The agony of found, lost and critics:
Inspiration and creativity go hand in hand as light and shadow. At times a befuddled mind gets confused to distinguish which is what. More often than not, when an inspiration shows a spark, the needed material like a piece of paper to scribble it on might not be on hand.
Try to capture it as a
point in memory, it plays truant and makes that spark inaccessible. Creativity
has no other go but to wait for it to resurface or for another inspiration to
make its leisurely appearance. Probably this is the beginning of a writer's
block!
The cloud burst or
fizzled out rain drops, avalanche or floating snowflakes - an inspired spark
can affect creativity, be it writing, art or music.
Inspiration and
creativity pivots around a single objective - admirers. Admirers play the vital
role of nurturing creativity in any form.
Inspired imagination
makes the child to draw shapes as pleased, admires it as perfect and as an art
of a maestro. Parents join only to encourage. A third person might view it as
awkwardly drawn lines and a waste of paper and crayon. Here comes another
perception in the cloak of a critique.
Creative works by
grown-ups is saddled with the weight of carrying the expectations of casual,
serious, dismissive readers and critics ready to do a laser surgery. These laser
surgeons have no kindness toward a budding creator. The critics might be
thinking about ways to reduce the clumps and clusters from the market.
The disheartened
creators, hope for another brilliant flash of inspiration. Now, it is the
chance for that inspiration to play hide, scoot and then seek in the mind.
Words become reluctant not to form into sentences. They have to be dragged out
or scratched out to start afresh.
After a few scratched
attempts, the surviving sentence reads anaemic lacking the punch. The artist
goes through a similar experience with palette and paint on the canvas. The
inspired hues do not come out, the picture in the mind refuses to come to life
and so on.
Song writers suffer
splitting headache by looking at a blank paper, without the words to rhyme with
rhythm. In effect the song writer has to
play the role of a word arranger even before a music arranger gets to work with
meters and notations that are only symbols to the song writer.
Yet these passionate
individuals trudge, toil and produce a work product. In fact, if some
experienced writer takes it up to write about their struggles, it would come
out as a best seller.
The irony haunting a
budding author or artist or song writer, is the indigestion of admirers or
appreciators, when it comes to spare a nod, a read or a clap. Their reasons
might well be - shy to shake hand with the unknown or have already burnt
candles and fingers in an earlier attempt to extend support to a budding clan
or thinking why at all to bother with.
The seven layers of “Can we do it?”:
Layer one:
Unsure or not having a S O P, the inviter floats a balloon to attract willing minds to help out. The invite might end after shaping the S O P, if further help is not needed.
Layer two:
It must be something beyond the S O P. Probably to draw willing minds into a brainstorm for the sake of friendship or relationship. Might or might not end here!
Layer three:
After the brainstorming, the inviter might be aiming to co-opt the energy of the willing mind and hands, in the name of synergy in executing the S O P. A subtle hint that you may have to dirty your hands.
Layer four:
If the inviter is after a name for self, a carefully couched, 'I think, I can handle it from here onwards, thanks' to signal a ‘now, get off the train.’
Layer five:
Fearing an egg on the face, the inviter cheerfully declares, ' If you don't mind, can you complete it?'. Rejoice. You have been chosen as the eggshell breaker!
Layer six:
“Yes, you have the right approach and I fully agree.” When the inviter does not want to do it but is saddled with the task, then whatever you suggest will be accepted with alarming magnanimity. This is a warning signal to beat a hasty retreat and if you drag your feet, then headache is all yours.
Layer seven:
This is where you do an introspection. Why did you rush to respond? Why could you not assess the implications of the invite, which could have actually meant a ‘can you do it or ‘let us do it?? Why did not you walk out, when the intent has become clear?
Don't reply that you are distancing yourself from the above questions! Remember you are not a politician.
Talk in the park:
Bystander was pleasantly surprised at the beauty of the renovated park.
He had been away and thereby a long gap fell between him and his favourite
park. Butterflies winging on their flight paths over the flower beds,
grasshoppers practicing high jumps and few dung beetles beating their drums
with mandibles and antennae gave the atmosphere a kind of serenity. During a
leisurely stroll, the flood of memories about many friendly and sometimes
heated discussions that took place here, filled his mind. With these thoughts,
he started searching for at least one familiar from among the many populating
the park.
He was in luck. A friend from that discussion
group was sitting on a bench, at the other end of the park. He hurried,
brimming with joy, to meet greet and exchange some old yarns. But the not so
happy face of the friend stirred a bit of concern in him. This particular
friend was always cheerful and tried to lighten the dark moods in others with a
bit of humour, satire and philosophy.
Bystander reminisced -
Once, this friend asked, “What is common between a fisherman and a
cricketer?” The others present did not reply but with serious faces asked,” Do
tell”
With a childlike glee he answered, “Glums, it is the net-practice and
catch!”
Another time, parted with this advice to another friend, “Before deciding
to criticize someone, better walk a mile in their shoes.” Puzzled, the other man asked, “Why should I do
that?”
Twisting a proverb in to a satire he sardonically replied, “That way you
will be a mile away and will have the shoes too!” Needless to say, the irony or
satire was lost on the assembled friends.
On the other hand, his philosophy was neither the metaphysical nor materialistic. Once questioned, this friend had quipped, “You can see something as a material but cannot visualise the underlying metaphysical concept in it. The beauty present in one may or may not be felt by you in the other, is it not?”.
Bystander noted the absence of these traits and
as if the friend wanted to remain reticent, and felt the need to ferret him out of the rut, even by force. Settling down, Bystander asked him, “Why are
you looking so glum?”
“How else should I look? You are well aware of the struggles I had undergone to get them off on to a good footing? If not willing to acknowledge and appreciate them, at least they should not attempt to begrudge and write-off my efforts as bad loans.
Bystander understood that this unbecoming attitude of his son and daughter had deeply hurt his friend. Maybe, after enduring all the hardships, he might have been expecting at least an acknowledgement, if not praise. Not to leave his friend to wallow in this pit of self-pity, he hastened to engage him with general platitudes without hurting his feelings further more. “We think someone needs our help but in reality, they may not. In a family, the medal of appreciation is not given for a valid reason. It is to discourage continuing with such activities beyond a point. The crux of the matter is to find out the “why”. Is it because they themselves did not get appreciated for their current efforts or have they chosen to go in denial mode overwhelmed by envy that you have done it and they could not."
His friend calmly looked at him and said, “Are you speaking in general or after understanding my family matrix?”
“My understanding of your family matrix has nothing to do with whatever I have just said. But coming back to the issue, I have only this to say - be more interested in the future as you know the past is not a wall clock that could be reset at will!”
His friend refrained from asking, “whose future?” fearing another load of future-wise sayings. Changing the topic, his friend asked, “Why people who start with an ideal, pursue it for some time and then abandon it altogether?”
Now it was Bystander’s turn to blink. Unknown context made him to hesitate, but his nature did not allow him to remain silent. He thought about “How to comfort a person valuing perception over acceptance? Why is he finding it difficult to accept that all the perceptions and emotions border on the metaphysical discipline?”
Gearing up, Bystander said, “It is like digging a pit and then trying to close it up, without thinking about what to do with the soil that would surely be left-over? When an ideal is pursued and then abandoned, surely that person has to deal with helplessness like the left-over soil. Had the pit digger foreseen this possibility, would we be talking about it now? An ideal should remain locked in the mind, till such time the plan to execute it flawlessly has not been firmed up. Maybe, you would be comfortable with this explanation!”
Bystander continued, “None of us could understand this unreadable googly and yet cannot remain passive. Think of these two things – How could you get the oil out, without digging a deep well? In reality, can any of us tell the universe to mind its business? How incognizant it would be?”
The friend regretted opening the can full of condescending worms. He did not understand any of the above explanations as to content or context. He played dumb and asked, “In this situation what you would have done?”
Bystander’s reply was prompt and confusing. “I would get off thinking like this. My own head would not be the reliable place to hear things that I have been refusing to hear.”
The friend
did the next best thing possible. He bade a hasty goodbye and left Bystander
wondering “did I annoy him?”
The friend thought to himself, “I should have told him that a person standing on his hands should not be carried away by the thought that he is holding the world in his hands!” He dismissed the idea as it was too long even to say it within himself. But by that time, he decided to say it aloud, Bystander was a diminishing figure in the distance.
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