When I had enrolled for the Creative Writing class, I had no idea what it had in store for me. I figured I'd be with people older and more experienced than me, being guided by a teacher who like most of the college teachers, would say his part and leave. I didn't know how one could be taught writing, but having nothing better to do in the summers, I embraced the opportunity. The key motivation was meeting new people, who read and write, who have an imagination beyond the text.
I remember the deafening awkward silence that greeted us all as we waited for the first class to begin. Credit goes to Yaseer Sir who broke the ice with his games based on torturous words (syzygy, nobody knew it existed.) The constant moving around and being paired in different groups allowed us to get to know everyone a little bit. We had amidst us an experienced journalist, a girl aiming to be a spy and interestingly a girl who hates reading books! One fact about everyone was learnt via an improvised version of Chinese whispers. Our teacher was a bad bathroom singer, I the one who reads books about wars, Anushi who missed maggi, Taru who hates reading books, Aparupa who had been trained in classical music, Rica who loved talking to strangers, Akansha who loves Harry Potter. (Yes, a moment of appreciation for my memory!)
We started off by asking some really random, entertaining and at times unabashedly intrusive questions to each other. I still remember the question I asked Anushi- Which is the oldest book on your table? "6th century BCE!" she said. For a moment I wondered if I was in the presence of a mummy, then burst out laughing.
Next up was a discussion about the books we love, I think I creeped out Nistha with my books about Nazi invasions, Iranian Revolution and Afghanistan war! But it was amazing to know what people like and what they don't. I do believe what a person reads tells much about his personality. The bonds were deepened through lazy walks to the Metro station and endless discussions on things which cannot be mentioned here for the sake of sanity.
As we delved deeper into the class, we found ourselves discussing aspects of writing that we had considered too small to be important- for example opening lines and character names. We learnt the importance of detaching ourselves from the fictional people we create, yet give them enough soul to make them believable. Somewhere during the discussion, we had extra terrestrial presence as sir's UFO themed ringtone went on for a long time, leaving us in splits.
Basically, the two hours spent twice a week, amidst people who read, write, laugh and talk a lot, made my vacation much better. (And the air conditioner certainly made the heat easier to bear!) More to come in successive blogs, I hope the lessons learnt in the classroom inspire me to update this blog more often now ;)
I remember the deafening awkward silence that greeted us all as we waited for the first class to begin. Credit goes to Yaseer Sir who broke the ice with his games based on torturous words (syzygy, nobody knew it existed.) The constant moving around and being paired in different groups allowed us to get to know everyone a little bit. We had amidst us an experienced journalist, a girl aiming to be a spy and interestingly a girl who hates reading books! One fact about everyone was learnt via an improvised version of Chinese whispers. Our teacher was a bad bathroom singer, I the one who reads books about wars, Anushi who missed maggi, Taru who hates reading books, Aparupa who had been trained in classical music, Rica who loved talking to strangers, Akansha who loves Harry Potter. (Yes, a moment of appreciation for my memory!)
We started off by asking some really random, entertaining and at times unabashedly intrusive questions to each other. I still remember the question I asked Anushi- Which is the oldest book on your table? "6th century BCE!" she said. For a moment I wondered if I was in the presence of a mummy, then burst out laughing.
Next up was a discussion about the books we love, I think I creeped out Nistha with my books about Nazi invasions, Iranian Revolution and Afghanistan war! But it was amazing to know what people like and what they don't. I do believe what a person reads tells much about his personality. The bonds were deepened through lazy walks to the Metro station and endless discussions on things which cannot be mentioned here for the sake of sanity.
As we delved deeper into the class, we found ourselves discussing aspects of writing that we had considered too small to be important- for example opening lines and character names. We learnt the importance of detaching ourselves from the fictional people we create, yet give them enough soul to make them believable. Somewhere during the discussion, we had extra terrestrial presence as sir's UFO themed ringtone went on for a long time, leaving us in splits.
Basically, the two hours spent twice a week, amidst people who read, write, laugh and talk a lot, made my vacation much better. (And the air conditioner certainly made the heat easier to bear!) More to come in successive blogs, I hope the lessons learnt in the classroom inspire me to update this blog more often now ;)
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