"What do you sell O ye merchants? Richly your wares are displayed. Turbans of crimson and silver, Tunics of purple brocade, Mirrors with panels of amber, Daggers with handles of jade" A verse from 'In the Bazaars of Hyderabad' - Sarojini Naidu When I first read this poem is class 6, I felt like I was lifted and left in the midst of the market commotion, moving in slow motion, while everything around me was a hustle. It was dream-like. I was awed by how beautifully she went on to describe sounds, fragrances and colors; the images danced vividly before my eyes.
Her writing was so ‘visual’ that my soul had travelled to the ‘Bazaars of Hyderabad’.
To a 12-year-old, who wasn’t very fond of academics, this poem came as a blessing in disguise. Something that transported me to a world of creativity, showed me the good side of academics, exposed me to the possibilities beyond the mundane classes in school.
I did not realize it back then, but in hindsight, I think I did feel an urge to write and wondered subconsciously if I would ever be able to capture even half as beautifully as Ms. Naidu. Memorize and Recite seemed to be the order of our education system. And so, like a herd of sheep we all MEMORISED, RECITED and got graded for the ‘power of our memory’.
The fleeting thought of wanting to write did not make it to the conscious mind.
I really wonder what makes academicians associate learning with memory. I somehow feel it is so restricted. The myriad layers of learning and what it can do for us cannot be restricted to just memory, no!?
Steve Jobs said, 'When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside that world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save money is what you will be told. That's a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact. That is - everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it.... Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again'
This for me is an encounter with the myriad layers within learning! I feel so much gratitude to Steve Jobs and so many others like him who dared to bash against the walls, even tear them down. It is because of people like them that some of us are able to even think of breaking the rules. I am going to create an alternate reality here. Take us all to a place where learning is beyond just memory. To a place where the very many layers of learning, exposure and creativity can be unleashed for us to be the versions of ourselves that we may not have even recognized as yet. Welcome to the ‘Prose and Poetry’ class
Our facilitator entered the classroom, full of nurture, her eyes shone with love for prose & poetry, and such an openness that I hadn’t seen in teachers before. She said ‘Be boundless with your imagination, gain exposure and express yourself through the beauty of 'words'… this is the order of our education system.
We were first asked to read the poem to ourselves - she told us to observe and reflect on the thoughts or feelings the poem brought forth in us, we were encouraged to write it down if we wanted to.
She then read out the poem for us all. Her voice rung out in a melodious tone. Once the reading was done, we just stayed with it, all of us in complete silence.
We were then posed with numerous questions as to why Naidu wrote the way she did (or why William Wordsworth wrote Daffodils the way he did), what was in their mind, what motivated them to express the way they did; we read up to find answers going into the depths of how creativity is born, exchanged our notes and engaged in a discussion. We were also encouraged to understand the relationship between the poet and the poem. So profound!
Given the theme of the ‘Bazaars of Hyderabad’, we engaged in a special group activity to fire our creativity. Formed into groups of four to five students, we were taken to different parts of the city.
Some of us visited market places that was the hotbed for trade and economy in the city, some went to places of architectural value that screamed history and culture, some were left in the midst of nature where the sound of waves bashing against the rocks filled the air.
We were left to observe, imagine and free to pour out our feelings into 'words'. It evoked in us something that we hadn’t ever experienced before. I found myself asking ‘Is this creativity? Is this exploring the other side of the brain – that we studied in science class the previous week?’ Back then I did not know the meaning of 'creativity'.
Now I understand that true learning from a 'prose and poetry' class is when we are encouraged to observe, reflect and comprehend. To experience, inspired to create words that can form a meaningful excerpt or a verse; that tells a story or shares an experience or something unexplainable that comes from deep within us. Just like how imagination can create prose or poetry, it is the same imagination that can create this alternate reality. In Nicholas Sparks words "It is the possibility and not the guarantee that keeps me going"
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