Conjuring up the Artistic Flair


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There are questions in my mind. They have been there for quite some time. What does it actually take to make a living out of the art that you create? What does it really take to earn from your writings, paintings, illustrations, videos, podcasts, etc? What does art really demand?

Love and Dedication? Working your days and nights off? Yes. But we have been doing that. Haven’t we? We have tried and tried and tried. We have failed and tried and failed. We have persisted. We have begun again and again. Sometimes beginning was easy, continuing was tough. We have cultivated patience. We have been consistent. But it hasn’t really paid off. Now, has it? We wanted to be an overnight success story with thousand followers. But we have learnt the hard way that big things most often take big time. But what more does it take apart from patience and perseverance.

The Elusive Artistic Mojo

Not every day is a good day for channeling our creative juices. There have been days we have slogged without creating a good end product. Some days we have just made trash drafts after drafts, plans and schedules that eventually lead nowhere. We have struggled with the Writer’s Block. The Artist’s Way. We have taken strolls in the garden, sipped coffee by the window, watched the sun setting in the horizon from the terrace. We have made peace with our lack of motivation. We have given way to sleep and listlessness. And, we have time and again shaken ourselves up to sit by the desk and just do it.


Art demands our entire presence.

We cannot be thinking about payments while trying to create things or build worlds out of nothingness. Like Elizabeth Gilbert has suggested in The Big Magic, we shouldn’t force out art to pay the bills. Just do it for the sake of doing it. Just make good art, like Neil Gaiman says. Makes sense, no?


You don’t choose your Art. Art chooses you.

What’s your passion? You ask yourself. Don’t worry. Your passion shall come to you when the time is right. 
"My parents thought I was psychotic. That was the diagnosis. I used to read a lot, I was very shy and I didn't socialise very easily.” – Paulo Coelho

Art demands you to become a phoenix.

Burn, burn, and burn some more, till you become a phoenix. Art asks for struggle. 

Time and learning go hand in hand. Time is a great teacher. It fuels your creative process.  Life’s experiences help you create better.

Do you need to trade your sanity for churning out masterpieces? Do you need to stake your mental well-being for crafting bestsellers? Do you need to bleed on blank canvas/ blank word document to build your life around your art?

NO. A resounding clear No.

Art will better itself slowly with time, considering you put in your time and efforts right. But make sure to pull yourself back the moment you realize that you are about to fall off the edge. Art cannot be forced. It has to come willingly. It can be seduced and lured out. But never demanded. Obsession is not the right approach to art. Opening the wounds again and again to fuel your ‘passion’ isn’t the right way to living.

Art should be a way out of grief and pain. A way to heal. Holding onto your pain, grief and wounds to keep that channel of anguish open for art’s sake isn’t right.




Do share your thoughts/ rant/ questions on the ebb and flow of the artistic stream.


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Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

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  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundhati Katju

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