DR.SANTOSH BAKAYA
It is good to trust one’s judgement, but at times, one is so overconfident that one tends to become arrogant about one’s writing capabilities, and ignores what others have to offer as suggestions. Merely by discussing the idea that has been floating in your mind, for a long time, one can get new ideas, and new perspectives. No one is born a creative genius – one only learns and hones one’s skill by thinking, practicing, and improvising. For one person, a particular thing can be a useless trinket, but for another, it can be a precious treasure – That is how perspectives vary from person to person.
This reminds me of an incident from my daughter’s life. As a little kid, someone had presented her a doll with golden ringlets. She clung to that doll, even when she went to sleep. One thumb in her mouth and another entangled in the ringlets of the doll, she drifted into sleep, while I improvised one lullaby after another.
To her, the doll was more important than my pathetic lullabies.
So, you see perspectives differ from person to person. When she grew older, I asked her to throw it away, but it was precious to her, she never got rid of it. Once she even retrieved it from the garbage bin- her priceless treasure!
I am a great foodie, and sometimes I even cite examples from food. So brace yourselves for such examples.
The Israeli born British chef and food writer, Yotam Ottolenghti says, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and the by-product from one food can be perfect for making another.”
What was treasure for my daughter, was trash for me! But, soon I started looking at the doll from her perspective, and was able to churn out some award – winning stories and poems. So, what I am trying to say, is that one should always be open to new perspectives and new points of view, without passing sweeping judgements.
Another quote of his comes to mind, “After all these years of cooking and writing recipes, I am still amazed every time I notice how even the minutest of variation in technique can make a spectacular difference.”
That brings me to another matter to ponder.
We should always keep in mind that none of us is perfect – we are learning from each other all the time. Even a toddler can teach us something. I am always on the lookout for learning something or the other from any person I come across.
In order to embellish one’s story, and to make it more convincing, a writer has to keep the eyes open for the minutest details- how a person jiggles his foot up and down, how he runs his fingers through his hair, whether the hair of a person is natural black or dyed, whether a person is a lousy conversationalist or a glib talker, whether he guffaws or giggles, the way he shrugs his shoulders, even the body language of a person can tell one a lot about that person.
Hang on there. I will be back from the Physiotherapist in an hour and talk some more. Yeah, I am back. You know, the physiotherapist whom I met today, was a very pleasant looking fellow, with a smile that covered his entire face. His way of talking was such that I felt that I was as fine as a fiddle, and there was nothing wrong with me. While he went about his duties, my eyes kept observing his mannerisms, his gestures, his way of talking and I quickly stored his characteristics in my memory. Who knows, he might appear as a character in one of my stories or novels. Yes, who knows?
So folks, to come back to my original argument- OBSERVATION. One observes something very minutely; a little tweaking here and there can work wonders.
And there can be something spectacularly unique before you! You can easily transport your reader to the world you are writing about, and with your observational skills, you can make the reader look around with a new perspective, creating a vivid image in his mind.
Many a time I have observed something, and allowed it to gestate. While I am writing something, this piece of observation, suddenly springs out of its gestation period and becomes a part of my writing.
So, friends, keep filing away those observations, who knows when they might come handy?
The author is an academician, poet, essayist, novelist, and TEDx speaker, with more than twenty published books to her credit.
