I was one among the privileged 5 to be a part
of the Rotary Group Study Exchange programme to Finland this year. It was a one
month programme and I had the great opportunity of spending time with the
Finns. I was hosted in a number of places by Rotary families, and it was a
great opportunity for me to understand their culture and lifestyle. Though I
have traveled abroad as a tourist, this experience was rather unique, because
this tour helped me to get into the core of their activity, may be it was their
industrial culture, their family life, their educational system or their
political setup.
The area in particular where we went is called the Northern
Lapland which is characterized by 9 months if winter and 3 months of summer.
The natives of the Finland are called Suomis (pronounced sami) . on arrival all
that we saw was frozen sea, frozen lakes and frozen rivers, but as days went by
and on the onset of Spring, we could also see all the ice break and melt as
water. It is a rare sight, being across the artic circle and to see Santa
Claus, living in the Santa village. Ice
fishing and snow mobiling were some new unexplored areas for me.
With a land area of 1/10 of India, and with a population which is just 1/200 of the Indian
population, there is plenty of free space. We hardly see crowded roads or
crowded places. A typical statement every Finn in the Lapland, likes to say is
that, “Here you can find more reindeers than people” and that is exactly true.
The majority of the finnish population lilve in the southern part of Finland,
where the capital Hesinki and other big cities Turku, Tampere and Esspo
are located. Finland has over 50,000
lakes and 50,000 islands.
Reindeer rearing and Forestry has been the traditional
industry of Finland. Worlds leading pulp and paper mills are located here. The
country has a nickel ore, which makes it the number one player in the global
stainless steel industry as well. Tourism is gaining prominence, owing to the
exotic ski resorts and snow sports. The country now is the leader in IT enabled
services. Being the birth place of the world renowned brand NOKIA, Finland has
set itself as a leading global player. Another highlight of Finland is the
Finnish education system, which has been ranked the best in the world.
The Finland trip was a great learning experience and I
rejoiced every moment of my stay there.
Happy Reading,
D. Senthil Kannan
Article Dated Jun 2006
