Switch into Art Gallery Mode: The Little Letter Series: Delights of the Ordinary No. 61 (S2)
To simple smallish handsome days of Italy.
#TheLittleLetters is my new series where I send you tiny letters of little learnings as opposed to long-form essays. They may help you gear back or throttle up but I promise most of them will be positively wise.
There are 4 things that can change your world entirely: Music, Art, Love andĀ Loss. The first three- music, art and love will keep you up and alive. Somewhere ecstatic. It is the last that will break your will and then let you brave it too!
-Inspired by Erin van VurenĀ
A big hello to you from the sunless-fog-filled city of Milan, where we are engulfed within layers of woollens and jackets, sipping warm coffee and doing touristy things. Out and about exploring and marvelling at the gothic, Renaissance architecture and mildly feeling smug about fleeing the glue-like sticky Mumbai air.
This is our first vacation after the pandemic and we are extremely thankful for it. Italy is such an astounding architectural beauty that it seems sinfully luxurious to the spirit. Weāve always been budget travellers yet when pristine, sunless, foggy nature meets the eyes with food and friendliness - it is like reading poetry; like uncovering the notes of a redolence perfume!
This is what nature, art and literature do to us: it relieves the knots that have been created in times. Unwinding in us the strength to look at life from a distance, from a vantage point that we can say yes that is life. Letās start again.
The creative effort is the significant seed that helps us look beyond paying bills and brewing our coffee on the run! āThere is nothing wrong with life itself. It is the ocean in which we swim and we either adapt to it or sink to the bottom. But it is in our power as human beings not to pollute the waters of life, not to destroy the spirit which animates us.ā says American writer Henry Miller (1891-1980). āThe most difficult thing for a creative individual is to refrain from the effort to make the world to his liking and to accept his fellow man for what he is, whether good, bad or indifferent.ā
Then how do we tap into the creative exploration?
Switch into āart gallery mode.ā
Art gallery mode is to look at things without splintering your brain to understand them. It is just like removing an inner pressure to find out some sort of logic in everything we look at, hear or do. As we wander across the grand churches, museums and Colosseum here in Italy we inherently are in the art gallery mode. Not bothered about who made it or why was it made - we are simply present, not evaluating or describing the scene. But just admiring. Liking and acceptingā¦ whether good, bad or indifferent.
And this is a trick, be it holidays, vacations or life - on most days switch into āart gallery modeā - dropping critical analysis and knowing the feelings. Then a screeching tyre will have its own music, maybe you will find pleasure in your blessings and something powerful, poignant, or poetic around you.
As poet Rumi wrote: āSell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.ā
To simple smallish handsome days and pages of calendar changing; and this soft nip in the air, to this November that just comes before December, to close this time for our earth.
And to some links that let my Italian taste buds dance. I love to cook and eat Italian food.
To cook: To the goddess of home cooking, Nigella Lawson has been my guru of Italian cuisine. Here is her recipe for One-Pot Sausage Meatball Pasta. I discovered that the same recipes taste deliciously impeccable here than if I had cooked in my kitchen. It is just like making aloo-tikki or dosa-sambhar in Italy and it will certainly lack the authenticity it has. And so, cheers to every sort of food and every creativity that goes into cooking them!
To end:
Excerpt from RelaxĀ By Ellen BassĀ
Ā
Bad things are going to happen.Ā
Your tomatoes will grow a fungusĀ
and your cat will get run over.Ā
Someone will leave the bag with the ice creamĀ
melting in the car and throwĀ
your blue cashmere sweater in the drierā¦
No matter how many vitamins you take,Ā
how much Pilates, youāll lose your keys,Ā
your hair and your memoryā¦
So hereās the view, the breeze, the pulseĀ
in your throat. Your wallet will be stolen, youāll get fat, slip on the bathroom tiles of a foreign hotelĀ
and crack your hip. Youāll be lonely.Ā
Oh taste how sweet and tartĀ
the red juice is, how the tiny seeds
crunch between your teeth.Ā
Stay wonderful and once in a while go explore your neighbourhood and create some poetry.
-Anugrah
Delights of the Ordinary is for us who are trapped in the world of hustle culture but are quiet at heart with an itching creative bone. This newsletter intersects culture, art, science, and philosophy with our practical 9-5 job space.
Who am I?
Hi, I am Anugrah. You can know more about me here. I write Delights of the Ordinary which currently is a free publication. Yet it takes me many hours of effort to write and curate it. I may need lots of coffee to keep me going. You can :)
Stumbled on my publication? Explore all my previous editionsĀ here.Ā And in case you donāt wish to spend time browsing then complement this post with The Antidote for Self-Doubt, We Imagine Because We Are Living or read about Decision Fatigue and Our Creative Life.
If you ever feel like dropping in a message or a comment, do not hesitate. We all can only thrive in people. We can be those ordinary creative beings who can change the world. You and me.
Beautifully written as always. Much love.