S. C. Sircar) supporting all my efforts and 62er Sarwear Lateef on the JCR Committee, who used his diplomatic skills to get many things done. We installed the first gramaphone in the JCR during that year. We installed colourful curtains. We allowed students to stay after 10 pm so that they could listen to Test Match Commentaries from places such as West Indies.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, the present JCR is quite a morbid place compared to absolutely electric atmosphere we enjoyed there in 1961 - 62. When 63er Norval Prakash (Sherwood College, Nanital), my classmate, succeeded me at JCR President in 1962 - 63, he did not have the same hectic agenda as he was busy with his final year studies!

Coming back to Tony's book, it is superb on all fronts except where it was outside his control - the publishing. The sequence of pages in my copy is as follows:

102; 109, 110; 107, 108; 105, 106; 103, 104; 117, 118; 115, 116; 113, 114; 111, 112, 119. 120: ...

Whether it is a simple binding error in my copy or one which has been carried in all other copies, certainly is a spoiler in an otherwise brilliantly written book.

The book is also lacking an all important Index and Bibliography, which are most important for any book purporting to be "A History". That again is not the author's responsibility, but the publishers! In this age of computerised editing, these should have been a couple of the easiest tasks to accomplish!

The amount of research Tony has done, not only from written matter, but meeting and talking to Stephanians of all ages, has been a heroic effort. His comments, like a true diplomat are guarded, but the importance of our college as a secular institution from Day 1 comes through.

I would advise the present Principal, Valson Thambu, to read this book to understand something about the college, as almost everything he has been doing for the last 5 years is diametrically in contrast with the hopes and wishes of our founding fathers and all the Prncipals that have preceded him.

Valson Thambu would do well to remember that the first four students of our college were 'Hindoos' (Sansar Chand, Har Gopal, Kirpa Narain, Ram Lal) and the fifth a 'Mohammedan' (Sajjid Mirza).

I was certainly not aware of the involvement of many of our past staff and students with all the drama that India went through during the last century.

I was certainly not aware that the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh was condemned by, in writing in the Stephanian 1920, by the editor C. B. Young!

As a public institution it is our duty to avoid taking sides on strictly political issues... (but) we are in emphatic agreement with the condemnation bestowed on the action of General Dyer... as Christian missionaries we cannot avoid the duty of forming and expressing a judgement on such a deed of horror as the slaughter in Jallianwalla Bagh.

All the characters that I knew are portrayed with great accuracy throughout the book and it is a credit that Tony was able to write it without causing offence!

I was not aware of the close connection of our college to Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and many more historic personalities of the world stage.

I will be using this book now to put many of my blog posts in context, in future. It is something which has been at my bedside for the last 3 months, but has now been moved to my office table so as to be of service to the rest of you.

I recommend that you get yourself a copy, also! Certainly worth every rupee I paid for it - just Rs. 365 (€ 6!) in New Delhi. They had to order it from the Publisher and I was able to pick it up just hours before I left the city.

KTWV 11 Issue 18: Who is Stephanian 1?

2010-03-20T08:34:00.000+02:00

Whoever has been sending me emails revealing the inside goings on in the Governing Body, much of which is scandulous, if true, could you please reveal who you are?

I am not prepared to publish stuff from anonymous sources.

What you say is important.

So be a Stephanian and stand up and behave as you should - or shut up!

KTWV 11 Issue 17: Who or what is Stephanian 1?

2010-03-04T08:31:00.004+02:00

Who or what is Stephanian 1?

The email that reached me from Stephanian 1, stephanian1 at gmail.com, about the interference in the selection process, if true, is shocking.

If what is contained in this email exchange is true, the entire Governing Body of St. Stephen's College, the Principal of the College, as well as some other senior members of the Staff should resign, if they have one Christian bone in their body.

But I doubt many have!

As I do not publish anonymous emails, I can only hope that the person who mailed this to me will have the courage to stand up.

KTWV 11 Issue 16: Welcome this new day, Holi 2010

2010-02-28T10:24:00.001+02:00

When Annikki and I left for India in mid-October, we drove the 600 kms from Oulu to Helsinki. We had snow storms for much of the day, heralding the early, very early, advent of winter.

We do not know much about the time we were away in India, but when we got back we were right in what seemed to be mid-winter. (I lost my old SIM card in the snow in Helsinki airport! But I have got the uld mobile phone number back last week, so you can call me on that number again!)

But winter in Oulu has just continued and continued. We have had the longest spell ever where the temperature has remained well below zero. Some days have been exceptionally cold because of the strong winds. The snowfall right through winter has been heavy.

The Vesaisentie and Kampitie gardens are totally and completely snow covered, with only one small foot track, each, to the garages.

From 2010 Photos February

Our reindeer stands deeply immersed in thought and snow. Just like Annikki, who has been wondering when it will be "snowman snow" as I think she is contemplating another unusual creation, like her mobile snowman, before the grandkids arrrive by March end!

From 2010 Photos February

The snow formations on the ladders and fretwork are reallly beautiful. The aluminium door and frame are a grewat view from the kitchen window.

Today and tomorrow are celebrated as the festival of Holi. Holi is celebrated, in many countries around the world where we have a Hindu population, and also in Bangladesh, at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna (February/March), (Phalgun Purnima), which usually falls in the later part of February or March.

We certainly hope that this long hard winter in Finland, and which seems to be an unusual phenomena around the northern hemisphere this year, will draw to a close and the milder, warmer spring weather will be on us. (Friends in Dallas, Texas, reported snowstorms even at that latitude!)

Annikki and I would like to wish you a colourful and happy year ahead on this auspicious day.

(All these above photographs are by Annikki.)

KTWV 11 Issue 15: Is this Christian?

2010-02-24T05:26:00.002+02:00

The Bishop of the Church of North India (Chairperson of the Governing Body of our alma mater and also a member of the alumni) and the Principal of our College (also a mmember of our alumni) keep talking about upholding Christian morals and values.

The latest news as reported by he Kolkata Telegraph last Sunday "Leaked mails suggest Stephen’s foul play" makes me wonder how any of these two can go into a church and practice their "primary" profession, when all we see reported in the media is a lot of lying and hypocrisy!

New Delhi, Feb. 22: Private email correspondence between the current principal of Delhi’s St Stephen’s college and key insiders suggests that Valsan Thampu’s controversial selection as head of the prestigious institution in late 2008 was rigged.The correspondence suggests Thampu dictated the exact procedure for selecting the principal through a key member of the college’s highest decision-making body and the legal counsel for the St Stephen’s chairman.

He was also allowed access to secret college documents and plans in the lead up to the selection when he was one of the candidates and had no official position in the institution, the correspondence reveals.

The correspondence threatens to hurl St Stephen’s – one of India’s most prestigious colleges – into its biggest controversy ever, and is peppered with ugly references to the sharp divides that have brought embarrassment in recent times. More.....

Where there is smoke there is surely a fire!

The recent petition being circulated amongst the alumni certainly draws one to believe that our alma mater is is state of decline on all fronts.

When will these people quit their desperate games to grasp power and money while our alnma mater rots?

KTWV 11 Issue 14: 2010 Doha Debate at St. Stephen's College in Photographs

2010-02-21T20:35:00.003+02:00

(Sorry for the photograph quality as they are directly snapped from the TV!)

The Premises: Auditorium, St. Stephen's College, Delhi

The Moderator with the Panel

The Proposition: 'This House beleives Muslims are not getting a fair deal in India'.

The Moderator Tim Sebastian

The Speakers

Seena Mustafa

Sachin Pilot

Teesta Setalvad

M. J. Akbar

The Questioners

'

The Audience

The Vote

KTWV 11 Issue 13: Commonwealth Games and St. Stephen's College Residence?

2010-02-20T06:38:00.007+02:00

Yesterday was an interesting article in India edunews.net that Delhi University students had been asked to vacate their rooms for delegates for the Commonwealth Games Conference.

In a world which has been changing and modernising so rapidly, the face our college presents to the delegates who may live there will the the old squatting toilets, no running hot water, rooms which are unheated - in fact, the picture of a third rate residential accommodation.

Can we state that in these modern times we are looking after our students if they are being subjected to living standards of bygone ages?

Annikki took umbrage with the authorities who organised the Veterans Olympics in 1991 when our Indian delegation was humiliated by being given third rate accommodation is a school premises where they had to sleep on the floor, dormitory style, while participants from other countries got five star hotel treatment!

This is what she wrote in 1991:

Veterans Olympics in Finland
by Annikki Matthan

The World Veterans Athletic Championship which was held in Turku, South Finland a few years ago (1991), is cause enough to deny Finland the right to host any international sporting event in which third world participants may wish to take part. It would be best if intending participants from these countries are informed of the heartless treatment that is likely to be meted out to them if they choose to come to this country for international sporting events.

It would also be wise if the Olympic Athletics Committees of developing countries discussed the matter with the veteran athletes that took part in these games and made an official complaint to the International Olympic Athletics Committee. The International Committee should be requested to fully investigate their findings. The IOC, based on their independent conclusions, should take steps to deny any country that behaves inhumanely towards athletes, like Finland did, the right to host any international sporting event.

Finland - the most expensive country in the world

It is without doubt that Finland is one of the most expensive countries in Europe and probably the world. The proof is the hotel bill I paid (special summer reduced rate of Rs. 4000 for one night!) when I stayed at a three star hotel during my visit to Turku where I had gone to see the Championships.

In this expensive hotel, as in all the five, four and three star hotels in Turku, were the participants from the richer countries and officials from all the participating countries enjoying hearty five and six course nutritious buffet breakfasts of their choice (fruit juice, tea, coffee or milk, corn flakes, yoghurt, a wide variety of vegetarian salads, preserved fish and meat, bread, toast, or rolls with butter and jam, and finally a fresh fruit as a large juicy orange). They had just descended to the plush breakfast room from their beautiful and tastefully decorated hotel rooms (equipped with telephone, radio, television sets, private shower and bath) after their early morning gratis sauna and swim in the hotel pool. In fact, anything that their money could buy was available to these contestants from the richer countries.

What about the contestants from India and the financially poorer world countries taking part, whose athletes did not have pockets lined with gold. Where were they?

Rude shock

There was a rude shock when I visited the large contingent of men and women from different parts of India.

They had been crowded into a couple of school rooms with mattresses spread out on the floor, twenty or more to a room. There were not even the basic facilities like cupboards to keep their clothes and sporting equipment. They had to queue to use the common toilets facilities. There were not even proper food facilities in line with their limited financial means (Rs. 200 for a most unappetising meal). They had to pay extravagant amounts to get anything and even had to pay an exorbitant bus fare for the seven kilometre trip between the two stadiums where the meet was being held. They had paid extremely high fees to take part in the events and were even made to pay high charges for use of these rudimentary facilities. These poor cousins were herded and treated like animals and fleeced like goats.

The caretaker of the school, taking pity on these poorly looked after athletes, gave his personal cooker to the Indian participants to prepare their own food. The participants, instead of training and resting, had to scour the ultra-expensive Finnish supermarkets for cheap products like milk (Rs. 35 per litre), rice (Rs. 85 per kilo) and vegetables (Rs. 160 per kilo of tomatoes) to meet their basic dietary requirements. Meat eaters would have had to pay anywhere from Rs. 250 to Rs. 800 for a kilo - so that was best avoided. Fruits and other basic ingredients of a healthy diet were totally financially inaccessible to these athletes, many of whom have owed their long life to their strict dietary habits.

Less enterprising participants from the neighbouring socialist countries, who shared the same school premises with the Indians, were considerably worse off than the Indians. They took to selling their watches and cameras to the slightly better off participants so as to afford to live.

Was the Olympics between equals

Is any contest between the richer and poorer nations held under these conditions equal in any respect? What was the meaning of the Olympic Motto under which this sporting event was supposed to be Hosted in Finland?

Moaned one Indian participant who had taken part in the Asian Veterans Championships at Kuala Lumpur earlier that year - "The Malaysians looked after our every need and made us feel welcome. If the Finns came to take part in any event in India they would be properly hosted - not treated like this - worse than animals!!"

Indians show the way

It was indeed a great achievement that two over-nineties from India, despite these adverse conditions they were subjected too, dominated their age-group events and ran their way to glory capturing all the medals that they could lay their hands on.

Athletic ninety year Narayanamurthy from Bull Temple Road, Basavangudi, Bangalore, born on 12th December 1900, was indeed oblivious to the problems around him.

His colleagues shared their humble food and drink with the sprightly gentleman. Full of beans (metaphorically speaking only) he was!! He captured the hearts of the sparse audience as his sprinted away a full 50 metres ahead of his rival in the 200 metres, as indeed in all the events he took part in. He more than justified the trust placed in him by the Karnataka Chief Minister who had, in his personal capacity, given Narayanamurthy a helping hand to take part.

So also was the case with fit-as-a-fiddle ninety-nine year old Joginder Singh from Patiala in Punjab. Narayanamurthy and Joginder Singh certainly did India proud at this occasion.

Indian hospitality

What was even more surprising was that when we visited the Indian contingent, never having met a single one of them before, friendship and hospitality, even under the conditions that they had been forced into, oozed out of them. They made us at home on the three wooden stools that were available for them to be shared between the couple of hundred athletes that were staying in the school. Even with their meagre resources, some of the lady athletes from Kerala produced piping hot cups of coffee for us strangers who had landed in their midst.

This was a mark of good culture, upbringing and sportsmanship - not what my country, Finland, had forced on these eager contestants who had spent fortunes from their own pockets to come to this country to participate in this event.

Finnish mismanagement

Who was to blame for this shambles? Was it the Sports and Cultural Ministries of Finland who had obviously ignored the event. Was it the City of Turku who had not taken steps to ensure that the event was organised as defined by rules of fair competition in sporting events.

Or, was it the officials of these Third World Participating Committees who did not raise a single voice in protest at the inhumane conditions that their participants were forced to live with or the gross inequality of the contest? Was it that the officials from these countries were wined and dined by the Finnish organisers so that they would not raise any noise about the arrangements, or rather the lack of them?

Is it any surprise that the medals in the more contested age groups were shared among the richer countries which could pay their way to victory? Is this the spirit of the fair sporting competition or the Olympic Movement!!

No first aid for injured

The numerous organisers and officials visible everywhere at the athletics stadium sported expensive bright new green uniforms, were picked and dropped in expensive cars and vans, and ate breakfast, lunch and dinner, at the expense of the athletes, in posh restaurants and hotels, obviously taking care to host the Committee Members from the participating countries but ignoring the starving third world athletes.

However, when a 85 year old participant stumbled and fell two yards away from the finishing post, not a single games official was on hand to rush to his aid.

It was the oldest participant of the competition, 99 year old Indian, Joginder Singh, who was talking to us just at the moment, who rushed onto the track to lift up the poor injured participant. No first aid was even offered by the officials to the injured man who, crestfallen and bleeding at the nose, angrily hobbled away into the centre of the stadium.

Sensational journalism

What about Press, Radio and Television coverage of the event? This meet was virtually ignored by the Finnish Press, except for sensational journalism. The results of the penultimate day were not even reported in the leading Finnish papers. On the other hand, the Finns started off their own National Athletics Championships in Helsinki on the concluding day of this international event with massive press, radio and television coverage and totally ignored the large contingent of foreign athletes, numbering close to 5000, who had assembled in their country for the international event. A strange sign of hospitality indeed!!

Is this the correct cultural way to host and promote an event which is designed to enthuse middle-aged and elderly people around the world to live better lives by keeping up their activity level?

Is any contest between the richer and poorer nations held under these condition equal in any respect? What was the meaning of the Olympic Motto under which this sporting event was supposed to be Hosted in Finland?

Atlanta Olympics - July 1996

The Olympics in Atlanta, USA, will certainly be organised so that all contestants are treated equally and participants from the poorer nations are accorded the same hospitality rather than as shown by these indifferent and inhumane Finnish organisers, aided by officials from the poorer nations who only looked after their own interests rather than the interests of the people they represented.

All these amateur participants at future Veterans Olympics should be given the same level of hospitality by hosting countries. They are a finer example to the people of today than the commercialised superstars of the modern day Olympics who can well afford to pay for their comforts.

Now it is my turn to point out that India needs to wake up when hosting an international event like the Commonwealth Games and ensure that all the delegates get equal treatment!

I hope our College Authorities as well as the Indian Sports Authorities will take note of this!

KTWV 11 Issue 12: Golf in Bangalore

2010-02-16T06:00:00.001+02:00

The Southern Stephanian Chapter of our alumni was involved in representing our college in Inter Public Schools Golf Tournament 2010 last weekend.

I wrote to Alok Chandra for the result, which was very promptly sent to me:

Hi All,

Results of the ‘Inter Public Schools Golf Tournament 2010’ held at the Karnataka Golf Association golf course on Friday 5th Feb were:

WINNERS ......Lawrence......306
RUNNERS UP......Stephen's......267
2nd RUNNERS UP......Doon......259
3rd RUNNERS UP ......Mayo......189

INDIVIDUAL WINNERS
NAME..........................................SCORE

CATEGORY 3 (handicap 24 - 30)
WINNER ...........ASHOK RAO (OL)..................37
RUNNERS UP........SUBIR HARI SINGH (STEPHENS )....34

CATEGORY 2 (handicap 18 - 23)
WINNER ...........ALOK CHANDRA(STEPHENS)..........36
RUNNERS UP........RAMESH VENKATESHWARAN (OL)......35

CATEGORY 1 (handicap upto 17)
WINNER ...........ALOK MALHOTRA (OL)..............37
RUNNERS UP........SANJEEV VOHRA (DOON)............34

BEST GROSS
WINNER...........SANJEEV MEHRA (DOON).............27
RUNNERS UP.......ARUN MURUGAPPAN (DOON)...........24

BEST NET
WINNER...........SALIL PUNOOSE (STEPHENS).........41
RUNNERS UP.......DR GAUTAM KODIKAL (DOON).........35

Some progress in the rankings for Lal Sitara!

Regards

Alok Chandra

Congratuations to Alok, Subir and Salil.

I will try to get the Bangalore Bishop Cottonians and Mumbai Cathedxralites to take part next year, so please give me some advance warning. Plenty of good players in both these alma maters of mine!

KTWV 11 Issue 11: Doha Debate in College

2010-02-15T16:18:00.003+02:00

The College is into some, hopefully better, press than we have been plagued with for almost three years.

The decision to hold the Doha Debate in the college premises has brought some positive news about our alma mater in the world's media.

The debate, which should be over by now as I write this on the evening of Monday 15th February, had as the topic "This House believes Muslims are not getting a fair deal in India"

Many of our alumni felt this was a very inappropriate topic for our College. As India has had two Presidents who were Muslims, the highest post in India, I think that there is much to be said against the topic. Also, as a person who has worked with ethnic minorities who are refugees in Finland, I think that the Muslims, and all ethnic minorities in India have had a better deal than the refugees that I have come across. I am not suggesting for a moment that they have a rosy and cushy time, but the longer we pamper the minorities, the longer will be the lack of integration into the mainstream.

Injustices should be removed. The legal system should be transparent. We should be a totally secular country in all respects. Let us hope that Doha Debate in our college has focussed on the pros and cons facing all minorities in india, not just the largest one - the Muslims!

Let us see when we view the edited version of the debate on 20th and 21st February on BBC World News TV Channel.

This was what was written in the online edition of UMMID.com

Speaking for the motion is Ms. Seema Mustafa, the Editor of Covert magazine. She has authored a number of books on Indian politics and in 1999 received the prestigious Prem Bhatia Award for Excellence in Political Reporting and Analysis for her coverage of the Kargil war.

With her is Ms. Teesta Setalvad, Civil rights activist and the co-founder of Sabrang Communications, an organisation aimed at protecting and promoting human rights in India. She has been at the forefront of the campaign for justice for the victims of the Gujarat riots and in 2003 she won the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award. In 2007 she was awarded the prestigious civilian honour, the Padma Shri by the Indian Government for her work in public affairs.

Against them is M.J.Akbar, distinguished journalist and Chairman and Director of Publications of Covert Magazine. He has launched and edited several publications in India including a new weekly publication The Sunday Guardian and served as a member of India’s Parliament from 1989-1992.

He is joined by the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot. Pilot made history in 2004 by becoming the youngest Member of Parliament when he was elected in Dausa, Rajasthan. He won by a record margin of over 120,000 votes.

The trip to St. Stephen’s College, one of India’s top-rated educational institutions, is a sign of the unique status of The Doha Debates as the leading forum for free speech in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

For more information of the broadcast visit the Doha Debate website.

I will reserve my verdict about the Debate after I view it in its entirety. I found that one TV airing will be next Saturday at 11 am Finnish Time.

KTWV 11 Issue 10: Alumni coming together?

2010-02-10T14:01:00.005+02:00

2009 Founders' Day Coffee Session after programme of speech
by Past Indian President Abdul Kalam.

I had an interesting email sent to me through the Southern Stephanian Society Alumni Group which operates out of Bangalore:

from CHERIAN JACOB
reply-to southern-stephanian-society@googlegroups.com
date 10 February 2010 11:49
subject Please read this.
mailing list

www.savestephens.web.officelive.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Southern Stephanian Society" group.
To post to this group, send email to southern-stephanian-society@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to southern-stephanian-society+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/southern-stephanian-society?hl=en.

That took me to a site which was called

Save St. Stephen's College
Yes We Can

which had the following text and links (Emphasis MINE.):

College is facing the greatest threat ever to its existence. The administrative and financial autonomy of the College is being undermined. Alumni and well-wishers have to put their heads together and intervene. It is important to have clear understanding of the turn of events which has led to the present crisis. A detailed note on the crisis facing College and other documents is posted on the web. An online petition appealing to the Chairman not to destabilize the institution is also in circulation. They can be accessed through the links provided.

Note on the Crisis Facing Stephen's College
Letter by 23 of the 45 permanent faculty expressing disapproval at the humiliation meted out to Mr. N Raghunathan
Letter to VC
Resolution passed by the Governing Body *
Letter from the Chairman, Bishop Sunil Kumar Singh* asking for an inquiry into the dharna staged by some teachers
Letter from the University of Delhi * stating its disapproval of appointing a Bursar in violation of university ordinance.
Online petition appealing to the Bishop not to interfere and hijack the College: http://www.petitiononline.com/sscd2k10

Please go to the site to download and see the various documents.

Although I am glad that some members of our alumni are taking steps, preferably I would have liked to do it behind the scenes with each Alumni Group (New York, Kolkotta, Mumbai, Singapore, Bangalore, etc.) calling together its own Action Committee and then meeting at the national level with a strong uniform voice about what should happen in and with the college.

However, I am pleased that this has happened, as I have been calling for something on these lines for several years.

Our College is in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

We should reclaim our College from all disruptive forces and help make the College a beacon for the education of tomorrow, not a hot bed for politics and fundamentalism.

The symbol of OUR UNITY -
The Blacksmith, the modern one (2009)!

I would like to state some of the obvious:

We should have the finest faculty in all branches we intend to teach in our learned institution.
We should have the brightest and best students in the College.
We should have professional management to run the College, both the teaching, the education and the premises.
We should optimise all the aspects of running an educational institution.
We should modernise in keeping with similar institutions around the world.
We should involve alumni who have experience in managing a national education institution.
We should change our focus to handle the problems that face the India of tomorrow.
We should stop the reservation policy for anybody which is only detrimental to all communities in the long run.

There are lot more ideas to offer to any Action Group, as I have seen how our small town of Oulu has a University, which is a Centre of Excellence in several fields, and is also run professionally. If we could do it in a city of just 120000 people, I see no reason why it cannot be done in our College!

Thank you guys for making this happen.

KTWV 11 Issue 09: Holy Spot missing

2010-02-09T12:41:00.004+02:00

Those of you who remember our Holi celebrations will remember the muddy pond we used to create just outside the dining hall. It was a terrible state and we all revelved in it like 5 years´olds, dumping all our friends and enemies in that muck.

This last visit I made to college I noted that a barbed wire fence has been put up by the tap, so it would be too dangerous to follow this sport today.

Another change in our customs, but probably a welcome one, as not many liked being dunked in that foul water and muck!

KTWV 11 Issue 08: Passing away of Babloo Das

2010-02-01T15:57:00.004+02:00

It is with great deal of sadness I have to inform you of the passing away of a young Stephanian, a former President of the college.

This is the information I received from the Southern Stephanian Alumni Group operating out of Bangalore:

We are sad to announce the passing away of Rajendra Das, known to many as Babloo, on 1 February 2010 at 3:42am in Bangalore . To celebrate his life, a memorial service will be held at the Indiranagar Methodist Church (13 main - 100 feet road crossing) on 6 February 2010 at 4pm. Kindly inform your friends and acquaintances who knew him.

Santona (Bulbul) : wife
Rajiv ( Gudu ) : son
Ishita Verma ( Baby ) : daughter
Dr. Shyam Verma : son-in-law
Sneha Das : daughter-in-law
Udit : grandson

Though I did not know Babloo, from what I have heard, he was a person dedicated to helping others in true Stephanian tradition.

We have conveyed our condolences to the family through the Southern Stephanian Group.

May his soul rest in peace.

KTWV 11 Issue 07: Alumnis waking up

2010-01-31T07:14:00.007+02:00

First it was New York (Prof. Sreenath Sreenevasan), then Singapore (Akash Mohapatra), then Bangalore (Alok Chandra), Kolkotta (Satish Dhall) and now Mumbai (Vijay Shukla). The alumni in each of these cities is slowly waking up.

This is a recent message received from the Mumbai Alumni:

The Reunion Dinner is being held on Friday, 5th February 2010 from 8.00 p.m. onwards at the Main Lawns, Willingdon Sports Club, Mumbai.

We take this opportunity with great pleasure to invite you and your spouse/partner for this function. We are confident that your evening would be delightful in our company.

We request you to kindly inform all those Stephanians who are in touch with you to be a part of this occasion.

Looking forward to meet you, your presence would be valuable.

Thank You.

Vijay Shukla

shuks10 @ hotmail.com
+919769210535

All it takes is for a couple of Stephanians of any age to get together, and we have so many memories to share, so many PJs to exchange and chance for a real gup-shup! (I wonder if this language is still used in college?)

It is never ending source of delight to meet up or exchange notes with the alumni.

Standing: 2nd from left 61er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, 6th from left 58er Rahul Bajaj, 8th from left me (a 63er) and far right, 63er Siddarth Singh.

Meeting 58er Rajya Sabha MP Rahul Bajaj, 61er former Commissioner of Jammu & Kashmir Ashok (Tony) Jaitly and 63er retired Ambassador Siddarth Singh during my recent visit to Delhi and then later, 62er retired Ambassador Niranjan Desai, 69er Integration Council Member John Dayal and then a whole host of past and present day Stephanians and staff in the College during the Founders' Day event (including the Bishop and the Principal - both of the Alumni), certainly was a most vitalising feeling.

I also met a lot of Stephanians in Kottayam when I attended the wedding of my nephew, Harsha Mathew, a Stephanian of recent era. Besides 61er Lt. Col. Jose Vallikappan (retd.), 62er Dr. Peter (Tubby) Philip, 63ers George Verghese and Abe Tharakan, 64er Mammen (Rajen) Mathew, 67er Philip Mathew, I met a whole host of younger Stephanians including Mariam (Anu) Mathew (née Paul), Rahul Mammen Mappillai, Amit Mathew, Riyad Mathew, Adit Mammen and his wife Deepshikha (also a sStephanian) who reside presently in Australia, Rohan Mammen, and many many more. Sadly in Bangalore I was only able to connect very briefly with 68er Arun Matthan.

The West Bengal Chapter of our Alumni has as its current President 64er Satish Dhall. The Governor of West Bengal is a Stephanian - 67er His Excellency Shri Gopal Krishna Gandhi. He hosted the Alumni Reunion at the Raj Bhavan on 21st November of last year. If I had known, I would have flown to Kolkotta to attend it as there are several Stephanians of my era there: 62er Rathikant Basu, 63er Sujit Bhattacharya and 64er Nirmal Jhalla - just to name a few! There are several in Kolkotta who have not yet connected with the Alumni Association there.

My hope is that Stephanians around the world who read this Web Version of Kooler Talk will use this forum to communicate to the almost 3000 regular Stephanian readers who check out here periodically. Please share your thoughts and ideas with me as I start to try to get together a plan to ensure that our alma mater is not pushed down the drain hole!

KTWV 11 Issue 06: Should I be agitated?

2010-01-30T09:29:00.006+02:00

I was browsing around the College Web Site when I came across a page called "Kooler Talk" with a sign asking "Any takers"?

I promptly sent an email to the webmaster, which was given at the bottom of that page, pointing out the my Kooler Talk Web Version has been online for over a decade! I also pointed out that Ashok Jaitly has pointed this out prominently in his book on the History of the College.

St. Stephen's College: A History by Ashok (Tony) Jaitly (1958-1961).

Page 85 mentions the Online Kooler Talk - This ONE!

With 3000 Stephanians around the world checking in regularly on my Kooler Talk, I wonder whether it is a sort of ego problem for the webmaster of the College Site not to acknowledge this. He, and his predecessors, have been fully aware of my Kooler Talk for many years.

When I visited college at the end of last year, many staff and students paid rich compliments to my perseverance in keeping this alive for over a decade! They were all aware of it and most said that they enjoyed my nostalgic presentations. (Remember, I (Like Tony) was around when the original Kooler Talk was launched. Articles by me can be found in the first few publications.)

That email bounced, showing that nobody really looks after the whole site.

Another Kooler Talk without any purpose probably is an act of sabotage against my efforts. Why?

I resent the email to the email address on the main page of the college site - but it has not been acknowledged, as yet!

KTWV 11 Issue 05: Discovering alumnis

2010-01-23T13:51:00.004+02:00

During te last few moths, when our alma mater has been suffering due to the behaviour of "grown" men and women, I have been looking out to see where our various alumni associations exist.

There was a close knit group of Stephanians in Singapore. I have lost touch with them of late.

Professor Sreenath Sreenivasan keeps his New York flock abreast of major developments.

Of late, I am glad to see that the Bangalore alumni have started to click together.

And just yesterday, I received news of the Mumbai alumni.

If you have news about other alumni groups, please forward them to me so that I can put them up, with their web pages, if available, and their contact email addresses on the web.

Without a strong and dedicated alumni, the college will continue on its wayward path.

KTWV 11 Issue 04: Dilemma! What do I do?

2010-01-21T06:16:00.000+02:00

I was in this dilemma when I stated blogging in December 2004. I had one blog for all my different audiences. At that time I also had web pages devoted to different sectors of readers.

There was a clamour amongst my readers of the blog that I was out of tune with them as they were reading many items that they were not interested in as they pertained to my alma maters or something specific to Oulu, etc.

It was then I started breaking up my blogs - besides my primary Blog (Jacob's Blog), I started one on Politics, another related to my association with Cathedral School (Mumbai), another about St. Stephen's College (Delhi), another about finding goods and services in Oulu, etc.

Everybody was happy!

All went well till my recent trip to India, where I stopped all my auxiliary blogs and kept only my main blog going, with just a few very specific entries to my other blogs.

My readership shot up as it appeared that many were interested in all aspects of my trip around India - which I had termed as "Incredible India".

The readership more than doubled at one point. People were referring others to my blog and it just snow-balled into a massive readerfest. Old and young, relatives and friends, school and college mates, Findians, O-Indians, my professional colleagues, past and present, were all tuned in. And many strangers from around the world were liking my style!

Wherever I went I found I needed no introduction as people had been following my blog. As I recorded, at one stage it became highly embarrassing, as people would come up to me and ask whether I knew them!

On returning to Finland, I went back to my old system.

Now I am having a spate of complaints. Many say that I should only blog at one point.

That would be great for me but not fair on my diverse audience. For instance the Cathedral School Alumni Association have especially complimented me on my sustained effort to keep the school spirit at its height by my blogging.

That is definitely not possible as my Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs have very specific readerships. And not everyone likes my Politics. To burden all my regular readers with MY political views would be unfair. And my Oulu Best (Worst) Buy Blog is very specific to my Oulu Readers. Who in India or USA wants to read about the price of eggs in Oulu?

Is there any single solution, which is outside my very limited knowledge, which will help keep all my readers happy?

One way is that you could become a "Follower" of a specific blog. Whenever the one you are interested is updated, you will get a message from Google. No infringement of your privacy. You can always stop the "Follower" program whenever you want.

That way, it would stop my having to post important blog entries on my multiple blogs. (Possibly - as I have not yet looked into the ramifications of this alternative.)

If you have any suggestions, please email me or leave me a COMMENT. (Although my blogs are not exactly "Comment" blogs, I do read all the comments and reply them appropriately - also knocking off the spam that does come in.

This entry is being posted on all my major blogs, as it concerns all my readers in all categories.

KTWV 11 Issue 03: Active alumni is important

2010-01-17T11:27:00.008+02:00

It is so wonderful to read on Facebook about the very active alumni we have in Bangalore.

The Southern Stephanian Facebook Group is certainly getting their aim right. The Golf Tournament organised by them is pulling in many takers.

Well done, Southern Stephanians, but do also take up the issues which plague our alma mater these days.

Sreenath Sreenivasan, our talented professor, tech savvy journalist in New York, is certainly helping to keep that alumni faced in the right direction. I know we have a great bunch of guys in Singapore, but they have been out of touch for some time. Pressures of the global financial melt down?

It is only with a strong and active alumni around the world that we can drive our college back along the right track.

Above all we need an active alumni centre at home base in New Delhi.

Any Stephanians in Finland? After Professor Ajeet Mathur moved back to India and the Indian institute of Management in Ahmedabad, I am left as an alumni of 1!

And I am active!!! :-)

KTWV 11 Issue 02: Is this how we should be in the news?

2010-01-12T22:41:00.004+02:00

I was a bit peeved when I read this in today's Delhi / Calcutta "The Telegraph": Minority education cell minus hands.

"Current St Stephen’s College principal Valson Thampu was first appointed the Christian member but was forced to quit amid controversy.

Is this how we want the alma mater to be remembered in the News Media?

Is this not what is the result of the washing dirty linen in public disregarding the consequences of such actions?

As you will recall, I analysed the character of Rev. Valsan Thampu at the outset many years ago and said that here was a person who had reached the limit as defined by the Peter Principle. My recent visit to the College for Founders' Day did not in any way result in the change of my opinion.

Not that his current adversary, the Bishop of North India, is any better.

Both of them, by their immaturity and childishness, have brought only shame to the work of the Church and our alma mater.

Is that what Our Lord intended?

Now this is what haunts the alma mater.

We should have professional management introduced and see that the College develops on all fronts and stays as the Number 1 institution of "education" in India.

I hope we can see better days soon.

KTWV 11 issue 01: Integration Council members

2010-01-10T00:28:00.002+02:00

I read today in the Indian Telegraph about the new "Minority boost to integration council".

Here are the names of people that may be on that council:

The Telegraph has learnt that the proposed names include those of Justice A.M. Ahmadi, Omar Abdullah, Salman Khurshid, Syed Shahabuddin, Asaduddin Owaisi, Shahid Lateef, Shabnam Hashmi, John Dayal, Ramdas M. Pai (president and chancellor, Manipal University), Valsan Thampu (St Stephen’s College principal), Roman Catholic Archbishop Vincent M.C. Concessao, Ratan Tata, Rahul Bajaj, N.R. Narayana Murthy and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

Recognise some names in that list?

Shahid Lateef is the wife of 62er Stephanian Sarwar Lateef. John Dayal is a Stephanian, as also present Principal of the College, Rev. Valsan Thampu. Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, Rahul Bajaj, is both a 58er Stephanian and also a 54er Cathedralite. Ratan Tata was a Cathedralite for a part of his education. I have not had the good fortune to meet him personally, although his younger brother, Jimmy, was a close friend and my hockey mate.

During my recent visit to Delhi I did meet John, Valsan and Rahul.

John broke protocol and came to see me the day I was leaving. He had just got back from Orissa and he came over that morning just to spend a few minutes over breakfast. And I did say a short prayer, holding hands with him, for his devoted work for the people of India. Maybe this is where I show him the meaning for that prayer.

I met Thambu at the St. Stephen's Founder's Day celebration on Monday 7th December, where I took part in the Holy Communion Service in the College Chapel, and then at the proceedings in the College Assembly Hall where former Indian President Abdul Kalam was the Chief Guest.

Sadly I do not see Valsan as a man with much vision at this moment of time. Hopefully God will lead him in the right direction if he gives up his ways of playing politics for power!

And Rahul paid me the greatest tribute by staying on a extra day in Delhi to be present at an event organised by Delhi Cathedrtalite to meet with Annikki and me. Having led an industry to the zenith, he now has a wondeful opportunity to show his fellow men that he has the vision to lead minorities to the centre of Indian society as equals.

Sadly, I did not learn till later that Sarwar and Shahid were in Delhi, as otherwise I would certainly have met up with this very dear couple. Shahid has always been at the forefront of the women's movement as well as a powerful spokesperson for uplifting of Muslim women.

I do hope this Council will stop beating about the bush and get a move on, not on the antiquated model of reservation of seats for the minorities in schools, colleges and jobs, but by uplifting the hearts and minds of these people labelled as minorities, into them thinking that they can compete on equal terms with the best of the world. They are not second class citizens of the world, so let us stop treating them as such.

You treat people as weak and they will be weak. You treat them as human beings and they can outstrip the very best.

Look at the fantastic performance of the black community in sports in the USA and UK (and also Kenya, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Canada, France, etc., etc.). They do not need to be treated as weak and powerless minorities. Given the right role models, they will bring in performances that are better than the best of their more fortunate brothers and sisters.

That itself is the tonic for success, not reservations, which is the sure tonic for failure!

I remember the words of my friend, former Ambassador Niranjan Desai, while we were having lunch together at the International Centre just a few weeks ago. He said that by treating the minorities as we do presently, we will not achieve any improvement in their standards.

I fully agree with his reasoning. This Integration Council should start looking at other ways to uplift the ethnic minorities in India than stupid and unrealistic reservation policies!

Recognise inherent cultural and ethnic talents. Build on successes. Do not force people into streams where they are doomed to fail.

In short, I hope this council will bring forward a new vision to the way we handle the integration of minorities into mainstream society!

KTWV 10 Issue 28: Crisis in College

2009-12-28T12:44:00.002+02:00

There is a document being circulated amongst the Alumni which is entitled "Crisis in College". Leading alumni member Ashok Jaitly sent me a copy. I received several copies via various alumni groups that I am associated with. Many alumni who are readers of my Kooler Talk Web Version also sent me the document for my comment.

Very serious allegations are being levelled in this document. The fight between the Bishop and the Principal, former allies, has now blown into full scale war. That some of the staff are now in with the Principal seems to give his hand some strength.

However, the issue is much deeper than what is laid out in the document. It is the scramble for money and control of the money making machine.

As i noted on my recent visit to the college in early December, the state of the college and the upkeep were certainly not up to international standards. It seems that parts of the college are still being kept in the middle ages. The toilets are still squat toilets. There is no running hot and cold water. The green lawns in many places have vanished. The Junior Common Room was in shambles. There appears to ne no water harvesting on the college grounds. There appears to have been no effort to tap renewable energy resources.

It shows a lack of vision amongst the people at the helm of affairs in the college.

The college, rated as the best for learning skills should be modernised and maintained on par with international institutions.

Education is far more than just what one learns in the classroom. It is the inculcation of civic sense and modernisation of systems which make life easy and rewarding. It should eliminate waste and ensure new technologies are quickly implemented within the college so that the students go out with confidence to take these skills and knowledge into the outside world.

I was given the opportunity to make my views known by the Philosophy Department. Sadly my time in Delhi was cut short. I was unable to make what small contribution I could have. Maybe in these blog entries I can make some effort to bring some of the issues to the forefront in the coming months and years.

If the college cannot change with the times, it shows bad leadership. That is why the in-fighting and bad publicity are at the forefront. It is an effort to divert attention from the real issues.

Certainly the staff and the alumni must play a role in the running of the college, but if they spend their time in issues far related from what the situation is on the ground, they will remain as isolated as the Bishop and his cohorts.

At the Founders' day coffee session, one respected alumni member (1955) castigated another respected alumni member (1957) for a lack of interest in the affairs of the college.

Both are right as the alumni should be more than involved in making sure that the college develops on all fronts so that we can be proud of our alma mater. Success breeds further interest. Bad press drives people away from involvement.

Let us rethink our positions before we start taking sides with one group or another. Let us put forward a modernisation programme for our alma mater which will make any other institution in the world look up to our alma mater.

When we achieve that, and that is where our finances should be directed, not on the outside show, but the inner workings, then we will see that we are clean both on the inside and the outside.

KTWV 10 Issue 27: Criminal police investigates

2009-12-26T21:53:00.003+02:00

I recently got a spam message from one Kapil Jain addressed to the southern-stephanian-society@googlegroups.com.

Today I got an email from one Shiv Nair, also through the same group, that the spam mail from Kapil Jain was being investigated by the Criminal Police a cyber crime and fraud.

I did actually click on the link sent by Kapil Jain as he mentioned having bought an Apple Mac at a low price. The site he sent me to appeared to be selling unlocked Apple iPhones as well as Apple Mac laptops at ridiculously low prices.

I knew from that that the site was either hawking stolen stuff or it was probably a scam, so I left the site.

It came as a surprise to read about the action started against the individual.

This information is being given to the appropriate legal authorities dealing with cyber crime and fraud. Once criminal action is commenced against you, the person to whom you sent the email reserves the right to use whatever information that may emerge from the said criminal investigations to take both criminal and civil action against you for damages both punitive and putative and any and all other forms of legal and financial redress for the attempt you have made to cheat him or initiate actions that would have led to his financial loss by fraudulent means.

No further intimation will be sent prior to the commencement of the actions stated above.

This message is copied to the relevant authorities, both legal and judicial.

Can anyone explain what is going on?

Gone are the days when one could hawk anything and cheat all and sundry on the internet. It is most important to check sites which you intend to recommend.

My only wish is that none of the people involved are actually Stephanians, although that may be hoping to much as to send an email to the southern-stephanian-society, one obviously has to be a Stephanian.

Take care folks!

KTWV 10 Issue 26: I finally got it

2009-12-09T17:36:00.008+02:00

I have been waiting almost three years to get my hands on this. I had asked several friends passing through Delhi to try and pick it up. with no success.

The very day I arrived in Delhi, I went to the nearby store and asked if it was available.

First they said it was, but after a search, they said it wasn't.

They promised that they would order it for me. They did it straight away. They told me it would come immediately.

That was on the Monday the 30th of November. I have been going almost every day to check whether it had arrived.

Imagine my joy when I went in this evening and found it had come.

I quickly thumbed through it and found where my Kooler Talk Web Version was mentioned. On page 85.

Sadly, probably the only spelling mistake in the book is the name of the town where I live - it has been spelt as Ouli whereas it should be Oulu!

Not that it matters. Unfortunately the URL

http://koolertalk.blogspot.com

has not been given, so many will not know how to reach the longest surviving version of Kooler Talk!

The book "St. Stephen's College : A History" was written by Ashok (Tony) Jaitly. Tony was three years ahead of me in school in Mumbai and also the same in college. He was a great sportsman, much like his brother, Ravi. He is also a wonderful friend as are all the Jaitly family.

As I went through this book, I found it very readable.

I think I am going to enjoy my flight to London from Mumbai on Sunday night as I get through this book. It will provide me much material for the blog as I recall many of the incidents recounted therein!

Unfortunately, things are getting worse as far as the College is concerned.

Such immature childishness is hard to understand. It was reported in today's newspaper that the Bishop has now filed a show cause notice against the College Chaplain for being outside his house with some protesters.

Does it not as if he is behaving like the Pharisees and Sadducee's when the went after Jesus Christ?

KTWV 10 Issue 25: Delhi Roundup

2009-12-09T00:30:00.002+02:00

St. Stephen's College Founders' Day being Sunday, the official programme was put over to Monday. The Communion Service in the College Chapel was scheduled for 08:30 am. I was already at the College by 07:45 am.

I walked around the Chapel and took some photographs. Compared to a few days ago, the grounds looked clean and tidy, with lots of flowers, etc.

It reminded me of a story my dad used to tell me that some friends of his, a husband and wife, were the model of a great relationship on the surface to the outside world, but once they were on their own, they were bitter enemies.

It is not enough to put on a show for the neighbours. That is not the genuine thing!

I waited in the Chapel as people started to roll in. The Chairman of St Stephen’s College’s Supreme Council and Governing Body, Bishop Reverend Sunil Kumar Singh went in through the vestry door. The Principal, Reverend Valson Thampu, showed his colours by coming in through the Chapel main door.

That the atmosphere between them was at the lowest of lowest ebbs was visible to me as they each silently fought to show that each was in control of events.

It was a regular communion service. The sermon by the Bishop was not a very moving piece. I think I could have written a more inspiring one for the assembled gathering.

The service was followed by coffee / tea and some snacks on the Chapel lawn. A far cry from the breakfasts that used to be hosted in our day by the Principal.

I managed to speak to a few of the assembled gathering including the pastor who had been the one in St. James Cathedral in Kashmeri Gate when I was around. Surprisingly, he looked quite young considering his 59 years in service to the Church in India.

There were a couple of Alumni who attended the service, but in the main, it was the students, and predominantly girls.

There was about an hour to spend before the Chief Guest for the Founders' Day commemoration programme in the Assembly Hall was due. The former Indian President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was to address the gathering.

I spent time roaming the gardens and the building taking photographs.

I sat in the seating meant for Guests, just behind the Teachers, who had streamed in, in their colourful robes denoting their status, followed by the Bishop, Principal and the former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam.

Here, again the bitter feud between the Principal and the Bishop was more than evident to those assembled.

In this day and age, to honour the Founding Fathers, there are far better ways than doing a physical read out, totally incomplete, of their names. But Principal Rev. Valson Thambu wanted to hold centre stage and show he was in charge of proceedings. He used this opportunity to show his position - sadly the approach of one lacking in knowledge about the ways of the world.

What a world of difference between Founders' Day in Mumbai for our school, where the entire St. Thomas Cathedral was packed to the brim with the alumni and a moving tribute was made to our Founders, and this today, where there were just a handful of alumni present.

Give me the Mumbai celebration any day as a strong alumni means a strong institution. There has been criticism of senior alumni who do not show any interest in the affairs of the college. This was expressed to me during this Founders' Day.

Is that because of their indifference or the indifference of the college to the alumni? In my opinion it is the latter. The alma mater should instill a sense of belonging to its alumni, whereupon, the alumni will respond. I know that I get that response on my Kooler Talk Blog, as everyone loves nostalgia!

In his attempt to make this a solemn occasion, Rev. Thambu advised the audience not to clap during the proceedings.

When the Chief Guest was introduced, the clapping of the audience was instantaneous. When he finished his speech, it was again a sound of appreciation!

Did President APJ Abdul Kalam say something stirring and moving. In my opinion - No! He talked about some of the teachers who had inspired him by their concern for him, but that is hardly anything soul moving. For instance, he talked of the kindergarten teacher who came to his house because he missed a day of school! Presideent Kalam spoke as if he was speaking to bunch of kindergarten kids! He pushed his own web site more than once!

There was a samosa, gulab jamuun, tea and coffee serving on the lawn outside the Assembly Hall. I did manage to meet a few former Stephanians, including a 55er. It sort of reminded me of tea we had offered (thanks to Principal Sircar) after the first ever JCR Evening we had held in 1961-62 when I was the President!

I rushed back for lunch with some dear old friends including Balan, the professor of economics in Hansraj College (and a wizard about cricket politics) and my old and dear friend, Krish Veerappan, formerly of MRF and now CEO of OSS, an MNC company marketing helicopters.

It was Balan and Krish, who with my late cousin, Ravi Mammen, and Ratnam in Madras, who had put together and successfully run the 1989 Cricket World Cup and also put together the MRF Pace Foundation.

Balan reminded me that the first choice to be the coach at the Pace Foundation had been Madan Lal. Madan Lal had said he wanted to operate out of New Delhi, where he would fly out to Madras when required. Ravi had countered this by telling him that he would have a permanent flight ticket between Madras and Delhi, but it was necessary to operate out of Madras. MRF used to have 5 seats blocked on every Madras - Delhi flight those days. As luck would have it, the negotiations fell through, and the job was given to T. A. Sekhar, who with Ratnam, did a phenomenal job for the MRF Cricket Division and the Pace Foundation through the next two decades along with Dennis Lillee. In the background Balan and Krish kept the atmosphere going in New Delhi!

Although I was in Finland at that time, my close friendships with many of those involved kept me briefed on almost all the major developments during that time. Those were indeed exciting days!!

Gossip has it that Sekhar who was drawing a very nominal salary in MRF has now moved to Reliance at 50 times his previous earnings. He certainly deserves it as besides his job as the coach, he was a person who could pick up the phone and speak to any top cricketer, world wide, and Reliance intend to use him just for that!

It was Cathedralite 64er Deepak and his business partner, Kuki Chawla, cousin of my dear Stephanian 63er friend Ajay Verma, who organised this reunion of old friends.

We had a solid gup shup session where we got to renew our old friendships.

Amazing how we are intertwined at the hips in spite of all of us being poles apart in our regular life! The bond is so deep as if we are one family. I always consider Krish as a younger brother, and he has always treated me as his elder brother, showing deep respect for our friendship. Krish and Nair (and Guptaji) have contributed so much to the success of MRF during the days of licence Raj, so much so that till my uncle (Kochappachen, K. M. Mammen Mappillai) passed away, Krish did not leave his post as the one running the Corporate Office in MRF, Delhi. Nair, had to come twice to the Guest House where I am staying in an attempt to see me. Such is the depth of friendships that has existed between us that time and distance cannot change them. Personal loyalties far exceeded the demands of personal goals, something which is rare in professionals.

Then it was time for me to hit the wayward ICICI Bank. Despite their apologies, nothing has worked. Maybe tomorrow will see some progress as I have asked them to give me a concrete solution as to how THEY intend to solve my problem!

In the evening it was time to meet my cousins, Suresh (Peter Philip) from Mumbai and Ashok (Kuriyan) from Bangalore, as we intended to get together today, to thrash out some issues. More about that, possibly, in another update.

We tried to go to Karim's in Nizzamuddin for dinner, but found it shut, as it was Monday. So we went to our old college day haunt, Pindi Restaurant in Pandara Road Market.

And so ended another exciting day in the Indian Capital!

KTWV 10 Issue 24: Meeting Another Heap

2009-12-04T18:43:00.002+02:00

(Also posted on my main blog - Jacob's Blog, where I am posting all the entries during this extended trip around India.)

Lunch yesterday at the India International Centre in New Delhi was a most pleasant experience. (Not just the Thali meal!)

I renewed contact with another of my dearest St. Stephen's College friends - Niranjan Desai (also know as Heap 1: Ajay was Heap 2: I was Heap 3 - meaning a Heap of TROUBLE!). Niranjan was a year senior to me and was studying English Honours. He was from East Africa. He was and is still is a thorough gentleman with a great sense of humour.

In college, we were a group who lived between 1960 amnd 1963 in Mukerji East residential block. (Mukerji West did not exist in our time.)

Even though I say it myself, we were a great crowd. Besides Niranjan and myself, Ajay (Sweden), Badri (Switzerland, youngest every Padma Shiri), Choppy, Daisy (London), Norval, late Rajen, Rajiv, Ramani, Ravi, Rijwhani, Sujit (Kolkotta), Titch, etc., were just a few of our very happy and lively bunch. We were like one family.

The group consisted of Eco, English, Chemistry, History, Maths, Physics, and General Science students - but that did not make a difference, as we were all on the same wavelength.

When I met Niranjan this time, it was not as if a day had passed since our college days. He was looking trim, and except for his white hair, like mine, he was still the same smiling jovial self.

He has seen much of the world as he took up Indian citizenship, joined the Foreign Service and after being declared persona non grata in Uganda, when Idi Amin was on the rampage, he has served in various capacities including his Ambassadorship to Egypt, Switzerland and senior appointments in London and USA (both New York and Washington D. C.). He organised the Festival of India in both London and the USA, both of which received wonderful international coverage.

Of course, I did not know all this, but learnt a lot during our lunch together when time just passed quicker than one wanted.

Niranjan now works for an interesting organisation run by a brilliant young NRI presently based in Mumbai, who was described by Niranjan as a talented workaholic, Neville Tuli. Known as the OSIAN's, their contribution to Indian Culture is something which takes the breath away. They could not have found a better Ambassador than Niranjan.

Among the many things that have been established, two stick out. They have attempted and succeeded in launching the first serious Auction House in India, much on the lines of Sotheby's, Christies and Philips.

Niranjan gave me the Catalogue they had prepared for the first auction which took place on 29th October 2009. It is a publication which can be treasured as it is of the quality that one expects only from the large international auction houses. And Osian's has built up the in-house expert group which is the only way such an enterprise can succeed over the long term.

The second interesting avenue that this group has organised is film festivals covering a range of subjects. This is something which is different from the film festivals which used to be the attraction for those interested in seeing flesh exposure in the old days!

Anyone who is serious about buying genuine Indian Antiquities and Modern Art, may I suggest that they get in touch with this group. They know what they are doing. Their catalogue explains all the laws and procedures in the simplest of terms, so anyone following their guidelines will hardly fall foul of the "laws" as they are practiced in India!

Niranjan was a bit sceptical about the future of India. Like me, he is of the opinion that the country is fast moving into a state of terminal decline. He agrees with me that civic society has collapsed and the only driving force is the bottom line, which is neither Indian culture or heritage. Corruption has increased to such an extent, in his opinion, there is no meaning in the rule of law. He too is of the opinion that the Naxals will wait and make their move at the appropriate time, resulting in horrific bloodshed.

Having been a diplomat and a civil servant almost all his working life, his assessment coinciding with mine was indeed very strange.

We also agreed that what is happening in our alma mater is a sign that that too is in terminal decline. The college is not about education any longer, but persons in the "administration" jockeying for more power as they file suits and counter suits in the law courts. Even today, the High Court chided the Principal for his misuse of power. Further, the battle between the Bishop and the teachers has hotted up!

Is this what one wants appearing in the Press day-in day-out?

St Stephen's row: Court pulls up principal

HC chides Stephens Principal for misuing power

Stephen's tense over bursar appointment

Are these the examples to set for the students of this august institution?

And, is all this "Christian"?

My visit to the college certainly demonstrated that what is important in the college is being forgotten, while all these external battles are in progress. As I had already mentioned, it appears that no one cares about the state of the college.

The Junior Common Room (JCR) is in shambles. That pained me immensely, as when I was the JCR President, it was my close work with the then Principal, Mr. Sircar and the Vice Principal, Mr. Shanklund, that had driven the JCR to become something of a force in the college for the college residents. The students earned the respect of the staff by the way they organised all the different events and finally the JCR Evening.

The beautiful lawn and rose garden which stood in front of Mukerji East is no longer there - it is just a barren piece of brown earth. The lawns have not been swept of the fallen leaves.

The white interior walls of the college are dirty.

The pictures in many places do not hang straight.

It feels like one is in a third rate institution.

Where is the order and pride in the alma mater that had existed in our time?

It is obvious that people are more concerned of their own political ambitions rather than the state of the college.

Niranjan also expressed that many of our friends had changed over time with their own priorities weighing in their lives. Natural, but unfortunate.

What values we shared when we were in college are those that are worth standing for, even today. A strong alumni can influence the happenings of the alma mater.

Thank you, Niranjan, for showing me that we can still hold our principles, whatever we have been through in the intervening years.

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

2009-11-14T16:53:00.000+02:00

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

2009-10-20T20:07:00.000+02:00

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

2009-09-01T05:35:00.000+02:00

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

2009-08-25T13:42:00.000+02:00

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

2009-08-02T13:49:00.000+02:00

(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

2009-07-23T07:44:00.004+02:00

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

2009-07-09T10:32:00.002+02:00

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

2009-07-04T07:09:00.002+02:00

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?

2009-07-04T05:33:00.001+02:00

(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

2009-06-25T11:15:00.006+02:00

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

2009-05-31T15:25:00.001+02:00

(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

2009-05-30T14:40:00.002+02:00

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

2009-05-17T09:57:00.005+02:00

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

2009-05-16T11:47:00.001+02:00

(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

2009-05-15T09:03:00.002+02:00

(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?

2009-05-10T22:15:00.001+02:00

(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

2009-05-06T07:40:00.002+02:00

(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?

2009-04-29T06:48:00.001+02:00

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?

2009-04-26T22:47:00.001+02:00

(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!

2009-04-25T14:36:00.002+02:00

(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!! :-)

KTWV 10 Issue 03: A very nice letter from a Stephanian

2009-04-20T06:41:00.004+02:00

I do get lots of letters from Stephanians from around the world. I thought this one was especially nice.

Like "prof. sreeni" in New York, its a small caps personality!

Nileen Putatunda
19 April 2009 14:34

dear uncle jacob,

namaste from kolkata. how are you?

i finished my ICSE (Class X) from St. Mary's School (ISC), Bombay in 1995 - i am sure you would know well about us :)

graduated from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 2000. got into the MA Econ class in JNU but chose not to go.

have worked in social development since, in some parts of india.

occasionally written in the opinion space of newspapers.

i read somewhere that you were interested in knowing about Stephanian writers.

God allowed me to publish 4 books of spiritual poetry, in 2006, '07 and '08, all from the legend P Lal and his "Writers Workshop" (www.writersworkshopindia.com).

P Lal is a 1970 Padma Shri, a prolific writer (perhaps the only man ever to have transcreated The Mahabharata sloka by sloka, more than 100,000 slokas, from Sanskrit to English) and his publishing house, now more than 50 years old, has published many 'names' like Vikram Seth, Ruskin Bond, etc.

since i only write spiritual poetry and some poems have references to scriptures, sometimes Vedantic scriptures, it requires serious reading.

my first book was favourably reviewed by a great scholar in Prabuddha Bharata, a monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896. this journal has a subscriber base in 125 countries, but it's for a very niche audience. my second book found sweet/brief mention in another select journal. fourth book being considered for review by yet another select journal.

i would like that more people know that these poem books have been written. i am not at all hungry for fame. i just want people to read and appreciate serious spiritual poetry. as an aspirant/sadhak, my pain and ecstasy on the path so far has been captured a little by my poems.

bored you enough.

prayers and love,

nileen

Yes, I want to publicise our Stephanian authors. Never bored when hearing about Stephanians. Will let the world know. As a start, Kooler Talk (Web Version) readers know about Nileen now!

KTWV 10 Issue 02: Where am I going? What am I doing?

2009-03-31T21:50:00.003+02:00

(Also posted on all my major blogs.)

Ubi does not believe that I have writer's block. Naval is meticulously letting me of intrusions into my own cyberspace. People are calling me and telling me they are my fans!

And what am I doing?

With the explosion of networking sites - LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Orkut, Plaxo Pulse, My World in Flock, all my blogs, Google Groups, a plethora of calendars, I am getting terribly lost in Cyberspace.

Where should I do first thing in the morning? Which place should I update first to reach the widest spread of my audience. 80000 people worldwide is quite a reach!

What should I write about? Politics, the economy, nostalgic thoughts about school and college, life in Finland?

There certainly is an inexhaustible list of topics.

It is this explosion which is numbing my mind. Everything I want to do seems to be the wrong step - or is it the right step?

I am searching for someone out there with experience to guide me - but it appears that when you are the trend setter . no one wants to proffer their advice!

So I will have to work this out by myself.

All of you out there will continue to get angry with me as no one is satisfied going to a site which just refuses to be updated!

Maybe tomorrow morning the answer will hit me - but maybe not!!!

KTWV 10 Issue 01: Unwanted intrusions

2009-03-20T07:01:00.001+02:00

My blogs are quite popular. During a simple Google Search, the references crop up at high levels, not only on Google, but also on the various search engines. Although this is something to be proud of, it does cause some problems.

If someone from our school or college features in a media report, I get many thousands of hits as people turn up at one of my blogs where these people may or may not be mentioned. Then they email me asking for details.

In many cases, where it is friends wanting to meet after several years, or tracing of long lost relatives, I usually mail a copy of the request directly to the person concerned, IF I have the contact. This has put many people together and my blogs are valued very much for this service.

But there is another face to this game. I get requests from investigative or probing reporters asking for contact details of many rich and famous people that feature on my blogs.

In this case I usually have one simple answer - "Sorry, I cannot reveal any details about the persons involved."

These reporters use many tricks to get me to reveal details. I have become past master at identifying their games.

I value the personal life of all my friends. I try not ever reveal what is intimate and personal. I have never had a complaint so far. I hope I never will.

The reason is that you have to think like a reporter to determine what they are after. Having been on the fringes of the journalistic business ever since I was 7 years old, I have learnt the tricks of the trade.

There are many who compliment me on having such a wide reach. That is because of my journalistic experience and perseverance. But I try never to violate the code of conduct of journalists and violate the principles of respecting persons and their personal lives.

KTWV 9 Issue 22: Reason for no updates

2008-09-07T13:00:00.003+02:00

Annikki and I are immersed with the details of organising the funeral of her mother, Hilja, who passed away last Sunday.

Hilja's Orbituary announcement - Kaleva 07.09.2008.

The funeral will take place on at the Intiö Iso saali (Chapel in the cemetery) at 15:00 hours.

We have had two tragic losses of loved ones during the last 45 days.

Our dear cat, and friend for over 17 years, Iitu, passed away with cancer which affected her kidneys. She was part of our day to day life from morning to night and through the night. Neither Annikki nor myself have yet recovered from that loss.

Iitu as a kitten in 1991.

Iitu's first and last set of kittens in 1993.

The perfect mother.

Iitu wants a share of my birthday cake.

A daily routine as Iitu stops me reading the newspaper by lying on it!

Iitu enjoys her TV - Annikki's table top aquarium.

Iitu's coffin.

Iitu at her final resting place in Vesaisentie
- the home of Tony, Joanna and grandchildren Samuel, Daniel and Maria.

Hilja, whom Annikki has cared for the last 24 years and, intensively, for the last 7 years, since her father passed away, (and whom I helped care for during the last few years) was very much part of our daily life.

She was in excellent health when she left home at the beginning of August. She contracted the deadly Hospital Bacteria while she was in the Kielokoti Old People's Home. She was rushed to hospital and then moved to the ODL Hospital.

There, in her weakened state, she was hit by pneumonia.

The old lady fought valiantly for her life. Finally left for her personal paradise at 17:49 on Sunday 31st August 2008 holding Annikki's hand on one side and mine on the other.

But she had told us many many times over the last year that she was ready to go to her "Heavenly Father":

The beautiful Hilja at her wedding in 1942.

Hilja carries Jaakko, with Aino and Annikki
with Susanna in the foreground - Oulu 1969.

Matias, Hilja, Annikki and Tuomas -
Out for a walk in the summer of 2003.

Hilja enjoying her meal.

Hilja with her latest greatgrandchild, Maria, in 2008.

Hilja with daughter, Annikki, granddaughter, Joanna, and greatgranddaughter, Maria - 2008.

Annikki takes her mother out for the last time - August 1st 2008.

RIP Hilja - 31st August 2008 at ODL.

Her passing has left a huge void in our life as we will miss her wit and humour.

Even till the very last she would mimic my poor Finnish language pronunciation.

She was in her senses till the very last . She recognised my voice the day before she passed away. When I greeted her, while she lay in some pain in her hospital bed, she replied in her normal way to me - "Thank you, Nothing special to tell you!"

Annikki used to pray and sing with her after putting her to bed every night. I will miss those quiet peaceful hours they had together before she went to sleep.

It will take us awhile to settle into the new situation where two of the most important family members of our daily life of the last 17 years have moved on.

KTWV 9 Issue 21: The NEXT Principal - A bold decision is necessary

2008-08-14T20:58:00.006+02:00

Out of the 12 applications for the post of Principal of our College, the three front runners, as far of the Supreme Council are concerned, are Rev. Valson Thambu, the Officer on Special Duty who "acted" as Principal, Dr. M. S. Franks, the present Acting Principal and Dr. Shobhana Bhattacharya, who at present teaches in Jesus and Mary College and is the Reader of English there.

Others on the list include teachers from St John's College in Agra and Christ Church Kanpur apart from several other colleges.

Who is Dr. Shobhana Bhattacharaya and what is her association with our College?

I let my good friend, Deepak Mukarji, a grandson of the late Dr. S. N. Mukarji, an illustrious Past Principal of our College tell you about his second cousin:

Shobhana is arguably the most funny warm and intelligent of all my many cousins, who are all rather special in their own way.

She is the daughter of Principal S N Mukarji's fourth son (Nirmal).

My uncle Nirmal, ... God rest his soul ...., was in the nicest way a huge trial to all of us cousins who were constantly goaded to uphold his academic standards.

He never stood second in any examination and ended an illustrious career after retiring as the last ICS officer in India as Governor of Punjab.

A Christian man he was unswerving in his service to his country and his faith.

It is these qualities of hard work, faith in God and a sense of duty and fair play couched in warmth and understanding that Shobhana brings with her.

A PhD in English literature (the works and life of Byron was her subject), a much loved teacher for many years at Jesus and Mary College in Delhi and a wonderful daughter, wife and mother (and I am sure a doting grandmother), she is a lady with grace in everything she does.

A love of education comes to her not only from the Mukarji side but also from her maternal grandmother who was the iconic Mrs Constance Das of Isabella Thoben College in Lucknow.

Please do join the Mukarji family in praying that the Supreme Council of St. Stephen's agrees that she is the best candidate to steer the College through difficult times.

She will truly be an asset to life in the College and its Christian character of opening its arms to all who choose to pursue excellence with warmth and love.

The prestige of the College is in its open acceptance and embrace of all including divergent views and that in essence is what Shobhana embodies.

Warm regards

Deepak Mukarji

Need I add even one line or even an extra word to what Deepak says about his cousin?

I throw my prayers in the direction of Shobhana, someone I do not know, but whom I can identify with as I hope and pray that God will give her the strength to pull the name of our College out of the slime it has been through for the last two years!

But first we have to ensure the Supreme Council does its work and appoints this outstanding personality as the Head of our College.

So pick up your pen and write to every alumni you know to flood our Supreme Council to get this lady as our Head.

[P.S. Just by the way, Shobhana is a output from Miranda House, so she knows the behaviour of all us male egoistic Stephanians probably better than we know it ourselves! :-) ]

KTWV 9 Issue 20: Happy 90th birthday, Nelson MandelaHappy 90th birthday, Nelson Mandela

2008-07-18T04:23:00.002+02:00

Happy 90th birthday to the world's greatest politician, leader EVER - Nelson Mandela. May he have very many more.

I hope the Supreme Council of our College will humble itself and learn just one single message from the life of this human being! Service before self.

Copyright: Photograph from Dismantling Apartheid

He has taught mankind through his sincerity to his cause - the people of Africa.

Thank you Nelson Mandela.

KTWV 9 Issue 19: Teachers Strike

2008-07-17T04:39:00.003+02:00

Two stories about College reached me this morning:

Times of India: At Stephen's, teachers boycott lunch

National Network of Education: Teachers stay away from orientation at Stephen's

Is this what our College is about?

Was Christ a divisive individual?

KTWV 9 Issue 18: "...now terminally ill?"

2008-07-12T05:17:00.004+02:00

In my mail today were two alerts about our "College". The first Stephens gears for principal challenge was that the "College Authorities" had decided to challenge the fact that the Delhi Vice Chancellor had a say in the appointment of the Principal of the College.

The second is an article Campus Christi by Stephanian Barkha Dutt. I agreed to a T with ALMOST every word he wrote.

I do not which era Barkha belonged to in Collge, but the sentiments he expressed are ones that existed during my days in College in 1960 - 1963.

How I wish that saner voices would prevail and tell the Bishop and the Church to stop playing "THEIR" politics with OUR COLLEGE.

But do refer my Blog entry "Is this for real?" where I questioned the validity of cut off points as a mode of choosing students for admission.

In this I wish to relate a story that was sent to me by a young man about his sister in Pondicherri. A young girl from a poor village background being raised by her abused and disfigured, now single mother, who tends the land for survival, has been an outstanding student all her life. When she and her mother turned up at the gates of schools to see about her further education, they were turned away because they did not "look right".

At one school, as they stood dejectedly at the bus stand after having been turned away by the chowkidar, a teacher saw them and asked them what they were doing there. They explained their plight and the teacher gave them the Pricipal's telephone number and asked them to call the next day.

The girl has been given free education for the rest of her schooling.

I spoke to this girl on the phone from Finland about a year ago, and was impressed by her in every way.

When I delved this case further I understood that the education system in India is not education but a test of memory - and that is the only reason one has these high "cut-off" points.

If our College wants to be at the forefront of "education" in India, it should not use these "cut-off" points to regulate entrance, just as it should not allow a chowkidar to allow a person the right to enter the premises because of the dress their wear or their physical looks.

Our College should use a test of the Education of an individual.

That would be a mark of a good selection process and it may ensure a seat for a person with even a 50% mark, Christian or non-Christian, backward class scheduled class or not.

Thank you Barkha for your article, which got me thinking, hopefully positively, and I hope the wonderful alumni who read this will prevail on "The Authorities" to set up a system which ensures that we get the best "educated" students of India to be part of OUR COLLEGE!

KTWV 9 Issue 17: The fine “Gentlemanly World”

2008-06-21T14:43:00.004+02:00

Last week I had a copy of an email from a Mr. Kapadia to a Mr. Chopra.

It appears that in Delhi they have a Club where people get together to see movies. These two gentleman attend this club and share their company with a few others.

Mr. Yezad Kapadia (Yesh to me) is a Cathedralite of the 49 era, 10 years my senior. He discovered that Mr. Dev Chopra was a Stephanian, also of the 49 era.

Mr. Kapadia got talking to Mr. Chopra, and of course the topic came up about me, a Cathedralite and Stephanian. Mr. Chopra expressed a desire to know more about my blog.

A few minutes after an email from Mr. Kapadia to Mr. Chopra (introducing me), I had a nice email to “Dear friend Jacob” from Mr. Chopra.

I replied “Dev” with a copy to “Yesh” thus:

Jacob Matthan
15 June 2008 11:10
To: “Dev Chopra”
Cc: “Yezad Kapadia”, “Jamila & BGV Verghese”, Ajay Verma, “Sarwar Lateef”, “Montek Singh Ahluwalia”, “Suresh & Meera Philip”, “Aftab Seth”, “Raj & Roshni Sircar”, "Rahul and Rupa (née Gholap) Bajaj", "57er Ashok (Tony) Jaitly", “Niranjan Desai”, “Deepak Mukarji”, “59er SUJIT BJHATTACHARAYA”, Ajeet Mathur Prof, Swaminathan Aiyar, Sreenath Sreenivasan, John Dayal

Bcc: 64er Deepak Deshpande

Dear Dev,

It is a great honour that you have chosen to be in touch.

I have chosen to share this email with many of whom I know will be pleased to hear about you. These include Raj Sircar (Canada) and Deepak Mukarji (Mumbai), whose association with our alma mater is not just as students! I am also copying Sreenath Sreenivasan, Professor of Journalism in Columbia University who runs the New York Forum of Stephanians and is also the Moderator of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) in the US.

B. G. Verghese and his wife, Jamila, are the oldest Stephanians that I am in touch with presently. Both are just a tad younger than you. I was in touch with Col. Shafat Hussain in Canada, but I seem to have lost contact with him over the past 5 years. He was in college around 1945.

My time in Stephania was 1960 to 1963. It was an exciting three years. I was probably the first and last 2nd year student to be elected as President of the JCR. The first JCR evening of music was the highlight of my Presidency as also the introduction of various JCR tournaments - Bridge, Chess, Caroms, Draughts, Table Tennis. The Rai twins, Chandra and Suraj, beat Ajay Verma and me in the very last hand of the Bridge Finals with an unbelievable call of 7 Spades on the very last hand where Ajay and I had bid 7 Hearts! It was only the intuitive communication that twins have that prompted that call! Both were makeable contracts!

It was also during my years that Sarwar Lateef (World Bank), Montek Singh Alhuwalia (Planning Commission), Swaminathan Aiyar (Economic Times), Dr. Peter Philip (MRF), Zaffar Hai (creative films director and producer), Prakash Joseph (the artist), Aftab and Roshan Seth, and a few others started the college rag - which was called Kooler Talk as the name Blacksmith was rejected by Principal Sircar and Dean Rajpal. Niranjan Desai (ex-Ambassador), Ajay Verma (who lives in Lund) and myself were known as The Heaps and we did write exposés for the rag during our time.

Kooler Talk as a hard copy has had a chequered life. I started the online web version from here in Finland in 1996. It has a worldwide readership of Stephanian's interested in a bit of nostalgia. Over a thousand Stephanians correspond with me regularly and help me keep my spirits up in that I know I am not writing to thin air.

Originally it started as a web page monthly. But times have been changing. About 5 years ago I changed it to a blog. Others have copied my style and presentation, but my Kooler Talk Web Version Blog keeps going. Now I am experimenting with the new fashion - FACEBOOK!

Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, in his book about our college, kindly gave my online efforts a nice reference. I do try to stay above politics and stay with nostalgia, although I have been drawn into the recent controversy which surrounds the College Principal fiasco. Friends, such as John Dayal, keep me abreast of happenings behind the scenes.

I also started a similar online web site / blog about my school, where Yezad and I went, Yesh being 10 years my senior. Seventh Heaven is extremely popular and also more active than Kooler Talk Web Version.

There are a few of us who share both the alma maters - including Industrialist and Rajya Sabha MP Rahul Bajaj, Ashok (Tony) Jaitly, Dr. Peter Philip (MRF), Sujit Bhattacharaya (son of the former Governor of Reserve Bank), Prof. Ajeet Mathur (now Director of Manpower Planning in the Planning Commission and also at IIM, Ahmedabad).

Rahul celebrated his 70th birthday last week and I did a small tribute to him on both my blogs. He was kind enough to spare a few moments to write a word of thanks to me.

I would love to broaden the horizons of my efforts which is purely a labour of love of both my alma maters. I am happy that many former staff and ex- and present students stay in touch with me and give me a pulse of the institutions today.

My wife and I will visit India in November 2009 to take part in the 50th Year Reunion of my school class. We will also visit Delhi to meet with several tens and tens of my friends who are there. I hope too organise a joint Stephania / Cathedralite reunion session while I am visiting the capital, our last visit being as long ago as 15 years ago!

Do let me know what ideas you have in mind. You can read the blog and delve into its archives at the Kooler talk Blog. Thank you for being in touch and a special thanks to Yesh for having put you in touch with me.

Yours most sincerely

Jacob Matthan
Stephanian - 1960 - 1963
JCR President 1961 - 1962

It was great to see that because I copied many who were mentioned in my email, that a large number of sub-converaations resulted, people remembering each other and their previous associations.

And the two gentleman, Mr. Kapadia and Mr. Chopra, exchanged an email marvelling at the rapidity of communications of today across continents.

No doubt, at the next film viewing session in Delhi, Mr. Kapadia and Mr. Chopra will exchange a few words about the Kooler Talk Blog and the Seventh Heaven Blog.

Thank you, Yesh and Dev, for being part of our alma maters communities and may your wonderful gentlemanly formality live for ever!

KTWV 9 Issue 16: Is this for real?

2008-06-18T20:29:00.003+02:00

I was just reading about the cut-off percentages required for admission to the various colleges in Delhi University. In the Times of India Stephen's cut-offs up by 1-2%.

My initial thoughts were values around 75 - 85%, but I was astounded to read that cut off percentages were around 98%.

Delhi may have managed to score a high of only 97% in English in the Class XII CBSE exams, but at St Stephen's, applicants from the commerce stream need 98% to qualify for the English (Hons) course. The college, which came out with the cut-off list late on Tuesday, has hiked the marks almost uniformly across all the courses by 1-2%.

Either the kids of today are super geniuses for 98% to be used as a cut off percentage, the marking system is so poor or the examination content is so low that it is possible to set such a high cut off percentages.

In our days we were happy if we got 80% as 75% was considered as the distinction level. Only the super brilliant got over that mark - and they were super brilliant - I was never in that class.

Parents were happy if we came home with a good report card which had a couple of subjects in the high 50s or low 60s, but your best subjects had marks in the high 70s or low 80s.

The only subjects where we could score 100% were the Mathematics - Maths and Additional Maths!

In addition, our teachers were so strict that they graded us even on the quality of our handwriting, page presentation, neatness, and other factors which showed we were educated.

Some comments on this cut off percentage, just to educate me, would be greatly appreciated! According to today's norms - I AM A JACKASS!

KTWV 9 Issue 15: Demise of Vinod Chowdhury

2008-06-12T07:19:00.003+02:00

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing away on Tuesday of one of the most loved present day teachers of our college - Vinod Chowdhury. He was just 58, and passed away after a brief illness followed by a cardiac arrest. He was the senior Reader of Economics at our college.

Younger to me and 7 years after my time, many have mentioned to me his contribution to College life. He taught Economics for more than 30 years and was an outstanding debater. He set up the Commonwealth Collegiate Debating Society a few years ago.

Vinod acted as Head of the Staff Council. He was the media adviser to the former Officer on Special Duty and Acting Principal Valson Thampu.

Vinod deeply loved his alma mater and served it well.

His last rites were performed at Nigambodh Ghat.

My deepest condolences go to his bereaved family.

KTWV 9 Issue 14: The ever youthful Rahul is 70

2008-06-09T21:16:00.003+02:00

Young and dynamic Rahul Bajaj in 1986
Copyright The Hindu

At the top in 2006, Rahul Bajaj
Copyright The Frontline

“Do whatever you think best, but be best at whatever you do.”
– Member of Rajya Sabha Padma Bhushan Rahul Bajaj

Like a handful of people of the 1950’s as 57er Ashok (Tony) Jaitley, 58er Dr. Peter Philip, 59ers Sujit Bhattacharaya, and myself, 54er Rahul Bajaj was a Mumbai Cathedralite and a Delhi Stephanian. (There is an earlier blog entry on both blogs listing several more who share this common heritage.)

Ashok Jaitley, Tony to most of us, wrote a book about St. Stephen’s College. Rahul released the book where Mani Shankar Aiyar, another Stephanian of our era spoke. Here is a quote from Tony’s book:

"The same spirit of striving for the best was infused in all other activities despite the cultivated air of nonchalance that Stephanians have always sought to project about themselves. But this has not deterred the real achievers from being clear about their own perspective. Rahul Bajaj, one of the most innovative and successful captains of Indian industry, recalls his days in College as the second most powerful influence after his school in Bombay: 'It was the first whiff of freedom...and as the Cat Stevens number goes, "the first cut is the deepest." The notion of a performing elite was imprinted in my mind at College. We are all here to make a difference and we should be very good at something, is the essence of Stephania."

Also like Peter and me, Rahul was a Savageite and also House Captain. There, however, the similarity ends, as Rahul is one of the topmost industrialists in India and also ranks extremely high in the world.

It is reputed that Rahul was a sportsman. He was an outstanding boxer and won his weight most years. He is remembered as being part of the School Table Tennis Team. I also remember him as an long distance athlete. As I was just a newcomer to school in 1954, the year Rahul graduated, I am not fully and personally conversant with all his accomplishments at school.

The Bajaj Enterprise started as a sugar manufacturing factory in 1931. It has now grown to become one of the country’s largest business houses.

Rahul took over the running of the Bajaj Auto company in 1965. Activities encompass the manufacture of a whole range of products.

In 2001 the Bajaj Group had a sales turnover in excess of US$ 1,300 million. The Net Assets were worth US$ 1,333 million and the Net Profit was US$ 58 million. It was ranked as the 5th largest business family in India by the Centre for Monitoring Indian economy (CMIE).

It has under its umbrella over 25 companies and a strength of over 25000 employees.

It’s core strength, however, is the unshakeable foundation based on its tradition of trust.

Rahul's most recent interview with Chris Morris from the BBC was about the small car of Bajaj Auto, in relation to the Tata Nano. It can be found at this link.

The interesting similarity between Ratan Tata and Rahul Bajaj is that when Ratan was Chairman of Air India, Rahul was Chairman of Indian Airlines. (I do not remember Ratan as a Cathedralite but younger brother, Jimmy, was a 57er and played hockey and cricket with us.)

Rahul received the Padma Bhushan in 2001.

Cathedralite 54er and Stephanian 57er, Independent Rajya Sabha member, Chairman of Bajaj Group, Rahul Bajaj will turn 70 this Tuesday.

I hope as many of you that can will wish this outstanding Cathedralite / Stephanian and wish him many many more years of service to our nation.

(Many thanks to Cathedralite 56er HS Uberoi and Cathedralite / Stephanian 57er Ashok Jaitley (and his brother Ravi, Rahul’s classmate) for their valuable contributions when writing this tribute.)

KTWV 9 Issue 13: Facebook experiment continues

2008-06-06T09:21:00.002+02:00

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 also a Stephania Facebook Group page, but I have not yet played around much in that group as yet.

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.

KTWV 09 Issue 12: Never heard of the NOROVIRUS before Wednesday!

2008-05-18T10:48:00.000+02:00

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

I have been missing on the Blogosphere and in my Google Groups for a few weeks. It has been because of the sheer workload and also as I have found the Facebook experience quite fascinating. I found many relatives, even quite distant ones, many many friends, Cathedralites, Stephanians, CHAFF and many other groups, including my School House Group, SAVAGE, on Facebook, that I have been familarising myself to all what could be done by me on Facebook.

Although I am achieving quite a lot in creating my corner in Facebook, it is no match for the direct Blog or a Google group - and that is why I am back at blogging!

In my 24+ years in Finland I had never missed a days work or events because of any form of serious illness. I have been ill (including a bout of painful herpes inside the mouth), but it was always possible to get to work and work without having to take time off.

But this last week was different.

While at the funeral of a dear friend, Willie, Michelle's husband, I felt claustrophobic in the Small Chapel, which meant I had to go outside for some fresh air. Annikki and I went back inside to place the wreath from the whole MATTHAN Family on the coffin, but I continued to feel very weak.

Michelle (with Willie) owns the best Chinese / Indian Restaurant in town - the Royal Garden.

Michelle is from Calcutta and is a close friend of our daughter, Joanna, and consequently, a close family friend of ours. Any visitor to Oulu usually gets a treat at one of her restaurants. So Michelle is known by our family and friends around the world. (Cousins Chacko and Ammu, niece Nirupa, niece Preminda with husband Chris and Malayika, Cathedralites Sunil (and Kamal) Sahni, Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah) Viney Sethi, Stephanians Ajay Verma, Prof. Ajeet Mathur, are just a few who have enjoyed the hospitality of Michelle and Willie.)

I suggested to Annikki that we go home and rest before attending the farewell reception for Willie at the Royal Garden Restaurant.

After getting home and resting for about half an hour I was violently ill and unable to lift my head. I did not know what had hit me. Annikki treated me all the best remedies that she has up her sleeve, Silica to line the stomach, magnesium tablets, and one pain-killer. I managed to retain a bit of everything to help me sleep off the next four to six hours, but the vomiting and diarrhoea did not abate. It was absolutely miserable.

Next morning Annikki read in the local newspaper about something known as the NOROVIRUS and the symptoms were exactly what I had been through.

A quick Google Search yielded all the important data and I was sure that absolute fasting with only liquids was the right answer.

By evening I was able to consume some of Annikki's great Fish Soup and it stayed in.

By the next morning the main symptoms had vanished, but at 5 am the Norovirus hit Annikki.

Despite her agony she took quick action to ensure that her mother, Hilja, who was supposed to be brought home that afternoon, was looked after while Annikki recovered from this virus. According to Jonana, who sent us a text message from Newcastle, it can be fatal for the elderly.

I had a good friend from Tampere, a town 500 km south of Oulu, coming to visit me on Friday evening / Saturday morning.

I did not want to disappoint Nadir or miss meeting him as his visits to Oulu are only once every two years. Rather than ask him to cancel, I booked Nadir in at a hotel across from the Railway Station, as the Norovirus is extremely contagious. I was clean but the house would have been disturbingly filled the virus.

We spent a few wonderful hours together and he was on his way on Saturday afternoon.

I would like to know which of my efforts you appreciate more - my blogs, my Facebook entries, my direct posts to you - or maybe I should just SHUT UP....

(OK Ubi, I know what you will say, but believe me you are not too old for Facebook. However, although it seems easy, it is quite complicated to work out all the ins and outs and it is not intuitive as it should be.)

KTWV 09 Issue 11: I Wish You a Sandpiper

2008-04-08T22:45:00.002+02:00

Posted on all my major blogs.

I received this in an email from Joan & Kevin Dean.

Thank you for sending this to me as I am blogging it exactly for the reasons outlined in this story.

I Wish You a Sandpiper

The . Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

The Sandpiper by Robert Peterson

She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live. I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sand castle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea. "Hello," she said.

I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. "I'm building," she said. "I see that. What is it?" I asked, not really caring. "Oh, I don't know, I just like the feel of sand." That sounds good, I thought, and slipped off my shoes. A sandpiper glided by. "That's a joy," the child said. "It's a what?" "It's a joy. My mama says sandpipers come to bring us joy." The bird went gliding down the beach. Good-bye joy, I muttered to myself, hello pain, and turned to walk on. I was depressed, my life seemed completely out of balance. "What's your name?" She wouldn't give up.

"Robert," I answered. "I'm Robert Peterson." "Mine's Wendy... I'm six." "Hi, Wendy." She giggled. "You're funny," she said. In spite of my gloom, I laughed too and walked on. Her musical giggle followed me. "Come again, Mr. P," she called. "We'll have another happy day." The next few days consisted of a group of unruly Boy Scouts, PTA meetings, and an ailing mother. The sun was shining one morning as I took my hands out of the dishwater. I need a sandpiper, I said to myself, gathering up my coat.

The ever-changing balm of the seashore awaited me. The breeze was chilly but I strode along, trying to recapture the serenity I needed. "Hello, Mr. P," she said. "Do you want to play?" "What did you have in mind?" I asked, with a twinge of annoyance. "I don't know. You say." "How about charades?" I asked sarcastically. The tinkling laughter burst forth again. "I don't know what that is." "Then let's just walk." Looking at her, I noticed the delicate fairness of her face. "Where do you live?" I asked. "Over there." She pointed toward a row of summer cottages. Strange, I thought, in winter. "Where do you go to school?" "I don't go to school. Mommy says we're on vacation."

She chattered little girl talk as we strolled up the beach, but my mind was on other things. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed. Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on the porch and felt like demanding she keep her child at home. "Look, if you don't mind," I said crossly when Wendy caught up with me, "I'd rather be alone today." She seemed unusually pale and out of breath. "Why?" she asked. I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" and thought, My God, why was I saying this to a little child? "Oh," she said quietly, "then this is a bad day." "Yes," I said, "and yesterday and the day before and -- oh, go away!" "Did it hurt?" she inquired. "Did what hurt?" I was exasperated with her, with myself. "When she died?" "Of course it hurt!" I snapped, misunderstanding, wrapped up in myself. I strode off.

A month or so after that, when I next went to the beach, she wasn't there. Feeling guilty, ashamed, and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage after my walk and knocked at the door. A drawn looking young woman with honey-colored hair opened the door. "Hello," I said, "I'm Robert Peterson. I missed your little girl today and wondered where she was." "Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in. Wendy spoke of you so much. I'm afraid I allowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance, please, accept my apologies." "Not at all -- she's a delightful child." I said, suddenly realizing that I meant what I had just said. "Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. She had leukemia. Maybe she didn't tell you." Struck dumb, I groped for a chair. I had to catch my breath.

"She loved this beach, so when she asked to come, we couldn't say no. She seemed so much better here and had a lot of what she called happy days. But! the last few weeks, she declined rapidly..." Her voice faltered, "She left something for you, if only I can find it. Could you wait a moment while I look?" I nodded stupidly, my mind racing for some thing to say to this lovely young woman. She handed me a smeared envelope with "MR. P" printed in bold childish letters. Inside was a drawing in bright crayon hues -- a yellow beach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneath was carefully printed: !A SANDPIPER TO BRING YOU JOY.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and a heart that had almost forgotten to love opened wide. I took Wendy's mother in my arms. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I uttered over and over, and we wept together. The precious little picture is framed now and hangs in my study. Six words -- one for each year of her life -- that speak to me of harmony, courage, and undemanding love. A gift from a child with sea blue eyes and hair the color of sand -- who taught me the gift of love.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: This is a true story sent out by Robert Peterson. It happened over 20 years ago and the incident changed his life forever. It serves as a reminder to all of us that we need to take time to enjoy living and life and each other. The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. Life is so complicated, the hustle and bustle of everyday traumas can make us lose focus about what is truly important or what is only a momentary setback or crisis. This week, be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug, and by all means, take a moment... even if it is only ten seconds, to stop and smell the roses. This comes from someone's heart, an d is read with many and now I share it with you... May God Bless everyone who receives this! There are NO coincidences! Everything that happens to us happens for a reason. Never brush aside anyone as insignificant. Who knows what they can teach us?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SANDPIPERS Scolopacidae

Sandpipers are a highly diverse family which include the ground-dwelling snipes and woodcocks to the highly pelagic Red Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius. Biochemically they seem to have arisen from a single ancestor but underwent an explosive evolution in the early Tertiary after a great wave of extinctions in the late Cretaceous period (Piersma 1996). Today, the wide variety of sandpipers, and the close relationships of many, present numerous identification challenges. The identification literature alone is impressive. Further, the beautiful patterns and colors on juvenal-plumaged birds are among the most striking in the world, while the striking breeding plumage feathers serve to camouflage adults on their breeding grounds on the arctic tundra. Many of these arctic breeders spend the non-breeding period well south of the Equator, brightening the lives of birders in the austral summer (our winter).

KTWV 09 Issue 10: Knowing how it feels to be LOVED!

2008-04-04T11:30:00.001+02:00

Yesterday was a strange day. Joanna rang me early morning to tell me that I should take Samu to school as he was going downhill skiing and would I look after Daniel at our home as she had to go to town?

She was over before noon to leave Daniel.

Daniel, Annikki an I did several things including taking Daniel to the City dump to get rid an old TV and to the Tropical Spa to make sure the arrangements for one of our Indian Groups in Oulu were OK for the company party. When I came out of the Spa I found I had a flat tyre. As usual, my good friend, Kamu, in the spirit of CHAFF rushed to help me as I was not carrying my silicone foam repair kit.

Joanna rang me to tell me that she was very tired and would I keep Daniel till we picked up Samuel from the school and then came over so that we could go out for dinner to celebrate my birthday.

I passed by her house at about half past five and I was surprised to see Ildikó and Ilari's car parked in the driveway, but thinking that they were off for a holiday, they may have dropped in to say goodbye, it did not register. When I dropped in at the International Centre (Ville Victor) I was puzzled when Shahnaz said she would see me in the evening! Again, that did not register!

Well, the email I sent out today below explains it all and the composite picture made out of photographs taken by grandson Samu show some of the the people who made it such a great day for me.

Dear Findians, O-Indians, Chaff Participants, 59er Cathedralites, Other Cathedralites, Stephanians and many other friends all around the world,

Yesterday, I was given a great lesson - knowing how it feels to be LOVED.

As I reached the turning point to my senior years, the outpouring of love from all corners of this globe gave me a lesson which made me feel that a new era of my life is opening.

Thank you to all of you, some on the groups, others directly, others by text message, who took the trouble to communicate with me on my 65th birthday.

Ashok, as I took early retirement to help her look after Annikki's mother, I have been enjoying all the benefits and now move from half to full pension. So, I was already enjoying all the free benefits of a social security system I was taxed into the earth for when I was working!

From our daughter's family in England, Susanna, Chris and Asha, Hasnain and Willie in Toronto, Bill Patel in ???, Barbara from Italy, Ellis in New York, Ashok, Percy, Ooky and Rivca, etc., etc, etc., in Mumbai, friends from Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Chennai, Bangalore, Tokyo, London, New York, and of course Oulu, I received personal greetings. (Sorry I am not mentioning all of you as I still have not had the time to go through all the messages.)

It will take me some time to respond personally to all of you, but respond I will.

But the height of my birthday was a surprise party organised by my daughter and her husband in her home in Oulu. Neither Annikki nor I had a clue till we arrived at her home and found a string of cars parked outside. As I walked in, there was a steady stream of friends, a veritable United Nations, Australia, China, Finland, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Peru (in spirit), Turkey, Venezuela, trooping out to greet me.

Ilari gave a profoundly moving speech which had me in tears and Ildikó gave me the gift on behalf all the persons from so many organisations that I felt overwhelmed. I was in shock and was hit even harder by giving me a birthday present that I really love and need - a Canon Digital camera - so that the photographs on my blog and groups will improve! Burcu, Bala and Sameer gave me their own presents. Thank you all.

It was a bring your stuff party so we had some really great grub and the spread was enormous, so much so that Joanna forgot to take out the delicious chicken salad from the fridge!

Top Row: Joanna, Samu, Daniel;
Second Row: Ilari & Tony, Kiran & me, Andy;
Third Row: Shahnaz & Yrjö, Benjamin, Sreekanth, Ani with Maria;
Bottom Row: Elina & Ildiko; Burcu, Bill.
Missing: Annikki, Bala, Pooja, Mani and Anusha, Mathias, Sameer,
Vishu, Esa, Manuel, Osku

My sincere thanks to Joanna and Tony, Ildikó and Ilari, Pooja, Mani and Anusha (who drove down all the way from Raahe (80 km away), Shahnaz and Yrjo, Andy, Ani, Bala, Benjamin, Bill, Burcu, Elina, Esa, Kiran, Manuel, Osku, Sameer, Sreekanth, Vishu, nephew Mathias who just happened to be in Oulu, grandchildren Samuel, Daniel, Maria and above all my dearest of dearest, Annikki for making it such a wonderful birthday.

--
Jacob

KTWV 09 Issue 09: Now comes Irresponsibility

2008-04-01T09:45:00.001+02:00

My last blog entry was labelled as "Incompetence and stupidity".

The latest moves by the Supreme Council borders on Irresponsibility.

Not everything under the sun can be reached by claiming to be a minority.

Christians are part and parcel of being Indian. The using of the label of minority in every instance makes it even more difficult for many to enter mainstream life.

In the latest news item which reached me today Principal row dogs Stephen’s again we have this quote from a college representative:

“We are a minority institution and have specific rights under the Indian Constitution because of that. We will try and reopen channels of communication with DU. But our position will not change,” a college representative said.

"We will try and reopen channels of communication with DU." borders on anarchy!

Does violating te law of the land fall within the remit of powers of a minority institution? Holding up selective parts of the Indian Constitution cannot be used to violate the law.

Either our alma mater is part of the University of Delhi or outside of it. It cannot straddle the fence neither being in it or outside it.

If it is the intention of the Supreme Council to quit the University, then let it say so. Then one will know what one can do to this body of individuals whom we have seen have acted corruptly.

I hope that this sort of intransigence will end and the wisdom of Christ will prevail!

KTWV 09 Issue 08: Incompetence and stupidity

2008-03-28T10:10:00.001+02:00

In my last posting about the "affaire Principal" I drew attention to the Supreme Council having reached its "level of incompetence" as defined by the Peter Principle.

Being 7000 km away from the problem, there are many caveats that apply to any comment by me on this subject. I can only go by the media reports that I read and the inputs of persons on the frontline.

The last few days show that the Supreme Council is certainly not a body being led by "Christian" principles as it seeks to wield power, pointing fingers of lawlessness by others but failing to recognise that it is their actions which were lawless which has led to this ridiculous power struggle.

In the most recent media report Stephen’s dares DU on head, the audacity of the Supreme Council to say that being a minority institution it stands unique and outside of the laws of the body that it belongs to, is just plain playing games with a college which has provided many of the law makers of India since its independence. If such a stance is what it takes to preserve our alma mater as a Christian institution, it is not worth it as the Supreme Council is distancing it from all things Christian.

All the sympathy that I have had for the management of the institution is vanishing into thin air.

The fact that the Supreme Council appointed Rev. Valson Thambu as the Officer on Special Duty officiating as the Principal, showed the lack of respect of the law by the Supreme Council. Now that it has been publicly humiliated across the globe, it seeks to flex some muscles it does not have. This makes the Supreme Council appear even more stupid!

I do not know any of the individuals involved with this incident - but it is obvious that the players are not acting in the interests of our alma mater but their own selfish agenda.

I do wish that some of our respected "Christian" alumni in Delhi will prevail and bring some sense into the running of our beloved institution. And there is no shortage of such people.

KTWV 09 Issue 07: Hopefully back on line

2008-03-26T23:00:00.000+02:00

(Posted on all my major blogs)

Yesterday, after some 33 days of being without my internet connection, I was put back on line. Several errors were found at the connections outside our premises and also in the Gateway.

The first thing I did after getting back my connection was test my speed. I pay for a 8 M line, but I was shocked to find my upload and download speeds were less than 500 kbps.

Additionally, I have a fixed IP and I found that the IP that I was using was not mine.

Thirdly, all my computers are connected to the internet through a Router. i found that if I went on to connect my router, I lost the internet connection.

Lastly, during the last 7 years I have used DHCP to connect to the internet. I have not used PPPoE. I found that I was unable to connect using DHCP and my own Fixed IP but only through the PPPoE which was assigning me the random IP.

All these problems has made life continue to be difficult as I am using just a single computer to connect to the internet.

I have a backload of about 6 weeks of work. With this situation I will only be able to catch up by the end of April.

I have lodged my complaint with my ISP .- and hopefully I will get some action by the end of this week.

Please bear with me till I get back into full swing.

KTWV 09 Issue 06: Urgent Warning to ALL Stephanians

2008-03-21T11:00:00.000+02:00

When going through my spam folder which consisted of many thousands of emails, I came across this one.

prasad vijay hide details 20 Feb
to jmatthan@gmail.com
date 20 Feb 2008 10:41
subject MESSAGE OF INVESTMENT IN FINLAND TO MR JACOB MATTHAN. URGENT
signed-by yahoo.com
mailed-by yahoo.com
Dear jacob matthan,

Greetings to you this day.

I am writing you urgently for your cooperation in an issue I need you to handle with me. My name is Mr. Rajiv Vijay, I am a disabled Indian Guyanese presently based in London and a cathedralite. I was actually helping a friend Mr. Neenus Y. Khoshaba, an Australia businessman. He wants to transfer some of his Money from Iraq. Islamic people unjustly destroyed his properties without any form of pity or compensation. Mr.Neenus Y. Khoshaba, was an unfortunate victim of this attack, he was Kidnapped and Murdered .

Before his death,I assisted him to deposit the sum of $12.2 million dollars in a finance vaulting firm. These were proceeds he made secretly from various oil deals in iraq. I had the opportunity of knowing this because I was his banker. He also appealed to me to ensure that the funds were safely kept and if anything should happen to him I should make his fiance his next of kin.

I have made frantic effort to contact any relatives of Mr. Neenus Y. Khoshaba for the past two months without any success, his fiance died of shock after hearing of his death. At this point I am contacting you to act as the next of kin/original beneficiary to Mr. Neenus Y. Khoshabas fund in the bank because the bank is planning to hold the funds as "uncleared funds" and thus make it banks money since no one has come forward to claim it.

I need you to stand as the next of kin so that the funds can be processed in your name and also transferred to your account. I cannot do this alone neither can I make claims to it myself that is why I need your assistance.

If you agree to take up this responsibility, then I will facilitate the process in making you the official beneficiary to the funds and you will be required to contact the bank to instruct a transfer of the funds to your account. I want to really appeal to you that as soon as these funds are transferred to you, you will be trustworthy enough to keep it safely and also to keep it confidential.

As soon as this funds is transfered to your account I shall come over to your country for sharing of the funds accordingly. i was told that you are in finland which is where i intend to relocate to invest part of this fund and become a member of your organisation.

If you agree to assist me in this matter, you will definitely be entitled to 20% of the total for your participation and we shall use some of the money to charity and help the poor and disabled .send mail to me if you are interested in this deal. I await your reply.

Best Regards,

MR Rajiv Vijay

See how this rascal has used my alma mater connection plus the sympathy card, my current location, to get my attention.

I was one of the first to expose the Nigerian Scam which you can read on my Findians site Greed - Missile of Black Gold.

I wrote that article in 1995 and it has saved many lives and much money for many people around the world.

So please be warned, as GREED is something that lives in everyone's heart! And this scam is not just in Africa as you can get such post from Indians, Chinese, English, etc!!

KTWV 09 Issue 05: Now its gone; No it has not!

2008-03-19T07:30:00.001+02:00

Today's media all around India, and as far as Bangkok in Thailand, is filled with the news of the departure of Rev. Valson Thambu as the Officer on Special Duty / Acting Principal of our alma mater.

The HINDU - Chennai
Valson Thampu quits St. Stephen’s

Sify News - Online / Mumbai
Thampu resigns as St Stephen?s principal

CNN-IBN - New Delhi
Thampu resigns as St Stephen's principal

The Telegraph - Calcutta
Row outlasts Stephen’s head

Thaindian News Bangkok, Thailand
St. Stephen’s acting principal resigns

One would have thought that this would have satisfied those who were after the blood of Rev. Thambu.

But the lack of managerial skills by the Supreme Council of the College has only fueled more controversy.

Firstly, they appointed Dr. M. S. Frank as the Acting Administrator, with no administrative powerrs as all decisons have to be referred to the Head of the Supreme Council, the person who has caused all the controversy to being with, The Bishop of the Church of North India (CNI).

It is the Bishop that started the entire slide with the appointment of his son to the Supreme Council of the College!

Although the appointment of Dr. Frank may be technically correct, as he was appointed by Rev. Valson to the post of Vice Principal, it only adds fuel to the fire.

Dr. Frank is also not the seniormost member of the Faculty as Dr. S. V. Easwaran, the Head of the Department of Chemistry is. However, as Dr. Easwaran is not a member of the CNI, his seniority was ignored by the Supreme Council.

Additionally, the controversy continues in the appointment of Advocate Sunil Mathew as the new Media Adviser to the College, although he is not a faculty member.

It is obvious that it is the Supreme Council which is the problem as they do not have the skills necessary to administer the College we all love.

The slippery slope continues to draw our alma mater into the news cycle and there is no one who has the ability to do the right thing - act as Christ would have wanted us to act!

Is this a classic case of the Peter Principle? :-)

KTWV 09 Issue 04: For all the wrong reasons

2008-02-26T06:00:00.002+02:00

I had not taken sides in the case concerning the appointment of Rev. Valson Thambu as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for the College, officiating as the Principal.

I had taken objection to the anonymous emails that were circulated but also pointed out that Rev. Thambu was proceeding in all the wrong directions as, he was, at what is commonly referred to as, "at the edge of the Peter Principle".

In short the Principle reads as: "Every man reaches his level of incompetence!"

On the 23rd February, I had seen a couple of news items in my Inbox:

St. Stephen’s ‘closes matter’:Regarding show-cause notices to two senior lady lecturers, and

DU writes again to St. Stephen’s: ‘Ad not in conformity with UGC provisions’: ‘Issue a fresh ad after incorporating changes’.

Today, the first thing I saw in my Inbox was:

HC holds: Thampu appointment ‘illegal’.

The article started with this para:

New Delhi, February 25 The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to oblige St Stephen’s College with a stay on an order by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), holding Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Valson Thampu’s appointment as “patently illegal”.

Over the last year the College has been continuously in the news for all the wrong reasons. There was a desperate attempt to change the subject. But the opponents have remained focused.

The total lack of management ability showed through on the part of the Church hierarchy and Rev. Thambu.

What they continued to do was patently not Christian.

When a Christian is this situation, the first thing he / she should do is ask the question:

"What would Christ do in this situation?"

This was hardly the question that was asked. The ones who were pushing Rev. Thambu forward chose to behave in a totally Un-Christian manner, and the law of the land has correctly prevailed.

I do hope that this entire episode will be brought to a close quickly so that the College can get a truly qualified Principal who will drive our alma mater to the great heights that it has been accustomed to being during our time in College.

Amen

KTWV 09 Issue 03: Pleased as punch?

2008-01-21T09:45:00.000+02:00

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, the Oulu CHAFF Blog, the Mumbai Cathedralites Seventh Heaven Blog and the Delhi Stephanians Kooler Talk Blog.

Does the term "pleased as punch" refer to the condition after drinking an ample amount out of the Punch Bowl (remember Annikki and I are teetotallers) or is it some condition of Punch in the "Punch and Judy" Show?

However, Annikki and I were pleased as punch yesterday, whatever the origins of this phrase.

As was conveyed to most of you by "Manorama JM" yesterday, our younger daughter, Joanna and her husband, Tony, have produced their 3rd child, 3.49 kg in weight, 52 cm in length, at 15:35 on Sunday 20th January 2008.

Samuel and Daniel are very happy with their new baby sister, who is our second granddaughter, and just as beautiful as lovely Asha in England.

Our new granddaughter.

Daniel with his sister.

Samuel and Daniel with their sister.

Samuel with his sister.

Joanna watches her brood after the proceedings of the day.

I took these pictures (with my camera which is held together by sticky tape) at the hospital for Annikki, who cannot leave the house as she is looking after her mother. Grandmom was so pleased to be part of the event! And greatgrandmom was also quite thrilled to hear the news.

Annikki is the only one, who from the time she saw Joanna in mid-December, has been saying that the baby would be a girl!

Knowing Samuel and Daniel, this little girl is likely to grow up as a tomboy!

KTWV 09 Issue 02: A postcard from John

2008-01-11T06:55:00.000+02:00

Posted on Jacob's Blog and the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.

John Dayal is a Stephanian much junior to ma and one I have grown to respect and appreciate for the work he does selflessly for the intersts of all minorities in India. I give below the text of an email postcard I just received from him. It speaks volumes of the situation in India.

A postcard from the Kandhamala, Orissa 10th January 2008

Dear Friends

Thank you very much for your support.

I returned home to New Delhi a couple of hours ago after spending fourteen days in Orissa – six days in two phases in the hills of the Kandhamala district of Orissa in the week of the Christmas 2007 violence against Christians, and unfortunately four days in an Intensive Care Unit of a Bhubaneswar hospital after a diabetic ketoacidosis collapse. I am grateful to Doctor Neeraj Misra of Kar Hospital, and Father Bernard and his brother priests at Bishops House in Bhubaneswar who nursed me back so I could travel home. I had gone to Orissa on 28th morning, after meeting Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and his officers in North Block, New Delhi.

Kandhamala still shivers under a mist laden with a foreboding – that something dark and violent may happen on what is called Makar Sankrati, a pleasant and happy occasion that should mark the beginning of spring, but which, in this part of Orissa, marks the season when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad maverick resident abbot Lokhmananda Saraswati, the man at the root of all trouble, who reserves his most vituperative fulminations against Christians for this occasion. The gentleman is currently in Cuttack-Bhubaneswar but threatens to go back in the next three four days to his forest ashram.

The Orissa Government’s own blanket of darkness over Kandhamala does not help. No one really knows the full plight of the Christians in the refugees’ camp at Barakhama village-town. Relief groups and civil society are still barred from the area, despite repeated pleases by organizations of the stature of CARITAS, EFICOR and the like, and personal appeals by Archbishop Raphael Cheenath.

There has been an unreported death – the death of civil society in Orissa. There is no Digant Oza, no Teesta Setalvad, and Javed Anand, no Harsh Mander and Harsh Sethi, no Shamsul Islam-Neelima Sharma and their street theatre Nishant, no ANHAD and SAHMAT equivalents in Orissa, and the above name too are yet to come to the State and to the national Press. In their absence, mischief and white lies have a field day. Television News anchors quote Lokhmananda and speak of debates on conversion. Not one paper calls for relief and assistance and legal aid.

I intend to go back to Orissa after about a week or so after regaining health and writing out the White Paper. I released the preliminary report in Bhubaneswar, just before I took ill.

The following needs to be urgently done in Kandhamala, other than the work of relief and rehabilitation.

1. Re-building civil society. We need to, and I hope to be able to, organize at least four national seminars – one each in Calcutta and Hyderabad, which have had an organic relationship with Orissa in the past, and one each in Delhi and Mumbai to focus attention on the growth of fascism in hidden parts of India and how to meet the challenge as collective civil society, and not as a response only from the victim communities.
2. Organizing legal assistance: This has to be on a par with the organized legal assistance that helped put the trauma of the Gujarat victims in the lap of the legal system. This has to be multi tiered. We need par algal activist to help villagers file FIRs for their burnt houses and shops and their displaced families. We need legal assistance to trace out culprits. We need legal assistance to defend innocents that are being trapped by the police in the guise of `parity’ between communities. We need this before evidence is lost or false `evidence’ manufactured by a governance system that has totally sold itself out to its Coalition Dharma with the Bharatiya Janata Party. And we need to investigate issues of impunity in the matter of the mysterious police firing in Braminigaon.
3. We need to tell Civil Society in India and abroad that the attack on Christians in Orissa is at par with the repeated mauling of Muslims in Gujarat and other states, and an integral part of the Sangh Parivar’s ideology.

I hope to be able to analyze some of threes issues in larger essays soon.

I am sorry to record that till the film maker Mahesh Bhatt came to Bhubaneswar and addressed a press conference with Maharashtra Minorities Commission vice chairman Abraham Mathai to denounce the Sangh Parivar and warn of its designs, no other worthy had dared do so.

And till All India Christian Council president Dr Joseph D Souza and New Methodist Bishop Joab Lohara shared the stage with Dalit leader Udit Raj, there had been no visible protest of any magnitude in the capital of Orissa.

I regret that Union Home Minister Patil did not visit more places even more than I regret that the National Minorities Commission did not visit any place other than the town of Phulbani.

In a way, I thank the handsome and smug Inspector General of Police Kapoor, who had me escorted out of Phulbani on 29-30 December 2007 and the sarcastic Divisional commissioner, the subdivision police office and the circle inspect tor of Braminigaon whose language and behaviour, in a flash, made me understand that the apparatus of governance stood firmly on the side of a particular ideology.

I wish to close with my thanks, and those of my family, once again to the Catholic Fathers of Orissa, in particular Fr Bernard, Fr Nicholas Barla, Fr Mrtiyunjay and Fr Madan, Rev Pran Patrichha, Dr Anna and the MC Sisters for their love and care.

I salute the brave Nuns, Pastors and Priests of the Kandhamala, tribal, Dalit and always rooted in the soil of their mother hills.

And I wish to salute Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, SVD, who defies his 73 years, to provide Orissa the sort of leadership the late Archbishop Alan de Lastic provided us all in 1998 and later.

Happy New Year

John Dayal
New Delhi

Safe in a country far away from where John is, my heart bleeds for all those in such distress. My prayers go out to all those who have a belief that India will remain the wonderful secular society that I was brought up in.

KTWV 09 Issue 01: Back again to our teeny weeny world

2008-01-01T17:45:00.000+02:00

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, on the Mumbai Cathedralites Seventh Heaven Blog, on the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog, and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

Glad to get back to regular blogging. And it is a new Volume of the Kooler Talk Web Version Blog. I hope good sense, peace and prosperity will see this year through at our alma mater!

The last two weeks were a delight in that we were were not snowed under by snow, but with love and affection and greetings from all over the world.

(Sadly, as an aside, this is the first time in the last 23 winters we have been in Finland (and Annikki's some 40 winters she has been in Finland out of her 63 winters) that we did not have snow in this near Arctic location. Remember we are just 200 km from the Arctic Circle! A sad reflection of the effect of global warming!)

Into our 10 email addresses, 5 Blog Accounts, 3 Google Groups, our mobile phone number, our landline phone and our snail mail postbox, a total of just around 70000 (YES 70000!) season's greetings poured in.

I had a task sorting them out and then updating mailing addresses in our numerous mailing lists, grouping them into the various groups, i.e., family (Maliyakals and Kandathils), friends (Indian, Finnish, world), Mumbai Cathedralites, Delhi Stephanians, Bishop Cottonians (Bangalore), Findians, CHAFF Participants, O-Indians, past colleagues, present colleagues and others - making sure we were not sending out duplicates or to dead addresses and then send our greetings to all on our lists. (If it was not for 3 trustworthy Macs working round the clock this task would have been impossible for just one computer idiot!)

Out of a total 37000 postings (the last ones were today), I am glad to say that this year we had hardly around 300 returns! I had taken out all those who had university addresses in the US and UK (the majority of these were Stephanians), and that had cut the mailing list from the 80000+ to this more manageable figure.

We are sorry to all whom we may have missed.

But this is proof that we have a teeny weeny world of our own. But this teeny weeny world is even smaller than we thought!

A few weeks ago I had about 6 emails, all with the same attachment - some pictures of the Old Bombay - a truly great collection of pictures. Most of the emails were forward.

One of the persons who forwards me great emails is Cathedralite from Mumbai) 56er Ubi (HS Uberoi). (Another is Cathedralite 49er from Mysore, Naval Patel.)

When I looked at the forward I noted that it was from his daughter-in-law, Anahita. Besides Ubi, she had forwarded it to one Farookh Mehta.

I sent an email to Ubi asking him whether this "Farookh" was the same "advertising" Farookh who was married to a great Maharashtrian stage actress, Vijaya. I explained to Ubi that we had sailed together from Venice to Bombay in 1969, round the Cape, and Farookh had beaten me in the Table Tennis final on board the ship. Farookh played well on a tilting and listing ship!

Ubi's reply was swift as it was amazing. Yes, this was the self-same Farookh, who was also a Cathedralite of the 47 era, married to the Maharashtrian stage legend, Vijaya, and whose daughter, Anahita, who had been a few months on that voyage was Head Girl in Cathedral School in 1985, when Ubi's son, Samir, was Head Boy, and the two were married!

A year or so ago, Farookh and Vijaya's son, Ravi Khote, had passed through Finland and I had talked to him about his parents.

Since this exchange of emails I have had emails and photographs from Farookh, which I will blog soon.

But the moral is that our teeny weeny world is much much smaller than we thought!

Cathedral, Alumni, 47er, 56er, Farookh, Vijaya, Ubi, Anahita, Samir

KTWV 08 Issue 46: Alleged sexual harassment

2007-12-18T05:45:00.000+02:00

Two media reports reached me about an alleged sexual harassment of a foreign student in St. Stephen's College.

The Daily Telegraph headline to an article by Charu Sudan Kasturi read only as Stephenians buck trend, speak up, but the one by Puneet Nicholas Yadav in DNA (Daily News Analysis) screamed Molestation of US student brings forth dirty side of DU.

NEW DELHI: The allegation of sexual harassment by a visiting US student against a senior faculty member of the Delhi University’s (DU’s) prestigious St Stephen’s College has once again brought to the fore the grimy side of the elite university with a student strength of about 3 lakh.

more....

So long as the top leadership in the college is stunted by its internal wranglings, it will be impossible to handle such matters with a strong principled hand.

Does anyone wish that the college was still only a male only preserve?

KTWV 08 Issue 45: “St Stephen’s is one of the best colleges...

2007-12-17T07:15:00.000+02:00

In an interesting short article today in iExpressIndia.com Back to Campus, Akhil Katyal, a student of St Stephen’s is quoted as saying:

“St Stephen’s is one of the best colleges in Delhi University and after studying here I can see teaching here as a viable career option.”

When I was in college, I do not think any of my lecturers in my main subjects (Physics and Chemistry), other than Maths, were past Stephanians. We had Ranjit Bhatia who returned from his stint in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar to teach us Maths in our final year. Ranjit was a member of the athletics squad to the Rome Olympics 1960. He ran the 5000 metres and the Marathon.

I am not sure whether Principal Sircar, who also taught Maths, was a Stephanian! I do know his son, Raj, who came back and taught (not me) during my final year was a Stephanian. Raj now lives in Canada.

I do think that having a past student as a teacher would certainly make the bond between teacher and student quite strong. But one has also to remember the phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" and guard against those who are employed. They must appreciate the limits of relationship between staff and student.

A larger gap, as 10 - 15 years, seems more logical, rather than just 3 to 5 years.

Your opinions please!

KTWV 08 Issue 44: Latest published articles

2007-12-15T19:30:00.000+02:00

Posted on ALL our major blogs - my Jacob's Blog, the Oulu CHAFF Blog, the Mumbai Cathedralites Seventh Heaven Blog and the Delhi Stephanians Kooler Talk Blog.

Annikki was Chairperson of The English Club of Oulu almost 2 decades ago. We were also the first Life members of the Club. The Finn-Brits Magazine is the publication of The Federation of Finnish-British Societies under which English Clubs function all around Finland to promote the English Language and the cultures associated with English speakers.

Cover of Autumn 2007 edition.

The magazine decided to do a special feature about Oulu in the Autumn 2007 edition and they asked us for a couple of articles.

The first was an article about the Chamber of Assistance for Finns and Foreigners which was founded by Jacob and a few friends a couple of years ago. The article was authored by the present CHAFF Monitor, Ildikó Hámos-Sohlo, along with Jacob.

The second, a highly controversial one was authored by Annikki and Jacob about the lack of Free Speech in Oulu.

Hope you enjoy them!

KTWV 08 Issue 43: TODAY: Mumbai Unplug / Batti Bandh -- This is how Mumbai will "Unplug"

2007-12-15T13:45:00.000+02:00

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, Mumbai Cathedralites Seventh Heaven Blog and Delhi Stephanians.blogspot.com.

I have received this message from many sources and I thought to give it the desired publicity and pray that this is not a "one-off" event but one which will be repeated again and again across the world.

Old Bombay - Apollo Bunder.

This is how Mumbai will "Unplug"

Batti Bandh! Switch off Mumbai
Mumbai Unplug / Batti Bandh tells you how

Mumbai city uses an average of 550 megawatts of electricity on a Saturday between 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm. Let's see how much electricity we consume on December 15 between 7:30 pm -8:30 pm. Unplug tomorrow and vote for a green planet! Switch off and come to enjoy electricity-less entertainment at these locations.

Bandstand
Shaair and Func
Cirkles—Timir and Abhishek (band)

Carter Road
Gullywood (performers)
Dischordian (band)
Concorde (band)
Ideal Drama and Entertainment Academy (IDEA ) enact a Hindi play

Marine Drive
Gullywood (performers)
Anoushka and Friends
Violin Recital
Sophia College carol singers
Something Relevant

Ghatkopar
NSC/NCC Human Chain – MG Road to Station

For more updates on performances at Gateway, Kala Ghoda, Hard Rock Café and InOrbit Mall visit Mumbai Unplug.com.

So far, the Marine Drive landmarks, The Hilton Towers and the Air India building, have promised to switch off their façade lights for Batti Bandh. Essar is accommodating Batti Bandh on their Founders' Day conference which happens to be on December 15 too. As a part of their event, they will be switching off lights from 8:30pm-9:30 pm. Bank of Rajasthan will unplug all branches across India for Batti Bandh. Restaurants along Colaba causeway like Café Mondegar, Hard Rock Café and Shiro at Lower Parel have also pledged to "switch off". Perfetti India and Mentos have created an ad campaign centered around Batti Bandh. Students at St. Xavier's College are forming the Batti Bandh logo with candles in their campus.

There will be music bands playing at Carter Road, Marine Drive and Bandstand. At Kalamboli, Panvel and Navi Mumbai Dhol players along with 50-100 rickshawwallas will hold a peace rally. Bombay Catholic Sabha is holding another peace rally from Sahar to the Airport in Andheri. Residents of Raheja Hillside society in Powai are planning an antakshri competition during the Batti Bandh hour. "You don't have to wonder about what to do in the absence of electricity. Have a community hour," says the Batti Bandh team.

Modelled on the Sydney Earth Hour 60 held in March 2007 (that had 2.2 million citizens of the city switch off lights), Mumbai Unplug / Batti Bandh is an initiative taken in order to educate the masses and make them aware of their contribution to the deteriorating environmental conditions of not only Mumbai but India and the world. "Unlike Earth Hour 60, which was initiated by organisations like Leo Burnett and WWF, Mumbai Unplug / Batti Bandh is a citizens' initiative," said Keith.

WWF has also supported the Mumbai Unplug / Batti Bandh initiative. For more information and updates on other performances happening across the city on December 15, visit Mumbai Unplug.com.

Take a stand. Unplug.

For more information, contact:
Keith Menon
Email: info@mumbaiunplug.com
Phone: 9819769933

Rustom Warden
Email: info@mumbaiunplug.com
Phone: +91-9820806355

Neil Quraishy
Email: info@mumbaiunplug.com
Phone: +91-9820353067

Shiladitya Chakraborty
Email: info@mumbaiunplug.com
Phone: +91-9833229449

Web Site: Mumbai Unplug.com
SMS Unplug to 56363

Thank you for all the concerned Mumbaites for sending me this amd I will be there with you in spirit.

I will symbolically UNPLUG here in the Arctic between 16:30 and 17:30 today!

KTWV 08 Issue 42: Kamalesh responds

2007-12-11T21:06:00.000+02:00

Posted on Jacob's Blog and the Kooler Talk Blog for Delhi Stephanians

A couple of weeks ago I sent the congratulations from all of us of the Stephanian era of 1960s to Kamalesh Sharma, High Commissioner of India in the UK, when he was elected to serve as the Secretary General of the Commonwealth.

Today, I had his response:

from Kamalesh Sharma, High Commissioner of India, London
to Jacob Matthan
date 11 Dec 2007 17:03

Dear Sushil,

Thank you for your kind message of felicitations and good wishes. This is greatly appreciated. The assignment with the Commonwealth is one of great responsibility and challenge but I look forward to it with anticipation and enthusiasm.

It is strange to see oneself on Kooler Talk, having been associated with its birth. But I appreciate the efforts that has gone into it and the warmth of sentiment.

Very best regards and happy new year.

(Kamalesh)

Kamalesh had better be careful with all these fake Santa's pumping his hand.

My sleigh-pulling Elk (not reindeer) with me!

There is only one genuine Santa from the Arctic, ME! (As Rudolph, my ELK, will testify!)

Reindeer are too weak to pull my sleigh around the world. Only a set of powerful Elks can do that job!

It is also great to be the one continuing, 47 years on single-handedly, the pioneering work of the original creators of Kooler Talk, which included
Kamalesh, Sarwar Lateef, Peter Philip (Tubby), Prakash Joseph, Sayeed Rizvi, Zaffar Hai, Swaminathan Aiyar, Chinmoy Banerji, Montek Singh Alhuwalia, etc.!

My version of Kooler Talk (Web Version) has out-lasted any other incarnations of this rag!

KTWV 08 Issue 41: Carrying on the farce

2007-11-29T08:45:00.000+02:00

The farce about the appointment of a principal for the college seems to be continuing. This is from the Express India web site:

Appoint principal in Stephen’s, says varsity
Five months after St Stephen’s College appointed Rev Valson Thampu as Officer on Special Duty, Delhi University has asked the Church of North India (CNI) to find a principal for the college. The letter, sent to the Bishop of CNI Rev Sunil Kumar Singh in the second week of November, says the OSD’s appointment could not be ratified as it is “not in accordance with the university statutes”.

A university source said, “Now that former college principal Dr Anil Wilson has resigned, there is a clear vacancy at the college. The university has also asked the college to advertise for the post of principal.”

Thampu was appointed OSD this May, after then principal Wilson went on leave to serve as the vice-chancellor of Himachal University. Wilson later sought voluntary retirement from the college.

Thampu’s six-month tenure as OSD is nearing its end, and the university has now asked St Stephen’s to appoint a principal through “correct procedure”. On May 18, the university had asked the college to suggest three names for appointment as principal. The college, however, sent a letter seeking ratification of Thampu’s appointment as OSD.

University Vice Chancellor Prof Deepak Pental confirmed that the letter was sent with directions to appoint a principal. “Every college has to follow the Delhi University ordinance,” he said, “and there is no way norms can be relaxed.” Rev Sunil Kumar Singh refused to comment.

If the intention was to drive Dr. Anil Wilson from holding on to the post of principal was an objective, that has succeeded. Diverting attention to other issues, however noble, as admission policies for backward classes, will not succeed in the long term.

I hope the college administering authorities will spin themselves out of this cycle of bad publicity which is not good for either the staff or student morale and certainly not good for the image of an institution we much love!

Founders Day is fast approaching. I hope sense will prevail and there will be some good news to inform you by then.