Expressing Myself

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? …  On a hammock by the pool with some bbq and beer

I hate the idea of smearing birthday cake on the face ….

Know the difference between those who feed your EGO and  those who feed your SOUL!!!

– Unknown

Another tribute to my Mallu relatives ….Love you all!!!!

Travelling in a snow white amby
With my driver & his name was thampi
Said he was a recent gulf retunee
Gave me a soda of brandy
Welcome to the land of lungi
Everybody here calls it God’s own country
Appam stew & meen curry
You better taste I know you like it simply
Got stuck in a jam in delhi
i was sad bcoz I no malum hindi
The cars on the road are so crazy I turn to police said sirjii.. & i come from the land of lungi
Goes well with a khadi sanjee
Everybody here drive like monkey..
Road is good but traffic here, Excuse me!!! Mammookaaaa… mamookaaa… mamookaaaa Met a man in a bar in dubai Thick mustahe having beef curry Said his T shirt was lacoste Big gold chain & misthubushi He come from the land of lungi
Everybody here calls it God’s own country
Double stitch and call it kailli..
Wear it white with starch call it dothi I come from the land of lungi
Women sweet men are very hairy
Lift the cloth show off your one good knee You become very very sexy
Welcome to the land of lungi
Kappa beef fish molee Weather is hot & food is spicy
Better taste i know you like it simply

Land of Lungi official music video:
starring Colin ‘Krishna’, Jamie, Martin, Benjamin Chacko, Julieta , Dominique, Chiara, Antara Chacko, Xan Chacko and Yohan Chacko with guest appearances by Sanil, Bhuvaneshan, Narayanan and Chacko
Shot completely at Mankotta Island, Kerala

Surely the only sound foundation for a civilization is a sound state of mind. Architects, contractors, international commissioners, marketing boards, broadcasting corporations will never, by themselves, build a new world. They must be inspired by the proper spirit in the people for whom they are working.

What, though, is the proper spirit? There must be a sound state of mind before diplomacy or economics or trade conferences can function. But what state of mind is sound? Here we may be different. Most people, when asked what spiritual quality is needed to rebuild another civilization, will reply “Love”. People must love one another, they say, nations must do likewise, and then the series of cataclysms which is threatening to desroy us will be checked.

Respectfully but firmly, I disagree. Love is a great force in private life; it is indeed the greatest of all things. But love in public affairs does not work. It has been tried again and again: by the Christian civilizations of the middle Ages, and also by the French Revolution, a secular movement which reasserted the Brotherhood of Man. And it has always failed. The idea that nations should love one another or that a person in Portugal should love and unknown person in Peru —it is absurd, unreal, and dangerous. It leads us into perilous and vague sentimentalism. “Love is what is needed,” we chant, and then sit back and the world goes on as before. The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know much. In public affairs, in the rebuilding of civilization, something much less dramatic and emotional is needed, namely, tolerance. Tolerance is a very dull virtue. It is boring. Unlike love, it has always had bad press. It is negative. It means merely putting up with people, being able to stand things. No one has ever written an ode to tolerance, or raised a statue to her. Yet this is the quality which will most be needed after the war. This is the state of mind we are looking for. This is the only force which will enable different races and classes and interests to settle down together to the work of reconstruction.

The world is full of people—appallingly full; it has never been so full before, and they are all tumbling over each other. Most of these people one doesn’t know and some of them one doesn’t like; doesn’t like the color of their skins, say, or the shape of their noses, or the way they blow them or don’t blow them, or the way they talk, or their fondness of jazz or their dislike of jazz, and so on. Well, what is one to do? There are two solutions. One is the Nazi solution. If you don’t like them, kill them, banish them, segregate them, and strut up an down proclaiming that you are the salt of the earth. The other way is less thrilling, but is on the whole the way of the democracies, and I prefer it. If you don’t like people, put up with them as well as you can. Don’t try to love them. You can’t, and you’ll only strain yourself. But try to tolerate them. On the basis of that tolerance a civilized future may be built. Certainly I see no other foundation for the postwar world.

For what it will most need is the negative virtues: not being huffy, touchy, irritable, revengeful. I have lost all faith in positive militant ideals; they can so seldom be carried out without thousands of human beings getting maimed or imprisoned. Phrases like “I will purge this nation,” “I will clean up this city,” terrify and disgust me. They might not have mattered when the world was emptier; they are horrifying now, when one nation is mixed up with another, when one city cannot be organically separated from its neighbors.

I don’t regard tolerance as a great eternally established divine principle, though I might perhaps quote “In My Father’s House there are many mansions” in support of such a view. It’s just a makeshift, suitable for an overcrowded and overheated planet. It carries on when love gives out, and love generally give out as soon as we move away from our home and our friends, and stand among strangers in the queue for potatoes. Tolerance is wanted in the queue; otherwise we think, “Why will people be so slow?” It is wanted in the tube, or “Why will people be so fat?” It’s wanted at the telephone, or “Why will people be so deaf?” or conversely, “Why do they mumble?” It is wanted in the street, in the office, at the factory, and it is wanted above all between classes, races, religions, and nations. It’s dull. And yet it entails imagination. For you have all the time to be putting yourself in someone else’s place. Which is a desirable spiritual exercise.

London, March 20 (IANS) Tending your garden can make you feel younger and happier, say experts.

Gardeners are also more likely to be organised and optimistic than non-gardeners, they said.

A regular spot of gardening gives the over-50s more of a “zest for life” than those who don’t have have an inclination for it, express.co.uk reported citing researchers.

Researchers from two universities in Texas analysed about 300 people over 50, dividing them into gardeners and non- gardeners.

They found that 71 percent of gardeners said they did not “feel old” compared with 57 percent of non-gardeners.

The gardeners also felt more energetic, got more exercise and were shown to be more mentally active.

There were also higher scores for “life satisfaction” among gardeners while they were also more likely to eat fresh fruit and vegetables.

The illustrations and the captions are from the book “Be Happy: A Little Book to Help You Live a Happy Life” (2007) by Monica Sheehan. The music is “Cuore di Sabbia” (Sand Heart) by Pasquale Catalano, from the soundtrack of the movie “Mine Vaganti” (2010) (Loose Cannons) directed by Ferzan Ozpetek.

Be happy
Show up
Follow your heart
Find a new perspective
Have a sense of wonder…
Find people you love…
Set goals
Help Others
Dance
Pamper yourself…
Face your fears…
Go to a museum
Exercise
Limit television
Get in touch with nature
Lighten up
Get a good night’s sleep
Read books
Buy yourself flowers
Don’t compare yourself with others
Don’t beat yourself up
Be open to new ideas
Don’t focus on negative thoughts…
…Focus on creating what you desire
Make time just to have fun
Keep the romance in your life
Make a gratitude list
Love your Mother Earth
Want what you have
Be true to yourself

One year, I decided to buy my mother-in-law a cemetery
plot as a Christmas gift… The next year, I didn’t buy her a gift.
When she asked me why, I replied, “Well, you still haven’t used
the gift I bought you last year!”
And that’s how the fight started…..

________________________________
My wife and I were watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, ‘Do you want
to have Sex?’ ‘No,’ she answered. I then said, ‘Is that your
final answer?’
She didn’t even look at me this time, simply saying, ‘Yes..’
So I said, “Then I’d like to phone a friend.”
And that’s when the fight started…
________________________________

I took my wife to a restaurant.The waiter, for some reason,
took my order first. “I’ll have the rump steak, rare, please.”
He said, “Aren’t you worried about the mad cow?”
“Nah, she can order for herself.”
And that’s when the fight started…..
________________________________

My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion,
and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he
sat alone at a nearby table.
I asked her, “Do you know him?”
“Yes”, she sighed, “He’s my old boyfriend…. I understand he took
to drinking right after we split up those many years ago and I hear
he hasn’t been sober since.”
“My God!” I said, “Who would think a person could go on celebrating
that long?”
And then the fight started…
________________________________

When our lawn mower broke and wouldn’t run, my wife kept hinting to me
that I should get it fixed. But, somehow I always had something else to take
care of first, the shed, the boat, making beer. It was always something more
important to me. Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point.
When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily
snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for
a short time and then went into the house.. I was gone only a minute and
when I came out again I handed her a toothbrush. I said,
“When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway.”
The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.
_______________________________

My wife sat down next to me as I was flipping channels. She asked,
“What’s on TV?” I said, “Dust.”
And then the fight started…
________________________________

Saturday morning I got up early, quietly dressed, made my lunch and
slipped quietly into the garage. I hooked up the boat up to the van and
proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour. The wind was blowing
50 mph, so I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio and then
I discovered that the weather would be bad all day. I went back into the
house, quietly undressed and slipped back into bed.. I cuddled up to my
wife’s back, now with a different anticipation and whispered,
“The weather out there is terrible.”
My loving wife of 5 years replied, “And, can you believe my stupid husband
is out fishing in that?”
And that’s how the fight started…
________________________________

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.
She said, “I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds .”
I bought her a bathroom scale.
And then the fight started……
_______________________________

After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to apply for Social Security.
The woman behind the counter asked me for my driver’s License to verify my
age. I looked in my pockets and realized I had left my wallet at home. I told the
woman that I was very sorry, but I would have to go home and come back later.
The woman said, ‘Unbutton your shirt’. So I opened my shirt revealing my curly
silver hair. She said, ‘That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me’ and
she processed my Social Security application. When I got home, I excitedly told
my wife about my experience at the Social Security office… She said,
‘You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten disability, too.’
And then the fight started…

Happiest people DO NOT Necessarily have the BEST Things , They simply appreciate the things they have … Warren Buffet