THE NEXT ACT

While I was reading an online article, I came across an English word that was rather new to me. Cabal. The word might not be that highfalutin to an average person. I must admit that sometimes I find myself being below average when it comes to word power. I live my life with simple words, words that can be understood even by grade school kids. Sometimes anxiety attacks me over this word deficiency. But most of the time I laugh about it. Simple words. Simple life. Why should I make it harder? And here is another flaw: I am a bad speller. Probably you would have caught my spelling booboos in my blog before I get to edit words such as rich instead of reach, to instead of too, plane instead plain or price instead prise. Mr Forrester was a prominent creative writer who advised his protégée that one must write from the heart and edit from the mind. And I completely believe it. Write first before you edit. But there were instances that I was just reckless and did not give too mu...

I am glad that I started painting again. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re missing until you get to dwell on it again. I guess its fulfilment is beyond explaining and when you get lose it, it’s easy for you to wander away when you have blurry idea of its benefit. There is nothing like getting you hands, arms, shirt and face dirty with paint when you get to create colours that subtly registers your own being or your own soul. No doubt that it’s therapeutic. I have said that it’s beyond explaining and here I am trying to explain what I get from painting as best as I can, hoping that in between lines I can get across from one psyche to another. The simplest way to explain it is that when I paint, I feel good. I know that not everybody can paint and what I am saying here may not apply to all. What I am saying really is that when you do something that you are good at and complete it, you feel good. I remember when I was chairman of a painting competition in my beloved home country, I got...