Advice for beginners

“Advice for beginners” by Ira Glass. This one for all those newbies like me (and others too!) out there who have just started out!

Nobody tells people who are beginners, that all of us who do creative work have gotten into it because we have good taste. But there’s a gap; for the initial period, what you’re making isn’t so good; it is trying to be good, it has the ambition to be good, but its not quite that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer! And your taste is good enough to tell you that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you.

A lot of people never get past that phase; a lot of people at that point, they just quit! Everybody who does interesting, creative work, went through a phase of years when they had really good taste but they could tell that what they were making wasn’t nearly as good as how they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short, that it didn’t have that special thing they wanted it to have. Everybody goes through that; it’s totally normal!

And the most important thing possible you can do is a lot of work, like huge volume of work! Put yourself to a deadline so that every week, every month you know you’re going to finish atleast one story. Because its only by going through a huge volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you're making will be as good as your ambitions.

Its going to take a while; its normal to take a while; you just have to fight your way through. So just keep pushing guys, and someday, the walls will fall down! Amen!

Getting started with a fizzle!

Well I thought long and hard about what my first article should be about. I asked many people and most of them had the same opinion. “Why don’t you write about the latest scandal or comment on the latest protest against the government”, they told me “people would like to read about it; they are the hot topics, after all”. While I don’t exactly agree with them, their opinions did raise one question in my mind- why do we feel the need to turn most of the issues into scandals, sensationalize the sensitive issues in our lives?

It saddens me to see that the society has a habit of making mountains out of molehills nowadays. While there are some issues like crimes in the country which deserve to be sensationalized, to be brought forth to the masses to ensure that the government is pressurized to carry out speedy justice to provide respite to the victim, there are times when our actions, instead of providing relief to the victim, actually intensifies their agony.

In a democratic country like India, politics has turned into something of a battleground. And in a battle, it is but obvious that dirty methods would be used to achieve victory. So our leaders have this disgusting habit of politicizing every sensitive issue. The opposition blames the government while the government shifts the blame onto other factors. The ruling party promises speedy justice & compensation to the victim, and also assures the voters of a change and stronger enforcement of the government policies. The members of different parties visit the victim, which is usually seen as a publicity event rather than a sympathy visit.

The social media is another element that needs to be blamed. While they are the most important medium for making the general public aware of the events & incidents in the country, they sometimes just focus on feeding the people what the public wants to see. Because of a complicated web of TRPs and tabloid news, the real topics sometimes don’t get the attention they deserve.

This is not an article commenting on any protest or scandal. I’m just commenting on the attitude people adopt towards these incidents. How everybody’s trying to get his 15 minutes of fame. How we are content on posting angry messages on facebook and see the likes and comments pour in. Thinking of the protests as a picnic or a photo opportunity. Few people truly believe in the cause they are fighting for; the rest are there just because they have nowhere else to be!

While many of you might not like my article and disagree, there’s a chance that some of you might see the point I’m trying to put forth. Either ways, I would love to have your opinion on this article. Do put across your views and comments on this matter! Bye! Take care