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
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 is 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!
