Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert

Big Magic is part self-help, part-fable, an attempt at presenting an alternate view of creativity. You may not agree with all that she says; I didn’t, for one. Many of the good quotes and ideas in the book are from existing literature, stories and people, quoted in detail; parts which’ve made what should be a blog into a book. 

She contends that ideas have a life-form, a consciousness, and move from person to person. She shares some anecdotes which I just can’t believe. When I reached this part, I suspended reading the book for a couple of months. She has no clear and final views; she travels through thoughts and presents all that she feels, so it’s unclear what she wanted to convey. 

Some good ideas in the book include 

1. Don’t expect your creativity to support you financially (easier said, but I agree with the thought); 

2. Don’t fetishize suffering; art doesn’t have to be achieved through suffering; 

3. Art is paradoxically meaningless and meaningful, a paradox you should comfortably inhabit (got me thinking); 

4. Treat your creative pursuit like a passionate extramarital affair, not an old marriage; pursue it while no one is watching; 

5. Question is not what would you do if you knew you could not fail? Question is what would you do even if you knew you would fail? 

In all, a quick read, with some food for thought and some takeaways.

Yatho Bhavoh, Tatho Rasah!

"Yatho Hastas, Tatho Drishti; 
 Yatho Drishti, Tatho Manah; 
 Yatho Manah, Tatho Bhavah;
 Yatho Bhavoh, Tatho Rasah" 

A beautiful quote from Natyashaastra. 

Where the hands go, the eyes follow; 
Where the eyes see, the mind follows;
Where the mind wanders, the feeling follows; 
Where the feeling is, the emotions arise. 

Kamal Hasan, in his character in the movie Saagara Sangamam (Confluence with the ocean, language: Telugu), dubbed into Tamil as Salangai Oli (Sound of the bells) and Malayalam as Saagara Sangamam, says these lines to an acclaimed but arrogant dancer. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagara_Sangamam

You can see it in youtube at the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV-smzc09Cw  from 5.15 to 5.30. Do see it! 

Memory lane.... KL.... Yaariyan....

Memory lane in Kuala Lumpur 

Music of Yaariyaan from Cocktail 

Sunidhi Chauhan and Pritam  

Video by Kartik Kumar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCikmQQPGBQ

The first few days of the new year!

The first few days of the new year are always difficult. Coming at the back of the pent up expectation and euphoria of the celebrations, it almost always is a dip. If you're not suffering from a hangover, there is the immediate gap you feel between what you thought you'd do on the first day, and then the second, and then the rest of the year. In fact, I don't do much in the last few days of the year, except write resolutions, and try to make them as exhaustive as possible. So much so, that I could call it a plan to fail. It is never possible to achieve so much, even routine things, in a day. And if by some stroke of luck or discipline, it does happen, it would be only for the first few days. If you are one of those who is able to get it all done in the first few days, the challenge lies ahead, and only ahead. 

I decided to skip the usual resolutions list and instead looked at what I won't try to do. In the normal course I would've listed something like learning guitar, starting to cycle, see more movies, read more books, in the standard resolutions list. But I decided to not make any such resolutions; for two reasons, one that I needed to settle down at my workplace before I get a sense of what is achievable realistically, considering the available opportunities. And resolutions like these, I thought, should be made on the go, as the year progresses. Having said that, I thought I'd focus on a few broad areas which need my attention and time. And I put the out in key words - HEALTH, ORDER, MONEY, PEOPLE. And the associated work that is necessary to achieve all these. 

Health is of utmost importance, considering age, and the expected stress in my life.The first 3 days have not been good in this respect, because I'm already recovering from illness as I entered the new year. I've to get better before I intend to keep fit. And the tearing need to get order into my life, de-clutter my surroundings and de-clog my brain, of all the unnecessary and superfluous. And to get things done on time, not procrastinate. The most simple of these would be to submit my claims on time, and the more difficult ones like being on time and reaching a No-Pending list and maintaining it, would require more effort and resolve. 

The last few months have raised several challenges with respect to relationships and this will be the most difficult in the coming years. 

Books..... activity books, self-help books...

Browsed through some books at MPH Publika last evening... 

- Moodles presents Grumpy, moodle your troubles away 

- The Pointless Book, started by Alfie Deyers, finished by you 

- The Crossroads of Should and Must, find and follow your passion, Elle Luna 

- The Family Project, a creative handbook, John Paul Flintoff and Harriet Green 

- Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin 

- The Iceberg, A memoir, Marion Coutts 

The Iceberg is a memoir written by a wife about how her husband was diagnosed with a disease, wherein he lost his voice and eventually died, contrasted and synchronised with their son learning to talk. 

Better than before is about developing good daily habits. Written by Gretchen Rubin, who also wrote The Happiness Project, which I'd bought earlier, June 2014, if I recall correct. I have to read more. I'm only downloading book after book, not finding any time to read. 

The other three books were activity books. Very good, indeed. I have to be able to pick up one of these, and actually do it. I think it may be difficult for me to use a book that way. Even now, I don't write on a book, even with a pencil. So, an activity book may be some distance away. 

I have to be able to get through books quickly. I seem to get stuck in making notes and extracts, that delay me. But what's the use of reading if I can't recall and refer back. So I'm stuck between deciding to keep notes and delaying reading, and reading without keeping notes. 

Federer still unbeatable!

Federer is still so fluid and devastating at his age. I think and say, to those who ask that he retire gracefully, why, when he is able to beat those 10 years his junior, effortlessly. He is playing the game in his personal capacity, and not taking anyone else's place on a team, like Sachin or Kapil did for years. He's around every year, and if you beat him, you can get past him, you deserve to win, because you are then the best, that year. 

Having said that, Federer's game has changed considerably in recent years, possibly due to influence of Stephan Edberg. He was quietly aggressive in the early 2000s, as much as the situation demanded then, became defensive and timid in the late 2000s, when he met Nadal and Roddick, and now has brought in a new aggression. He is not as amazing as he was before, but flashes of brilliance tend to amaze, time and again. He can't play long games, considering his age, so he tends to prefer shorter points. 

He may be a distant second in rankings, but that doesn't take away one bit from his infallibility with respect to all the other players. He may have some players who he hasn't been able to convincingly conquer, but overall, at this age too, he is unbeatable most times. 

And he is such an affable character, that you like him, even otherwise. And that adds to the aura that endears us to him. More power to him! 

Life is what happens!

There are some pieces of news that, once you hear it, impact your life, take you right out of your comfort zone, and leave things completely different from what they were the earlier day. 

You suddenly start to imagine and see that your life may undergo a complete change after a few months. You may not be in the same circumstances or position in an year's time. You may have to leave all that is part of your life today, the home you live in, the couch you sleep on, the car you drive, the gym you go to, the pool you swim in, those familiar roads you walk by, those restaurants you always eat at, those people you meet everyday. You are uprooted from so many of these connections you have developed and enjoyed for a while now. 

There are so many plans that remain to be undertaken, so many things you had procrastinated, saying you'll take up in right earnest from tomorrow, or next week, or when you have got past a few urgent tasks, but never got yourself to start. Now time seems to be running out, and you may never actually start many of those dream tasks. And then you wonder why you didn't start them for so long, earlier. 

So, ultimately, life is what happens when you're busy planning it. 

Biking baby steps!

Cycling is not easy! Especially, if you haven't done it for years. Even if you are generally fit. Even if you have done it in the gym. 

My enthusiasm for cycling was to be satisfied. It always seemed the thing that was missing in my list of aspirations. 

I have cycled so much in life, I was an expert in city biking, in Bombay. And, this cliche, if you can bike in Bombay, you can do it anywhere in the world. I used to enjoy the breeze on my face, with music in my ears on an old tape walkman, ever ready to take off just like that. 

And now here I was, 20 years later, trying to feed my desire to get back on that bike again. And I've been fascinated by a folding bike because I could carry it along to various places. Though, I now realise, it is easier said than done. And I was not finding a foldable bike that had a wheel diameter of 26 inches. 

When I finally found one that met my specifications on Groupon at RM 599, I jumped at it. Well, not really. I still took a few weeks before I took the plunge. It was a Korean make Excider 26 inch. 

The bike arrived one Friday afternoon, a few days before I expected it. It didn't take long to assemble, but the gear required some adjustments. I did that over a weekend and brought it back home. 

No more excuses now. I took her on a trip one Sunday night, after much preparation, getting my Endomondo and S Health apps started, out on the road, changing gears often, and up a slope, when Oh! the pedal threading came off and I fell down, a minor injury on my knee. I walked back the way home, cycle in tow, with the broken pedal in my hand. 

I parked the bike and didn't look at it for a couple of weeks. A visit to Chow Kit over that weekend, and I saw cheaper bikes, though not foldable, and felt worse. 

I mustered up my will last evening and got the bike to Rodalink for repairs. The guy there is good at his work but bad at small talk. He managed to get the threading back in place, replaced the pedal and got it back in working condition. I had spent RM 100 more on the bike with not many miles to boast. 

Last night I decided to start again, no Endomondo or S Health apps, no changing gears, no slopes, just plain simple doodhwala-biking, on a flat stretch of road just outside our place. 

I had to come back to taking baby steps, rather than try something ambitious, so that my confidence is back in place. This time it worked, and though the result may not have been that romantic, it still counted as a positive. 

And it rekindled hope that things will slowly get better!  

When you become a Dad!

​

You become a Father when you hear her cry for the first time, when she open her eyes to see the first light of the world, and the doctor congratulates you, when everyone rejoices at the arrival of a beautiful daughter! 

You become a Dad when your daughter calls for you, not just once, but in a loop, waits for you, believes you will listen to all that she says, tells you everything that happened today, when you're back home after work, when she knows it's you when she hears a knock on the door, wants you to get the stuff that has rolled under the couch, too far for her to reach, narrates the same story in the same few words a dozen times, and expects you to listen without getting bored, sits at the steering wheel of the car, believing that she is driving the car, demands that you make the milk to drink today, when you're the subject character of all her cartoon pretend play, when you have to offer your hair for her to try her new clips and hairbands, when from across a crowded room she is assured that you're there for her! 

You become a Dad when she knows she is the princess in your life, and will always be!  

Last year I was a Father! This year I became a Dad! 

Genius!

In response to a question 'Is Glenn Beck a genius?' on Quora, Glenn Beck himself replied, quite frankly, and with a lot of humility, 

Tesla was a genius. Edison was not.

Sid Caesar was a genius. Jimmy Fallon is not. 

Ben Franklin was a genius. Thomas Paine was not.

Steve Jobs was a genius. Bill Gates is not.

Genius charts a totally new course. Hears notes that have not been sung and colours never painted. The rest of us, look at history and events around us and rework the clay that others have worked already.

Short answer. No.

Liked it a lot.