|
It all started with Amar , asking for a 5 year plan for the
company. I would have easily done it, 5 years back when I used to
make beautiful plans for my life . Life taught me the lesson that ,
things dont go as per your plans always . So I stopped planning .
Now , I'm in a situation where I have to give complete plan with
specific details . Day and night , I painted pictures on my head with
fingers. After 1 month of creative thinking, all I had in my hands
was those long strands of hair. And that , I cant show to my boss as
a presentation. Perhaps I needed a break. Packed my bags and off I
went to Banglore.
2 days in banglore , was supposed to give me a fresh attempt at
thinking creatively. I realised on my way back that the banglore trip
only left a big hole in my pocket , thanks to the 24x7 pub-crawling.
A few investments that I did make were, those
special moments with my closest friends and the book "The Houdini
Solution" which I bought from Banglore Airport.
|
The Houdini Solution, is all about thinking "Inside the box".
It tells you that , creativity comes only when you are having
fixed constrains. It urges you to think about solution , while
accepting the constrains like Houdini accepted the box he was put
into. Where we see a closed door infront of us, creative people
see the keyhole that helps us to free ourselves. The book was
very interesting , as it was laden with anecdotes from creative
people's life.
|
|
|
|
There was one particular chapter in which, author was talking
about why we should not fear things which dont follow a preset
pattern. He asks the reader whether we are ready to accept a
fisherman getting into a Mercedes. No is the answer , atleast for
me . A fisherman is supposed to walk around with unbuttoned shirt
and a dhoti. At the max he can be riding a Bajaj M80. But Merc
?? No way.
Yeah , author is right. Majority of us cant accept anything that
deviates from the preset templates we formed in our mind. We
get tied down by our past experiences, and prejudices. We need to
break free of such a handicap.
Look amongst yourself, you'll see
friends who did something different and got accused of blasphemous
character. Be it an inter-caste marriage , or doing a blue-colored
job when he is supposed to be in an AC office room in Bangalaru.
Everybody wants the answer to the question, "Why?".
Questions like , "Why do you have to do that ? ", "Why
cant you do this ?" , "Why didnt you call us ? " ..etc
pop up , because they cant accept any deviation from the prejudices
they have. The craziest part of it is that , when they are deprived
of the answer to "Why", they come up with own conclusions
which are in tandem with their prejudices.
I looked at myself, to see if I got this handicap. Yes . I do have
it .
I know two people amongst my friends who does not have it. Vicky
and Gem . I have told Vicky about one of my decisions and his
response was , "Ok" . A year later , I reversed my decision
and his response was again , "O K". There was no queries
like "why?" , "How could you do that" . !!! I
value his friendship because of his clear stand on that. Gem has that
character in her too. She does not classify a friendship and puts a
set of expectations on it. She says , "its only when you start
expecting something from others, you start loosing". For her ,
if a friend calls , its great. If the friend did not call , its still
great. Not many amongst us , has this special character. If you have
it , then you are one amongst those special people who can smile
every day , no matter what happens.
Oh yeah , then there was an eve , when I saw the movie , "Mr
& Mrs Iyer" . Directed by Aparna Sen, its a beautiful movie. Simply beautiful , because it
conveys a lot more than the words that are spoken. A look in her eye
, or a smile in his face speaks thousand words by itself. I was
looking for a poster of the movie and landed on a review in
Rediff.com.
"Sen is seldom known to
overstress her point. In Mr & Mrs Iyer, delicate emotions ooze
out of the protagonists' demeanour, creating an ambrosial aura.
Sequences between the married housewife and her companion in distress
touch the rawest tendons of the human condition."
What interested me was not the direction and the characters, but
the number of times it reminded me of my "Why?" disease.
Anytime , Rahul Bose or Konkana Sen says or does something , I asked
myself "Why ?". They were never following my prefixed
notions about a relationship. I can list down atleast 10-15 moments
in the movie , straight out of my memory , when I questioned it.
|
There was one scene where Sen expresses her aversion to
Rahul after he disclosed his Muslim background. In the very next
scene , she saves him from Hindu Terrorists by making him her
husband. I asked myself , "why?".
|
|
|
There was another one , a night scene, in which Sen locks
the door at Rahul out of insecurity. The very next day morning she looks out for him and when she finds him , she runs to reach his side. I asked myself , "why?".
|
|
Finally , when the movie ends , you are left with a 100
"Why?"s in your mind.
|
I was of the impression that I'm revolutionary by birth. Now I
realise that, I am just a conformist that goes by prejudices. I'm
dejected and disheartened. But I've made up my mind. “Why” is a
disease and I need to correct it. Henceforth , I'll be on a pursuit
to accept everything that I see,hear and feel around me.
But we were taught that , Newton asked "WHY did apple fall ?". And from that "Gravity" was explained. If you need to learn , you need to question everything . "why" comes handy there . Oh boy , am I wrong completely ?. Nope , let me rephrase "why" like a typical linux enthusiast.
"Why- is a disease !
Why -
as in "Why did Newton sit under apple tree ?"
and not as in "Why did apple fall down ?"
To hell with "WHY?"
Having wrote such a drab about creativity and all-embracement , you might be left wondering whether I finally completed the 5 year plan . Answer is , "not yet" . Only difference is that , now I'm confident of doing it .
|
