Creativi-tea: The idea of being creative
Creativity is the journey from your mind to the outer world. Let’s witness this with a cup of ginger tea together. There could be variations of ginger tea which depends on if you want to add extra “masala of life” in it, but we are sticking to the general version here. First things first we need our ingredients. For this version let’s take:
Ingredients: water, milk, raw ginger, tea leaves, and sugar.
Next, is the process of making our chai to compliment the rains of August. Here’s the recipe for our hot masala chai.
Step 1: Boil the water
Break it down: “But why are you adding water first? Why not both milk and water together into a harmonious amalgamation of liquid love?” Absolutely! Why not! We can add water and milk together too but “that’s how I like it”. I love it when water comes to a boil first. For me, that’s one step done. I can proceed to the next now.
Make it unique: Individualism is a crucial ingredient of creativity even if it is indirect. Individuality is an inverse explanation of the thought processes and experiences one has endured, fought and accepted in their life. Your definition of yourself and your thought process is yours and yours only.
Step 2: Crush the ginger
Be mindful: Take your piece of raw ginger, peel it off and put it in a mortar. Use a pestle to crush and grind the ginger until the strings are visible. “Can I use a rolling pin for doing this? I like it more pasty than stringy.”. Go ahead!
Paying attention to everything around me an array of new possibilities that I can explore, experience and ultimately use it for the recipe of creating something in my way. An observation gives a paradigm for the answer to appear and ultimately for the question and answer to become “happily ever after”.
Step 3: Let the ginger play with the boiling water
Surprise yourself, do unexpected: Put the crushed ginger in the hot boiling water and let them play with each other. The chemistry of the relationship produces a complex soothing aroma as a by-product that gives you an essence of your way of making a cup of chai. The subtle change in the color of the water and the gradual increase in the intensity of the aroma gives you a hint for adding the next ingredient.
Step 4: Add tea leaves to the boiling mixture
Add your personal touch, your style: The aroma is there, but where’s the flavor? Add your tea leaves to the hot boiling mixture. Let the mixture agitate until it pacifies itself and mixes well with the water and ginger.
The amount of tea leaves is a preference in the process of making chai. I have a weird calculation of ~1.25 teaspoons of tea in a cup of chai.
I need to be aware of my requirements and the result that I am aspiring. I have to know that the quantity of ingredients in my creative process is my choice and nobody else’s. My actions are going to create something new.
Step 5: Add milk and boil the mixture
The journey is as important as the result: “How much milk? Half water half milk?” It’s one’s playfield. We are making a cup of tea in the end. My version of it will be different than the version that I expect from anyone else. It is the balance of the extremes. The simple, individual ingredients coming together and the dark curiosity of the tea brewing in the water are intertwined by the presence of milk. It neutralizes the process which also surprisingly ends the activity. But “wait”.
Step 6: Wait
Watch the magic happen: The step that brings it all together. Anything to be done requires waiting. You have to take care of the color, brew and, aroma of it to decide if it is right for you. The end of the making is taken care of by something that was not an ingredient. The fire. Chai was the result of the fire, the fire that we chose to light up.
My creative process is the result of the fire that I have inside me. I created a cup of chai with you who asked me questions during the entire process. I knew that it was my process. I knew I was creating something even though the end result was anticipated.
Ssssspppp!!! Aaah!
Creativity is the journey from your mind to the outer world. It defines steps of your thinking process that layer by layer, consecutively, that enhances the vision of the destination. Creativity is in your mind, nowhere else. Don’t doubt yourself when you can’t translate it through your hands on a paper. Translation of your thoughts onto a physical surface is the last step in the creative process which is a skill, hence, learnable with some help.
“Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.” — Bruce Garrabrandt
fin.
Written By: Rahul Sharma
©2019 DoodkeKitProject
