Skip to main content

A Boy's Freedom to Experiment

FADE IN:

INT: A SCHOOL FILLED WITH KIDS BUSY DRAWING WITH A TEACHER LOOKING OVER THEM - EVENING (CIRCA 1989)

Flashback: 

A four or five year old boy was asked to draw a picture of three trees that filled up the space. It was supposed to include a mango tree, an apple tree and a plum tree. The teacher didn't ask the boy to follow any instructions; just be free.

The boy drew a picture with two trees and a man with a pointy red had standing nonchalantly between the trees. The audacity didn't end up there; the picture he drew included two apple trees. Probably mango and plum were not favourite. That wasn't the end of "experimentation" either; the fruits of the second tree were slightly triangular in shape! The boy is happy with the outcome.

Present Day:

The boy is now a twenty-nine or thirty year old man. He decides to "create" a poem so he can play with the words for fun. He sets a goal to write a poem; however this time around no one is asking for an outcome from man. He is free to experiment.

The man allows his mind to wander around for a few minutes. An idea comes tumbling down like the early stages of an avalanche. The idea sounds lovely. However before the idea is given a chance to come out in the world a voice in the mind shuts it down. The reason is: the idea sounds silly and a chance exists that others would probably hate it! The man is feeling lost with no tangible result.

What has changed from then and now?

FADE OUT

THE END

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.
John Cleese
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scuba Diving 36 feet deep in Goa (Surreal but Nice!)

"Surreal but nice" that's what Hugh Grant's character managed to blurt out, mesmerized by the beauty of Julia Roberts (in the movie Notting Hill ). And this was the exact thought that was running in my mind as I was rising from a depth of over 35 feet under water in the Arabian Sea near Goa, India. I had just finished my first dive (rather second dive of my first dive) with grouper fish, tailor fish - and many more - knelt at the bottom of the ocean floor and touched a ship wreck that sunk more than sixty years ago! It was a surreal experience that has left me with a feeling of self-satisfaction as well as endless curiosity. The two feelings very rarely take a house together in my mind. Probably the last time they shacked up together was when I got an admit for my Master's from State University of New York . The feeling of gliding underwater among the fishes, water pressure trying to burst your ears drums, flying over huge boulders of rocks under sea; like an un...
21 comments
Read more

How not to read History? Avoiding Sophistry, Deceitfulness, and Irrational Narratives

Introduction A few days ago I wrote on how a contemporary Dharmic mind is enslaved with various narratives meant to degrade the tradition of Dharmic spiritualism (or Hinduism) and relegate the spiritual path as non-sensical, patriarchal, and regressive (i.e. against modernity). I've three examples below that show the eagerness in contemporary conversations to push this narrative. Since free speech and vaad (Sanskrit: वाद, discussion) are two-way streets so it's well within my right to share my opinion based on sound reasoning and well-established examples. And my opinion doesn't rely on the play of words (Sanskrit: सामान्य छल, quibble)) or a mere attack on the opposition (Sanskrit: वितंडा, cavil/sophistry). Just a side note, these categorizations are based on the ancient  Nyaya philosophy composed by Akṣapāda Gautama between the 6th century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Example 1 -  वितंडा / Sophistry Buddhism and Sanatana Dharma have a long history of coexistence and assim...
Post a Comment
Read more
The debate on Times Now Summit 2022 between Salman Khurshid, Dr. Vikram Sampath, Sai Deepak, and Pavan K Varma showed how disconnected the left, right, and the middle are from each other.  We all know these 'luminaries',  as Rahul Shivshankar, Editorial Director & Editor-in-Chief  @TimesNow introduces them.  How left and right  do not apply to Indian political viewpoints  is a matter for another time, therefore pardon my use of the western paradigm of left and right for the rest of this blog post. Times Now Debate, 2022 We all know Sai Deepak through his YouTube debate with  Asaduddin Owaisi  (Sai Deepak in fact moderated the debate) a few years back. And since then he has authored a couple of books on the historical context that surrounded the drafting of the constitution of India between 1946 to 1950. His first book on India, that is Bharat forced us to rethink colonialism and introduced an entirely distinct scholarly way to look at middle-e...
Post a Comment
Read more