“It starts with a blank sheet of paper” is how best I can respond to readers who have asked how ideas for this biweekly column are conceived. Since “Between us” opened a window to connect with readers, the journey has had its share of memorable moments. To watch a shadow of an idea evolve and weave itself into a piece has been humbling. I have also had to grapple with the underlying anxiety that most writers face. How does one transcend a cliché (a well-worn out truth) and find one’s voice? Will the readers connect with it? Does it offer anything fresh?
Project lessonsA student who had undertaken a summer project was feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to create something “original.” In today’s scenario, where the Internet has opened the portals of the Information Highway, the deluge of facts, opinions and quacks have added to the young student’s anxiety.
“Where is my voice in this?” was her underlying concern. Through a process, we worked out a model which would facilitate her own ideation. While the model itself was context-specific, the underlying principles that were adopted were as follows:
Separate the project into phases, each with a clear intention,
To research facts and information directly related to the topic.
To read secondary sources — articles by subject experts.
To recollect and record personal experiences in connection with the topic.
To bridge and find links among the above steps.
It was a learning experience for all of us, and her final presentation was “authentic” as one could see the thread of thought that linked information and experience. It is often misconstrued that being original is as natural as sitting under an apple tree! One needs to prepare for it by creating a platform from which creativity and originality can originate. Isaac Newton spent hours thinking and questioning before the apple from the tree lent him scientific insights.
Original outcomesIn life situations, many of us express the desire to break free and find our own paths. However, this “obsession” to be original can often have unexpected results. Many years ago, we had a student who was brilliant in biology. Hailing from a family of doctors, the conventional choice for him would have been to follow medicine. However, his parents were keen that he move away from this generational pattern and wanted him to explore other options. It was an amusing scenario where our notions of conventional battles were turned upside-down. This student is now getting ready to work in a hospital and feels strongly that he would eventually add his own original contribution to the field of medicine.
In our own journeys, almost all of us will experience periods when we follow the herd and live through the dreams and expectations of others. It takes great courage to step back and listen to the voice in one’s heart. How that voice manifests in action may be completely different from what one expected. A colleague, who had many years of experience as a teacher, encountered a life situation which led to an early retirement.
Having been conditioned into accepting her identity as a teacher, she could not think of herself beyond the paradigm. However, the forced hibernation led her to rediscover her joy of baking, and, today, she runs a modest baking unit from home. “At 54, I finally found my own voice. It was not teaching, as I and others had thought…who knew batter could make me so happy,” she added.
Many of us, teachers and students alike, are caught in the labels of “success” and “failure.” The images are ingrained deeply into our thought patterns and those notions add to the cycle of anxiety we find ourselves trapped in. Literature offers a rich reservoir of experiences, and Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” is a wonderful read.
A line that has surfaced many times in my own life is “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same…” The poem beautifully explores how we can be authentic in the form of a father advising his son.
Final stepThe journey to find one’s voice is a continual process and constantly evolving. Ironically, the final step is to let go of the need to be even original. Roland Barthes, the famous literature critic, once declared, “The author is dead,” meaning that once something leaves your hands, you remain invisible and just remain a witness, watching it take a life of its own.
Do the required work, let it be soaked with your insight and then leave it to what it is meant to do. Enjoy your own original journey!
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