Work till one is 75 years ..

 What is an effective strategy to have one work till the age of 75 years ? Most of us desire to be able to work till that age. 

Can we achieve it ?

From observation of people with great longevity, health, the author has come across ten points which can ensure great life.

1. Walk to keep good healthy heart and strong muscles for your leg to support your body

        2. Eat and exercise moderately, eat to live, not live to eat.

3. Sincerely care for your partner

        4. Engage your creative brain, start working with your left hand to keep Alzheimer's disease away

5. Keep oneself economically independent in old age

        6. Work unselfishly for the people in the society

7. Work to promote sustainability of the environment

        8. Help create value for others, ensure customer satisfaction in what one delivers

9. Cultivate a growth mindset, to have a delta value addition or improvement every day

        10. Develop a creative and innovative mindset. 

11. Appreciate the good things around oneself in nature and thank people for their good deeds 

        12. Be very liberal in  appreciating and complimenting people especially youngsters

If we practice these 12 points, I am sure we can have a great life.

George..

MG Sreekumar, an invaluable asset to Malayalam music industry

As a lover of music of all genre, particularly of Eastern origin, I have been following the Malayalam TV programme called Top Singer, presently in season 2, to select the best young singer in the age group of 5 to 15, on Colours TV, religiously for almost two years now. Among the judges, the one who has been there consistently throughout the 2 years, except for a handful of episodes has been the great singer MG Sreekumar.

Throughout this period of two years I have been impressed by the humble presence of MG Sreekumar. Though a great singer himself, he has a very tender and loving heart. Throughout these two years, he has never got upset at the performance of the children at the event. 

During these two years he has never, even for a moment, tried to show off that he is a great singer, though the Malayalis world have great appreciation for his golden voice. Though he pulls the legs of fellow judges as much as he pulls the legs of the very young competitors too, never has he left any scar in these young tender minds.

After every performance he very softly points out the mistake, but reminds the singer that he/she is indeed very talented, only that the particular moment is not his/her's.  Then he gently prods the singer to try his or her best again next time. I am sure the young singers very much like to hear such expert training sessions from the master.

Malayalees are very much upset that the greatest Malayalam singer Yesudas does not have any time to spare for the budding singers of Malayalam cinema, the result being that Yesudas will only be remembered for his songs but not for his humility or a helping mind. The selfless dedication of MG Sreekumar to shape and mould the future singing prodigies of Malayalam cinema is something remarkable and unforgettable. Malayalees world over will forever be indebted to MG. 

I am sure Malayalees world over would agree with me and we all in one voice extend our deep appreciation and gratitude to MG Sreekumar for the great and selfless service and dedication to the Malayalam art world. 

We will forever remember MG's great service in helping mould the  future singing prodigies of the Malayalam singing world. A big Thanks Sir .. !!!

The kind gesture of inviting the child prodigies of season 1 as special guests to listen, prod and motivate the fresh singers of season 2 is also a first-in-the-world step in encouraging the youngsters .. A very kind gesture. No words can express our gratitude for the kindness Colours TV is showering on these young promising singers ..

george

Top 50 English pop songs of all time ..

Dr Mick Grierson from Uty of London examined a whole host of songs that appeared in ‘greatest songs of all-time’ lists in newspapers, on music stations like VH1 and in iconic music publications such as Q, NME and Rolling Stone for many years ..

Commissioned by car manufacturer Fiat, who wanted to identify a song they could use to promote the FIAT 500, Mick also used analytical software in an attempt to put a finger on what exactly made those tunes iconic.

That involved taking into account factors such as 

1. beats per minute, 

2. chord variety, 

3. lyrical content

4. timbral variety and 

5. sonic variance before arriving at the list you can see ..

Turns out science doesn’t have a bad taste in music after all.

*The Top 50 most iconic songs of all time* (www.joe.ie)

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

2. Imagine - John Lennon

3. One - U2

4. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

5. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

6. Hey Jude - The Beatles

7. Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan

8. I Can't Get No Satisfaction - Rolling Stones

9. God Save The Queen - Sex Pistols

10. Sweet Child O'Mine - Guns N' Roses

11. London Calling - The Clash

12. Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks

13. Hotel California - The Eagles

14. Your Song - Elton John

15. Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin

16. The Twist - Chubby Checker

17. Live Forever - Oasis

18. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston

19.  Life On Mars? - David Bowie

20. Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley

21. Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland

22. What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye

23. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

24. Be My Baby - The Ronettes

25. Creep - Radiohead

26. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

27. Respect - Aretha Franklin

28. Family Affair - Sly And The Family Stone

29. Dancing Queen - ABBA

30. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys

31. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix

32. Yesterday - The Beatles

33. Jonny B Good - Chuck Berry

34. No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley

35. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

36. Every Breath You Take - The Police

37. A Day In The Life - The Beatles

38. Stand By Me - Ben E King

39. Papa's Got A Brand New Bag - James Brown

40. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones

41. What'd I Say - Ray Charles

42. Sultans Of Swing - Dire Straits

43. God Only Knows - The Beach Boys

44. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - The Righteous Brothers

45. My Generation - The Who

46. Dancing In The Street - Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

47. When Doves Cry - Prince

48. A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

49. River Deep Mountain High - Ike and Tina Turner

50. Best Of My Love - The Emotions

Hope you find this list sensible and reasonable .. 🙂

https://www.joe.ie/music/the-50-most-iconic-songs-of-all-time-have-been-revealed-513205

How to overcome the trust deficit ??

The trust deficit the Jacobite clergy has in the Orthodox clergy and vice versa, I feel, is the reason for the stalemate in the CM mediated and other peace initiatives and talks between the two oldest Christian factions in Kerala. 

Will Orthodox clergy be ready to give whole Orthodox and Jacobite parishes under the guidance of Jacobite bishops and be ready to be their deputies ? That is the way to instil trust and confidence in the other party.

The Jacobite clergy does not want peace dictated to them, it can never be lasting peace. Their argument is very simple, though not stated openly. Their forefathers also shed their sweat, blood and tears to build the churches for 1900 years before the split happened. *An honourable and respectable union is what they sincerely desire*. 

Sadly, the orthodox top clergy, with no sincere intention to bring eternal peace, lacks the basic intelligence to understand this and *insists on dictated peace with the Jacobites*. Any idiot can see through this game plan of ours.

Can some educated and intelligent members of Malankara Orthodox clergy and laity together (we have many respectable public leaders) take leadership and initiative to replace the insincere people in the leadership to bring lasting peace in the United single church ? 🙏🙏👍👍

Who is helping Malayalam music industry most, Yesudas or MG Sreekumar ?

Being a person with some basic training in Carnatic classical music, I have been following Malayalam music industry, both film music, light music, classical music for more than forty years now since my school days in Don Bosco Irinjalakuda.

I have great respect for Dr K J Yesudas, as a great singer but these days I get slowly disillusioned with his contributions to the music industry. The reasons are given below.

The singers like MG Sreekumar, M. Jayachandran etc. are taking part in talent shows of younger stars and are giving them great encouragement. But I do not see this encouragement and motivation coming from Yesudas Sir. Being a great father and a parent, Yesudas tries to  promote his sons to the music industry, but rarely have I seen him promoting new budding talent. 

Even though the whole Malayalam music world considers Yesudas Sir as a demiGod, why is Yesudas Sir turning his attention away from the youngsters, who have all potential to be singers better than Yesudas sir imself ? Why is he not motivating and encouraging youngsters in the music field ?

On the contrary, I am surprised and taken aback by the selfless support and encouragement given by MG Sreekumar to the Malayalam music scene for the past many years. Sreekumar takes great interest in motivating and promoting youngsters to the music world. 

In the past two years watching Top Singer musical talent programme on 24 channel on Flowers TV, I have full praise for MG Sreekumar for the great service he is doing to the music industry. The way Sreekumar motivates and encourages budding singers to do their best, to never mind if they commit mistakes, if they fail  he motivates them to do better the next time and tries to be one among them. All these speak talks volumes of the great mind and good intentions of MG Sreekumar.

I have great respect for Sreekumar Sir as my elder brother, he is very valuable to the Malayalam music industry. Sadly Yesudas sir is showing signs of age and tiredness, does not care about budding newcomers..  I am extremely pained at telling this truth.

I bow my head in front of MG Sreekumar who is doing a great service to the Malayali youngsters. MG deserves the full support and respect of Malayalis from across the world as much as Yesudas sir, if not more ..

I hope Yesudas Sir would now devote more time with the budding singers of today motivating them, if so, posterity will be thankful and remember him for ever ..

George..

Are we giving and taking respect in the Orthodox church ?

It is very shameful and shocking that the most important stakeholder in the whole orthodox Jacobite church issue  the *church going, innocent, devout public, who are being taken for a ride and conveniently ignored* by other less important war mongering entities in the church, including the clergy, who do not want peace in the church, in the second round of discussions with the CM today.

Hope everyone respects others, becomes more accommodative of others. Hope all stakeholders become conscious, vigilant  and assertive of their roles and responsibilities in the church .. 🙏

Avoid the clergy in the feud - a creative solution to the Malankara Orthodox church factional feud ..

Malankara Orthodox church in India is going through a grave crisis. As an informed member of laity of the Malankara Orthodox church, I am suggesting an innovative, creative solution to solve the dispute between the two factions of Orthodox church. 

Some questions from the people of the church..

• For whom does a religion and a church exist, the clergy or the believers ?
• Who forms the congregation in the church. the clergy or the believers ?
• Who is funding the church, the clergy or the believers ?
• Who is donating the land for the church, the clergy or the believers ?
• Who is donating money to build the churches, the clergy or the believers ?
• Who is working for a salary from the church, the clergy or the believers ?
• Who are well informed and educated among the stakeholders, the clergy or the believers ?
• Whose ancestors are buried at the church tombs or cemeteries, the clergy or the believers ?
• Who gets on the road for the church, the clergy or the believers ?
• Who provides the money for any litigation, the clergy or the believers ?
  
• Who are the main beneficiaries from the church, the clergy or the believers ?

Who is the employee and who is the employer here ? It is very sad and unfair when employees boss over the employer. 

We all know the very existence of the church is for the believers. The whole institution of the church is of the laity, ie. of the believers, by the believers and for the believers .. 

The whole rank and file of the clergy are existing just to serve the laity in the daily activities to help in prayers to the Lord..

The clergy has many important, saintly and saner things to do than fight on the roads or in the court .. The mismanagement that has happened over the past hundred years in this case,  in my opinion, has been due to the unprofessional interference by the clergy who should have restricted themselves to spiritual things. 

Following saner experience and understanding,  let's keep the whole clergy from both sides, out of the picture and go for a consensus among the believers. 

Do the laity on both sides want to continue the fight between the factions or do they want to unite and be a united church ?

After the July 2017 SC judgement, we have already spent more than Rs. 12 crore on litigation ( Rs  120,000,000/=) just as lawyer fees to forcefully take over 40 odd Jacobite churches.  How much more we have to spend to take over the other 700 odd churches forcefully ? 

What great enmity and unrest are we going to create in society because of this forceful action from our side .. ?? 🤔🤔 Can we avoid this wasteful spend by offering an olive branch and lovingly taking the other faction along with us forward ?

We are already in a grave financial crisis as Federal Bank is at our throat to repay the Rs. 14 crore (Rs  140,000,000) we took as loan for the Parumala cancer hospital, and we are definitely going to falter in the repayment. 

One day, the financial burden of the Parumala hospital is definitely going to fall on each member of the laity of our church. We need to see through this game plan of the clergy.. 

We need honest, plain speaking, bold and effective laity leadership to help solve the crisis permanently once for all. 

The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace - Mahatma Gandhi 🙏🙏🙏🙏