KTWV 10 Issue 15: Claustrophobia - A new definition?

(Posted on all my major blogs.)

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KTWV 10 Issue 14: Passing of Dr. Anil Wilson

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May Dr.Wilson now rest in peace.

KTWV 10 Issue 13: Reason for excitement

(Also posted on all my major blogs.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beware of one problem with "Cooliris".

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

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

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

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

KTWV 10 Issue 12: Rarely am I so excited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KTWV 10 Issue 11: Montek Singh Alhuwalia on BBC World

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

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

There was the familiar blue turban shooting across the screen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KTWV 10 Issue 10: I was certainly wrong

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

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

This was just in:

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

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

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

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

KTWV 10 Issue 09: The experience of our lifetime

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

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

My daughter explained that times are different.

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

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

Blessings,

Dawn

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

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

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

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

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

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

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

Only girls had pierced ears!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

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

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

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

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

KTWV 10 issue 08: Am I disappointed?

(Also posted on my Jacob's Blog.)

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

Shashi Tharoor, fellow Stephanian, was on.

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

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

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

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

Even more interestingly he gives his Credo as:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I exploited the combined legal expertese of Ajeet and Sari.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do check it out and let me have your views.

KTWV 10 Issue 05: What is talent?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The key word is "Desire".

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you Mr. Fareed Zakaria.

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

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

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

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

I decided to splurge and get a new Mac.

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

(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

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

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

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

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

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?"

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!