An Ant Hill is a masterpiece of nature. Hidden from the human eye it grows intricate, complex and deep. It’s a beautiful structure crafted by one of the most humble creatures. But in the world of Colosseums and Eiffel’s tower it is generally overlooked. How do we define creativity in such a context? Is creativity about grandeur and sublime beauty? Or it’s about incremental slight of hands spread across generations?
Does every painting need to project the emotions like the Monalisa or represent the raw beauty of nature as in a Van Gogh’s? It’s a common conception that being creative is unnatural in humans and people like Mozart or Bach are freaks of nature. The task of being creative seems daunting for most of us. Masters say that creativity happens when you let the river in your heart meet the ocean in your mind. If it’s all in our minds and there is nothing biological which impedes creativity, why is that so few of us can actually be creative ?
The answer lies in the perception of creativity. A creative idea or art is hardly conceived so unless it can be measured on a scale. Is it grand? Is it useful? Is it complex? And, Is it beautiful? Any of such ideas are executed with great perseverance of it’s practitioners over a long period of time. Another observation here is that it seems to us that the practitioners always seem to have a final goal to achieve. In such a world an Ant-Hill might be complex and intricate but it has no final goal. It spreads without a plan.
Though it might seem to us that all creative things have a grand plan behind them, it’s hardly true in nature. The most creative camouflage techniques of organisms have come into place through trials and errors over millions and millions of years of random evolution. Creativity in nature has never tried to be efficient, beautiful, grand or even useful.
For those of us who have a hard time being creative, it’s important to understand that creativity is any physical stimuli (grand or ordinary) our mind executes in response to fresh sprouts of ideas which spring up in our fertile minds. Creativity is as much about the epitome of beauty as it’s about the epitome of labor. Creativity is not only about creating Taj Mahal’s but is also about creating ant-hills.
This post first appeared on my personal blog
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Check out what I wrote on Art:
Husain at the Taj Mahal Mumbai
I’m 43 years old and have lived in Mumbai all my life.
For old men like me, The Taj Mahal Hotel is a part of my DNA.
It’s where I ate my first ‘5 star’ meal (Tanjore); where I guiltily grabbed my first ‘late night’ dinner way past curfew time (Shamiana) and where I first took my fiance for dinner (The Golden Dragon).
When the horrible terrorists attacks took place at the Taj, I was shattered. All my beautiful memories seemed to go up in flames.
Thankfully, we soon got our hotel back.
Since then, we all have come a LONG way. The Taj ROCKS and looks even more beautiful than ever.
For the past many years, I have been awestruck by the massive canvas that adorns the main reception of the Taj:
This Sunday, I went to the Taj for a wedding reception at the Ball Room.
Just as we were leaving, my wife excused herself to go to the ladies room.
I was alone in the lobby and did what I had been postponing to do for many many years!
I went up to the reception, and began to stare deep and hard at the fabulous 3 piece canvas. The receptionists got the cue and actually cleared out so that I would get an interrupted view!
This is what I saw:
Canvas 1: (L to R)
Canvas 2
Canvas 3
The more I looked, the more I was awestruck.
Then, I asked one of the receptionists for a full description of the paintings.
She didn’t answer, but instead, quietly went to a corner of the desk. She seemed to be suddenly occupied.
A minute later, she took out a printout for me – it was a full printed description of the paintings!
This is the description:
THREE STANZAS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM
STANZA ONE
It starts with the tower of info technology, next to the IT.
A Leo is seen climbing the Ashoka Pillar.
Peacock, the national bird, follows the flight of freedom.
A woman with her man in love forging ahead towards harmony and
peace lead by………………
A flying dove up in the sky.
STANZA TWO
“Sound of distant thunder”, suddenly, through the gate of golden sun,
nuclear energy in seven horses explode.
STANZA THREE
Prismatic triangle measures the infinite space.
Destiny etched on the palm of E=MC^2,
Super sonic plane break the sound behind.
The leaning lady of pitcher pours water into the fish bowl below.
In the end, chorus of Nartakis on the string of sitar, corresponds to the
beat of seven horses.
Surya chariot is in fast track.
Mr. Maqbul Fida Husain.
22th December 2000.
I was happy, satisfied and drunk with beauty, happy to have learnt what I had missed for the past 12 years.
Now for the best part:
– While researching the painting, I was SHOCKED to find out that the ORIGINAL Husain painting (painted in 2000) had been destroyed in the horrible terror attacks.
The Taj management and Husain Saab got together and RECREATED the paintings so that patrons like me could still manage to enjoy them!
As per this blog and news article, the paintings were promised to be recreated by Hussain in 2008.
As if be magic, they were recreated – as we all can see!
Even more magically, I never seemed to have missed them…
Gratitude: Thank you Taj and Husain Saab for having created and recreated something so beautiful.
Most hotels would have just stuck something new in the place of the old that had been destroyed. But you both went that extra extra mile to make good from the ashes.
Lesson: This is exactly why the Taj and Husain are one in a million amongst Companies and Men.
It’s because each of them have a heart and a soul; not just a business and a bank account.