'We spend much of our lives not being who we really are....'

rod judkins | On Cultivating A Creative Mindset

A lovely inspirational line on a ‘creative mindset’, I got or rather caught for myself ;-) while reading through the famed 2015 rod judkin read titled, The Art of Creative Thinking.

rod judkin, Professor of creativity at the world-famous St Martin's College of Art says here,

A creative mindset can be applied to everything you do and enrich every aspect of your life. Creativity isn't a switch that's flicked on or off; it's a way of seeing, engaging with and responding to the world around you. The creative are creative when filing documents, cooking, arranging timetables or doing housework. Try to develop an alternative way of thinking that can be applied to any challenge or project, no matter how far out of your comfort zone.

rod judkin starts off by penning down his inspirational thoughts on art's first super star, Michelangelo -

Undoubtedly one of the world's great geniuses, Michelangelo had not so much a divine gift as an intensely nurtured talent. Brought up by quarrymen, he could chisel and cut blocks of stone from the age of six. By the age of twelve he had been carving stone for thousands of hours. At fourteen he was apprenticed to an artist's studio. That level of skilled training is not possible today. In fact, it's illegal.

The old masters are a great source of inspiration, but we cannot ever emulate their level of skill. We have to discover our own strengths. Creative thinking is like a muscle that needs to be strengthened through exercise. I often set exercises that each last five or ten minutes, rather as an athlete might do a series of short workouts to get fit.

says rod judkins.

How lovelyyy! How bubblyyy!! How trueyyy!!!

Some of his thoughts are real inspirational stuff! –

Sample this –

Everyone is searching for originality. Ironically, it is right there within them, but most people are too busy being someone else.

Creative people are prepared to be themselves. They make the most of their own experiences whether good or bad. The advantage of being themselves is that they are original. There is no one like them. This makes whatever they do unique.

We spend much of our lives not being who we really are. There are huge pressures on everyone to be someone else; to live up to others' expectations - to be a perfect parent, obedient employee, selfless partner or high-achieving son or daughter.

We lose the ability to be good at being ourselves, and we forget who we are.

The world is pushing constantly to submerge you in orthodoxy, to make you indistinguishable from everybody else. To fight against it is to be involved in a lifelong struggle.

To be successfully creative you have to realise it's OK to be yourself.

We all have weaknesses and strengths; the creative accept them and use them both.

The biggest benefit you can be to your company, school, business or family is to accentuate what is special and unique about yourself.

That's difficult in a society that puts huge emphasis on conformity.

True, ain’t it???

And finally, to end with the snippeting part, ;-) the info that he gives us all on one of our favvys, Paulo Coelho – and Coelho’s creative vibes, is the real icing on the cake –

The incredible struggle of Paulo Coelho is an extraordinary example of sheer determination. As a teenager he passionately wanted to become a writer, but his parents considered this madness.

They wanted him to become a lawyer, a secure, respectable profession. To 'save' him from his writing ambitions, his parents had him committed to a mental institution three times. He was subjected to electric shock treatment.

He refused to compromise. He instinctively knew he was meant to be a writer, and he went on to become an author with a unique vision.

His book The Alchemist was translated into eighty languages, sold sixty-five million copies worldwide and provided Coelho with unequivocal, lasting financial security.

To all ye literati of the loveliest order out there - For the next few days, I would gently recommend that you go on ‘Digital Minimalism’ mode for a full twelve hours a day, and pull out a kindle version of this rod judkin read to get some real inspiration for our literary souls from this rod judkin-ian delight! ;-)

The Lecture Series...

PG & Research Department of English

Queen Mary’s College (Autonomous)

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, INDIA

Invites you for

The Lecture Series on

Literature in Times Like These

03 July – 06 July 2020

9. 30 am to 11 am

The Lecture Series titled, ‘Literature in Times Like These’ is an endeavour to reach out to the student community during this pandemic COVID 19, to find strength in the human response to similar situations in the past, be it the Great Plague or the Spanish Influenza.

The feelings of insecurity that gnaw at us when one amongst us falls through disease may be seen even in War Literature, for even this pandemic is ravaging along the lines of armed conflict.

Displacement is also one of the fallouts of this war with Corona Virus. Heart-wrenching images and stories of migrant labourers have left indelible imprints on our minds. The employment scenario is bleak with wage cuts: many have lost their jobs due to the lockdown.

Isn't this reminiscent of the Great Depression? The existential crisis looms large before us not only because of the economy but also due to disease and death.

And yet, Literature has always served as a place of refuge for the human spirit, an ocean where we may sink our griefs, a springboard from which we can liberate our spirits.

In times like these we cannot help remembering “the fever and the fret” that Keats lamented and his ability to transcend it as well, the “negative capability” which unleashed from him a tribute to a tiny, but significant form of life, the nightingale of whom he said, “Thou wast not born for death, Immortal Bird. No hungry generations tread thee down.”

He literally took flight on the wings of the little bird when he said, “Away for I will fly with thee. Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards. But on the viewless wings of poesy.” That is transcendence!

The Lecture Series on Literature in Times Like These, will have experienced and eminent professors, address students on Literature in the context of -

Existentialism

Transcendence

Disease

Displacement of human communities

This crisis has witnessed a commendable response in terms of human beings bonding together online.

May we keep this spirit going by bringing together our students from different colleges to listen together and think together about life as it has been dealt to us today.

With a View to Enhancing the Standard and Quality of Research...

Research in Literature & Language | Book

What are the basic factors I should bear in mind while choosing a research topic?

What should I choose first: author or approach?

How do I find out if research has already been done on a particular author/topic?

What is research gap and how do I identify it?

When does a researcher arrive at the final title?

What are the differences between Bibliography and Works Cited?

What should the introductory chapter contain?

Which chapter should I write first?

These are just a sample to the 200 FAQs given in such an easy-to-understand format for research scholars working on Literature and Language for their Doctoral/Post-doctoral studies, in the book titled, FAQs on Research in Literature and Language.

The very fact that the book has been written by a Professor of English – Dr. A. Joseph Dorairaj – who has adjudicated more than 75 PhD theses (and counting) in English Language and Literature for quite many Indian universities, and has sat on dozens of viva voce in English and in Humanities, - gives the book its added cachet and credibility.

‘I would like to share with the academic community some of my observations with a view to enhancing the standard and quality of research in English Language and Literature and Humanities in general so that our PhD theses approximate international standards’,

says Dr. Dorairaj, on the purpose behind the book.

True to its purpose, the book gives a profound insight into the various facets of a good literary research, the dos and the donts to be noted, the guidelines to be followed, the deadlines to be observed, the methodology to be adopted, etc., in such a simple and engaging style that can appeal to all and sundry.

From the first chapter titled, ‘What is Research’, where Professor Joseph Dorairaj elucidates on the definition of research and the various types of research, to the second chapter that discusses a frequently confusing question that plagues quite a lot of researchers – How should I choose my Research Topic? to an elucidation on the research concepts and tools, up until the grand finale - the Viva Voce, you get to have a comprehensive insight into every aspect of research in such a legible, graded, structured, coherent and easy-to-understand format. 

And yes! Please don’t forget to read the Appendix to the book!

Written in three parts, the Appendix to the book feels more like Dr. Joseph Dorairaj himself engaging in a scholarly tête-à-tête with you in his inimitable gentle way.

I very strongly recommend this Researcher’s Handbook of FAQs for anyone who is planning to do / doing his or her research in Literature and Language.

Thanks to Ms. Nalini Olivannan, the Emerald Publishers, Chennai have done quite an excellent work in giving the book its present delightful shape and form. The vibrant cover design and the good quality of the paper have an equal say in enhancing the readability of the book.

Copies of the book are available with Emerald Publishers, Chennai on their website.

PS: A few copies (very few copies) of Dr. Joseph Dorairaj’s book titled, Myth and Literature (2001) and Interventions: Essays in Philosophy and Literary Theory (2006) are available. If you are in real, serious need of the books, you may contact Professor Joseph Dorairaj at his email id.

Now for the Blurb to the Book –

This book is in the form of Questions and Answers. 200 questions vital to research have been raised and answered in an easy-to-understand manner. While the existing Handbooks and Manuals focus largely on the mechanics of writing and documentation, this book covers almost all aspects of research – right from choosing a research topic to the viva voce. Significantly, most research queries have been answered from the researcher’s point of view.

About Professor Joseph Dorairaj –

Joseph Dorairaj is a Professor of English & Dean, School of English and Foreign Languages, Gandhigram Rural University, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu. 

He was the Vice-Chancellor (Acting) of Gandhigram Rural University in 2013-14. 

He was a Fullbrighter in 2014 and an Erasmus Mundus Visiting Scholar at KU, Leuven, Belgium in 2015. 

He has authored three books: Myth and Literature (2001), Interventions: Essays in Philosophy and Literary Theory (2006) and Philosophical Hermeneutics (2011). He has edited two books: Critical Essays on Indian English Poets (2015) and Essays on Gandhi (2019). 

He is the Founder-Editor of Gandhigram Literary Review, a peer-reviewed journal.

'A gift that cannot move loses its gift properties!...'

The Gifts of Reading | Book

A gift that cannot move loses its gift properties,

says Hyde, Lewis Hyde, in his motivational book titled, The Gift.

[you may want to read our past post on The Gift here].

In simple terms, if say, for example, I share a gift - (could be a book!) ;-) - with my friend, and my friend in turn shares it with their friends, who in turn shares it with their friends, the gift thus shared has a great transformative appeal to it, enriching and enlightening manifold times, both the receiver and the sender in the process!

Now, let’s quick fast-forward together, to this last past week, May 2020! 

Well, I was reading my way through Robert Macfarlane’s book titled, Underland: A Deep Time Journey, [again, gifted to me by my lovely cousin], a book that’s touted to be ‘an epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself’.

After having done with reading through this delightful book, I was busy checking out on more of Macfarlane, Robert Macfarlane’s books, for the weekend, when I chanced upon a priceless little treasure that he’d written, exclusively for charity sake!

And it’s titled, The Gifts of Reading.

‘This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book – and the book was given to me by a man called Don, with whom I became friends in Beijing during the autumn and winter of 2000’,

he begins the book, and adds,

A book was given to me by a man called Don, with whom I became friends in Beijing during the autumn and winter of 2000. Don and I were working as English literature teachers in a University.

Don had been his able ‘friend, philosopher and guide’ during his pretty little stint at a University in Beijing. Now, after his tenure in Beijing is up, Robert Macfarlane heads back to Cambridge to work on his PhD in Victorian Literature.

Interestingly, Don comes over to Cambridge to visit Robert on a short sojourn of sorts. And while departing, he leaves behind a few presents for Robert Macfarlane on his table. The presents include, a copy of Snyder’s Mountains and Rivers Without End, and a paperback copy of a book by Patrick Leigh Fermor titled, A Time of Gifts!

Says Macfarlane, Robert Macfarlane on the book –

A Time of Gifts is filled with gifts and acts of giving – it is a book, we might say, that is rich with generosity. Among its gifts is the gift of time:

Leigh Fermor did not publish it until 1977, forty-four years after beginning his walk, and a result of that long and thoughtful delay is a narrative voice which possesses both the joyful wonder of youth, and the wisdom and perspective of later age.

And among those wisdoms is its reflection on the nature of gift: what it might mean to give without expectation of recompense, and what types of kindness might stand outside the reciprocal binds of the cash economy.

One of the first things Leigh Fermor is given in A Time of Gifts is a book: the first volume of the Loeb edition of Horace. His mother (‘she was an enormous reader’) bought it for him as a farewell present, and on its flyleaf she wrote the prose translation of an exquisite short poem by Petronius, which could hardly have been more appropriate as a valediction to her son:

Leave thy home, O youth, and seek out alien shores … Yield not to misfortune: the far-off Danube shall know thee, the cold North-wind and the untroubled kingdom of Canopus and the men who gaze on the new birth of Phoebus or upon his setting.

The journey of A Time of Gifts is set going by the gift of a book – and it is a book that has in turn set going many journeys,

says Robert Macfarlene.

Reading through A Time of Gifts, was an invigorating experience, he adds.

‘It made me want to stand up and march out – to walk into adventure’. The comforting rhythm of his journey – exertion, encounter, rest, food, sleep; exertion, encounter, rest, food, sleep – rocks its readers into feelings of happiness and invulnerability. I could do this, you think, I could just start walking and keep going for a day or two, or three, or four, or more.

Again, poring over Lewis Hyde’s The Gift was a transformative experience, says Macfarlane –

I was given a copy of Hyde’s The Gift – and I don’t have that copy any longer, because I gave it to someone else, urging them to read it. Gifts give on, says Hyde, this is their logic. They are generous acts that incite generosity. He contrasts two kinds of ‘property’: the commodity and the gift. The commodity is acquired and then hoarded, or resold. But the gift is kept moving, given onwards in a new form.

I am particularly moved by his deep interest in what he calls ‘the gift that, when it comes, speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us’. 

The outcome of a gift is uncertain at the time of giving, but the fact that it has been given charges it with great potential to act upon the recipient for the good. 

Because of the gratitude we feel, and because the gift is by definition given freely, without obligation, we are encouraged to meet it with openness and with excitement. 

Unlike commodities, gifts – in Hyde’s account and my experience – possess an exceptional power to transform, to heal and to inspire, 

says Macfarlane.

Today, Macfarlane is known the world over, for his enthralling books on landscape, language, nature, places and people.

However, it was the sweet impact of that one book gifted to him by his friend Don, that had quite turned his life a full 360 degrees for the better - for a richer and a fuller life! 

Exactly what Lewis Hyde says, about the power of the gift –

Only when the increase of gifts moves with the gift may the accumulated wealth of our spirit continue to grow among us, so that each of us may enter, and be revived by, a vitality beyond his or her solitary powers.

Yes!!!

So let me put it this way, this simple way –

Patrick Leigh Fermor was gifted the first volume of Horace: Odes and Epodes, by his mother, which acted his spontaneous spur and immediate impulse to become one of the best known travel writers from around the world.

Robert Macfarlane was gifted a book on Patrick Leigh Fermor by his friend Don, and titled, A Time of Gifts, which in turn had motivated him to develop an engaging and rewarding relationship with the landscape.

Rufus (me) ;-) was gifted this Robert Macfarlane’s book titled, The Underland, by my cousin, which in turn motivated me bigtime to write this post!

And.... well... the gift moves on and on and on!

So yup!

Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the ‘present’.

How have you been using/sharing your gifts?

Remember, Lewis Hyde says: A gift that cannot move loses its gift properties!

So why wait?

Start using your gifts!

Right away at that!

Before it loses it properties! ;-)

Bonne chance!

image: amazondotcom

'I remember something my mama used to say on dark days: If you can talk, you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance'

Home of the Brave | Book

First, for a little throwback time –

Last year, around this time, around fifteen of us - a bevy of picnic-savvy buffs - were lounging at Yercaud, a lovely little hill station in Tamil Nadu.

We had booked on our accommodation much in advance, at an amazing hilltop hotel that overlooks a deep gorge and a lovely ravine, an ambience that was very much alive to the sounds of Mother Nature’s pretty-witty solemn notes of grandeur!

The resort was quite popular for its campfires by nights!

So all of us quickly finished off on our nibbly-nibbly dinners, and enthusiastically rushed headlong to the campfire space, our gala jubilee-time of the evening!

Indeed a crackling campfire awaited us all!

The campfire was set up in a lovely ambience, again, overlooking the deep valley, with the evening’s gentle breeze fanning up on the flames and charcoals so gentle and so graceful, and with night lights so beautifully dim that they attracted a range of crickets and beetles that caught up with us all, along with the barn owls and the hermit thrushes, that acted our avian accomplices on the fun!

Added, we were also offered the music of our own sweet choices too!

You just had to tell them on a peppy number that you so liked, and hey presto, they had them played out for you the very next jiffy-o-jiffy!

Lovely, ain’t it!

Thus was our campfire night all decked up to pep up big-time, the energizer bunny in us all!

But who pray, was going to start first on the jig?

Everyone seemed to be pretty reticent on initiating the first moves on the dance!

You go first, please!

You first, buddy!

No! You begin, and then we follow!

Not meee! Nooo wayyy!

These were some of the voices babbling up the hillside that evening!

Reticent hearts and reticent voices, that in the words of Pope, Alexander Pope,

were,

Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike! ;-)

Then came along a middle-aged guest, with a lovely paunch on him, who, without caring a hoot to the hullabaloo happening all around, straightaway plunged into his flawsome dance moves that almost flabbergasted everyone around him!

But the celebratory spirit within him ain’t give a heck to them at all!

He was so absorbed on his moves!

Involvement you see! ;-)

Indeed, all of us, who were lined up beside the campfire, [should be around sixty of us in number,] were quite flabbergasted at his flawsome jigs, to begin with! ;-)

But then, this was the trigger we’d soooo wanted!

This was the spur that we’d so badly needed!

This was the initiative we were so desperately waiting for!

And surprise of surprises, quite soon, the whole campfire place was filled with festive fun, with everyone of us falling into the fun, ;-) that went on and on for so long, that the resort people gracefully extended on the campfire time that evening!

Later on, after the dance-fire oops camp-fire fun almost got over, some of us gracefully went up to the gentleman, and much appreciated him on his gesture that helped ‘launch a thousand ships’ straight on starboard! ;-)

Why pray, did I go down memory lane and kindle up on these campfire musings for us all!?

With a purpose at that!

Well, I was quite reminded of this memorable incident that became etched-o-etched in our hearts, while reading through Katherine Applegate’s amazing novel in free verse, titled, Home of the Brave published in the year 2007.

There’s this little flashback narration by Kek the little immigrant boy, who says,

I remember something my mama

used to say on dark days:

If you can talk, you can sing.

If you can walk, you can dance.

'If you were going to allow yourself to make a one-degree shift today, what would that be? More joyful? More outspoken? More kind?'

Start Right Where you Are! | Book

Well, quite early into this morning, I was replying to a string of emails in all earnestness.

One such mail that I loved replying to, was from one of my past students!

He was one of my best students! An ardent reader as well!

While giving him a few guidelines on his research, I also added a note towards the end, saying,

Dear R,

‘While working on new thoughts and new ideas towards your Research, make sure your thoughts and ideas also help towards making the world a better place!’

The world needs such minds! Such hearts, ain’t it?

Minds and hearts with such guts and such mettle!!

In fact, the world today requires people who could proactively engage themselves with Nature, with humanity and with everything around them, without being judgmental or pessimistic or cynical in any way!

Change makers, we call them!

And one such book that will help motivate you big-time to be an effective change maker, is by Sam Bennett and it’s titled, Start Right Where you Are!

If you were going to allow yourself to make a one-degree shift today, what would that be?

Would you choose to be 1 percent more courageous?

More joyful? More outspoken? More kind?

'Every organism has the right to an adequate quality of life'

Dr. Nirmal Selvamony | Ecorights

The United Nations has proclaimed 22 May as The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.

International Day for Biological Diversity focuses on the importance of nature in people’s daily lives, offers concrete steps to make our food systems healthier and more biodiversity-friendly.

As the definition of biodiversity, suggested by the 1992 Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), puts it, Biodiversity is the ‘variability among living organisms, within species, between species, and of ecosystems’.

As the UN Secretary General has pointed out, our aim should be ‘to protect and sustainably manage the fragile and vital web of life on our one and only planet!

It is said that, in the last 100 years, more than 90 per cent of crop varieties have disappeared from farmers’ fields. 

Added, this huge loss of diversity in our food systems results in malnutrition and unhealthy diets, which are major risk factors of noncommunicable diseases!

On this occasion, it would be meet on our part to celebrate our own Vandana Shivas and Jiddu Krishnamurtis at the regional level.

The first in line would be –

Dr. Nirmal Selvamony!

Dr. Nirmal Selvamony, my past colleague and mentor, [with whose help I presented my very first paper in Punjab!] was the first to introduce a course on Ecocriticism in India in the late 1980s at his alma mater Madras Christian College, Chennai. 

He is also the founder of the forum known as tiNai. 

He has also coined the term, ‘Neo-tiNai poetics’, based on the tiNai theory of Classical Tamil Literature. He has an entire list of ‘firsts’ to his credit.