How To Be Creative & What To Create

I was born in a small town called Belaguntha, in Odisha’s Ganjam district, which is world famous for its unique brass fish handicraft. A rural market town, it was a trade and business hub for at least 40 to 50 villages in the neighbourhood. People from in and around the region came to Belaguntha to shop for provisions and fresh produce at the daily ‘haat’, the local market.

The main attractions of the town were its beautiful temple complexes, ponds, mango orchards, its roads and lanes, and especially the daily evening ‘haat’. For me, my father’s little gold jewellery shop was the biggest attraction, and at the centre of my interest and attention. We were not goldsmiths by profession, even though my father had this jewellery business. I don’t know why my grandfather started trading in gold and silver, and subsequently my father and uncle got actively engaged in the business.

I was a good student, but I was always far more interested in things other than studies. Sitting in my father’s shop after school observing customers, going to the temple with my mother every evening, in the month of Kartik, to light lamps and offer bael leaves and tulsi garlands, sneaking away on summer afternoons to jump into the pond and swim to my heart’s content, playing cards in the month of Ashwin, that is, during Puja vacations, going to watch the Danda Jatra festival in the month of Chaitra, and sitting through winter nights listening to Pala and Daskathia – these are the things I grew up with, these are what my childhood and school days were made of.

Always up to some mischief or the other, getting punished by my mother was a part of everyday life. I grew up there and, as I grew older, moved to Berhampur and then Bhubaneswar to pursue my higher studies and a career.

As soon as my academic studies were complete, I started my own business. I was used to spending freely, and therefore, to have that liquidity, I needed to earn more. I could do that only through my own business. My friends took up jobs in government and private sectors. I also got two opportunities of being in government jobs, but chose to have my own start-up.

There were many other options in business at that time, which I could have embarked upon, but, for me, civil contract work was the best business. At that time, it was the only business which needed low investment but yielded high returns. So rather than taking up a government job, I immersed myself in pursuing a professional path in business.

Perhaps this journey of mine was seeded at that time, a time when my creative life was also kindled.

Shayad yahin se shuruat hui, jeevan aur srujan donon hee yatraaon ka aarambh hua.

I believe creativity is nothing but doing things differently. Away from the run-of-the-mill, and out-of-the-box are the realms of creative endeavour.

Creativity is never separate from our life or livelihood. It is embedded in both. There is no ‘life’ or ‘living’ without a livelihood, an earning. And there is no creativity without life.

As I understand, life means only the life of a human being, because all forms of life other than homo sapiens, are governed by instinct and nature. A tree, an animal, or a bird, all exist and lead their life in a certain manner, they cannot go beyond that framework. It is only in human life that we see whatever their beginning may be, their eventual growth throughout life can be absolutely fascinating.

For example, a dog, a cuckoo, or a tiger, are all born in one way and die in the same way. But you will see all kinds of amazing feats and facts with human beings – from where and how they are born, to wherever they end up in life. A thief can transform into Sage Valmiki, someone from an underprivileged family can go onto becoming the Prime Minister or President of a country, and a young man working in a petrol pump can become the founder of a mega conglomerate like Reliance Industries.

All living creatures other than human beings have a fixed path of life, they die just as they are born. Thus, it is an empirical fact that only human beings are creative, both women and men possess faculties of imagination and creativity in abundance.

Here you may ask – a cuckoo sings, white ants create anthills and Baya Chadhei or weaver birds weave their nests, don’t they?

That is not creativity, rather these are their survival instincts and behaviours.

I have this to say to young people on the threshold of their professional careers and those who are contemplating a start-up as the way to go — as you move forward in life, it is only time that will tell what heights you will achieve and what professional levels you are going to accomplish. Some of you may have a fondness for literature and a leaning towards writing. You may write poetry, stories, novels and create dramatic plays. You may become a painter, a photographer, a sculptor, or a dancer. These are all different forms of creativity and literature.

The only definition of creativity, as I see it, is to look at or perceive everything with an outlook that is different from the common way, beyond the usual lens.

Come to think of it, cooking, chopping vegetables or dressing fish, cleaning and mopping, walking, constructing a house — all these are acts that can be done creatively.

All of us look at and admire a blooming flower, but a poet sees and says it differently. Every individual can dream of a beautiful home with landscape gardens, but it is only an architect who can create that space and give it the aspired dimensions.

This proves that creativity rises much above instinct and practice of profession.

Each of us can be creative. No matter what our education is, no matter what our profession is, no matter what we practise, if only we think and act outside the box, we will stand out in any crowd. If you train your thoughts to explore different angles and dimensions, you can move away from the stereotype and build your identity creatively. This is applicable in all domains.

Now to my own life’s context — why do I write poetry?

As children, we all have different interests and hobbies — some like to sing, some learn to dance, some children enjoy painting. I used to join words that came to me and pen lines. It was only much later that I realised it was called poetry. The satisfaction of writing a piece followed by the eagerness to have it published, and then as it appeared in print, the keenness to know readers’ opinion – all of it was part of me.

Slowly, over time, poetry became my pride, my identity. And once I understood what poetry is and how it manifests, its impact, my writing became my breath. Today I write to unburden my inner being, and carve out a space for fellow poets to resonate with, for poetry gifts us the freedom of heart and mind. [Freedom of both intellect and emotion]

I would also like to share with you that walking on your own imaginative path which is different from the common and mundane routes, is creativity in itself. Many people are unaware of their creative potential, they cannot see it or recognise it in their own self. Most of us are so caught up in the glitter of the external world, the superficial domain, we have no time to introspect, reflect or go within our inner selves. In my opinion, it is of crucial importance for every individual to find and hone their creativity just as it is important to decide, fix and follow the goals of life.

I always love to chase the impossible, the difficult options, the tough path. My imagination is endless. For flowers that bees do not visit, I think of the helplessness of the bee, not the flower. In a tree, I perceive beautifully carved wooden furniture; I can imagine an oasis, a desert garden in the middle of a dreary, unforgiving desert. I can figure out a waxing moon and twinkling stars in the sky’s expanse, in broad daylight.

That creative being inside me is way beyond rules and accounts. There is no fixed method, no balance sheet of figures. A creative individual cannot live life being limited by norms, rules, and methods, just like love.

Like that sudden sense of excitement, that spark of joy one feels within, for no particular reason. So, it is said that love and creativity are very much like each other. They can happen without reasons or causes; they cannot give cause or reason to one’s identity.

A person without emotions can never be a poet. Thinking about the unsaid, or feeling which cannot be expressed is all about emotion. Sometimes we like to call it imagination.

We like to believe that this material world is God’s imagination and God’s creation. Yet all forms of God, may it be an image or an idol, comes only from a human mind’s imagination and creation. Like we create and worship our God as per our imagination, similarly we create poetry, with the power of our imagination. We write poems and stories, we sculpt, and we paint. The icons of Lord Krishna are imagined and created differently by people of different regions. If you notice, Krishna images of the North vary from the Krishna images of the South.

Each human being creates his or her own self from their own imagination, that is why a human being is also known as the second God.

There comes a time in life when we move on to adulthood, begin to earn an income, and become responsible for creating the life we want to lead. As young people move ahead on this path, they should remember that they are creating their selves with their own hands, based on their own understanding and perception. As I see it, institutions train us in life skills that help us in creating and building our individual selves. Whether one begins to build his or her self as a form of God or as a Satan, that I believe lies entirely in our own hands. Do remember, though, that both the God and the Satan write poetry, each in their own way.

No effort is futile, no work is fruitless. If you know how to express yourself, even the most random thoughts can become poetry.

In closing, I must tell you that where I stand today, my achievements, my existence, my journey would not have been so if I had not imagined a life different from the typical stereotype.

And because I kept walking on my path, stayed the course, despite many hurdles, despite innumerable challenges, the horizons opened up, the road and the vistas became beautiful. It is said that the path which great people take is the way to go.

“Mahajane jena gatah sah panthah”.

I do not deny that, I offer my humble pranam to those great individuals. They are and can be my inspiration, but they do not control me. I am myself.