TERVE - - NAMASTE

FINDIANS BRIEFINGS

HOT NEWS ITEMS OF THE LAST FORTNIGHT

• Finnair - Inhuman Customer Relations

  Dateline: 23rd August 1996

  A friend from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, had to come to Finland to attend to some urgent family matters. He bought his return air ticket to Helsinki via New York from an American Express Representative in Port-au-Prince, Agence Citadelle S.A. As he was travelling out of his personal funds and not on any company expense, he bought the cheapest possible ticket which would permit him to change the flight dates, if necessary. The applicable Change Fee was printed on every counterfoil which made up the different sectors of the journey. It was US$50 for any particular sector that he may have required to be changed.

  The following text was printed on each ticket counterfoil, all counterfoils being those of American Airlines:

  No Refund/Chg Fee USD50 Plus Fare Diff/....(and details about the fares for each sector, categoy of travel, etc....)

  The agent was a recognised ticketing agent of American Airlines, appointed by America Airlines to carry out this business, and therefore, in the eyes of American Airines competent to do his work.

  Despite the protestations of our friend, the sector New York/Helsinki/New York was issued on the Finnish National carrier, Finnair. This carrier does not have a very good repuation for customer concern or service. However, there was no alternative and the New York/Helsinki sector was issued on Finnair but on an American Airlines counterfoil - and to repeat, the Change Fee of US$50 was printed on this counterfoil also. Hence a legal contract had been entered in between our friend and American Airlines in which the change fee liable would be no more than US$50 per sector. This was over any other conditions that may have applied as the above words were expressly printed on each counterfoil.

  As luck would have it, our friend had to return to Port-au-Prince immediately he completed his task in Finland. He packed his bag and went to the Finnair City Terminal in the largest town in North Finland to get his ticket changed so that he could proceed to Helsinki by train and catch his onward flight, about 10 days ahead of his original schedule.

  Shock No. 1: This national and international carrier does not have a City Office in Oulu. The only Finnair office is over 20 kilometres from the City at the airport!! In the place where the Finnair City Terminal used to be there was an aggressive travel agent who told our friend that if he wanted to have his ticket changed he would have to go 20 kilometres to the airport. As he was travelling by train from Oulu to Helsinki, travelling to the Oulu Airport was certainly not a prospect to be relished as transportation costs are phenomenal in Finland.

  He solicited my assistance. I took him to my friendly travel agent who also advised me that if any change was required, I would have to go to the airport.

  I thought I would be clever and rang the Finnair ticket reservation number and explained the problem to the person on the phone. I read out the conditions endorsed on the ticket. I was told that the correct category of seats was available on the flight out from Helsinki to New York that was requested but the New York to Port-au-Prince sector would need to be okayed by the American Airlines office in Stockholm. Then we would have to take the ticket to the Oulu airport for endorsement at the Finnair counter.

  Again using a 9800 number, I contacted the Stockholm office of American Airlines and explained the situation. American Airlines offered him a connecting flight without any problem and told me that they would not be charging in Change Fee. I was told to take his ticket to Finnair for the endorsement.

  This is where the agony commenced. We trudged out the 20 kilometres from Oulu City to the airport (imagine this high tech city of the Arctic without even a national carrier airline office in the city centre!!).

  Looking at the computer, our "friendly (?)" counter representative of Finnair was unable to locate the flight category and farestructure which had been used by American Airlines. She dashed off inside to send a fax to American Airlines asking how the Change Fee was to be collected despite the fact I had been told the Change Fee was not applicable. Then she handed us over to the ticketing counter Finnair person who had been away at lunch.

  Now came Shock 2. Despite the clear words on every counterfoil that the Change Fee was US$50, the discussions revealed that Finnair was intending to charge a Change Fee of US$150 for the Finnair portion of the journey. Now, instead of a US$50 liability, our friend was being faced with a US$200 liability.

  No amount of reasoning helped. The Finnair representative tried to make out that what was written on every coupon only applied to the American Airlines penalty and not Finnair. (I had it in my mind that Finnair would now demand US$150 for their sector plus another US$50 on behalf of American Airlines for the same sector making the overall liability increase to US$250!)

  They never thought to reason as to why anyone would print irrelevant conditions on a Finnair ticket. They tried to tie up two distinctly separated texts as being interconnected. Illogicality at its extreme. Here was another example of how the Finnish Government, Social Offices and Finnish Companies work - the customer is always wrong!!

  The onus being implied was that it was the repsonsibilty of the customer to write the ticket correctly, the responsibilities of Finnair, American Airlines, American Express and the authorised agent at the other end were totally disregarded. If this situation continued my friend would have to shell out US$250.

  When the Finnair representative spoke to American Airlines office in Stockholm, American Airlines agreed to waive their portion of this penalty. But would Finnair waive its portion, well - in no way, whatoever. The customer was wrong to prepone his flight. He would have to pay.

  I discussed at length with Finnair staff and at even greater length with the American Airlines staff in Stockholm explaining the legality of the situation. There was a genuine problem. The laws are, however, for those with money, not for the poor who have to travel out of their own money. It was so obvious that for $150 they would spend many hours talking to us, but not yield a single dollar of the penalty being imposed by Finnair, for no fault of our friend.

  In desperation we left the issue unresolved and returned to Oulu. I advised our friend to proceed to Helsinki and visit the American Express office there to ask them to resolve the issue. He took the overnight train to Helsinki and met American Express the next morning.

  A fax to Port-au-Prince and the matter was resolved immediately - our friend would not have to pay a single dollar as penalty - no US$50 to American Airlines and no US$150 to Finnair. Reason? If the agent wanted to keep his business with the large international organisation that my friend worked for, then they had better not charge him anything. A happy friend rang me to say the problem was solved.

  Let us take a look at this issue a bit more closely. There are tickets on which no change is permitted whatsoever. Hence any loss of money due to a change is logical. The Change Fee was introduced on certain categories of tickets because if a person missed an international flight, then a seat may be lost. Hence airlines felt that they would like to recover a part of their lost revenue.

  The Change Fee was not intended for persons who prepone their flights. The airline has ample opportunity to sell the vacated seat, as they only offer a seat to the passenger on an earlier flight IF IT IS AVAILABLE. Hence applying any Change Fee on preponement (again more than a certain number of days before the scheduled date) is contra the spirit of the fee.

  Next, to charge US$150 to just endorse a ticket is a ridiculous sum - by any standards.

  Finally, take a look at the attitudes - American Airlines, being concerned about its customer, immediately waived the amount involved - Finnair, caring too hoots about the customer, refused under any circumstances to discuss or waive the amount. Which company would you rather fly with, Finnair or American Airlines?

  Now, take a further look at the developments. Once the agent in Port-au-Prince realised that all was in error and he could lose his business with an international organisation that our friend worked for, the entire penalty was withdrawn - no US$50, 150, 200 or 250!. So, the moral is, if you are a poor fare paying customer, then you are screwed to hell by the airlines. If you happen to have the backing of a large organisation - then they will suck up to you.

  Our friend did not for a minute use his status and position in an international organisation to remedy the situation as he was travelling as a private person. But this was the persecution that he faced.

  As we watched this tragic struggle unfold, our friend was even prepared to sell his shoes and dark glasses on the streets of Oulu to raise the money to pay this unreasonable penalty to this Finnish Shylock. Such heartless behaviour, as expressed in words and deeds by Finnair staff and its authorised travel agents, depicts the attitude which permeates down the very top of this organisation.

  And now a post postscript: It is Saturday evening and I am just completing this issue to be uploaded. I just received a call from my friend from Helsinki Airport - he has passed through customs and immigration and has the boarding card in his hand and is about to board the plane - and a "powerful" Finnair official is now demanding that he pay US$150 to board the plane or his luggage will be off-loaded, as well as him. Is there anyone he can ring on a Saturday evening? Is there any official working in American Express, in American Airlines in Stockholm where he can ring?

  THIS IS FINLAND where the inhumanity of man to man is uppermost in the mind of every petty official, social worker, officer or manager.

  Take it from me - if you are an air traveller and want to have customer service and a decent and trouble free journey - stay away from FINNAIR.

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• Indians on the Internet

  Dateline: 24th August 1996

  Last week, THE WEEK carried a story about Business on the Internet where they gave a reasonable picture of the great work being done by such organisations as India World, Indian Express and other major Indian companies and organisations that have recently found the Internet. Rates for banner ads and the benefit of advertising on the Internet were all unfolded in a good speel.

  However, the real heart of Indians on the Internet was completely missed in the article. It is not the pages and renderings of these large organisatons that are the cream of Indians on the Internet. It is the absolutely superb pages being maintained by over 500 Indians around the world, of different flavours and technical expertise that really makes up India on the Internet. Take for instance the page by Srinivas which is crammed with all sorts of information and access links to hundreds of great sites giving information about India, all very neatly categorised.

  Or take a look at the home page being maintained by Noel Bhatia where he has faithfully listed all the home pages of Indians on the Internet which he has visited and he has also regularly highlights the best sites by Desis on the web. From the site maintained by Noel you can visit, in depth, every part of Indian culture more than what any of the commercial sites offer, as these pages have been put together by individuals with a great deal of technical expertise, as well as a great deal of feeling for the subjects they have covered on their sites.

  Be it a particular state, a particular city, a particular school or college, a particular art form, these sites maintained by Indians are the creme-de-la-creme on the Internet. I get far more pleasure surfing these sites than I do reading the dull and boring commercial sites putting out the same old political stories. If, for instance, you want a database of all Keralites on the Internet you only have to visit the page mainatined by Ben Philip.

  The reason why so many of you come back our site, week after week, is not because of its technical brilliance, it is plain and shabby, but because you never know what you will get here (other than our morbid interest to get justice from AST, our total dislike for the unscrupulous exploitation of the computer field by Microsoft, and a few more of our disgusting hang-ups!!). Do visit the site maintained by Noel and Srinivas and spend a couple of hours surfing all the wonderful sites maintained by Indians out there - it is well worth it if you are an Indian, if you are someone interested in India, or if you are someone interested to see the technical calibre of all us uneducated brown sahibs and madams from the third world who have put up these great sites. Imagine what we could do if we were educated!!

  (Anyone interested in a photocopy of the article "Indians Invade Internet - A Whole New World" in the Augst 18th edition of THE WEEK, should email us..)

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• Nokia Splits My Sides

  Dateline: 22nd August 1996

  The much awaited Nokia 9000 Communicator reached the main Oulu distributor today. I was one of the first to drop in and see this "wonder machine" which has been (according to Nokia) tested and market researched so thoroughly and designed especially to fill a gaping hole in the market.

  • Unfortunately, all that this product will do is make an enormous hole in the pocket.

  Priced at Finn Mark 9650 or a little over US$2100, this GSM phone, which has a very poor quality Personal Digital Assistant and an even worse pocket computer stuck to its back, fired by an superspeed 386 processor to connect to the Internet with an apology for a GUI software to do "web-surfing", is being offered here at this astronomical price.

  Someone must want to impress somebody very very much if he/she wants to get one of these.

  I walked into another local store and saw a beautiful miniature pen-input colour display Casio Pocket Organiser, a really great miniature Ericsson GSM mobile phone, and a superb Mac laptop with almost a gigabyte of hard disk space with a built in fax-modem card, all for under US$2000.

  Nokia does have a great sense of humour!! Keep smiling boys and sing after me

  "Why was he born so beautiful? Why was he born at all?.."

  The Communicator 9000 is one product that I will not be buying. Do let me have your stories about your successes with this wonder of mobile telecommunications and telecomputing.

  Long live the Newton....

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• Unique Overview of the CTBT Debacle

  Dateline: 22nd August 1996

  India entered its 50th year of Independence on the 15th of August. A week later, the country vetoed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) at Geneva. Foul cried many, betrayal of Buddha, Nehru and Gandhi screamed others.

  The Turun Sanomat, one of the leading newspapers of the cultural capital of southern Finland blasted India in its editorial. The paper showed its cultural ignorance about India, Indian politics and the CTBT by making out that these actions were governed by the internal politics of India. On the other hand, Helsinki Sanomat, the only national newspaper in Finland, was more generous, stating that India was probably right to take the stand in the face of intransigence by the five nuclear haves.

  More interestingly, the Socialist parties in the Nordic countries had to have their say. They condemned India for the stand it took in vetoing t he document at Geneva.

  We certainly do not accept production of any weapons, let alone nuclear weapons.

  We should condemn India for not signing the test ban treaty. However,..

  Just take a look around you at the New World Order:

  • a corrupt and power-hungry Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, elected to office by the financial input of IMF and a American election team, who stays in his post at the will of the US, being kept alive by American doctors, is a person who plays Russian roulette with lives of the people around him - not his;
  • an American President, Bill Clinton, who will stoop at nothing to get re-elected - violating and disregarding international law in cases of sanctions against third countries related to the US disputes with Cuba, Iran and Libya;
  • a superpower USA which does not pay its membership dues to the UN, has been consistently taking more, financially, out of the UN than any other country, stealing from the poor nations who humbly pay their dues, and yet controls the organisation (HOW?) because of its sheer bullying tactics (hardly a western democratic system);
  • a superpower USA which bandies unproven statements of terrorism by other states and provokes the UN to place sanctions affecting the lives of millions of innocent people, unremittingly conducts activities of financial and other forms of terrorism in different parts of the world, disregards human rights while claiming to uphold them;
  • a group of 5 nuclear powers who only agreed to sign the CTBT because they completed their nuclear testing computer simulation program development even while they continue to house an arsenal large enough to blow 100 such worlds to smithereens; etc., etc.

  This list is endless - and this is our present great new world order.

  It is this same new world order which

  • permitted the tragedy in Yugoslavia to carry on unabated while it stepped in pronto to safegaurd its own oil interests in Kuwait;
  • supervised and made an even bigger mess of the Somalian, Ruanda and Burundi crisis;
  • saw the recent massacre in Liberia and did nothing but evacuate its own henchmen; and
  • brought Sadam Hussain to power by feeding him all the weapons and technology to fill their purses; etc.

  Another endless list.

  It is the arms dealers and politicians of this new world order who are keeping the flames of war alight - China, Russia, USA, France and UK - the five nuclear powers. And they NOW take a moral stand about a test ban treaty while they have been testing and polluting this world for the last 60 years.

  There were a couple of excellent alternatives available to the big five if they really wanted to have the CTBT signed in good faith.

  • They could have agreed to a time-table to get rid of their nuclear arsenal; a very reasonable call by India, but according to the 5, unpractical - WHY unpractical? Because these superpowers would no longer be able to hold the world to ransom?

  • They could have agreed to give their computer simulation nuclear testing program freely to all other countries so that, like their generals, other oversized kids, dressed up in fancy uniforms and toting a few gold stars, could have played these computer games on their desktops and simulated the same tests. Then there would have been no need for anyone to carry out any nuclear tests. Of course, these selfish "have" kids were certainly not going to agree to share their toys with anyone else, were they?

  • They could have agreed that every country conducting a nuclear test would have to pay a pollution penalty (with retrospective effect, of course) so that all countries would be on par at the time of signing of the treaty. Imagine if every country had to pay a billion dollars to the world exchecquer for every nuclear test which has been or will be conducted - we could eradicate poverty from the face of the globe. (Not practical, of course, as the five haves would have to pay through their nose.)

  • They haves could have agreed to pay a penalty fee to the rest of the world for the privilege of keeping their nuclear weapons in their arsenal - a billion dollars per weapon, again the poverty on the face of this globe could be eradicated. (Not practical, of course!)

  What was practical to them was only that the rest of the world should be subservient to the five nuclear powers. That is the meaning of the CTBT.

  India, in this one instance, had the entire nation, 1 billion people, of all political shades, from left to right, red, blue and green, all castes and creeds, behind it. Every sensible person, who does not accept the blantant misuse of the superpower position to fulfil the personal dreams and ambitions of politicians and their war-monngering supporters, would also have not agreed to the signing of the CTBT without adequate safegaurds to prevent this continued exploitation of the have-nots by the haves.

  I am proud of the stand taken by India, not because I am an Indian, but because it took a stand rather than be bullied to submission. The Indian stand is fully consistent with the principles of Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism,and every other religion or moral philosophy being based on the principle of the basic commandments of the God Almighty.

  We hope the situation warrants in others asking a very simple question:

  "Why not the nuclear five share these (harmless??) computer games with everyone else?"

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• Invasion - Indians in Oulu

  Dateline: 22nd August 1996

  Walking around the local supermarket today, I saw a group of four Indian-looking individuals gazing around and wondering how things in this world could be so expensive. I discovered that they were part of a team of nine top engineers and managers from Bhokaro Steel, part of the Steel Authority of India Ltd., in Bihar, who had arrived at Oulu to be trained by a Finnish s teel maker, Rautarukki Oy, who has sold them some technology. Heading the group is Manager P. S. Bhattarcharjee.

  Based on my experience with Finnish companies, the point that I make to my Indian visitors to Finland is that they should be extremely wary. The top management of Rautarukki Oy are not very professional. They are a company motivated only by the bottom line. Some directors of Rautarukki Oy will only handle a paper only if there is money printed on it. Like most Finnish companies they are not service oriented - they are money-motivated.

  They have the absolutely gross Finnish habit (which they share with their President) of not even bothering to acknowledge correspondence if they feel that no financial purpose would be served.

  They are clueless about Indian culture and conditions. Their blindness could cause immense harm to the Indian steel economy. They are least concerned with the intracacies of the impact of large investments on a developing economy. They could not care less for the impact of their technologies on the environment or on the socio-economic pattern of the country which adopts their technology.

  For instance, Rautarukki directors would never be able to comprehend why I, a total stranger, with no interest in financial reward from this group of Indians, and whom I would probably never see again once the members of this group left Oulu, would go out of my way to help them get news about India by faxing to them, every morning the Headline News as it appears on the web. Or, why should I try to help them to get their requisites economically.

  The on-going protest by the international organisation, Greenpeace, of the part being played by Finnish paper making giant, Enso, in stripping the forests in Karelia, disregarding major environmental concerns, is an example of how these Finnish multinationals behave, purely for short term returns of hard cash. Based on my homework, there are very very few decent Finnish companies that I would do business with. Be warned SAIL.

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• Indian/Finnish Jews

  
  Dateline: 16th August 1996

  Last week BBC World Service did a coverage of the few remaining Indian Jews in Cochin, Kerala. Kerala was not the only place in India which had a Jewish community. Bombay has had and has, even today, numerous well known Jews.

  Sassoon Dock and Sassoon Library are just two famous locations that I remember.

  During my time in Bombay, Elias, Ezekiel, Haskell, Hyam, Joseph, Solomon, were a few of the Jews that were very prominent in many fields in this great metropolis. Most of these were Maharashtrian Jews, having nothing to do with the Kerala Jewish community.

  Finland, too has had many famous Jews. The one who dominates the Finnish political scene at the moment is the parliamentary head of the Conservative Party, Ben Zyskowich.

  The Jews in India have been a very respected community. They have contributed much to the cultural life in different parts of India, while yet keeping their very important religious customs. It is a pity that the Jewish community in Kerala has dwindled to less that a hundred people.

  Israel would do India a great favour if they would resettle some of the cream of the Jews from Israel back in India.

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• Stockmarket Analysis

  Dateline: 24th August 1996

  (Before you decide on your next computer purchase visit our page David vs Goliath)

  Due to popular demand the stockmarket analysis table which we created last week has been updated with the Wall Street closing figures of this Friday. The figures were obtained from the Stockmaster Website where you can view the Apple Stock Page. This is a great site as they run a voting system where it is possible for the surfer to express his opinion about the future of the stocks of his interest. The daily results can be viewed on your visit the following day.

  It has been wonderful to see the activity on the Apple page. The mass of the sentiment is in favour of Apple stock improving significantly during the coming three months. In contrast, do take a look at the sentiments being expressed about AST Research, where the overwhelming opinion (usually 100%) is very very negative.

  This proves that I am not a lone wolf crying in the wilderness about this monstrous company, except that I can cry very very loud and people are listening.

  The figures given below reflect that the Apple stock is steadily climbing up while AST is going to oblivion. AST is dragging its strange bedfellow, Korean multinational Samsung, down with it. Although the AST stock analysis figures appear to be marginally better than last week, this is an aberration as the Yearly High value dropped by 7% last week and, hence, changed the variation figures. Considering that the Yearly High has already dropped over 40% during the last six months (US$20 down to US$13.87), the AST figures are considerably worse than that shown in the table. It is one of the worst performing high tech (?) stocks on NASD and NYSE. This is because the customer and the market has realised that it is not really a high tech stock at all.

  What is interesting is the so-called marketing strategy declared in the AST Press Release dated 22nd August 1996, and now being adopted by AST vis-a-vis Dell. AST claims that it is going to support its retailers as against the policy of Dell of going Direct Mail. Unfortunately, neither the Investors, the Customers nor the Retailers seem to believe AST. Thanks to the AST outburst, Dell stock has zoomed to the top of the analysis table while AST languishes at the bottom.

  Be prepared to hear of another US$100 million loss by AST in the next quarter.

  The recent horrific pictures which came up on our television screens of how the Korean Police brutally manhandled the little Korean children may be a foresight of the way that a Korean multinational treats its customers. If Samsung intends to behave similarly towards its customers, it is likely that their image will be rapidly destroyed.

  As things stand today, it is difficult to believe that Samsung has a mission statement which is customer-oriented. They do not even bother to respond to the complaints from disgruntled customers - hence the partnership with AST?.

  It is nice to have a mission statement for a company, but it is bad to have one when there is no intention of fulfilling the contents of the statement. Companies can pull the wool over the eyes of their customers for a short while. The world wide web will certainly bring out the issues to over 50 million people (vive Apple and Netscape).

  Samsung have signed agreements with several Indian companies to distribute their monitors in India. Last week they signed with a company called Savex. Maybe Savex will soon be saying SaveUs from Samsung!!

  Many of you have asked that the analysis table be expanded to include some of the other high technology stocks. Specifically asked for were Netscape, the browser King, and Microsoft. To give the table a bit more depth this week, besides including these two, we have also added Intel and Motorola, to show the chip war, and also, as many readers are interested in Nokia and Ericsson, these stocks have also been brought in.

  Keep your requests of other stocks you would like included coming in. A couple asked for Iomega and Syquest which may be included in future issues.

  If this interest is substantial, then it is likely that a daily update of this table, at the close of Wall Street, will be put up on a separate web page.

  If you have not seen the great joke circulating about the addition to the Bill Gates family, mail us. We will send it out to you. We do not know who has the copyright for the composition and hence we have not been able to put it on-line for you.

  The Browser war is almost ended with the complete debacle of Microsoft. Microsoft Internet Explorer upgrade(? or downgrade) launched with great fanfare last week was found to have an enormous bug with regard to password entry. It will take weeks before a fix can be worked out by Microsoft, if at all. They will have to find it somewhere to copy it from or buy it! In the meantime, the beta of Netscape 3.0 appears to be functioning very smoothly.

  I was also given a copy of a recent post which appeared in the Technical Writers List which pinpointed the unfair trade practice investigation being conducted into Microsoft offering the Internet Explorer (technically free) as the only browser that had to be used with Windows NT. This, in the opinion of a competitor, was blackmail. It appears that other web browser producers for the Windows platform have been giving evidence to Federal investigators about this dubious behaviour by Microsoft.

with thanks to "communication briefings"

Your chances of succeeding at anything you may attempt may depend on being:

1. A dreamer who can visualise your success by focusing more on what you want to happen than on what you fear may happen.
2. Disciplined enough to set goals and priorities and devise plans - and flexible enough to change those plans when a new opportunity arises.
3. Dedicated enough to know that success demands total commitment and contagious enthusiasm that motivates others.
4. Decisive enough to make more decisions and to make them more quickly..
5. Daring enough to risk more, to welcome change and to view mistakes as a chance to learn.
6. Devoted to a program of life-long learning and self-improvement that finds you constantly learning new skills and developing more interests.
7. Dependable to a fault, always keeping your promises to yourself and others.
8. A delegator who knows that time is best spent doing what you do best - not trying to do everything yourself.

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Editorial - Slave Trade Legalised in Finland - 1996

• It was in 1978 when Fred Geitel, Public Relations Consultant, accompanied by top Finnish car test drivers and technicians, Ensio Mikander, Jarmo Sukava and Antti Kahonen, arrived in Bangalore in south India. They were test driving a couple of the new Datsuns from Bangkok, Thailand to Helsinki, Finland.

  As Annikki was the only Finn living in Bangalore, they called her. We all met at a 5-star hotel for a quiet friendly chat. The group then proceeded on their long and arduous journey to Bombay and onward, cheered on by a couple of Findian children and a flock of Indian kids.

  The next year, when we visited Finland for a holiday, several friends pointed out an article in Tekniikan Mailmaa, the top Technical Review magazine. Fred and his colleagues had made a a rather caustic statement about how much Annikki paid her servants a month, which they commented was hardly the amount that they paid for one night in the 5-star hotel that they had stayed in Mumbai. What Fred forgot to mention that any ordinary middle class family in India could not also spend more than a few hours in one of those 5-star hotels which have been designed to cater for the likes of pampered Swedish tennis stars like Stefan Edberg, are that, just as in Finland, a middle class family could hardly expect to go and spend a few nights in the five star hotels in Helsinki!. Fred had chosen to comment on the monetary value rather than the cultural and other implications of the domestic servant system that operates in India.

  In 1984, when we moved to Finland, we met several people who wanted to know about life in India. Some were genuinely interested to know about the different aspects of life in that country. One of the aspects that did come up several times was that, in India, we had had domestic servants working in our home.

  The rage and anger that filled one of those who had a discussion with Annikki was something which shocked us. We were, in his eyes, inhuman people to have employed servants. Could the domestic servants build a house with their low salary that we paid them? Of course, the question as to whether a lowly factory worker, or for that matter any working class person, in Finland could go out and build a house with his salary went quietly unheard and unanswered. He seemed to forget that Finns build their houses out of money they borrow from the banks and not out of their own income!! Most poor Finns have to pay these loans by back breaking work till the end of their days, tied down by the sharks who want their feed frozen in their hovels.

  Now it is 1996, 12 years on. The Government of Finland has a launched a great new scheme to solve the chronic unemployment problem, the worst in Europe. It is, in a nutshell, what they claim to have copied from the Danes, to give tax breaks to the rich to take on domestic servants to do their household chores. Not only that, the idea is to start domestic servant employment agencies which would take on the poor unemployed people on their rolls so that they can be offered as domestic servants to the well-to-do. Of course, these companies would get the largest slice of the money as profit for their shareholders - paying a pitance for those who do the back-breaking work?

  To us, this seems to be ominously close to the slave trade. In India, domestic servants are part of the family. They are looked after by their employers in several ways, including training them in the work, looking after their health matters, arranging their marriage, looking after the education of their children, and promoting them in society as they get older till they finally get a small pension to live out the last years of their life. And that is without the need for any tax breaks from the government, as it is a direct and voluntary form of redistribution of wealth.

  In Finland, the system now being organised is to promote the division of the classes of people, ensuring those at the bottom end of the ladder stay there, while those at the top are given all the benefits to ensure that they keep the less fortunate in their lowly places.

  One interesting aspect comes to mind in this radical and novel scheme being organised by the red-blue-green government that presently rules Finland. They are prepared to give a tax break to people to employ others to do the house work.

  Why do they not pay the housewife who stays at home and does the same house work the same salary as they would pay these domestic servants? No need for an intermediary to collect a fee!

  Is housework only only work when it is done for the rich by the poor while lining the pockets of the middlemen? If a genuine poor housewife stays at home, and looks after her children and her home, she goes unrewarded because she refuses to be a servant to the rich. Is it because the rich, who keep the red-blue-greens in power, would not benefit from this scheme?

  It has been argued that these tax breaks would give a greater purchasing power to these employers and generate the revival of te Finnish economy. Why not give these tax breaks to the domestic servants and increase their purchasing power rather than to middlemen who already have bloated wallets in Finland and in other tax havens around the world?

  Or, why not form a domestic servants association in your local neighbourhood and apply for government tax breaks. What you could do is work in the house of your neighbour, doing their housework, while your neighbour works in your home doing your house work. Both of you can get paid for doing the house work and your partners can get the tax breaks and your neighbourhood company can swallow good government grants.

  Or, going one step further, why not a husband and wife form a company and they one can employ the other for the different household chores and get paid for it from government funds?

  Not so friends - you have to be one of the chosen ones to get the government grants and tax breaks! These are not meant for ordinary citizens like you or me - just for the favourites of the politicians!

  We wonder if ever there was a more stupid employment scheme than this one. Based on this scheme, Liisa Jaakonsaari, the Labour Minister of Finland, has proudly gone on record to the media that she expects the unemployment level of almost half a million to drop to 400000 by the end of 1996.

  I wonder if this is going to be a great revenue generator for the Finnish economy as the Government will take back 35 of every 100 that is paid to the domestic servant and give it as a gift to the rich as their subsidy.

  Poor red Liisa. I wonder how many household servants she is going to employ - a couple for her Helsinki home and, of course, a couple for her one in Oulu.

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