Prodigious, Exploited or Oppressed ?

The rate at which India is producing prodigies is commendable, be it Akrit Jaiswal, a 13 year old child, who rose to fame at the tender age of 7 by performing an operation on an 8-year-old girl successfully, or avatar tulsi a well known physicist who completed his M.sc at the age of 12, or Shakuntala devi whose mental calculation abilities were recognized at the age of 3. There are numerous examples that can be cited, but the one whose story touched me was “Budhiya, Marathon runner”

Budhiya Singh, the four-and-a- half-year-old marathon winner from India was in the Limca Book of Records a fortnight back. He was born in an ordinary family in the Gautam Nagar slum area of Bhuvaneshwar, the state capital of Orissa. His father, Sukanti had a very low income, which was inadequate to manage two square meals a day. Biranchidas, a coach noticed unique talent in Budhiya.  He had the power to run continuously for several hours without any sign of fatigue. This goaded Biranchidas to train him and find a place for Budhiya in the prestigious Limca Book of Records. Because of his poor economic status and with no alternate source of income, Sukanti sold his son to Biranchidas for the small sum of Rs.800. Later he adopted Budhiya and asked him to run long distances.

Recently Budhiya, the "wonder kid" ran non-stop for a little over seven hours to cover a distance of 70 km from Puri to Bhuvaneshwar. He was five kilometers short of the total distance yet earned a name in the Limca Book of Records. Today he is the pride for his coach turned father, the nation and holds a fascination for newspapers and television channels.What about Budhiya? At this tender age, Budhiya is unaware of the consequences and affects of running on his health. At the age of four and a half, emphasis should be on the development of his healthy body and mind. Doctors say that if Budhiya continues to run in this manner he could develop arthritis, heart disease and stunted growth

Who can be blamed for this, parents/guardians, the law or the society? It is seen very often that parents impose their ideas and aspirations on their kids, which is so wrong. It is at this tender age, that children experiment, don’t think about the consequences and are willing to do and try everything, to search what gives them happiness...It’s the time that parents have to help their kids tap their potential, and understand if their forte lies somewhere. But, what parents think today is how my child can be put forth in this horde of children, being pushed by their parents to secure the no 1 rank in school.  I don’t deny to the fact that schooling, and studies is extremely significant, but if your child has some passion or has a creative side than let him pursue it. So all the parents out there I request you not to pull you child down, if he dances well, not to pull him down if he is interested in cooking or fashion designing, appreciate him when he shows you something written or painted by him or if he sings for you, push him to overcome his fears and follow his own dreams ….not your dreams…because not every child is a prodigy …but if you let him chase his passion, one day he will definitely make you proud!

Paint The Town Red

How long has it been that you have taken a paint brush in your hands and started painting anything that came to your mind? How long has it been that you have taken cuttings of paper and created a mosaic? How long has it been that you have drenched your hands into paint and started hand printing? How long has it been that you’ve painted walls and heard your mom screeching at you?

I don’t know how many of you reading this, find this to be interesting, but for me it’s fun. To be honest, I’m pathetic when it comes to drawing, painting or crafting. But I really appreciate a good piece of art, it gives immense pleasure to me when my brain is triggered and I have to think of a particular situation/event/feeling and put it across on the sheet, I’m able/unable to put it across exactly the same way I thought of is a different question :p ;). A piece of art is entirely created by human; it reflects human excellence, passion and love to be brought forth. It’s fascinating to me, if I have to use my brains to interpret the art of some artist, it arouses curiosity in me to find out why and how did the artist/sculptor come up with such a painting or sculpture, what was running in his mind when he was developing it.

It’s an undoubtedly an excellent ability that people have to play with colors, to blend colors, to let colors speak for themselves i.e. Red depicts violence, love…& black- darkness, obscurity. It’s amazing to see how people can replicate real life scenes on a sheet of paper through their art, how they can reveal the innermost feelings and the changing faces of people, how they can illustrate the gravity of an event with the help of toning and shading.

I understand that with the trend of using the new softwares that allow you to paint and edit with convenient tools-that make your work easier, have made people less inclined towards painting or drawing to exemplify something. The technology, the mediums, the tools, the resources, all of it is definitely changing…and that’s what is leading to people being disassociated to hand painting, drawing, sketching and crafting. But there are still a few, who love painting, who appreciate it, and who can create works that inspire people. I’m not trying to advice you’ll to start painting, but I’m just trying to say that pick up a brush or a pencil and try to put everything that comes to your mind on the paper, once in a while try to be like a kid again and soak your hands into paint, and impose your hand prints on the sheets. It won’t make you the painter of millennium; it would just help you explore fun in a refreshing way.

And now that I’m concluding this, I would just like to remind you’ll of a quote:

“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do”

-Edgar Degas

Bathroom Singing

You do not have a sweet/melodious voice. But that doesn’t deter you from singing, at least not in the bathroom! One tumbler of water and the Lata Mangeshkar , Avril Lavigne, Kishore Kumar, Enrique Iglesias in you comes to life. Seriously, what is it about bathrooms and water that you can't help singing in the most horrible voice that has been granted to you? Is it the closed doors, the shower, or the fact that nobody listens to you, or may be the small space ensures maximum reverberation.

Bathroom singing (which doesn’t just imply singing in the bathroom); it’s an ironic reference to mediocre or amateur singing. It’s not a new trend; it has been present since centuries, for instance Ibn Khaldun in Chapter 1 of his Muqaddimah writes:
"Likewise, when those who enjoy a hot bath inhale the air of the bath, so that the heat of the air enters their spirits and they are found to experience joy. It often happens that they start singing, as singing has its origin in gladness."  

Not just that our very own Kishore Kumar was recognized as a good singer only after SD Burman heard him sing in the shower. It’s also said that number of bathroom singers went up after the Liril Ad, I don’t know how authentic the statement passed above is, but I don’t really think bathroom is the only place where you will find not-so-professional singers singing. If you just observe your surroundings you will find that almost anyone and everyone you know will be a bathroom singer, There are people who will sing whenever they can-irrespective of the manifold and various repercussions, and Others sing only when there is no one around-in the cloistered, secluded safety of the proverbial rest-room. The fact is that no matter if you are trained not, no matter if you don’t have the perfect sur/ taal or rhythm, if you’re listening to a song you like, you will end up singing or humming it most of the times. It’s a human tendency to end up singing the songs anywhere, be it while driving, while bathing, while playing karaoke, while walking down the valleys, while playing sports, singing in the rains. Singing is truly a beautiful way of expression, a mother sings to make her child sleep, a soldier sings for his nation, a lover sings for his beloved to show her how much he loves her, devotees sing for God, grand mom’s sing for grandchildren, a child sings for his parents ….It’s not necessary that people sing for someone or for some reason always….people sing for their own recreation, for gratifying themselves…and bathroom singing reflects that perfectly.

There is also a group named Swara Sampada, led by two doctors’, which grooms bathroom singers into stage performers. Not just that, there was recently a reality show- the hunt for the bathroom singer, launched by Sahara filmy channel. Gosh! I would suggest you all, that you must keep the singer in you alive and if possible even get yourself trained. You never know when  bathroom singing can take you to places J

Two Left Feet

I have overheard many people saying that they can’t dance and have two left feet, for those who actually believe in the statement above, since you believe that dancing is all about technique and flair, or art, what I’m going to write further is especially for you all. In my opinion, having “two left feet”- the popular idiom used to imply that people can’t dance, is just a myth. There is no definition of “dance” that is indisputable, for me dance is just a form of expression of emotions, feelings, anger, anguish, love, happiness with the help of movement, which if not in rhythm is perfectly fine, since it’s all about letting yourself free and enjoying, in fact it’s something that directly comes from your heart, which reflects your aspirations, state of mind, & your persona.

If you think that I’m being unrealistic than let me cite some examples, forget about  the techniques, what if you don’t have the physical and mental ability to imbibe something and present it, than dancing becomes really challenging right. But there are innumerable people, who have overcome such challenges, and proved the notion of impossibility wrong, kamlesh Patel a native of baroda, who has both his legs paralyzed, left the country bewildered when we he performed in a popular dance reality show flawlessly, since then Kamlesh has given more than 1000 performances around the globe, and has received acclaim from all the corners of the world. Vinod Thakur, a 21 year old student from Delhi, is making news in the country with his hip-hop moves. He suffers from a birth defect and was born with no legs. Also, the winners of India’s got Talent season 1- The prince dancing group comprised two members who suffer from polio.

It’s not just these few people mentioned above, but there are many others some acknowledged some not. These people weren’t aware about dance techniques, they didn’t have the resources to train themselves as dancers, still performances given by Kamlesh, Vinod, or the prince group had every able person’s jaw dropped thinking that if that was achievable, all they did was- they moved, they matched the beats, they got into rhythm by just letting themselves free, they did it for pleasure & passion. They really proved it that if one has the will to do it, he will overcome all the hurdles, & strive to accomplish it. So if people being disabled can dance, you being in the perfect body shape definitely can. So Just put some music on, get on with the dance and let joy be unconfined. Go explore the dancer in you.

Explore the creative side....

I remember, when I was a child Mom would say Creativity and Art are very closely related to each other. But for mom and many others art was restricted to painting, sketching, crafting. I will definitely concede to the statement above, only if the scope of art is modified. I consider Art to have a broader spectrum; in fact illimitability is one of the most crucial aspects of Art. For me art is present is every aspect of human endeavor and existence. The way God has created humans and our habitat is one of the finest pieces of art I have ever come across. The way a mother nurtures her child, the way creatures apart from humans communicate without having the power of speech, the way mentally or physically challenged people carve a niche for themselves in this perfectly fit world, the innocence of a child which can turn a tear into a smile, the way two people can sit together and communicate without uttering a word, the way people create problems that can’t be solved with the level of thinking that created them and yet manage to fight and solve them, the way photographers can capture mundane moments and make it look whimsical, the way a dancer can soothe the people around him/her or make them groove just by his movements, the way a singer/musician can get you goose bumps through melody, the way writer can touch the hearts of billions just through his words….and there are innumerable examples that I can cite.

The point is not to ponder if Art is a by-product of creativity or vice-versa; the fact is to explore the creativity in you. For some it’s business, for some it’s pleasure, for some it’s passion and for some it’s an illusion...you have to decide what is it for you? Don’t let this world pull you down, by their clichéd definitions of art and creativity if you look at it through a different angle you will find creativity everywhere within and around you. Go find the Demiurgic Side of “YOU”