Gloom brings out creativity in many

[1]

Pain and creativity are old partners. Romantic poets maintained that suffering is a prerequisite for literary excellence. “Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?” wrote Keats. The recently released Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Rockstar touches this eternal paradox that dejection and despondency are necessary to bring out the creative best in you.
Blogger Arnab Ray believes that black will always be relevant for white. “I do believe that art has to come from some sense of pain. If you are content with life, you don’t get the time and inclination to produce good art. And producing good art, even for the supremely talented, requires a purpose,” says Ray.
But how does melancholy turn a person into an artist? “It is simple. Negative moods have positive benefits. The state of gloom makes you more attentive and focused. I am a poet. Rains make me sad, but the sadness makes me aware and responsive. I have noticed that sometimes when I feel miserable, it actually affects my creative performance positively,” says V. Karunesh, a closet poet.
Dark times prepare you for the dazzling lights ahead, seconds event organiser Anushka Bishen. She adds, “It happens to all of us. There are moments when we lose hope and we are at our worst. And that is when we think, analyse and react. I have been through it where I lost confidence and zest for life over a silly break-up when I was young. I was depressed to the core and I thought there was nothing to look forward to. I felt cheated and dejected but I overcame it over time only to realise there are better things ahead.”
However, lawyer and writer Arjun Natarajan feels that it’s actually a myth that tragedy makes you creative. After all we have seen personalities who didn’t have to pass through the “test of fire”.
“I think every person is creative in some way or the other. Creativity is intrinsic. Nothing profound, say pain or mundane, can give an impetus to creativity. Extrinsic factors like a heartbreak or any tragedy can nevertheless inspire a person to do things which he would have otherwise not done. People with a creative streak are often shunned and ridiculed which makes them desolate, thus compelling them to focus on what they do. Creativity causes the pain and not the other way round,” explains Arjun.