Tarushi Singh, Keekli Intern
Creativity and writing, both are skills that enable one to express their thoughts and bring them to life, and when acquiring such skills from a formidable source, the learning becomes very interesting and the knowledge acquired is unforgettable. Similar, was today’s creative writing workshop organized by Keekli Book Club at St. Thomas’ School, Shimla, by renowned journalist editor and teacher, Amit Sengupta, who was warmly greeted by School Principal Vidupriya Chakarvarty.
The workshop flowed in an unpredictable manner, well, just like the water flowing in the stream, the pressure and impact of some topics were very heavy while some were easygoing and placid. As shared by Sengupta, all writings are written by an individual with two audiences in mind, the positions are interchangeable, first, sometimes is the world while the individual places themselves second or vice-versa, this ability allows the writers to feel the originality in their work; well some might disagree considering the number of years we’ve been creating content, majority of the works are borrowed from ideas of history, but irrespective of that the habit of writing for oneself and the world, allows the writer to have a sense of ownership, pride and joy in their works.
Sengupta continued to explain the idea of originality and its relation to personal experience, this topic was very interesting as it makes you want to introspect your surroundings and lifestyle, and also judge the environment we create and live in.
Moving on to the next topic of discourse, he spoke about the various types of media and to open our horizons to a remarkable amount of knowledge, for example, the immense role cinema has played in the world since its creation and the actuality that each generation was exposed to a different type of cinema and media, their relation and understanding of the present media systems consequently becomes unlike. Claiming that good cinema is one of the ways through which terraces of life can be climbed joyfully, Sengupta gave a few options of writers and authors who would allow one to be more in touch with the sociology of the world, the mystery-crime genre happens to be one which urges the individual to look for sources and knowledge while interacting with content from that genre, in return, this reflects in our life. Going into the deeper realms of a narrative is an extremely essential life skill.
It is very essential to understand the type of media writing we are interacting with whether it is creative writing or formal writing, especially, for the students attending the workshop as they are studying Mass Communication. Sengupta and Vandana Bhagra, editor/publisher, gave some insightful information regarding the same, each explaining the purpose of two types of writings and their subjective-objective nature. They provided students with numerous examples ranging from Narmada Bachao Andolan to women empowerment to Greta Thunberg. The information shared by both based on their experiences and professions was very informative and useful not only from journalism purposes but also for essential life skills which help in personality enhancement.
The session ended with an interactive Q&A session and Senupta’s advice to be conscious of the world around us and involve ourselves in activities such as reading, writing, analysing etc., so that the individual’s desire to learn and grow is never burnt out. Over all, the session was very active and engaging, the multiple narratives which were discussed by Sengupta were such simple yet complex ones, that had multiple layers. The layers are so delicate and complicated that the journey to uncover them seems endless but never impossible, as emphasised in the workshop, our ability to learn and educate ourselves is the most powerful tool we have to solve any mystery in the world and by doing so we align ourselves with our purpose which leads to not only personal development but also the creation of a healthy ecosystem.
School Principal thanked Sengupta for his inputs and teaching the students about the nuances of writing, who were about to start the new academic session in a week’s time. She was appreciative of the organisers for creating avenues for children to learn from such renowned resource persons and sharing pointers about writing skills.
Thus, keep learning and as rightly stated by Alfred Mercier “What we learn with pleasure we never forget,” take the words seriously so that life doesn’t become a joke.
