Shekhar Kapur

And thats a question I am always asked.  What is creativity ? What is the creative act ? What defines you differently from others if you are defining yourself as creative ?

Well .. let me say upfront .. The creative person is not born different.  Every child is creative. They satisfy everything that would define creativity.  They are constantly observing.  They are constantly exploring. They are not taking anything as a given. Everything is new and not prejudiced by experience.

Lets get deeper ..

They do not condition the experience of the now, of this moment by prejudices built upon past experiences.  Nor are they projecting the past into the future. The future is to be explored unfettered by memories ..

And most importantly ..

They will take the next step forward .. not knowing what will happen .. if they fall they will still take the next step forward .. how else will they learn to walk ? They are not afraid to explore the unknown ..

Now you may say they need to learn.  That the skills they develop over time, to depend on the experiences of the past to project the future are mere survival skills .. or they will constantly skid on the proverbial Banana Peel.  Of course.

Yet I could define creative people as those that hold on to that child like quality.  Those that that retain an ability to explore the unknown.  Those that do not allow the past experiences to prejudice their decision making or their exploration of new ideas, of new thoughts. New discoveries or explorations into new horizons.

We do get called dreamers.  We do get called stupid. We do get called impractical ( to the normal world we are).  We fall in love all too easily. We chase thoughts and dreams all too easily and like children we fall over and get hurt all the time. But we still chase dreams for they are bigger than the hurt .. I cant imagine a child not trying to walk if it gets hurt a few times ..

We gloss over the practicalities of life and somehow believe that the Universe ( and indeed God, for those of us that believe in it) is on our side .. even if all practical evidence points to the an interpretation that its not !!

So what makes us different .. what makes us (in other people’s eyes) irresponsible .. ? What makes us revel in uncertainty and be provoked by the adventure of the unknown ?

Enough for today .. let me have your thoughts and I will continue later .. love to you all .. for thats what we creative people hold on to most .. the idea of love .. we search for it all the time ..

Shekhar

This post is submitted by reader Jolly Shah

I am about to complete a year in Afghanistan this August. Before I moved here, I had decided to write about the country and my experiences here but I procrastinated until I got this urge today to write. And write first about what- women and Afghanistan! Before my first visit here in 2011, whenever I thought of Afghanistan, the image that came in front of my eyes was of women walking in blue burqas- the special burqas called “shuttle cock” burqas wore by women in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan. I am aware that what Muslim women wear has come under scrutiny for all the right and wrong reasons for a while but these Afghan blue burqas, I am intrigued with and I am sure this is case with many of us.

I must admit that there is a lot more to Afghanistan than these images of blue ghostlike figures walking. The country’s history predates ancient silk route and Alexander’s conquest, is a melting pot for South Asia and Central Asia and culturally speaking- melting pot also for Indian subcontinent and Persian cultures. There is a lot more I can go on writing but I will keep that for other articles. The more I am knowing this country, the more I am fascinated and falling in love with it even when I see it more and more as a beautiful country with ugly problems and even uglier geopolitics!

For now, I will go back to my first image of Afghanistan- women in blue burqas. I have not come to terms with it and I do not know if I ever will. Wearing these burqas separate women from their environment and in some ways gives them protection as they become invisible. To me and to many others, they are epitome of suppression of women. And height of suppression would be to deny someone their identity. Few years ago when I joined international charity Oxfam that strived to work globally with one of their aims- Right to an identity. Initially, it did not impress me much, however, the more I lived, the more I learnt about the world, I realised how millions of people, especially women are denied an identity! Coming from India, like most patriarchal societies, so far, your identity was about being someone’s daughter, wife or mother. Old saying in Gujarati even proclaimed women to be source of conflict putting them at par with land and gold; thus nothing more than one of the properties of a man.

It is interesting to study Afghan culture where honour is the utmost important thing even to the poorest man. The country has endemic domestic violence and violence against girls/women in the most atrocious forms you can think of. However, what I don’t see is the regular harassment on the street or ill-treatment of women in the public that we experience in India on everyday basis. It led me to think how come a culture where violence against women is so prevalent, however, is limited to the four walls only? Ah…women are subject of man’s honour! You may kill them, torture them in private with most heinous crime you can do against women but in public they are symbol of a man’s honour and messing up with it means your generations will keep killing each other for the animosity you will saw by jeopardising a man’s honour and his property! In my genocide special class in Oxford, I remember being told how rape is being used as an instrument of war and it is a man talking to another man! Rape as an act of genocide, where a man is communciating to the other men that your women will bear our children (and not yours)! What makes Afghan situation unique is the lethal combination of Pashtunwali (the Pashtun code) and fundamentalist Islam and the relatively liberal non-pashtuns too follow similar standards for treatment of women partly due to residual effect of Taliban ruling and partly by choice, hence the ubiquitous blue burqas!

A Pakistani friend from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told me that these shuttle cock burqas were widely seen during his mother’s day and now they see it as symbol of dumbness. He added that women wearing shuttlecock burqa are perceived to be so dumb that they can’t even cross road properly. I wanted to know more about it so I asked this friend to bring one for me. Besides my curiosity about it, it is a security/defence tool allowing me to run on the street in event of an attack. Over a social evening, me and our diplomatic guests had good go at trying it on (including one of the ambassadors of a western European country) and having a good laugh but in that process we realised there is barely 2-3 inches of netted space that is your window to the world. Of course you cant see car passing by due to limited vision and your are likely to be seen dumb while crossing road and that too with 2-3 children and some shopping that you are carrying.

And then I got invited to two different Afghan wedding parties for women. I was stunned with what I saw there! Underneath those blue burqas, there are these absolutely stunning women, they have a personality; they have an identity. My own colleagues whom I did not seen before without a hijab were without one and their hair open and flowing with smart make up on just made me feel great about who they are and they too echo similar feelings! One of them who is in her mid-forties told me that when she went to university in Mazar more than 20 years ago, she has a bob cut hair and she wore knee-length skirts! I had to remind myself that I live in a country with beautiful men and women and no doubt the first beauty cream of India was named “Afghan Snow”!

There are lot many interesting things about Afghanista and women in Afghanistan. I hope to tell more and more stories of it in coming days.

This letter came to me and I thought it was worth  publishing :

Dear Sir

We are writing to you on behalf of the traditional artists at Kathputli Colony, Delhi.

This colony is a beautiful hub of different communities of artists from different states of India who have been living here for more than 50 years. You must be already acquainted with the colony artists as they have performed in your movie “Bandit Queen” and Guddi Didi who even sang for the movie.

This colony is a special heritage site for it is home to puppeteers, street magicians, animal trainers, jugglers, acrobats, dancers, singers, toy makers, sculptors, poets and also non-artists residents who serve the city through their various professions and live in harmony with the art and culture the residents have so meticulously nurtured and continued with over the years.

This colony is now facing the danger of eviction and might be shifted to a transit camp and later into tiny flats where they fear that they shall not be able to continue with their traditional professions and way of life. How would the puppeteers create and store life size puppets in that space? Where would people sculpt? Where would the Ayurveda doctors prepare medicines? How would the acrobat carry huge bamboo poles in high rise apartment lifts? How would they perform and practice in open as they do in their interactive community life now? The colony residents request that they must not be forced to shift into a way of life that would destroy this heritage forever. They ask, can this colony not be redesigned instead as a heritage colony which provides them space to nurture their art forms and perform, to continue with tradition and also serve Tourism?

Secondly, these maestros who enthrall public all around the world in the name of Indian Tradition, do they not deserve respect and support from their own country? Currently their court proceedings are on and they have permission from Lt. Governor to continue staying here for at least a month, but they are still being harassed and threatened to vacate. This is severe blow to their morale and their self-respect. It is setting such a terrible example for their future generations, why should then they even continue with these art forms?

On internet, we have support from around the world, people liking the page, putting up photographs, hardly does this support get converted on ground. We request every person who respects this heritage to demand just and dignified treatment for this colony and humbly request for your support as well.

friendsofkathputlicolony@gmail.com

João Carlos Martins was enjoying a brilliant career as a concert pianist, with performances at prestigious venues such as New York’s 2,800-seater Carnegie Hall, when disaster struck. Asports injury damaged a nerve in his right hand and, at the age of 28, he had to accept that he had lost the ability to play perfectly – even though at an emotional level he still longed to play. He sold all his pianos and reinvented himself, somewhat bizarrely, as a boxing entrepreneur.

While watching the boxers, he was inspired by how they kept fighting despite adversity and hard knocks. He told himself: ‘I am a coward; I gave up too easily and now I’m no longer giving the best of myself’. So he quietly bought back his pianos and began practising again. He found that, by adapting hisstyle of play, he could still produce mesmerising music. After five years, he called his former agent and suggested a comeback. With a feeling of fear and hope, Carnegie Hall was again booked. On the day of the comeback performance, he took a taxi to Carnegie Hall.

The traffic was much worse than usual and the taxi driver said: ‘I have no idea who is playing tonight but he’s surepacking out the whole place!’. That night was the greatest of Martins’ life, as the New York audiences welcomed him back with ovation after ovation. Martins received a recording contract to play all the works of J. S. Bach. But while working on this, disaster struck again. Street thieves mugged him for the sake of his wallet; they hit him over the head with an iron bar. The brain damage affected his playing and forced him to quit.

During a dream he felt that he was told to become a conductor. So, at the age of 64, he took his first lesson in how to conduct an orchestra. His musical talent allowed him to make rapid progress – and he forged yet another career out of adversity. Today, as well as conducting top orchestras, he reaches out to others who are struggling against adversity – to the poor of Brazil who live in slums. Through a Foundation, Martins is aiming to create 1,000 string orchestras throughout the favelas. Martins told at a gathering recently: “Before everything, I love life!”

He then showed his love of life and music by playing a wonderfully emotionally piece of music, with the few fingers that still obey the commands of his brain. And as so often before, he received a standing ovation.

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to
constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:  

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity
and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of
November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO
OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION

Which Director in his right mind would ever give up a chance to work with Hrithik Roshan ?

He has been one of the most exciting actors in Hindi Cinema for a long time.  And a huge star to boot.  Some years ago I predicted he would be the first Indian actor to hit Hollywood big time. Like I mean really, in the A list.  I am surprised that he has not done so. Maybe Hindi films keep him too busy. Maybe he will after the next Krish

And years ago, as I sat down to write Paani, I had one image in mind to play the male lead. Hrithik Roshan. The character I described in the script was completely Hrithik. His manner, his inner world, his conflicts .. were all Hrithik. I sat with AR Rahman and as we composed music together, I always would ask him to imagine Hrithik.

But then the years passed. I got involved with Hollywood. Other projects ensnared me away from the project that was my deepest passion .. Paani.  And as the years passed, and the script kept evolving.. changing.  And Hrithik changed too. He went from being a young man uncertain of himself, a young man looking for his identity in this world, with no understanding of the power, the rebellion inside him that would change his life…..

….to what Hrithik is today. The Super Hero. The man who is the protector, the man who can take on the world single handedly. The man who knows he can take on the world singlehandedly. Hrithik evolved into Krish.

And I realized I had left it too late…..

So while I lost the chance to cast Hrithik in Paani, I hope that he would still agree to be in one of my next films. In Hollywood probably.

For which Director in his right mind would ever give up the chance to work with Hrithik Roshan ?