A long thread on creativity, its temporary absence and how to deal with it.
I don’t know how frogs hibernate. But an artist in hibernation is not pleasant business. The writers have a pretty name for it - writer’s block.

What a glamorous name for something messes with you completely! A musician doesn’t even have a pretty name for it. It is just a time when you can’t think.

When creative juices are in full flow, you are sort of heady and yet your level of alertness is extremely high.

Things come to you. Even a routine incident inspires a song within you. Nothing is more intoxicating than the spring of creativity.

The ebb doesn’t come all of a sudden. It comes in with the silent slither of a python and wraps around you with its slimy cold nothingness.

In the beginning you don’t even realise it because the intoxication of creativity still lingers and there is no defining line between the euphoria and the hangover. Sometimes it takes months to realise that you are already in a creative hibernation.

Now, it matters how you react to this realisation. These times can be tough. If you are hyper sensitive then a self doubt will creep in first. This self doubt is followed by lethargy. This is the worst period. This is the time the python has engulfed you completely.

The slimy but soft skin of the python sucks you into a repulsive comfort zone. You don’t want to stay there and you don’t even want to get out. Nothing comes to you and you reach out to nothing. Days pass.

The feeling goes worse when you see in the eyes of others the same kind of doubt that is already gnawing at your brain. A glance of sympathy, a stare of pity makes you miserable. You avoid crowds. You avoid people and you avoid yourself.

Every phrase you compose seems boring and over familiar. There is too much deliberation behind the simplest of phrases. You feel that the era of creativity is over.

And it is at this time that Karma takes over Destiny.

This is the moment when what you ‘do’ matters more than what ‘happens’ to you. The first thing to do at such time is to realise your fallibility. To tell the python that you are not afraid. Even if you are - the thing is to say that you are not.

The first sign of pregnancy is the morning sickness. It’s not pleasant. In fact, its nauseating. But it’s the beginning of something beautiful. Creativity is not an occurrence. It’s a process. Acceptance is the key. The first step towards genesis.

Creativity is always like the Phoenix. There is no birth without burning down to ashes.

It is my experience that wisdom is perhaps less glamorous but a more trustworthy friend than prodigy. Rely on your intelligence and trust your wisdom.

Nothingness is not the defeat of your creativity. It is a part of it.

Paste the lines of Kusumagraj on your mirror.
‘रात्रीच्या गर्भात उद्याचा असे उषःकाल’ - (Tomorrow’s dawn exists in the womb of the night.)

Dear @AnuragInamdar, read this.

@authoramish @shekharkapur @Shankar_Live @KulkarniSaleel @Singer_kaushiki all the creative people - have you experienced this?

@vivekagnihotri, @ShashiTharoor, @Javedakhtarjadu - do read sirs.