My artist’s date

For the last year and a half, I have been writing my morning pages, thanks to my friend Corinne Rodrigues, who introduced me to Julia Cameron and her book “The Artist’s way” and I finally got up the courage to go on an artist’s date!

In her book, Cameron talks of nurturing the artist within you and one of the ways to do this , according to her is to go on an “artist’s date”.

So what is an artist’s date? According to Cameron, “An artist’s date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, specially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. In its most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you pre-plan and defend against all interlopers. You do not take anyone on this date but you and your inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child.”

She talks of the inner artist in us as if it is a child that needs to be pampered. Very often we ignore this part of us, citing no time when we are actually too scared to be alone with it.

Last weekend, I decided to finally take myself off on an artist date. I went for an evening of music, poetry and sharing. It was easy to go alone as all my friends were too busy to attend and I realised if I wanted to enrich my life with such experiences, I could not wait for my friends to be free. I just had to go alone.

And am I glad I did. On Sunday from 6 pm to 10 pm, I had the time of my live.

It was an event organised by Priya Bhumkar ,a friend of a friend. The first part of the programme was a musical rendition by Jashan Bhumkar. That young man has a great voice and the audience spontaneously broke out into applause many a time during his performance. Accompanying him on the tabla and harmonium were   Tejovrush Joshi  and  Abhishek Kathe  respectively and I found myself tapping my fingers and feet to the beat as they blended the instruments and the vocals beautifully together.

After that we were treated to an awesome short film by Nagraj Manjule of Sairat fame. The movie was titled “Paus , ek nibhand”  or “Rain, an essay” and showcased the trials of a little child Raja, who has no time to do his homework – an essay on rain , as the rain creates havoc in his hut and he has to help his mother keep the hut dry in spite of the water dripping in through the cracks in the thatched roofs. The filming of the rain was mind-blowing   and the woes of the marginalised sections of society were brought into focus subtly yet poignantly.

Then  Nagraj ji read out his poems and there was an open discussion on romance and mature love. It was informal with the audience free to interrupt and ask questions and comment.

It was an evening well spent and I did not even miss having anyone to share it with. I finally understood what Cameron means when she says that this time spent with your inner artist is essential for self nurturing. It helps fill the reservoir of creativity in us.

I am glad I did not listen to all those voices inside me telling me that it would be awkward to go alone and that I did not know anyone there and that I did not know what I was letting myself in for. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I plan to go on many more such solo experiences where I just treat myself and my inner creative child!