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timespassiontrails · 5 years ago

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Driven By Passion, Fueled By Curiosity

By Sandy

Bhopal, right in the heart of India set the stage for what would be a unique journey. A journey whose time had come, a journey that would foster experiences beyond the ordinary. A journey that would bring together people from different corners of the country and different walks of life, all bound with the glue of a shared passion for travel, heritage, and culture. The time was now! With the excitement of expectation pervading the atmosphere, the wheels of the Times Passion Culture & Heritage Trail rolled from Bhopal on a journey that would transcend the frontiers of history. In the words of Sanjay Lal, Head Times Passion Trails, we were about to live a travel story that would stay with us for the rest of our lives as indelible memories.

Start of a fascinating journey

But wait! Before leaving Bhopal, the appetite of the participants was whetted by some of the sensory experiences the city of lakes had to offer. Bhopal is not only the capital of Madhya Pradesh and the gateway to myriad experiences that the state has to offer but a city with many unique attractions and experiences in its own right. One of the greenest cities of India and known as the, Bhopal indeed provides a glimpse of what the state has to offer visitors.

Dhruva Sanskrit Band in action

The journey into the heart of India curated by Times Passion Trails in collaboration with Madhya Pradesh Tourism, began from the pristine environs of the Jehan Numa Retreat, an enchanting resort that harmoniously blends with nature and gives you an experience of being in the very lap of nature along with all modern amenities. The sensory feast that the trail promised was highlighted by the performance of India’s first Sanskrit Band, Dhruva, whose music drawn from the roots of our ancient culture touched the hearts and souls of all participants. The evening attained divine proportions as the music of Dhruva ascended the realms of ecstasy.

Setting for a royal repast at Jehan Numa Retreat, Bhopal

And ecstasy of a different kind awaited just around the corner as the dining room at the Jehan Numa Retreat was thrown open to present a royal epicurean experience that blew the minds and palates of participants. Flavours and aromas that titillated the palate exuded from the myriad dishes that were served in regal style in the course of the 7-course feast that was laid out to provide an experience of the cuisine of the region.

Walking Back in Bhopal’s Timeline

Taj-ul-Masajid

The Taj-ul-Masajid in the heart of Bhopal is in many ways a synonym of its history. An emblem of its heritage and also a silent ode to the Begums of Bhopal who straddled two centuries of history with their power and dynamism. Conceived by the Nawab Shahjehan Begum the Taj-ul-Masajid elicited gasps of awe from participants with its sheer magnificence and perfection of design, a poem in stone that reflected the aesthetic sensibilities of the Begum as well as the architect Allah Rakha Khan who designed it. Apart from the finer aspects of the architecture and design the participants were led on a walk into the forgotten chapters of history to get a feel of the stories that the Taj-ul-Masajid hid in its bosom.

Early Lessons of Man In Bhimbetka

Bhimbetka

“In Europe, the cognitive development of Man started about 40,000 years ago, whereas here it started 100,000 years ago” explained Prof. K.K.Mohammed gesturing towards the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters. The rock shelters dating back to the paleolithic and mesolithic periods and the crude paintings that for most people will look like the scribblings of a naughty child on a wall assumed new meaning and yielded stories of the history and evolution of Man through the expert and trained eyes of Prof. K.K. Mohammed. As the Experience Architect of the Times Passion Culture & Heritage Trail Madhya Pradesh, Prof. Muhammed, a Padma Shri awardee for his excavation work of the Ibadat Khana in Fatehpur Sikri, took our experience to an altogether different level. His ability to simplify complex issues and his enormous knowledge of history, heritage, and culture ensured that participants were enriched in enormous measure.

Bhimbetka left us awed with the ingenuity developed by Man as he evolved from the apes and stood erect, started using stone tools and communicating. Bhimbetka in many ways could have been the first artistic communication of Man.

As we left Bhimbetka, thinking about the intriguing rocks and the stories that they had told us through Prof. Muhammed, we were unaware of the magnificent surprise that awaited us.

The Magnificent Edifice At Bhojpur

Massive Shiva Linga at Bhojeshwar Temple

The sun was going down in a blaze of brilliant light towards the west and its rays bathed a massive temple built on an elevated platform. The huge structure was the Bhojeshwar temple, located about 28 kilometers from Bhopal. The passion of Prof. Muhammed for his craft and the pride he took in his work was apparent as he explained how the 11th-century temple was restored. He himself was actively involved in the restoration of the ancient Shiva temple. “This is the tallest Shiva Linga in the world”, said the Professor pointing out to the massive Shiva Linga that occupied centre stage in the huge rectangular edifice. The temple’s construction which is attributed to King Bhoj was never completed, however, its massive proportions ensured that the temple thrived as a centre of Shiva worship. Filled with a sense of awe, we felt really blessed and were thankful to Times Passion Trails and Madhya Pradesh Tourism for the opportunity to experience the beauty of this relatively lesser-known temple.

Onward To Sanchi On The Trail of The Buddha

Sanchi Stupa

We were looking forward to visiting Sanchi. Buddha and places associated with him have always held a special place in our hearts. Memories of Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, and Sarnath lingered in our minds and we looked forward to an immersive experience of the sanctity of Sanchi. However, before reaching Sanchi there was another surprise awaiting us, a stop at a point through which the Tropic of Cancer passes. This imaginary line passes 14 districts of Madhya Pradesh. We stopped by the side of the road where a simple board and two thick white lines on the ground indicated the place through which the Tropic of Cancer passed. It was a photo opportunity not to be missed.

Immaculately landscaped emerald lawns led to the famous Stupa of Sanchi, an image immortalized as a motif on some of the Indian currency notes and more spectacularly as an inspiration to the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.

“Lord Buddha never visited Sanchi”, was the statement by Prof. K.K.Muhammed that took us by surprise. Sanchi being one of the most important sites associated with Buddhism has spawned the misnomer that it was a place visited by Buddha during his lifetime. However it is not so, and Prof. Muhammed went on to explain the importance of Sanchi and its relation to Lord Buddha. The Sanchi Stupa was built by King Ashoka, however the original brick stupa that Ashoka built is inside the plastered dome structure crowned by a triple umbrella. Beautifully carved gateways in the four cardinal directions depict Jataka legends and other stories from the life of Buddha.

Though the beauty of the Sanchi Stupa is a serene symphony in stone, the aura that seems to hover around it ensures that visitors get a spiritually electrifying experience. This experience is heightened in the night when the Stupa and its surroundings are lit in brilliant light, and a mesmerizing sound and light show transports you into the past and the making of the Sanchi Stupa and the stories connected with it come alive right in front of you.

After being serenaded by the tranquility of Sanchi, the wheels of the Times Passion trail rolled towards Udayagiri.

Stories In Stone At Udayagiri

Udayagiri

The Udayagiri caves date back to the 4th and 5th century AD and are credited to Chandragupta Vikramaditya. There is evidence that points to the fact that he had also visited the site. Hindu iconography and legends come alive in the rock-cut caves and the beautiful artistry of unknown artists tug at your heartstrings even today. The most impressive of the rock sculptures is that of Vishnu as Varaha rescuing Bhudevi. The massive proportions of Varaha and the puny form of Bhudevi on his task provide an endearing contrast of scales. The wide panel has intricate details and looks like a meticulous storyboard in rock with numerous characters of different sizes. Another magnificent rock sculpture is that of Vishnu in the classic sleeping form known as Sheshaashayi. The stories embedded in rock haunted us as we made our way back towards the colourful bus that would take us to our next exciting experience on the Times Passion Culture & Heritage Trail Madhya Pradesh.

Experiencing The Charms of Chanderi

Chanderi Gate

At hindsight, it was extremely appropriate that our first halt at Chanderi was the Archaeological Survey Of India run Chanderi Museum. The museum opened up a fascinating window into the rich history and heritage of the region. The promise of Chanderi assumed incredible proportions as our guide Muzaffar Ansari aka Kalley Bhai delved deep into the history of Chanderi and how it was a centre of trade and commerce way back in the 11th century. In fact, the history of Chander goes much beyond that and way back in time to the prehistoric times. Kalley Bhai informed that there were at least 13 sites discovered in the area that point towards this. It is believed that the mythological character of Shishupal was the king of Chanderi, and the name Chanderi is derived from the word “Chandra”, or moon which indicated the Chandravanshi or Moon dynasty of the kings who ruled the region. The museum itself is a veritable treasure house of sculptures and stone carvings that showcase the ancient history, heritage, religion, and lifestyles of the people of the region.

The Chanderi Museum gave a glimpse of the tremendous potential of Chanderi and its importance as an archaeological site. With this information in the back of our minds, it was time to head to the intriguing Chanderi Gate, made famous by the Bollywood blockbuster, “Stree”. The gate which was where the climax of the film was shot stands at an elevation and defines the border between Malwa and Bundelkhand. The gate whispered numerous stories that were amplified to us by Kalleybhai, and we listened in awed silence. The Badal Mahal with its lush gardens and the imposing sight of the Badal Mahal Gate was a visual delight. The Badal Mahal gate in many ways is synonymous with the identity of Chanderi and is a remarkable work that incorporates symbols from different religions. The gate true to its name seemed to rise to the clouds and its sight with the backdrop of the Chanderi fort made for a beautiful picture.

Badal Mahal

A thrilling experience was having lunch at the restaurant of Kila Kothi, a beautiful heritage resort of Madhya Pradesh Tourism. The resort is perched high above the town of Chanderi next to the Chandri Fort and provides a spectacular view of the town stretching out below. The Chanderi Fort also known as Kila Kothi holds many untold stories within its ramparts. A simple memorial marks the place where many committed Jauhar, another simple stone marks the final resting place of one of India’s famed musical maestros, Baiju Bawra. Lovers have scrawled their names on cactus nearby with the belief that doing so will ensure their union and happiness ever after.

Chanderi Silk weaving

Chanderi grew on us with its intriguing aura, there was so much to absorb and assimilate, but time and tide wait for none and we had to move to our next destination, the next exciting experience that awaited us around the corner. But not before we experienced the grandeur of the famed Chanderi Silk Sarees at the Chanderi Handloom Park. It was a colourful experience watching the weavers magically weave the exquisite designs that Chanderi is renowned for.

Connecting With Nature At Orchha

Royal Cenotaph at Orchha

The birds soared to the skies gleefully as the sun rose in the east unleashing a riot of colours that reflected in the still waters of the Betwa river. The Times Passion Trail had reached the beautiful city of Orchha and off went a group in the wee hours to witness the sunrise from a vantage point. Another group headed out on cycles for an exhilarating exploration of the heritage and off-beat places that dot Orchha. The enchanting environs of Orchha provided the right ambience to visit the famed Raja Ram Mandir and be swayed by the divinity it exudes. The Chhatris of Orchha stand silently by the side of the river Betwa, both mute witnesses to the passage of history in the region. The Chhatris are the memorials to the kings and other royalty of the region and are also excellent architectural statements that stand as milestones in the history of the region.

The participants were also ushered into the presence of the royal family of Orchha at the Bundelkhand riverside. After a buffet lunch that showcased the best of Bundelkhand cuisine, it was time for an interaction with the royal family to get an understanding of the history and heritage of the region.

We left Orchha behind with a lingering longing to return back at the earliest. Our next and final destination was Khajuraho. But there was one last stop on the outskirts of Orchha. A beautiful 9th-century temple called Jara Ki Math dedicated to Shakti worship.

Exploring Kaleidoscopic Khajuraho

Anurag Shukla making a point at the Dulhadeo Temple in Khajuraho

Khajuraho, known the world over for its exquisite temples and the erotic art on the outer walls of its temples was our final destination, in our Madhya Pradesh odyssey of culture and heritage powered by Times Passion Trails and Madhya Pradesh Tourism.

Khajuraho has so much more to offer in terms of its artistic temples than just the erotic sculptures that it has gained fame for. The temples that we visited and the expert insights offered by Prof. Muhammed and the local expert Anurag Shukla amply demonstrated this aspect.

The Jain temples of Khajuraho which included the ancient Adinath and Parshwanath temples are excellent examples of the aesthetics and exquisiteness that pervaded the realms of art and architecture of those times. There is a pattern in the way the carvings have been arranged level by level and have deep philosophical connotations as was amplified by the knowledgeable Anurag Shukla. The temples of Khajuraho are not mere decorative elements of art and architecture but reflect the values and mores, beliefs and lifestyles of the era.

The ancient Matangeshwar temple, one among the Western Group of temples that dates back to the 10th century, and still used for worship, enchanted us with its spiritual aura. Though simple in design and devoid of the artistic ornamentation that proliferates the other temples of Khajuraho, the ancient temple has an aura of its own with a huge Shiva Linga as the main deity. The temple also offers excellent views of the sidewalls of the Lakshman temple and the elaborate and beautiful carvings that embellish it.

Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho

Another beautiful temple that is in many ways representative of the architecture and artistry prevalent in the temples of Khajuraho is the Duladeo Temple that dates back to the 10th century and is considered to be one of the last temples built during the Chandela period. The perfect contours of the temple and the carved figurines with the minutest of details endeared themselves to all.

In Khajuraho we also drove to the beautiful and pristine environs of the Kutni Island Resort, a beautiful property run by Madhya Pradesh Tourism that is set amidst the flowing waters of the river Kutni. Everyone enjoyed a hearty lunch and spent some relaxing moments in the midst of the property that stands on a small island in the river and is reached by a long walkway.

Our sojourn in Madhya Pradesh was drawing to an end, and already we knew that we would be going to miss the great times and experiences the journey into the heart of India had fostered. In a fitting finale a soulful musical extravaganza by Dhruv Sangari and his group took the unforgettable journey to a resounding culmination with their Sufi music.

It was with a heavy heart that we bid goodbye to fellow travelers and turned our way homewards, full of memories that would be cherished for a lifetime. But in our hearts we knew that we would return to immerse ourselves again in the intoxicating beauty that pervaded the heart of India.

About Sandy and Vyjay Blog: https://imvoyager.com Sandy along with Vyjay, runs a travel blog - Voyager. They are couple bloggers who have chucked their corporate careers to pursue their passion for travel and writing. She and Vyjay travel together and share their stories with their readers on their blog - Voyager as well as through travel features that they do for different print and online publications.

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dd3unitand13 · 6 years ago

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Modernist Architecture

Modernist Architecture, also known as innovation, is a style that appeared in the early 20th century in response to large scale changes in society and technology. It is associated with how buildings function and seen from an analytical viewpoint, rational use of materials, the elimination of ornament and decoration, and openness to structural innovation. Modernism was developing not just architecture, but across every field. It was accommodating and responding to the new technology of machines, automation and urban design. Modernism surrounded lots of different variations, including Futurism, Constructivism, De Stijl and Bauhaus.

One of the key design elements of Modernist Architecture is honesty to materials. Steel, concrete, glass and wood are the four main materials used in modern buildings. Another design element is “the purpose is the essence”, this is a rule which suggests the function is a key objective and drives the overall form of the structure. It indicates that the buildings we see are the result of the intended meaning or purpose behind them. Simplicity is also a design element used as it makes the buildings look sophisticated and is something that people can never be bored of. Clean and crisp lines are also an element in modern buildings. Modern architecture favours linearity over the decorative or curvilinear geometry. One more design element is less is more; this means buildings are approached with minimalism. No excessive ornamentation, no excessive elements, just a bare minimum of elements.

Bauhaus

Bauhaus was a revolutionary art school and design movement that helped shape the age of modernism and changed design forever. It impacted Europe and the United States majorly after it closed. The name Bauhaus comes from a combination of German words for building (bau) and house (Haus) and had the intention to evoke the idea of working to build a new society. It was shaped by the 19th and early 20th centuries trends such as the Arts & Crafts movement. The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 and closed in 1933 and was based in Weimar, Germany until 1925, Dessau till 1932 and Berlin in its last months. The Bauhaus combined two schools, The Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimer School of Arts and Crafts. By training the students equally in art and in technically expert craftsmanship, the Bauhaus sought to end the division between the two.

In the mid 19th century, reformers led by the English designer William Morris had pursued to bridge the same division by emphasising high-quality handicrafts in combination with a design appropriate to its purpose. Eventually, in the last decade of that century, it had led to the Arts and Crafts movement. The Bauhaus denied the Arts and Crafts emphasis on individually executed luxury objects. They had realised machine production had to be the requirement of design if that effort was to have any impact in the 20th century, Gropius directed the school’s design efforts toward mass manufacture. Modern designers have since thought of producing functional and aesthetically pleasing objects for mass society rather than individual items for the wealthy.

The Bauhaus had many great artists of the 20th-century teaching, including Johannes Itten, Josef Albers, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee and many more. The workshops in the school included carpentry, metal, pottery, stained glass, wall painting, weaving, graphics, typography and stagecraft. The Bauhaus teaching method replaced the usual student-teacher relationship with the idea of artists working together. Its goal was to bring art back into contact with everyday life, architecture, performing arts, design and applied arts were therefore given as much weight as fine art.

The main principles for Bauhaus are that it needs to follow form function; it needs to stay consistent with colour theory, composition, etc. It needed to have a clean, efficient design that can be easily reproduced; the school made it clear of the importance of simple, geometric designs which could be more efficiently and easily reproduced and manufactured.

Dada

Also referred to as Dadaism, Dada was an art movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland in the early 20th century of the European Avante-Garde. It formed as a reaction to World War I and consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society. They had instead expressed nonsense, irrationality, and anti-capitalism in their works. The movement dissipated with the establishment of Surrealism, but the ideas it introduced became the key features of various categories of modern and contemporary art.

Some key individuals in the Dada art movement are Hannah Höch. She was born in Gotha, Germany on November 1st 1889 and died on May 31, 1978, in Berlin, Germany. She was not only a rare female practising prominently in the arts around the beginning of the 20th century, but also consciously promoted the idea of women working in the creative industry more generally. She addressed in her work, in the form of photomontage, the issue of gender and the figure of women in modern society. She had made Dada Dolls that were quite distinct from any work created by the others in the Berlin group of Dada artists with which she was associated with earlier in her life. The dolls suggested her awareness of Dada ideas more generally from its establishment in Zurich during 1916. She was influenced by Hugo Ball, a writer and Zurich based founder of Dada since Höch’s doll costumes resemble the geometric forms of Ball’s own costume worn in a Dada performance.

Another key individual is Kurt Schwitters. He was born on June 20th 1887 in Hanover, Germany and died on January 8th, 1948 in Kendel, Cumbria, England. He used garbage from the streets during the depressed state of Germany after WWI. He incorporated the garbage directly into his work and the resulting collages were characterised by their well-balanced arrangements and their inclusion of printed media. He actively created artistic journals, illustrations, advertisements, as well as founding his own Merz journal. He wrote poems and musical works that played with letters, lacing them together in unusual orders and combinations, as he did in his collages, with the hope that people will interpret it in different ways. His avant-garde works were collaborations with other avant-garde artists, they would start with one object and others would be added to change and evolve the art over time, allowing the viewer to experience the art instead of simply viewing it.

Russian Constructivism

Russian Constructivism was a movement that was active from 1913 until the 1940s. The movement was created by the Russian avant-garde but expanded quickly to the rest of the continent. Constructivist art is committed to reflecting the modern industrial world, where themes are often geometric, experimental and rarely emotional. Constructivist themes also tend to be quite minimal, where the art is broken down to its most basic elements. New media was often utilised in the production of works, which helped create a style that was orderly. Objective forms carrying universal meaning were far more appropriate to the movement than subjective or individualistic forms. An art of order was desired at the time as it was just after WWI that the movement arose, which suggested a need for understanding, unity and peace.

One of the famous artists involved in Russian Constructivism was Vladimir Tatlin. He was born on December 28th, 1885 in Kharkov, Russian Empire, and died on May 31st, 1953 in Moscow, Russia. He was often described as a “laboratory Constructivist”, he took lessons and learned from Pablo Picasso’s Cubist reliefs and Russian Futurism, and began creating objects that sometimes composed between sculpture and architecture. He was initially trained as an icon painter, he soon left the traditional pictorial concerns of painting and instead concentrated on the possibilities inherent in the materials he used, often metal, glass and wood. He wanted above all to bend art to modern purposes and to tasks suitable for the goals of Russia’s Communist Revolution. The arc of his career has come to define the spirit of avant-gardism in the 20th century, the attempt to bring art to the service of everyday life.

Another key individual was Kazimir Malevich. He was born on February 26th, 1879 near Kiev, Ukraine and died May 15th, 1935 in Leningrad, Soviet Union. He was the founder of the artistic and philosophical school of Suprematism, and his ideas about forms and meaning in the art would eventually constitute the theoretical underpinnings of non-objective, or abstract art. Malevich worked in a variety of styles, but his most famous and important works were focused on the exploration of pure geometric forms (squares, triangles and circles) and their relationships to each other within the pictorial space.

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no0dlru · 8 years ago

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Arty-Farty Questions for my Arty-Farty Friends

1) Have you ever been moved to tears by a painting / sculpture / work of visual art? What was it?

Strangely, now I think about it, I haven’t. I felt pretty moved by the art in the Käthe Kollwitz museum (I ended up having to buy a poster to remind me of the visit.)

2) When was the last time you were so engrossed in a book you disregarded something IRL, such as missing a stop on your train? (Bonus, do you remember what was the scene in the book?)

After narrowly missing a train home I sat on the platform reading about measurement techniques in “Drawing Basics and Video Game Art” and very almost didn’t notice when the next one arrived. Also, I’ve been so caught up in Von Himmel Hoch before that I burnt my tea, but generally I don’t read too much.

3) What film would you most love to live inside? (this refers to costumes, set, locations, time period, characters - but you do not have to be constrained by the film’s exact plot)

Uggh oh god umn... I really don’t know.. I need to watch more films.. maybe Moonrise Kingdom because of how damn aesthetically pleasing the whole film is, and the feeling of freedom and innocence, and the costumes, and the part of me that really relates to it all.

4) Architecture - you are allowed to live for one year in any building designed by any architect (it will be made habitable to you, and bills and furnishings will be take care of.) what building (existing or existed) and/or what architect to design a ~dream building~?

I really don’t know enough about architecture to answer this on behalf of myself haha, I’d like for it to be quite modernist and functional. Something quite bauhaus and restrained, but not too big as I’d like to live in solitude. Something concrete that feels like my time in Berlin, but with nice windows to let the light in. Where I live, it’s just hundreds of brick houses. Every day on the way to college I pass a grade II listed 1700s thatched cottage, and opposite it is the one single modern-looking building in the entire town - the police station. Maybe it’s just because I live in such a town and don’t see them for myself, but I really like “ugly” buildings most.

5) What’s your favourite museum in the world?

Again, I don’t think I’m well informed enough to make a decision, but I’d love to try ‘em all and decide then! Of those I’ve visited, maybe the Bauhaus Museum because of how it felt to be so close to so many things I personally liked and I personally found inspiring (even if I had to keep telling my friends “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! IT ISN’T JUST A BUNCH OF CHAIRS!” every few steps)

6) An eccentric billionaire has made a bequest: upon your death, a small plaque and a moderate grant will be given to the individual museum, gallery, library or performing arts venue that has made the most positive impact on your creative life. Where will your plaque go?

Part of me wants to say Musée de l'Orangerie - we went here on a French trip when I was about 14 but my group left me behind (I wasn’t friends with the other pupils or the teachers) and I ended up upstairs looking at the portraits. At first I was terrified - on my own, didn’t know any (or enough) French, in a city I didn’t know - but I was just captivated by the paintings, and that was when I realised I didn’t care - all I wanted was to enjoy and appreciate the art for myself, and that’s when I discovered the joy of galleries.

Another part of me, for similar reasons, wants to say AmerikaHaus, Berlin. After visiting the Käthe Kollwitz museum (a close third! They’d probably appreciate it a lot more too..), a photography student (Toby) and I followed a teacher there, but the rest of the class had dispersed. The photography teacher told us he trusted us on our own, so the two of us took our time in the gallery ourselves, talking about what we liked and why, and about the differences and similarities between fine art and photography. We realised we had a lot in common and it was the first time on a trip I got to see a gallery without being rushed, and the first time I could enjoy one with another person. We then had a drink and a meal in the adjoined cafe and I realised how safe, happy and content I felt. It felt like my gallery, my time, my Berlin. It set in that I could really make art my life.

7) Were you taught to play any instruments while you were growing up? (it doesn’t matter if you can’t play them now.) If you could go back and arrange lessons for your child self, what instrument would you have played?

My parents couldn’t afford for me to have lessons, but I was bitterly jealous of everyone in my class that did. I was lucky as my primary school was very musical and I played lots of instruments. Recorder, ukulele, djembe drums and singing were mandatory to some extent (I was part of the choir and loved it!), but we’d let ourselves in the music cupboard at lunch times or after school and I found myself playing xylophone, glockenspiel, trumpet, bagpipes, violin, piano, percussion, and my parents bought me a guitar, but try as I might I couldn’t play it. I have always loved music and I wish my parents could have afforded lessons, because then I could have taken it for GCSE or even at college. I have a keyboard, a violin, my old recorder, an ocarina and an acoustic guitar now, but I can’t play any of them. I would give myself piano lessons, because 1) It would provide the fundamentals for other things and 2) I would love to be a synth player but I can’t play.

8) Do you do any crafts? Knitting, sewing, whittling, metalwork, beading, photography, printmaking, anything you can make yourself?

I do sewing now and then for costumes and cosplays, but if I had a job I’d do it a lot more. Lino prints at college is something I’d love to do a lot at home, maybe as a career, but once again it’s a matter of affording materials. My boyfriend wants to do some smithying and I’d like to help, and as for photography, since the Berlin trip I have wanted a film camera so badly. Damn money!

9) Dance lessons (ballet, tap, contemporary, salsa, it’s all good!) Yes / No / Was Forced But Hated It / Always Wanted To But Wasn’t Allowed?

Yes. Country dancing. I LOVED country dancing. I WISH I could still do it. Only did it up until I was about 8. All my friends did ballet and tap, and I wanted to but mum didn’t let me. I don’t begrudge her that - I don’t think I would have liked it, I just didn’t want to be left out.

10) Do you know any poetry by heart? And if someone really wanted to impress you, what poet or poem would they recite to you?

Unfortunately not. I know a few from The Young Ones and A Bit of Fry and Laurie and stuff, but I feel bad even saying that. I wrote out one of Byron’s poems in Binary once all over a page in my maths book because the similarity between the two words amused me, and I knew that one for a few months because it stuck in my head, but no not really.

Someone could recite almost any poetry and I’d be really impressed, because I’d love to know the kind of person that would do that.

Thanks so much for writing these questions @half-rutter, it’s been really nice to reflect on these things.

#I recommend going through these quesitons #really makes you reflect and can be quite emotional #Getting around to this after almost 3 months

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justforbooks · 8 years ago

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Min Jin Lee on the Road to Free Food for Millionaires

I had already failed at two novel manuscripts. Publishers had rejected my first manuscript, and I rejected the second, because it was not good enough to send out. I was 32 years old and beginning my third novel.

I had been trying to get a novel published since 1995, the year I quit being a lawyer. Since high school, I’d had a chronic liver disease, and I couldn’t work the hours of a Manhattan law firm without getting ill, so I thought I’d write fiction. My husband Christopher had a steady job with health insurance, but we had gotten our apartment and mortgage with two incomes in mind. Money was tight. After a miscarriage and a difficult pregnancy, our son Sam was born, and that same year, we learned that beloved family members, who could no longer support themselves, were awash in catastrophic debt, and suddenly, we were responsible for another household.

It is never a financially prudent idea to be a fiction writer, but I had not anticipated running through my savings in a year, being unable to earn even a modest living, not being able to afford part-time childcare to write, having a debilitating liver disease, and taking on the debts of people I love.

I was ashamed. After six years, I had not yet written a published novel, and I was broke from the choices I had made. I wondered how we’d pay all these bills, send Sam to college, and save for retirement. When my friends asked me to lunch, I made excuses because I could not afford the luxury of eating out. I could not answer when they asked kindly when my book would be available to purchase. I hid my failure by staying home.

From the moment I quit lawyering, I tried to learn how to write good fiction. I had written and published personal essays in high school. I was a history major in college, but for pleasure, I’d taken three writing classes in the English department. To my surprise, in my junior and senior years, I won top writing prizes for nonfiction and fiction, respectively. It’s possible that the college prizes misled me to believe that I could publish a novel immediately after quitting the law. However, the more I studied fiction, the more I realized that writing novels required rigorous discipline and mastery, no different than the study of engineering or classical sculpture. I wanted to get formal training. Nevertheless, after having paid for law school, I could not hazard the cost of an MFA. So, I fumbled around and made up my own writing program.

Always a reader of the 19th-century greats, I read more widely. I read every fine novel and short story I could find, and I studied the ones that were truly exceptional. If I saw a beautifully wrought paragraph, say from Julia Glass’s Three Junes, I would transcribe it in a marble notebook. Then, I would sit and read her elegant sentences, seemingly pinned to my flimsy notebook like a rare butterfly on cheap muslin. Craft strengthened the feelings and thoughts of the writer. When I read and reread Junot Díaz’s stories in Drown, I was struck by his courage and genius. His perfect narrative voice matched the intricacy and greatness of his plot architecture. Great fiction required not just lovely words or fine feelings, it demanded emotion, structure, ideals, and bravery. Fine works of fiction made me feel glad, the way I feel glad when I see a painting by a master, an ocean at dusk, or the face of a child.

In New York, it is possible to study with great writers for very little money. If one can afford to live here, there is a shock of riches in culture, so much so that artists work for almost nothing. Once a week, when Christopher could watch Sam after work, I took a turkey sandwich in a baggie or a carton of hummus and went to my writing classes or met with my writers’ group. For less than $200, I was able to study for several weeks with Lan Samantha Chang, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, and Jhumpa Lahiri at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop early on in their careers. I took a class at the Gotham Writers Workshop with Wesley Gibson. For about the same amount and for a season’s length of classes, I studied with Jonathan Levi, Joyce Johnson, Joseph Caldwell, Joan Silber, Shirley Hazzard, and Nahid Rachlin at the 92nd Street Y. The Y runs a famous preschool, and in the evenings, grown men and women sat in these preschool classrooms, smelling of tempera paints and box apple juice, anxious to know if their stories made any sense. Teachers generously encouraged me to continue, but privately, I wondered if I should quit. I was getting older, and I was afraid that I could not return to a steady profession.

The year after Sam was born, impulsively, I applied for a spot at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and was accepted. The tuition was more money than we could spare, something like $1,000. However, I knew it was difficult to get a spot at all, and I felt I had to go. I had nursed Sam for a year, and I thought this might be a good reward for having given up my body—or so it seemed to me—for the pregnancies, the illnesses, and the breastfeeding. Christopher took time off from work and stayed with Sam, and I went to Tennessee. For nine days, I studied fiction with Alice McDermott and Rick Moody. Each day, after my class, I would go back to my dorm room and cry because I missed my baby.

At Sewanee, it felt like everyone had gone to prestigious MFA writing programs like Iowa and had book contracts. Back then, conference attendees wore name tags, and mine read just my name, indicating that I had not received any scholarship money to defray the cost of the conference tuition. One day, during lunch, I met a young woman whose name tag stated her name plus the name of her fellowship. She hadn’t paid any tuition because her publications had merited her a scholarship. There was a group of us at the table, most of whom had scholarships, and the young woman casually mocked the housewives who had paid full freight to attend the conference. I didn’t realize at first, but she was talking about me. That summer, I was 30 years old, a new mother, and I learned that a talented young woman artist held housewife writers in contempt. I couldn’t eat so I returned to my room. I avoided her for the rest of the conference, because I sensed she was right. It had been a mistake to come all this way to take a class. Then at the end of the conference, Alice McDermott nominated my workshop story for an anthology called Best New American Voices 2000, and though the editors didn’t take my piece, I thought that maybe I could keep trying.

Then something else good happened a few months later. I got an Artist Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts in the category of fiction. It was for $7,000. I used some of that money to pay for a five-day writing class in California with the famous editor and writer Tom Jenks and the novelist Carol Edgarian. To improve my understanding of the sentence, I began to read poetry. I took a class at the Y with David Yezzi to learn prosody, and it changed the way I looked at every word. Whenever the poetry critic Helen Vendler came to the Y to give one of her seminars, I did whatever I could to attend.

There was so much to learn and practice, but I began to see the prose in verse and the verse in prose. Patterns surfaced in poems, stories, and plays. There was music in sentences and paragraphs. I could hear the silences in a sentence. All this schooling was like getting x-ray vision and animal-like hearing. I had no way to prove objectively the things I was learning, and I can’t tell you why I thought my self-curated education correct, but I followed the steps I could afford to take and somehow trusted that I would learn how to write something fine.

When I ran out of money for classes, I went to readings and bought hardcover books I could not afford. At the bookstore or library, I’d sit all the way in the back. If there was a Q&A, I would have half a dozen questions forming a lump in my throat, but I wouldn’t voice a word. I went to the readings of Herman Wouk, Marilynne Robinson, Junot Díaz, Joyce Carol Oates, Gary Shteyngart, Julian Barnes, Richard Ford, Jay McInerney, Chang-rae Lee, Veronica Chambers, Ian McEwan, Joan Didion, Susanna Moore, Shirley Hazzard, James Salter, Kazuo Ishiguro, Toni Morrison, Rick Moody, Susan Minot, and many more. I wanted to know: How did you do that? How did you send me into this whole other world of your creation? How did you make me feel these new and old feelings? How did you keep trusting that it was all worthwhile? And yet, I could barely form an audible sentence around them, but I suppose I didn’t have to, because I had their work, and their work spoke to me and stayed with me in a private way without me having to prove anything to them or them to me.

As a habit, I read on the subway. One day, I was finishing V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas on the 2 train, and I burst into tears, amazed at the magnificence of Naipaul’s literary achievement. I knew of his politically controversial attitudes (e.g., he thought women writers were unimportant), and yet I understood that in this work, this man had done something extraordinary with fiction. Through characterization and sympathy, Naipaul had made me care deeply for a humble and curious character, who so clumsily yet so vitally struggled for his wishes. Later, I learned that Arwacas, the fictional setting of the novel, was based on Chaguanas, an immigrant town where East Indian-Trinidadians live and where Naipaul had grown up. Naipaul gave me permission to write about Elmhurst, my town in Queens.

After the classes, the readings, the discarded drafts, I started to research my novel like I was a journalist. When I wanted to learn more about my character Ted Kim, the investment banker, I interviewed several men who went to Harvard Business School. One of them told me that I should pretend to apply, because one had to see a school like that to believe it. So I did. I logged into the website, and I filled out a visitor’s form, and I was able to come in for a day.

I sat in on a class. There were maybe 25 students, and each person had a name card in front of him or her. It was impossible to hide in that room; however, what was clear to me was that no one was hiding. It wasn’t like any class I had ever attended in high school, college, or even law school. I don’t know if everyone in that room had done his homework or if she understood the lecture and the complicated spreadsheet on the whiteboard, but I learned something about these attractive young people. I surmise that what distinguishes a Harvard Business School student is his confidence in his abilities. I have never been in a building so filled with young people who look like they can do anything and want to solve very difficult problems. After a few hours, I started thinking that maybe I should apply for business school because the energy was so buoyant. If anyone was depressed or anxious or doubtful, I think he or she must have stayed home that day. No, I did not apply to HBS, but that day changed me, because I started to value research, not for the details or the velvet scraps of dialogue, but for the feelings that new information made me have. I felt confident just by being with other highly energetic people. I wondered what it would be like to have two years of that atmosphere when even I, an applicant pretender and a writer with no book, felt that positive after mere hours. So I took that feeling and gave it to Ted, a man who believes that he is right even when he is troubled or afraid. Ted’s convictions propel him to great economic success. However, even his convictions are weakened in the presence of sexual desire and a secret yearning for a kindred person. Ted is not good, but research allowed me to recognize his vulnerability, which allowed me to love Ted in his totality.

Then something wonderful happened. The Missouri Review published a story I’d rewritten 17 or 18 times. I had a Bankers Box filled with just drafts of that one story. Maybe that’s what it took.

Not much after that, my wrists began to hurt. I had trouble lifting a coffee cup. My son was in preschool then, and to drop him off and pick him up, I had to walk a few blocks, but it was painful. My ankles were swollen and holding hands with my son to cross the street was hard. I couldn’t turn round doorknobs or walk up stairs with ease. After several misdiagnoses, I was sent to a rheumatologist who guessed correctly that my liver disease was making me ill. I had developed liver cirrhosis, and I had never had a drop of wine.

There were a lot of doctors, and they wrote about my case to each other. A gastroenterologist wanted me to try a course of treatment with Interferon, because I was so young, and liver transplants were not so easy to be had. For three months, I gave myself a shot of this medicine in my thigh each day. My hair fell out in clumps in the shower. When I bent down to sweep the floor, blood vessels would break in my face to make bruises. I could not leave the house sometimes because I had diarrhea or because I could not stop vomiting. Each day, I had a few hours of energy, and I would store them up for Sam, my three-year-old. I wanted him to think that I was well.

When the treatment ended, my liver function tests improved markedly. My doctor was cautious, so he took more tests. I continued to work on Free Food for Millionaires, compelled to finish a first draft. A year after the treatment, the doctor told me that I was cured of my chronic liver disease. One in a million, he marveled. I went home that afternoon, and I lay down on my bed with my good news. This life was unexpected. I told myself that I could not be so afraid of judgment that I would hold back. And so I did not.

When I sold the manuscript in the summer of 2006, I counted 11 years as my apprenticeship. I was 37 years old.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS

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fromnothingtonovel-blog · 8 years ago

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By Whitney J. and Julie T.

We like to travel to new places and see new things. We feel that travel enriches our personal lives and our lives as writers.

Many writers travel to research settings for their current writing projects. Immersion in the location you’re writing about is a long-celebrated strategy for creating an authentic setting. But traveling, even when it’s unrelated to your current project, can benefit your writing, too!

Mid-February ’17, both of us ventured to different places for different purposes. Whitney traveled to Atlanta for a mini vacation while her husband attended a conference, and Julie traveled to San Francisco to attend a writers conference. Even though we were on opposite sides of the United States, both of us used our travels as opportunities to write and be inspired by our surroundings.

Here are 10 ways you can do the same. Get the most out of your next trip or vacation!

Set one writing goal.

While you don’t want to spend your entire trip trying to complete several intense writing goals, it’s definitely realistic to set one writing goal that you can accomplish before you head home. Just be sure to keep your goal small and specific.

For example, Whitney’s travel writing goal was to revise a conversation between two major characters in her novel. Julie’s goal was to perfect her novel pitch, one of the most difficult challenges writers face. After writing, rewriting, and practicing her pitch, like, a bazillion times, Julie now has thirty seconds’ worth of compelling description to use when meeting agents and drafting query letters.

See the literary sights.

Before she travels, Whitney Googles “Literary stuff near ______” and works whatever she finds into her travel plans. She’s a tad bit obsessed with seeing the literary sights. It’s not just because she’s a lover of literature, however.

Being a literary tourist can offer insight into the lives, habits, and values of other successful authors. Years ago, when Whitney visited Jane Austen’s house, she saw (��touched, actually. Shhhh. Don’t tell…) the tiny writing table Austen worked at each morning.

During her Atlanta trip, Whitney visited the Margaret Mitchell House and found out that Mitchell hid the unpublished pages of Gone With the Wind in stacks behind furniture. At Piedmont Park, she saw where Booker T. Washington gave his Atlanta Exposition Address (the “cast down your bucket” speech).

Visiting sites like these help us feel a greater connection to the literary traditions we admire and hope to join.

Chawton, Jane Austen’s House

Piedmont Park

Margaret Mitchel House

Find a coffee shop (duh).

Lets be honest, you’re going to do this anyway, right? Every writer ought to have a relationship with some sort of beverage. We recommend coffee or tea. We also think you should seriously consider engaging in a love affair with pastries. There’s nothing like refreshments to get those ideas out of your head and onto the page!

Is your time limited? Plan to stay in the coffee shop for only the length of time it takes you to finish your coffee. Set a coffee-timed writing goal and when that last sip is toast, get going again!

Go to a museum.

Why not surround yourself with the artifacts of the past? At the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Whitney saw brilliant sixteenth-century oil paintings next to traditional German American folk chests. This artistic contrast creates new connections and questions. Who is that woman in the painting? Why does she look so haughty? Who owned that chest? What happened to them? And it doesn’t have to be a big fancy museum, either.

What about the local history museum in a small town? Whitney knows for a fact that an Arkansas museum has some incredible examples of a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit!

Keep your eyes open to discovering nifty gems.

If you don’t have time to visit a museum, you can often spot fabulous outdoor art and sculptures as you move through a city.

Art in Public Places, especially the humongous abstract variety, happens to be one of Julie’s favorite things. She was ecstatic to have spotted this gem right along the S.F. Bay and loved walking along its textures and peering into its twists and turns. Public structures like this are great reminders that a novel’s plot must have textures, twists, and turns, too!

If only a kitten had popped out of one of the tunnels. Then, Julie’s trip would have been complete.

Talk to locals.

Talking to the people who live, work, and thrive in the city you’re visiting is a great way to hear more stories. And as storytellers ourselves, we have to be armed with a variety of stories at all times.

When Whitney was in London a few years ago, a Londoner struck up a conversation with her while she was having lunch at a pub. Not only did she find out that this guy was a big-time landscape designer in Africa (idea for a character’s job in a future novel, right there!), but he also pointed her in the direction of a London side alley in Covent Garden that housed African art museums.

The art work was glorious and the street performers in Covent Garden were spectacular. Memories of laughing children on a London street and visions of the shadowy, quiet galleries full of gorgeous art are just waiting for Whitney to use in her fiction at the right time.

Find a bar with great atmosphere.

We’re not advocating for the probably misattributed Hemingway quote “write drunk, edit sober,” but there’s no denying that a great bar or pub can be a writer’s friend. In fact, one of the most obvious ways to mingle with locals and find out cool stories about the town you’ve traveled to is to visit a bar. Of course, you can also enjoy a glass or pint of your favorite poison while you’re there, if you wanna!

What’s even better than a great bar? Finding out that the baristas have a way with words! Julie discovered that S.F. Bay Area baristas can teach writers a thing or two about the use of wit to engage a target market.

See something historical.

Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley tells us, ‘History is a cyclic poem written by Time upon the memories of man.’ Through our travels, we can become more aware of our place in this cyclic poem and perhaps contribute a few lines ourselves.

While hustling through San Francisco, Julie enjoyed a brief evening stroll through Chinatown, a distinct cultural enclave in the heart of the city, where she found festive street decorations and majestic architecture. Areas like this are wonderful for sprucing up one’s knowledge about how America came to be. Just a tiny bit of Googling revealed Chinatown to be the subject of interesting books, like San Francisco Chinatown, written by the neighborhood’s own Philip K. Choy, inspiring Julie to read up on the important history of this community.

Walk, walk, and walk some more.

As we’ve talked about previously on From Nothing To Novel, exercise revives your brain and gets creative juices flowing. Plus, when you walk, you can better see the details of a new place, including street names, shops and their customers, local fashion trends, and other rich material for your current novel!

Hopefully, you’ll enjoy nicer weather than Julie experienced as she braved several days of rain in S.F., still making it up those monster hills.

Bring back souvenirs.

What better souvenirs for writers than books from local shops or knick-knacks that make your home a more restful and inspiring place to write? Select an small item that brings you joy and reminds you of everything you learned on your trip. For example, Whitney brought home a magnet from the High Museum of Art to add to her collection of travel memento magnets. And if you’re a space-conscious minimalist like Julie, make sure your souvenir is both meaningful and streamlined, like these fliers, mags, contacts, and other writer swag she plans to scan to a .pdf and, of course, recycle later.

Whitney’s super corny magnet collection

Julie’s writing swag

Where are you off to next? And how will you make the most of your trip? Tell us in the comments below!

Traveling Writers: 10 ways to get the most out of your trip We like to travel to new places and see new things. We feel that travel enriches our personal lives and our lives as writers.

#creative writing #literature #travel #writing life

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