Friday 1 May 2020

A Joyful Celebration of YOUR Artistic and Creative Space...!

Dear Students, Friends and Readers,

Greetings!

I am very thrilled and happy to know that many of you are spending your Covid Curfew days in such exciting ways!

Over the past one month, many many many of you, creative beings, aka literary beings, have written to me on the myriad ways in which you are giving vent to your creative vibes in these curfew times!

One of our past kids Sai Shri has crossed a hundred poems and counting, these holiday times! Proud of you, as usual, kiddo! 

Some of you have taken the time and effort to even share with me your personal blogs.

Thank you so much. So happy for you and so proud of you!

Sargunan Ranganathan, 2003 batch in especial. I am giving his link to the right of our blog.

I would like to make special mention of a few other literary beings who’ve shared their creative musings with me these holidays.

Kirthika our past student is doing vlogs on a regular basis. Kudos Kirthika. Will be sharing them with y’all once she gives the nod! ;-)

Prof. Neelakandan has done his first vlog yesterday, and so has Prof. Rajesh! Congrats Profs!

Harini has almost completed her novella! Kudos kiddo!

Sara Abraham has written short stories and poems that are so highly original and highly appealing. Kudos kiddo! Keep up the good work!

Dr. Gabriella has taken a sweet resolve to write down her literary jottings on a wonderful e-platform. Kudos Ma’am! So proud of you!

Prof. Krishnan is into writing research papers with such fervour, these curfew days! Kudos dear sir. 

Aparna mol is on a writing spree! Congrats kiddo!

Prof. Anamica is celebrating her personal space by writing wonderful poems. Congrats ma'am!

Dr. Maria is also 24x7 into creativity! Some amazing poems I was so delighted to read! Happy for you, ma’am!

Dr. Benet is up to his favourite hobby of all time – reading! Proud of you sir!

Some are into doing webinars!

Some are busy catching up on their research papers!

Some are catching up on their good ol’ favourite movies that they’d piled up in their ‘bucket list’ for decades!

Kudos and appreciation to all of you folks!

So proud of you all!

Your tireless strivings matter a lot, in making the world a better place!

As Jidduji says,

‘In enquiring into ourselves we are not isolating ourselves from the rest of the world. That is an actual fact. I have created the world as I am’.

What a beautiful axiomatic premise worthy of celebration and admiration!

Indeed, YOU have the ability and the capability, the potential and the power to create the world as you are, and as YOU wish it to!

That’s your style! That’s your route! That’s your path!

You need no mentor, no guide, no research supervisor, no teacher to show you your style!

The most they could all possibly do is to show you the way! - the direction!

But it would do well for you to remember that, it’s up to you to pave YOUR path!

And as you know, it’s quite easy to walk on a path already paved by somebody else!

But to pave your own path is a delightful challenge in itself, alley?

Indeed, as the good ol’ saying goes, the windows of every house in your locality may be the same, but what YOU see through YOUR window from YOUR house, is NOT the same! 

That’s your perspective to life! Your perspective to living!

That’s your ‘perspective’ to reading a book!

That’s your ‘perspective’ to writing a book!

And yes! Please do remember that, you should see life through YOUR window!

Not through the windows of your friends, neighbours, teachers, mentors or relatives! ;-)

Therein lies your style!

Therein lies your success!

And this is real liberation that one could possibly obtain for oneself!

And this is indeed the liberation that the narrator of the intriguing short story, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ strives to attain! And how!

Well, the narrator to the story, real frets and fumes over all her ample restrictions imposed on her by her husband John, a doctor by profession. 

Since she is now undergoing treatment for an unspecified ‘nervous condition’, she has been forbidden from working and writing! 

But as the story progresses, the narrator is seen to slowly and steadily free herself from the constrictions and restrictions that have limited her potential and her identity! Her chief therapeutic source being her writing!

Not able to talk her mind to anyone, she finds such solace and therapy in writing down her thoughts and ideas in her personal journal! ‘I must say what I feel and think in some way—it is such a relief!’, she quips!

Something on a similar vein happens in Maxine Hong Kingston’s 1989 novel titled, Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book.


Wittman Ah Sing, the protagonist to the novel appears disillusioned with the modern world. He is vexed and troubled beyond measure to find the rampant commercialization of society. 

The Monkey King myth has such rich resonances here!

Moreover, Wittman is also upset at the widespread racial intolerance towards Asians in his society!

Feeling stifled in his job as well, our protagonist decides to abdicate any desire towards people or fame or money!

He resolves to work on his muse overtime, the domain in which he feels he rightfully belongs!

Having resolved thus, he then starts working with such intense commitment to staging his play! He sweats it out over the next few months and finally he is able to come out with his wonderful creative vibes on his own stage. 

What joy and what relief he feels, and rightfully so, when he sees his muse unleashed on stage thus!

Once he has gotten for himself this lovely stage space or creative space, where he could put forward his own views, (through his own window!) he heaves an intense sigh of happiness! 

Now, at last he is able to ably speaks his thoughts and his ideas to the people about the racial stereotypes that have long burdened his soul, and gently persuades people to claim their rightful space in American society.

Tripmaster Monkey as such, is a joyful celebration of the artistic and the creative space that’s the rightful domain of any literary being!

So why wait!?

Celebrate your me-space these curfew days!

Ably and sprightly, in your own sweet ways!

Happy creativity time for y’all, folks!

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