Malayalee in Finland
Radha Krishnan STU
Yes there are Malayalees in Finland too. The land where Santa Claus lives
(though this status has also been claimed by Sweden and Greenland).
Ever since ack has been formed I've been thinking of posting an item
or two. Each time I read an interesting item, a counter comment or some
supplementary opinion formulates in my mind. But due to pressure of work
(and a bit of laziness) I never made any posting to ack (until this time).
I wonder how many such readers of ack are out there?
Here is my brief profile: born in Trivandrum; studies started at Holy Angels
and wound up at University College, Trivandrum; and here I am now in Finland
doing my master's in Information Science. In fact I've almost completed my
thesis and shall soon move on to England - Sheffield University, to be
precise - to do some preliminary work on my doctoral research and upon
completion of which I've to toss a coin to decide - should I return to Finland,
or, should I pitch my "tent" in England?
My position in Finland, I think, is a bit different than most of you guys
(girls included) in that there are so few foreigners in this country (45000
according to the latest count). A vast majority of these are Europeans. This
means few non-Europeans and fewer Indians (about 300) and no one for me to
talk in Malayalam. Yes there is one guy with his wife from Trivandrum living
in a small town about 700 kms from this place who seldom speaks Malayalam (for
reasons known best to him). To sum it up - there is not an iota of any aspect
of Indian culture in this part of the world. Oh yes, there is an Indian embassy
in Helsinki.
Maybe I shall write more about it in the proposed magazine for a.c.k. But
according to the posting of Paul Chemmanoor (regarding the magazine) articles
should be about India/Kerala and its culture. So a Malayalee's life in Finland
will not satisfy those conditions. Maybe Paul or some one from the committee
could shed more light on these aspects. I think the magazine is an excellent
idea especially for Malayalees like me who are thirsting for some news from
home!
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for 1993. Keep the Christmas
spirits high - drop in at the nearest pub!
Radha Krishnan
Atharvan
>Namaskaram,
>
>Yes there are Malayalees in Finland too. The land where Santa Claus lives
>(though this status has also been claimed by Sweden and Greenland).
>
[...]
>Maybe I shall write more about it in the proposed magazine for a.c.k. But
>according to the posting of Paul Chemmanoor (regarding the magazine) articles
>should be about India/Kerala and its culture. So a Malayalee's life in Finland
>will not satisfy those conditions. Maybe Paul or some one from the committee
>could shed more light on these aspects. I think the magazine is an excellent
>idea especially for Malayalees like me who are thirsting for some news from
>home!
>Radha Krishnan
0] I thought this query was general enough to be answered on both sci and
and ack, judging from the responses we have been getting from people who
either are not malayaalis or want to write on topics that do not fall
strictly into the categories we had outlined in the original invitation
for articles.
1] The rules given in the original article are only guidelines.
To make things clear:
a] (FICTION: Poetry, Short Stories, Humour etc) :
If you have a good story to tell, you can send it to a/k.
You dont have to be a keralite, nor does the story have to be about kerala.
The only motive here is to have good stories. Simply put: good stories
have no cultural barriers. The stories can be in english or malayalam.
b] (NON-FICTION: News, Political Stories, Arguments for or against communism,
the relevance of the great three poets of the classical age in kerala
poetry etc, historical accounts of the people who have influenced Kerala) :
These should have a clear kerala relevance, but the contributors dont have
to be malayaalis neither should they have to write in malayalam. In fact we
expect the majority of the articles to be in english. And also expect quite
a few contributors who are not from kerala.
c] Now what remains are articles that can be classified as neither:
Travelogues, descriptions of places, any other kind of writing.
Here, I think the author should make a judgement call, whether people the
audience for the magazine will like to read it. If they think they will
be interested, send us your contribution, chances are your article will be
included.
2] In particular, Radha Krishnan would be a welcome contributor, as I am
sure we would like to find out about Malayaalis, living in a place that
is so different from Kerala, and has so few keralites or even Indians is
all about.
I am sure we would like such descriptions from people in places like
singapore, japan, germany, france etc.
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. ~ ~ .
. o o signito ergo sum. paul chemmanoor. .
. | i sign therefore i am. Computer Science department. .
. = Univ. of Colorado, Boulder. .
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