Confessions of an arm chair critic

Before going any further, let us all for a moment watch this incredible scene from the movie ratatouille.  

To quote Ego, "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so" 

Such an insightful quote from an equally insightful movie. In a way most of us or at least I am sure of myself , belong to the category that is worse than a piece of junk than the junk itself. I find it incredibly easy to say a solution is wrong. Its the easiest thing to do. But when it comes to the finding the solution, the whole brain thingi  goes to the drain. While  being a critic comes to us naturally, listening to one does not. Being a toastmaster, giving feedback is an integral part of the educational program. While giving feedback it is always asked to sandwich a negative feedback  between positive things. This is a something toastmasters as an organization has learnt over the years.

So why am I writing about things that seem so random and out of context. Recently I read this article from the guardian "Guardian article about negative comments". With the advent of the digital revolution we have access to plethora of information. This is a great power, and of course with this great power comes great responsibility. There is an unusual surge in the right wing, rather extreme thoughts through out the world.

Over the past year or so there are loads of issues creeping up in and around me, particularly from india that has made me and many of us take a stand. Ofcourse each of us have a right to take a stand as much as the other person. Let me start with things close to my heart. The whole intolerance debates. Amir Khan or Shah rukh khan who said that there is a growing sense of intolerance around us. They might be right or they might be wrong, one thing that we must respect is their right to speech. Without going into the merits of their statements what is completely unacceptable, is the reaction of the people who are both for and against their stand. What followed was an incredible name calling and swear exchanges, where terms like presstitudes, AAPtards, bakhts etc etc. Why have we become so sensitive to criticism and why do we get hurt so easily.

Historically there have been many such debates where personalities more than idealogies have dominated. Closer to home, the debates Ambedkar vs Gandhi, Bose vs Gandhi are definitely the top picks. In the social media we can always find people sharing how the country would have been different if the other had been in charge. For example, let us take the Bose vs Gandhi debate for instance. Both wanted complete freedom for India. How it would be achieved is where the difference rose. While Bose wanted an Indian version of fascism (Without the racism bit), Gandhi was in favour of step changes, with Indians slowly taking control rather than going for immediate complete independence (Source : From the book "Bose in Nazi Germany", Bose had lived in Germany for about 2 years trying to persuade the Axis powers to invade India).  Both the ideologies have their merits, and Gandhi being a better tactician and people's person, had persuaded the majority to follow his ideology.

Does this mean the two lost their mutual respect! When INA officers were arrested in 1945, Gandhi went on a fast seeking their release. Nehru was the chief  defendant for the INA officers. The term, Father of Nation was bestowed upon Gandhi by Bose himself, while Gandhi called him the "Prince among the patriots". Source [Bose's address to MK Gandhi from Rangoon]. We cannot get back in time and verify if these statements are true. But what is clear was a clear mutual respect and accepting to agree to disagree. Researching for this article, I came across these 2 letters,
Bose to Gandhi
Gandhi to Bose 
This shows a clear mutual respect and admiration.

There is a beauty in having a difference of opinion. Time and again it is nice to have our beliefs shattered. Thats how we grow up. But once we grow we somehow forget what helped us grow in the first place. We have over the years lost our ability to listen, be tolerant and question our on beliefs. I really hope there is a more mature interaction, where different ideas can coexist. India in particular has had unity in diversity in her DNA through out the history. Our first prime minister was an atheist, who was a protege of a staunch believer, and had a law minister who hated both their ideologies, home minister who was more right than liberal. I wish we could learn from that and  have constructive respectful conversations. And yes, I am dreaming. 

The road

Walking briskly savoring the natural charm,
Seeking to reach the place of my dreams,
Two roads stood in front of me,
one lonely traveler long I stood at the crossroad,
I sought for the milestone to guide me through,
Staring at it helped me no good,
Both the roads lead to Edens with varying magnitude of bliss,
No monsters, no angels on either of the solitary paths ,
the asinine decision of choosing one over the other,
is not as simple as reading from a vestige,
The emperor has no say in it,
Neither do his obedient subjects,
Additionally the beauty of the present is making me lazy,
Neither does it motivate nor ridicule,
The obscurity of means becoming the end looming large,
The thought of the ulterior clouding the present,
After all its just a choice,
The either of the choices never impediments your bliss,
Its the choosing process the actual purgatory of the damned!!!!!!!!

The writer's block

The other day I was reading a few pages from the Oscar wild Classic "The picture of dorian Gray". After reading just a couple of pages I realized my language was nothing compared to his. His mastery of the English language is simply unbelievable. I sighed, I should have read this before my GRE EXAM!!!! The inferiority complex sunk in after reading this classic. Add to that I got a realistic criticism after my last post.(negative ofcourse!) So I was seriously wondering whether I should write more and bore others. I was teemed with a plethora of nonsense to write about rather once again crib about. Every time I took a topic I was not sure if I could do justice to the topic I choose. Being pretty much pragmatic, I wanted to dig deep and assess myself and find out what had gone berserk and brought inside me a fear that suddenly I had no teeth to face. I have had something faithful readers of my blog, mostly thrust upon by me. So a question started lingering - SHOULD I WRITE AND ASK OTHERS READ? Thats when I realised I have just had a writer's block!! What the heck, break the block by writing about the block.

Everyone is a coward from inside. The fear of death is something we all have and fight to polish off. We look up to idols like Mandela, Eastwood to push ourselves and keep fighting till the very end. The brave are those who can rush aside the fear and chase their dreams.Writer's block is something not so dissimilar. It basically arises because we compare ourselves to some great legend and think that we are no match to him or some other petty reason that will make us look creatively impotent. There can never be dearth of ideas. Our mind is the most picturesque of locations you can ever visit. The thought that someone reading our writing and criticizing/ not liking can tarnish our thought process to the extent that we in a moment travel from Kashmir to the Thar desert.

In fact, don’t be hard on yourself at all while writing. Anna Quindlin wrote, “People have writer’s block not because they can’t write, but because they despair of writing eloquently.” Turn the critical brain off. We have many clichéd movies that are made in our country that are arise from a single line story and are decorated to the extent that we have 3 wonderful hours. Other reason could be our lack of expertise in the language. It is believed that limited vocabulary acts as a very big impediment in effectively communicating our thoughts. But again we should realise that we should have our limitations but also our strengths.Look at what you’re writing and why. Are you writing what you love, or what you think you should be writing? The writing that feels most like play will end up delighting you the most, and this is the writing your readers will instinctively connect with. At the end of the day, writing is too hard to do it for any other reason. If you continue to touch base with the joy you first felt in writing, it will sustain you, not only through your current block, but through whatever the future holds.

How do you overcome this fear? Simply by writing more and reading more. There is never a better medicine. You can play with the language and write poems. If you are not able to, you can just join a subject and predicate and finish a sentence. As simple as that. Always compare with yourself only. Every time you write, you must have a satisfaction that you have evolved and you are now able to connect with those who read in a better way. Surely there will be someone who can connect with what you are trying to say. Writing is a way of expressing yourself, waking up a trait in you that already exits and is dormant. Not necessarily everybody is comfortable with writing. They have different ways of expressing themselves. Obviously writers' block comes only for people who like to write :P.

Writing helps you share your small joys and sorrows with many, some of whom we might never meet in person. We always have a part of ourselves in what we write. With the advent of the modern technology and advances in communication the concept of 'pen-pal' has become obsolete. But we have a 'blog-pal' or a 'email-pal'. We should also change with time. After all at the end of the day we should just enjoy what we are doing and if we enjoy and really like writing nothing should stop us. Writer's lock is one of many manifestations of our fear of failure. But if you get one, dont worry. because when you over come it, you will experience the purest form of a feelong called "Happiness".