Journey from left to right

 Journey from the left to right


The left brain and the right brain a demarcation I learnt in psychology at college, till then we as individuals  were of two category either brainy or brainless.
In college when  we did the first  test to check which part of our  brain is dominant with in,, I was overjoyed that it was a overdominant left.  It is said  that left brained people are good at logic reasoning and mathematics. Now I knew I was so well fitted for this education system and hence fit for the world as a whole. I had the key to success right in the left hemisphere

The thought however haunted me that, if the  left brain is indeed what we need then why the hell was a right one created in the first place?  Further in collge we  dealt with creativity as a  subject so as to tickle the right brain but in this practical world it was more of a fun exercise and a subject that had no weightage for our final evaluation.
So the  active left brain had  his way everywhere. The left kept
seeing logic, science, commerce, economics, profits, socio economics politics in anything that I saw or ventured into..
But the question of the rights existence still lingered around.

In mid life, as things settle the urge to look at  incomplete ends like   hobbies and  interests suddenly  start surfacing. We look back at those rope ends   we had left behind on the way and picked up those, which seemed  more important then, to climb up on the life's ladder

I decided to try my hand into art drawing and painting..
I was never been an artist at school rather never tested myself to it but I loved to see beautiful handcrafted things and they did attract me from early childhood.
I found it as a challenge as it was a field I knew just nothing about.

I had no idea what the different  drawing terms were and what different mediums are used in painting but the call was really so strong and I jumped into it.
The left brain was given rest and the dormant right was nudged to wake up.
So many years into a deep   slumber the right one took long time to tick. Everytime I would wait for the right one to make a move the hyper active left one  out of old habit would get into action almost immediately and speak about logic or ask for a logical explanation in the  new concept that I  was learning.

This got really frustrating, you can't really colour and draw with a left brain. The whole thing then ceases to be a fun activity and becomes more technical logical and at the end  stressful.
The left plays another role too. It dissuades you from continuing the same. You can hear a voice saying what is the use of this. It's not getting you money. It's a dead investment on paper paints and brushes. It's cheaper to buy a good from  a budding artist.
So on so forth.

The challenge,, I soon realised  was  not in activating the right brain but was in quieting the left, at least  in the beginning and later making the soft whisper of the right more loud and audible.

The battle between my right and left went on. This time however I was not to give up easily  like the few time I had done earlier--, accepting defeat to the demands  of the left.

It was indeed difficult to even understand some techniques and the worst was when  the teacher would ask me to see colour tones and values in any object I saw. He would ask us to visually divided the object into various shades of darks and lights
This was so difficult that I thought it is easier to learn some rocket science than this visual game.
For me a object looked either green or blue or white . It had a define geometric shape and thats all.
What  was it all about seeing a red in white or blue in a green I just  couldn't understand  Nor could I see the triangle in the circle and a cone with a square in it!!!


Struggling from flat colour washes to logical shading I kept moving between the right and left.

One year into this new found art I slowly started seeing shades in objecst and  all things as an object of beauty.
The tones, values were now readable and no more French and Latin as they used to be.

Now trying on different colour mediums was a challenge  that I gave myself, especially  my left  brain to keep it happy and functioning.
So the left was quietened a bit and it let the right speak up a bit.

On one ocassion  I picked up a book that had a maths puzzle. This is something I loved to do because it was a favourite thing for  my left brain and when I went through, I realised it took me a moment to even understand what the puzzle was all about it was a moment when  I went blank   I realised the left had suddenly gone quiet.
But the human brain  is so beautiful just challange   it a bit and it got working with the old enthusiasm and the maths problem was solved and this time with a different approach . A contribution I think was from the right who seem to be saying I too can solve  maths with you Mr left but in my own  style.

Now when I travel through  villages in punjab I see the beautiful shades in the wheat farms the vibrant yellows of the mustard and sunflowers at the different times of the day. I can actually visualise a painting  of a brick kiln  situated amidst the  green fields.
And as I do this the left also does its job thinking of the the village economy the topography  the pollution caused by  the smoke coming out  from the chimney of the kiln.

 I now try and see the melody in the voice of a singer on the road than  just drowning myself in thoughts about unemployment and poverty in our country . Once you learn some art you learn to appreciate other forms too.
I have grown to be  more patient and more observant too.

My  journey from the left brain to the right and then balancing out with the two has been  amazing. It's like finding a new self within.
The left provides means for survival and the right gives reason for it.
No doubt creative and artistic pursuits in the past held so
much importance in our society' something we seem to be losing in the  present rat race..