The Elixir of Life - Sleep

( This blog maps the pattern of sleep among human beings. As it is the usual practice this blog contains highly personalized views about one of the favourite habit of my students)

            Last night my sleep was not that good. World cup South Africa takes a big chunk from my sleeping quota. The third match which starts at 10.30 local time gets over only at 12.30 am. The spirit of watching exciting football urges me to forgo my sleep. Last night it was Germany and Australia, who played their opening match. The match was one of the best matches played in the world cup so far. It had plenty of goals, 4 yellow cards and one red card. I am sleepy this morning but deep inside i feel satisfied and happy.

              There used to be a stage in my life when I gave too much importance to sleep. I used to get up late, skip my breakfast and drag myself to the workplace. The rest of the day was spent lively way - handling classes and moving up and down working on loads and loads of extra-curricular activities which included theatre and book clubs. Now, looking back at those sleep dominated days, I feel that my mind was active than my body. Creativity took its own course and filled my life and other’s life around me with fresh ideas. I have a feeling that much of the ideas spring forth from my sleeping habits.

              We can see several motifs based on sleep used in the literary world. The celebrated poet Emily Dickenson uses sleep as a motif in most of her poems. She compares sleep with death and even regeneration.

And then—to go to sleep—
And then—if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The privilege to die—

Shelley in his poem Ode to the West Wind again brings in the allusion of sleep and death when he wrote:

O Thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

For Shelley, sleep was an phase which ultimately led to renewal. It is interesting to note that the poem Ode to the West Wind is filled with these recurring patterns of sleep and by extension death. There are umpteen examples found in the literary world which uses the sleep-death cycle.

And in the happy no-time of his sleeping,
Death took him by the heart.

(Wilfred Owen – Asleep)

Moving away from the world of words, the common man still enjoys the few hours of sleep after a day of hard work in office. It is a common saying that the rich cannot sleep due to the richness that they have accumulated. Maybe it is a socialist thought. The rich man is busy guarding his wealth whereas the poor man will sleep peacefully because he doesn’t have anything to protect. He lives under an open sky, with the stars above him.

It is interesting to watch people sleep.

• People sleep when they travel.
• People sleep when they are attending a meeting (even the Indian Prime Minister)
• People tend to sleep when they watch cinema and television.
• When people see the dead body of their friends or relatives they usually make this comment – “ He/She looks as if he/she sleeping”.

Creativity Unplugged

A blog that is published after a gap of two months. Found creative catharsis through one-liners in Facebook, Twitter and Live Journal. It is nice to write these words which celebrate the true spirit of creative blogging.

This blog examines the concept of creativity. To define this term called I am journeying into my own self to gather some personalised thoughts. Like the concept of beauty, I think that creativity is also highly subjective.

Most of the time creativity is associated with the area of fine arts like painting, writing and singing. Parents make it a point that the child receives some amount of creative inputs right from his/her childhood. In today’s world, creativity is forced upon young minds. The child is exposed to the world of singing, dancing, drawing, and what not. I feel creativity is something that should be discovered by the child. Elders should only facilitate this discovery to happen. They can do this by introducing the child to various activities involving creativity like painting, building blocks, games etc.

Creativity is a natural process and the best literary metaphor to explain is the Wordsworthian quote “spontaneous overflow” of powerful thoughts. Creativity should not be limited to the writing sphere even though that is one of the first associations that come to our mind. I have always admired the spirit of creativity in Shakespeare. A playwright who is adored and read all over the world for his sheer mastery of language and the creative ways he has put his thoughts into paper. Shakespeare can be treated as a referral point when we discuss the concept of creativity. We see a creative genius who brought in different styles, themes, genres, into his works. He also had a muse who inspired him to write and write. When it comes to writing Shakespeare is indeed a muse who can inspire a budding writer.

It is a sin to talk about creativity only in relation to writing. Creativity is something that can be quite useful in our daily life. A person shifting to a new house can find the concept of creativity quite helpful. I enjoyed watching Wake up Sid, recently and the house shifting scenes involving Ranbir and Konkana Sen. The way they arrange the house in a creative manner exemplifies the fact that the creativity is a concept that exists beyond the world of words. Even in daily conversation creativity plays an important role. Fresh ideas and innovative styles make the conversation interesting. I recollect some expressions that me and my friend coined which made our daily conversations lively. Some of the words were – wtcied, wiporish, and lovely. The first one refers to the concept of destroying something.

Her dreams were wtcied because of his plans;

In life there we should be wiporish,

It’s a lovely day, isn’t it my lovely friend.

In teaching, to make the classes interesting I employ different methods and my superiors have always commented that the methods are highly creative and innovative. I feel that creativity is an integral part of fun learning. Language teaching/learning is made interesting using these methods.

Creativity is thus a concept that should be nurtured right from the childhood. It opens up the mind to a world of opportunities. It also makes life interesting for yourself and for others.