I’ve been thinking about this for a long time—since the time I was a gawky teenager. Up until now they had mostly been random thoughts—floating like clouds and then dissipating into thin air—before I could shape them into ideas and offer them to the world. Most of the thoughts are still jumbled up like the emotions of that gawky teenager, but I see glimpses of some truths when I’m curious enough. Curious—a word simple enough—have in many ways shaped me, my ideas, and my work.
I see my son—all of ten years—being curious. And before I know, I have drifted back in time and find myself as a child … always curious, always learning, and always experimenting. The wings of curiosity have taken me to lands unknown—physically, mentally, and spiritually. The wings of curiosity have taken me to the land where I can build what I can imagine—an elusive land called creativity.
When I wrote my first poem (I was a ten-year-old), people said I have talent. When I wrote my first story, people said I have talent. When I wrote my first novel, people said I have talent. When people see my photos, they say I have talent. “Talent—” I still can’t figure out what that means. How can somebody have a natural aptitude to write a poem, a story, a novel, or to make photos? All I was doing was being curious. I was so much into being curious that during those times the world around me dissipated into thin air and I found myself in a place where anything was possible. And where anything is possible you can create things that has never been created before … may be that is creativity … may be that is talent.
When #kolkata360 was just an idea nobody I talked to seemed interested. I felt like a lone pony. However, I wasn’t sad. I was already curious.
Then one day when I told my dad, in him I could see the curiosity of a ten-year-old. I have always known that look since I was a ten-year-old. So we (a couple of overgrown ten-year-olds) planned, went around, and took some photos. The small world around us noticed … the curiosity, the enthusiasm, and the eagerness of two overgrown ten-year-olds.
I still don’t know what talent is … but I can tell you about being curious! And may be … a bit about creativity.