Religious Fundamentalist or Anarchist Hippie?

Posted on the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog and my main Jacob's Blog.

One of the reasons that I took time off from blogging was that an Anonymous Commenter on the Kooler Talk Blog said that I had no life of my own and that was why I was running so many blogs!

So I took time off, causing deep concern amongst many of you about my health and well-being!

Those of you have been reading the Comments on the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog would have seen some Anonymous Comments alleging that I am a Christian Religious Fundamentalist.

On the other hand, on a popular Christian TV Channel, another strange allegation about Annikki and me surfaced. Millions of viewers heard that we had been "anarchist hippies"!

Well, well, well - what a contradictory couple of allegations and turn of events.

In response to the Anonymous Commenter, I protested that I do not belong to ANY religious faction and never have. I have not subscribed, contributed or financially supported any religious movement.

The only monthly contribution that Annikki and I make regularly is € 20 to Amnesty International.

Cover of book by Annikki
published in 1994.

Annikki does belong to a Christian movement and her conversion to that faith to the extent of being baptised at the age of 40 can be found in the pages of her best-selling book "for the hour of his judgement is come:...."

In response to the "anarchist hippie" comment, we sent the tv station this comment. This allegation has been described to me by some people as saying Annikki and I are "hip" people in today's context - more a form of tribute!

Sadly, Annikki and I are not "hip" enough to understand this modern day lingo!

Given below is my email to the tv station:

Credibility of the Hope Channel!

Annikki and I listened to the interview of .................

We were quite horrified to hear the two of us described as "anarchist hippies".

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Annikki has been a dedicated Adventist from her childhood days, following in her father's footsteps. But she was only baptised as late as 1984 (when she was 40 years old) when she went through marvellous experience which is described in her book "for the hour of his judgement is come;..." (You can read this book on the internet at
 
http://koti.netplaza.fi/~amatthan/hour01.html!)

Annikki is a creative and highly talented artist and author, a Montessori Educationalist, a trained hospital helper (having worked even at Adventist Hultafors Institution in Sweden in the early 1960s and also in the Marie Curie Hospice in London) and has worked in Sweden, England, Germany and Finland.

There is hardly another private expert on Ellen G. White and her writings than Annikki, having read and understood all her books in two languages!

She has never been part of any anarchist or hippie movement.

Jacob sang in the St. Thomas Cathedral Church Choir in Bombay all through his childhood in Bombay. He was outstanding student, both in studies and sports, in his school days being House Captain! He was part of the International Youth Christian Movement during his days in Delhi University, even holding the elected position of President of College Residents!

Jacob completed his second higher degree in England after his first degree from Delhi University. The day he completed his second degree he was employed by a Government Research Centre in England - in Shawbury.

It is only after Jacob completed his second degree and got a job that he and Annikki entered into the serious commitment of a Christian marriage, over 40 years ago!

We have always been law abiding responsible citizens and have given our life to give our children the very best in terms of education. Maybe you should look at these two web pages

A Tribute to Annikki:
http://kotinetti.suomi.net/hilja.reinikka/AMTribute/annikkitribute.html
Biodata of Jacob Matthan:
http://koti.netplaza.fi/~jmatthan/jmbiodata.html

Our daughters were never sent to any boarding school in England or anywhere else. Like Jacob, who left for higher education at the age of 17, our elder daughter also proceeded to her further education away from home at the same age!

Our elder daughter (and our elder son) was able to settle in England only because we were responsible parents and preserved her birthright even when we were living in India!

Hardly what an anarchist hippie couple would do!

In later life we have devoted our life to helping various ethnic minorities and refugees. Even today, in our retirement, we look after an 87 year old dementia, tunnel vision impaired, physically weak lady, Annikki’s mother!

Hardly anarchists or hippies, then or now!

In the interests of accuracy, it would be only fair if the Hope Channel would correct this serious misconception, which borders on libel, which came through in your programme.

Annikki & Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

The question arises as to my Christian roots.

Yes, I was born a Christian into a mixed very traditional Orthodox Christian/modern Protestant roots family and was brought up and educated by wonderful Christian Educational Institutions in India. Good Shepherd Convent in Mysore, Bishop Cotton School in Bangalore, Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay and St. Stephen's College in Delhi.

I greatly valued the principles that were taught to me in these educational institutions which gave me strength to say that I was probably "educated" and not just a person who knew how to crunch numbers.

Yes, I was active in the Church Choir while at school.
Yes, like School Prefects of all faiths, I did read the Bible at the School Assembly.
Yes, I did read the Bible at the small College Chapel.
Yes; i was involved with the International Christian Youth Movement while in College. (We distributed food to poor villagers around  Delhi.)
Yes, I was part of the movement to start the non-denominational Christian prayer group in Oulu called as the International Church of Oulu.
Yes, I was even married in a Christian Church in the lovely town of Shrewsbury in England.

My break with the established church took place soon after our eldest daughter was born, when the vicar of the local church turned up at our home a few days after she was born to tell us that we should "christen" her quickly as otherwise, if she died, she would not be buried in a Christian graveyard.

What he said was hardly a Christian value that I had held so dear. It was, to me, emotional blackmail.

Annikki believed in a Church that did not support "child baptism". In her words one had to personally mature before one committed oneself to a religious institution, and as mentioned earlier, she found that strength only when she was almost 40 years old.

That experience ended my relationship with the established church, but not with religion or religious institutions of all shades.

My roots of education which I received from the schools and colleges that I attended were totally secular. There had never been any form of discrimination against any individual in any of these institutions. And my own classes both in school and college had people of many faiths in it - all brands of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, as well as people of all different colours from a variety of nations.

I will tackle the reason for the charge against me for appearing to be a Christian Fundamentalist in a separate blog entry as I am in the process of creating  a background document about education in India. It should be tackled in that context and not outside of it.

To date, I have not had any return comment from the Anonymous Commenter on my blog or from the tv Channel.

But I think Annikki and I got what we had to say off our chests!

Do tell us whether you think we come to any of you as being "religious fundamentalists" or "anarchist hippies"! Maybe, appearing at both ends of the spectrum sort of says that what we practice is just about right?

Another Cathedralite Visitor to Oulu

Posted in Jacob's Blog and the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog.

Both Annikki and I were thrilled when we got news that 59er Viney Sethi would drop in on us in Oulu at the end of July or early August. He and his wife, Purnima, were visiting Purnima's daughter who lives in Sweden. Viney thought that he could pop over for a few days.

Viney and I have been friends ever since I joined Cathedral School in 1954. Viney has always been an outstanding student and a great sportsperson.  Like me, Viney was House Captain (Palmer) in 1959. I was Savage House Captain. The other two House Captains were from a year senior to us, the late Michael Colaco (Wilson) and André (Bahram).

Soon after we got our Senior Cambridge results, some of our parents gave us a holiday to a hill station. A few of us went to Mussoorie via Dehra Dun. Classmates Viney, Vijay Shivdasani, Noel Ezekiel, Ashok Ruia, Anil Ruia, Arvind Thadhani and myself stayed at the Ruia Guest House in Mussoorie. This was my first visit to the North of India. I was glad we had people like Viney who spoke the "foreign" language - Hindi - to help us out.

When we finished school in Bombay, I went to Delhi to University. Viney went to Dulwich in England to do his A Levels.

Our paths crossed again when I went to London to do my specialisation in Polymer Science and Technology (Plastics, Rubber, Adhesives and Fibre Technologies). Viney moved to Loughborough to study Mechanical Engineering.

As 60er Ajeet Mehra lived round the corner from my flat in London, the two houses were the centre point for out-of-town visitors to London.

In 1964, a few of us, Viney, Ajeet, Ashok Kapur, Noel Ezekiel, Navin Bahl and myself took a battered Bedford people carrier and drove through France to St, Tropez, camped on the beach for a few days, and then went through Nice and Monaco into Switzerland. I was dropped off in Germany where I had a summer training assignment in Leverkusen. It was an unforgetable trip. It built an even stronger bond between all of us.

2007: Viney (by Hasnain Chinwalla)

This visit of Viney to Oulu was something that has moved Annikki and me to the core.

As a present, Viney gave us a short DVD.

We had no clue as to what was on it.

When we played it, we were astounded. Viney had converted some of his ancient 8 mm movie camera film onto the new media. He had us disc celebrating the first birthday of our elder daughter, Susanna, at his home in St. Helens where he was working at that time in Fibreglass Pilkington in 1968.

Not only that, as he had visited Annikki and me when we were living in Madras. He had some amazing short clips of a much younger and "athletic" looking me, Annikki in all her youthful beauty, and clips of all of our children including of our younger daughter, Joanna, then just a few months old.

Such nostalgia is something that breaks one's heart and makes tears pour from the eyes. Viney certainly knew what matters in friendships and relationships.

Although his visit was short, we caught up on a lot of news.

Viney briefed me on possible plans for the 50 year 59er reunion in 2009. I shall be sharing this with you on our special 59er Google Group in a short while. I liked the sound of what I heard and I am looking at all the financial and other implications before I lay it out as a sound proposal coming from Shivi and Piloo.

We discussed almost all of our class, person by person. If your noses were twitching, you now know WHY!

I was glad to get the latest news of many of you. Although I have been writing about many of you from your inputs to me, the difference between Viney and me is that Viney has been meeting all of you and was able to give me all the scandals in all their glory!

Thank you Viney for taking the time and trouble to visit us in Oulu. Both Annikki and I were truly honoured by your visit. The meal you organised at Michelle's Indian Restaurant was truly unique. Michelle and Nushad send you their regards as they learnt a lot about good Punjabi food from what you dished up for us.

It was sad to see Viney leave. (Unfortunately, my camera was broken so I do not have any photos from this visit.)

I knew from Viney's visit that the 59er reunion in 2009 is going to be wonderful event remembered by all through the rest of our lives. Even a week together is not going to get to even scratch the surface of how all our lives have been intertwined through all these years.

Other visitors to Oulu

Posted on Jacob's Blog and the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog.

I am pleased that so many of you reacted to my post of yesterday, welcoming me back to the blogging world.

It was not only the visit of our grandchildren that kept me away from blogging. I was blessed with a series of other visitors who travelled from afar to spend some time with me.

54er Sadhana

54er Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah) became a fast friend when she contacted me almost six years ago when i was still runing Seventh Heaven as a web page. Then we discovered that we had a common interest as 59er Inderjeet Shah was my classmate. Another of Sadhana's brother's, Randhir, sadly no more, was a 56er.


54er Sadhana and daughter, Gopa


Timo and Gopa

Later, Gopa, Sadhana's daughter married a Finn and settled in south Finland and became a part of our family. And after that I did extend my helping hand to Sadhana to organise the 50th year reunion of the Class of 54. The 54ers rewarded me by making mention of my assistance during their reunion and also sent me details, CD, etc. of their grand reunion.

I have been asking Sadhana to visit Finland as her daughter is here and she could spend some quality time with Annikki and me. Leaving her husband, Madhu, a Mallu like me, and son, Sid, she traveled to Helsinki to visit her daughter. Gopa and her husband, Timo, organised a holiday in a nearby ski resort (no snow in summer, but great nature walks) and after a few days there, they dropped of Sadhana in Oulu to spend a few days with us.


The reindeer and me!


The Reindeer and Sadhana

I was able to show Sadhana our home of the last 23 years including the unique Zoological Museum where one can see the whole flora and fauna in Finland in 10 minutes, flat!

The stuffed reindeer was one of the exhibits.


Sadhana, Gopa, Timo and me at Michelle's Indian Restaurant


Michelle with Nushad

We dined at several of my friend's restaurants and the last meal before Sadhana departed was at Michelle's new Indian restaurant where Michelle and Hushad served us a wonderful meal.

It was a wonderful time as we talked and talked and talked, while Annikki and Sadhana laughed and laughed and laughed.


Anniikki bids goodbye to her new friend

Parting was sorrow for all of us as Sadhana, far from being just another internet friend became someone live and flesh and blood for both Annikki and me!

Sadhana, thank you for spending time with us.

Different experiences

I had an email from 68er Ravi Nangia who pointed out that Mr. N. T. Ranji was the Carpentry Teacher, while Mr. Hazarnis was the Art Teacher.

Mr. G. M. Hazarnis

Mr. N. T. Ranji

Ravi is absolutely right. But during our time our Art Teacher was Lady Temple. Mr. Hazarnis used to also help Mr. Ranji in the carpentry room, the backroom of which used to be the teachers secret smokers hangout.




I had this in response from Ravi:

It is interesting to see how each cohort at Cathedral had slightly different experiences. By our time, the art room (and Hazarnis) relocated to just under the further turret (reached by an inside staircase) above the physics/chemistry labs. I don't think he "descended" very often from the very top of the building.

In our time the Art Room was the Library, which we went to from the gym via the staircase at the side of the boxing ring! It was also the room where we used to have the lunch if we bought the school lunch. I tried it, the lunch, for a couple of months, learnt a lot about table manners from that experience, but the quantity hardly filled a small corner of my stomach!

Thanks for that input, Ravi! Certainly made my brains do a little bit of work.

My carpentry skills?

(Cross posted on my Jacob's Blog.)

Not having published the final outcome of my front porch carpentry effort, many of you have cast serious doubts about my carpentry skills. I many not have the talent of my wife in creativity, I can design and create mathematically designed objects - small ones.

I will now educate those who query that aspect of my life!

I learnt to use wood, hammer, nails, saw, screw driver, screws, drills (hand variety), pliers and other simple carpentry tools while at Cathedral School, Mumbai. Many thanks to our carpentry master, Mr. G. M. Hazarnis, who guided us with simple tasks for 12 and 13 years olds. Although we had only one class per week in our lower years, it was fun, but I learnt to do things with my hands.

Later, when I was at the National College of Rubber Technology, I studied engineering drawing and also did work in a metal workshop, learning to use the lathe, welding machine, and other simple engineering tools.

When I had my first paid job at the Rubber and Plastics Research Association of Great Britain (RAPRA), I was fortunate to have to work alongside an architect studying about plastics and rubber in building, while I was looking at the durability of plastics in building. Ken Taylor is an outstanding individual as he could visualise things and create them with simple tools, without going through the process of putting them on paper. As he was a bachelor, he used to drop in at home. He and I would have brain-storming sessions with lots of wild ideas flying around. As much as he learnt about plastics from me, I learnt much about architecture from him, which helped me lecture to architects about Plastics in Building, a hot topic of those days.

In 1969, when I returned to India, we needed furniture. As carpenters were cheaper by the dozen, I was not put to the test. However, I followed Annikki's instructions and created the furniture of her liking on to paper and helped the carpenter to turn them into our unique furniture.

Many years later those skills helped me visualise design and create objects in the air and the drawing board, but I did not have much opportunity to physically create anything.

So it was only after we moved to Kampitie after the demise of Annikki's father that I had the need to use those talents. (He was a carpenter by profession, and hence I did not interfere with his work so long as he was alive.)



The first job was a porch over the rear entrance to the house. The snow used to make that entrance most difficult to use in winter. I designed and made a simple covering which has now stood the test of adverse weather conditions for the last 6 years.



When Annikki re-made the greenhouse, I did not do much except install a plastic roof.



Then Annikki wanted a cover over the bathtub, the centre-piece of the Kampitie garden. I designed the structure and erected it and my Thai friend, Unnop Khungrai, gave it the finishing touch of cutting and putting up the Thai design decorative effect.

And now to the cover over the front porch so as to protect Mika from the rain and snow, as it is his smoking patch.





Once Annikki acquired the waste wood from our neighbours, and having a large structural section from Joanna's garden, which was destined for the rubbish dump, I designed and set up what I think is a satisfactory protective cover, which looks nice and executes its purpose.

Life is one of learning and I can say that right from my school days, even the very simple things that I was exposed to has helped me do what is required in life in as simple a way as required. That is what life is about.

Thank you Mr. G. M. Hazarnis, my instructor at the National College (a person of Czech origin whose name I forget), my good friend, Ken Taylor, my late father-in-law, Matti Reinikka (who would have been 91 yesterday had he been alive), and above all, my dear wife who has implicit faith that I will execute her commands satisfactorily, even though I may serious doubts till the last screw has been put into place!

Rememberance service for former staff

I have just been informed by both 56er HS Uberoi (Ubi) and 71er Rajiv Bhatia, current President of the Alumni Association, that there will be Memorial Service for the Late Col. Eric J. Simeon, former-Principal, on Thursday June 28th, 2007 commencing at 9:00 am sharp at St. Thomas' Cathedral, Mumbai.

Late Mr. G. Bose, former-Vice-Principal and the late Mr. J. Paulose former-Chemistry teacher will also be remembered at the service.

56er Dorreen (née Feibusch) Heimlich from North Carolina, USA, drew my attention to a nice article that appeared in The Times of India Mumbai's Rang de Basanti heroes which describes some dedicated social work done by some former students from the school.

MUMBAI: A doctor from a civic hospital describes them as the 'real Rang de Basanti heroes' and their school principal thinks society needs many more such youngsters.

But these six former students of Cathedral School, all from affluent backgrounds, simply want to do their bit for society. Tired of others blaming 'the system' for everything that goes wrong in the city, they put their heads together, loosened their purse-strings and decided to 'change the system'. ....(more)

I hope more students from our school will take up the cudgel to eliminate corruption from the system and bring India in line with the some developed nations of the world. If our school students cannot do it, no one else can!

Those who have been following my other blogs will know that I have been busy - even being a carpenter! But as I knew that most of you would be vacationing, I knew I would not be missed, MUCH!

Our vacation period is just starting and I am looking forward to 56er Sadhana (née Shah) Madhusadan arriving here in Oulu during the next 10 days.



Just for the record, tomorrow is Midsummer's Day with sunrise at 2 am and sunset at 1 am. Just 200 km north of here, in Rovaniemi, the sunrise and sunset will be at 1 am tomorow!

Dangerous situation of VIOLATION

(Cross-posted on all my MAJOR BLOGS.)

A few weeks ago, I received an email from my good young friend, Soda, that he had TAGGED me and the email had a line implying that if I did not join this TAGGED network, my friendship with him would be in question!

Is Soda your friend?

Please respond or Soda may think you said no :(

When I get emails which border on being emotional blackmailed, I usually investigate a little deeper. When I went through the process of joining the TAGGED network, and it came to a particular stage, whoosh, I closed the link.

The process of registration was asking me to reveal, to TAGGED, my email password.

This is a sure recipe for your entire security on the Internet and your personal computer to be fully compromised. Once you part with your password to such an organisation, the robot can enter your personal email INBOX, your ARCHIVES, your ADDRESS BOOK and data mine all your sensitive information, which could even be your credit card details.

I sent a reply to SODA:

Hi Soda,

Tagged is asking for my Password when filling in details - which I cannot give. Be careful about this site!

Jacob

I few days later I had a similar request from a Cathedralite friend.

I replied him this:

Dear Adil,

Tagged is asking for passwords.

Quite dangerous.

Use LinkedIn, much better. Do you want to be in that Contact Manager?

Regards

Jacob

To which he replied:

I merely answered one tag message, filled a form in and I now see that this thing has gone to my entire address book ! Quite horrified. Any idea how I can undue this Tag business? Sorry, I truly didnt mean to Tag everyone, except the guy who tagged me! Help !!

Adil

He was in panic and I replied to him:

That was why they asked for your email address AND Password.

Dangerous situation.

Don't know how you get out of it except by directly communicating with them.

Stay away from anything that asks for YOUR password to register - you are in for some tough times!

Regards

Jacob

Since then I have had similar request from many friends who had compromised their system. Then came this from the Cathedralite daughter of another Cathedralite friend:

Hi,

Thanks for this mail - its really weird as I didnt tag anyone. Will check my system for a virus.

Thanks for letting me know,

Kind regards,

Dimple

Remember, this is not a virus, but a violation of your secrecy which you permitted by giving your password when you were emotionally blackmailed. Take action NOW before you are compromised on some other front.

My suggestion is that you bombard them with questions and demand restitution for compromising your email secrecy!

These are the CONTACT details for TAGGED:

CONTACT

Email support@tagged.com with site related questions or complications.

Company Information: info@tagged.com
Business Partnerships: business@tagged.com
All Other Inquiries: inquiry@tagged.com

web Address: http://corp.tagged.com/

Tagged Inc
P.O. Box 193152
San Francisco, CA 94119-3152

Do not violate Rule 1 of the Internet- never give YOUR PASSWORD to ANYONE!