Interview with:GAURANGI JIGNESH PATEL [gaurangipatel]
CREATIVITY
 | How and why did you begin to be creative? Nature, juxtaposed against human behaviour: basically, this is the catalystic force behind my creativity.I believe I began at a very early age, around puberty, firstly, with Paintings & Drawing, leading to Poetry writing,eventually.I still remember my 1st novel reading:Leo Tolstoy's "War & Peace". |
| When you accept a job, how much value do you place on each of the following? Money, creative liberty, visibility, and to work with the best. Ofcourse creative liberty & faith in my visibility! |
| Have you ever had a job that was so stimulating that you could not get your mind off of it? Oh Yes! When I had to hunt for 'outstanding achievers' in all/any field,contact them & interview them in person, for FM Radio, SBS,Australia. |
| "To give birth to ideas." Is this only an expression, or are there really parallels between giving birth and creativity? Parallels: Sometimes an idea is born, sometimes one is inspired... |
| Does spirituality contribute to your creativity? Definitely.I believe strongly that the kind of discussions I grew up with hearing, from my "Daadimaa & Naanimaa', on spirituality has influenced me as being my 'abstract muse', a lot, till date! |
| Declaration: With what person or business would you like to work? One who enjoys the freedom to express, without being malign, and 'lives & let live", and, loves having brain storming sessions with an absolutely open mind! |
| What criteria do you use when selecting someone to be a part of your creative team? As a human being, how is 'he/she'? Are they rational minded & "thinkers:out-of-the-box" kind? Are they passionate enough? |
| The armchair psychologist: Is creativity an act of rebellion for you? Yes, in many ways.Sure enough! |
| What is the best advertisement you've seen recently? Oh,several, with a sense of humour,especially/touching basic human nature. |
| Do you work well under pressure? Yes...I exert "grace under pressure" too:) |
| What city in the world currently attracts you due to its creative environment? My home town, (all the time),Sydney,Nice in France. |
| How is an idea sold? It has to be appealing, bold,touching everyone's innermost values/thinking...advanced/ahead of time... |
| What do you feel when, after two or three years, you see an idea of yours again? Umm, I may want to make additions, (NOT delete),based on gained maturity since... |
| Ideas can come simultaneously to different people in different places with no connection to one another. How do you explain this phenomenon? Basically, we are humans, facing adversity as well as challenges & success...This is more or less the common factor, binding the majority. |
| You are as good as your last idea. Wouldn't you like to have a more secure type of work? Oh no.Why become stunted?Creativity has to flow, come what may...at risk of any thing...One just cannot compromise with creativity...even though, it may incurr wrath of many...It acts as a socio=psycho 'torch-bearer', noble duty! |
WRITING
| What did you first read? How did you begin to write? Who were the first to read what you wrote? To be frank, I got fascinated by wrtie ups I came across, & tried to 'copy/steal', when I was in std 8th!My teacher reprimanded & I took it to heart...since then.I read "War & Peace", which made me study/observe human being's inhuman behaviour, from a very young age,before adoloscence.My Father & teacher were the first to read. |
| What is your favorite genre? Can you provide a link to a site where we can read some of your work or learn something about it? Human interest.Love/Romance.Social/Historical relevance,As I write in English & Gujarati (also Hindi, but never featured),my works could be find here:
Chicken Soup for the Indian Teenage Soul
www.gaurangi.wordpress.com (Gujarati)
www.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lifestyle/Spirituality/Soul_Curry_No_woman_no_cry/articleshow/3562093.cms#write
www.sbs.com.au/gujarati
www.ryze.com/gaurangipatel (Several articals & Poems)
www.readgujarati.com (story & poem)
www.vinelamoti.com (Poem)
Gunjan (Magazine from USA,California)(Short story)
My interview, short story & interviews conducted by me, broad casted at sbs radio,FM, Australia as well as www.speakbindas.com
Awarded for poem based on Gujarat riots, with relevance to Gandhiji. |
| What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write? In flashes, regardless of situation.I carry paper & Pencil, ALL the time. |
| What type of reading inspires you to write? Mainly articulate discriptions, that takes to virtually to places, & imagination.For this, the best example is "One Hundred Years of Solitude", by Gabriel Marquez.But mainly, real life incidents propells me towards jotting... |
| What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story? Long lasting imapct on reader's mind is most essential.This requires something of human interest, yet something contrary to their beliefs...That which makes them feel unrestful... |
| What voice do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Both, depending on the subject matter. |
| What well known writers do you admire most? Several:Victor Hugo,Sartre,D.H.Lawrence,Saul Below,O.Henry,Henry James,Elliot,Oscar Wilde,Scot Fitzgerald,R.D.Blackmore,Emily Bronte,Agatha Christie, Spinoza,Maupassant, Touquvelle,Prescott, Plutarch, Paine,Descartes,Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alaxandre Dumas,Walter Scott, Gustave Flaubert, William Shakespeare,Thomas Hardy, Ogden Nash,Tennyson, Thoreau, Maxim Gorky, T.H.huxley,M.Hawthorne, Mark twain,Pearl S.Buck,H.G.Wells, Jules Verne, Virginia Woolf, Walt Whitman, Emile Zola,Plato,Aristotle, Rousseau,Karl Marx, Thomas Hobbes, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, Voltaire, Jane Austin, William Blake,Byron, Arthur Conan Doyle,E.M.Forster,Emerson, Chekhov,Robert Frost,
Goethe, Hawthorne Nathaniel,James Joyce,Kafka, Keats,Somerset Maugham, Machievelli, Martin Luther,Thomas More,George Orwell, Shelly, Jonathan Swift,Tagore, Wordworth, Yeats, P.G.Woodhouse, Thoreau... |
| What is required for a character to be believable? How do you create yours? Observation around... |
| Are you equally good at telling stories orally? Oh yes, I believe so. |
| Deep down inside, who do you write for? My inner self:) |
| Is writing a form of personal therapy? Are internal conflicts a creative force? Yes.And, also, as an optimistic view; that"it may just change the rigid mind set, somewhere..." |
| Does reader feed-back help you? Definitely.Also, critique helps one to re-think. |
| Do you participate in competitions? Have you received any awards? Yes. I have recieved an award for my poem at state level & also, had a tie at 4th place at global level short story competition. |
| Do you share rough drafts of your writings with someone whose opinion you trust? Sure,I do. |
| Do you believe you have already found "your voice" or is that something one is always searching for? Partially, yes.But the search never ends, I believe. |
| What discipline do you impose on yourself regarding schedules, goals, etc.? I have my own strict time-stucture for my creative hours.I am best at it between 3.00 am to 7.am, EVERDAY! |
| What do you surround yourself with in your work area in order to help your concentrate? Quite, alone, birds' chirps & My Favourite Music. |
| Do you write on a computer? Do you print frequently? Do you correct on paper? What is your process? Yes, on computer.When not nearby it, I scribble on any piece of paper, later to be wrote on computer.Convert/edit from raw to finer n final version, along with proofread, & then save/print. |
| What sites do you frequent on-line to share experiences or information? Several, I google as & when.Also, at ryze.com, caferati.com,linkedin, facebook,wordpress,sites of various writers... |
| What has been your experience with publishers? Not too good.But I am taking it in stride...Do I have a choice?! |
| What are you working on now? Trying to transform my own 2 short stories into script form for screen play, eventually, desiring to make a short film for global level competitions.
Continuing with poetry-writing. |
| What do you recommend I do with all those things I wrote years ago but have never been able to bring myself to show anyone? Come out of the cuccoon, share & show, try, try, try again... |
JOURNALISM
| What is your specialty? What subjects do you deal with? Interviewing "Outstanding Achievers" in any/every field, any age group, either gender, any location (therefore, online too.) |
| In which media do you presently work or have you worked? SBS radio FM, Australia/your language section & www.speakbindas.com |
| Please list a web address where where one can view an example of your work. www.speakbindas.com
www.sbs.com.au/gujarati |
| What is "news"? Democracy prevailing & executed in the true sense, all over... |
| To you, what is objectivity? Any news,authentic, not censored. |
| What is the best headline you have ever read? YES, actually, in a newspaper at a War musuem in Canberra,Australia, about "End of World War II". |
| What headline would you like to see printed one day in the newspaper? Kyoto agreement,signed by ALL the countries
All countries destroying all th ewar fare means/armaments.
Food EVERONE,for ever
Corruptionless globe |
| Which paper do you buy on Sundays? Where do you read it? Times of India & The Hindu.Everything related to human interest, that works towards betterment of human species, & leads towards curbing of Global warming.Actually, I have become more aware after watching Al Gore's Video re same. |
| Does freedom of expression end where the editorial line begins? Yes, & No.Depends.Also, I appreciate Asange's courage. |
| Do you feel that analytical and investigative journalism is being lost? No. |
| With a camera on every mobile phone, is every citizen becoming a correspondent? No. |
| How would you explain the boom of the tabloid press? Human psychology. |
| What is your position regarding the right to privacy of famous people? They have EVERY right to privacy. |
| What can you teach us about the art of the interview? Teach You?! Uhh...your questions bring out the real me on the out...that is the best technique...Being emphathetic... |
| Please list well-known people you have interviewed. Dr.Rushi Gadawala, Dr.Bhagwati Oza, Dr. Bhupendra Palan, Jay Bhrambhatt,Abishek Jain, Anna,Dhruvin...mor to come, namely, Pinky Bhatt... |
| Would you say the journalism blog is revolutionizing the profession? Yes. |
| Will the paper press disappear? No. |
| What is the book you would like to write? Yes, 2:
Assimilate all the outstanding achievers, bring them out in a book form with their ideas & mottos on : HOW did they survive in unfortunate circumstances, for example, my best pick is Lance Armstrong.
My biography. |
| Is there a motto or ethical principle that clarifies your decisions in moments of confusion? Yes: "Let this pass, I have come out of most difficult moments so far, I will now, too, just hold on...one step at a time" |
| What advice would you give to someone who has just left university and wishes to start in the profession? Get 1st hand experience from scratch! |
EDUCATION
| What subjects do you teach? What types of students do you have? Early Childhood development through Play way, activity-based & Montessori methods, combined.
Age group: 1.5 to 5.5 years.( Play Group to Kindergarten) |
| Can you provide a link to a site where we can see something about what you do or the center where you work? www.babypearl.co.in |
| How have your past experiences prepared you for teaching? How did you become interested in education? Yes, at University level.Lack of integrity & being inconsistent & basic skills to analyse. Pathetic.Then, I realised, characteristic traits takes firm roots by the year 6.Thus, I found my own Preschool & registered an Educational Trust for kids belonging to 1.5 yrs onwards. |
| Who was your most influential teacher and why? Sir Prajapati at Convent School & Dr.Rana at M.S.University.Threw intriguing questions at us in such a way, I used to rush to library to find answers on my own, browse/read thousands of books;relevant,irrelevant, leading me the best kind of anaylsis. |
| What is your educational philosophy? Education should be the main force to help start thinking in rational manner & lead to 'out-of-the-box' thinking.It should liberalise mankind & society of rigidity & fanaticism. |
| What is the most challenging aspect of teaching for you? Making the subject most interesting as well as, bringing out though-provoking questions in the minds of the learners. |
| What kind of relationship do you have with your students? Love, respect, admiration & to have achieved a comfort level. |
| What is the secret to instilling interest in knowledge? By help of simple/common & various examples, which they can co-relate to & challenging them to change the mind set. |
| What is your philosophy on homework and grading? I am for open-book examination policy.The wider knowledge based analysis, the higher the grade allotment. |
| Is it possible to teach creativity? how? Yes & No.Depends. |
| How do you establish authority? What do you do when a discipline problem arises? Have a heart-to-heart, one on one base talk. |
| How do you individualize your teaching? How do you handle the different ability levels of students in classes? Personal sessions, encouragement, guidance, individually... |
| What cooperative learning means to you. How have you used it? Team work.Collectively working out on a problem/assignment, with a short-term deadline. |
| What do you expect from your supervisor? What qualities would you like to have in your principal? Extremly knowledgeable, humane, with a sense of humour. |
| What issues in education are of greatest concern to you? No indepth teaching.Only superficial level teaching just to complete the work & recieving salary at mth end-attitude. |
| Would it be a good thing if teachers had economic incentives based on student performance? Yes & No. |
| Besides more financial resources, what do today's schools lack? Acedemic enviorment,dedicated teachers, somewhere, reading habits/lack of library. |
| What are some ways you have incorporated technology into the classroom. CCTV,Speakers,Mike & music system. TV (as & when/rare basis). |
| In light of new technologies, do we need to reinvent the school, its methods and objectives? Yes. |
| If you could create the ideal school, what would it be like? Having all the afore mentioned & much more amneties, supporting all round development with a view to inculcating value-education & a questionaing mind! |
| What do you think schools will be like in 20 years? Depends. |
| What are your professional goals? Where do you want to be in five years? To bring awareness among parental community re "Preparing Child for the Road & Not road for the Child". I have learnt a few essentials by attending Japanese Teaching Techniques at Australia, at a Seminar.Want to attend much more, world wide.Implementing all of it at my Preschool. |
| What qualities would you need to see in someone before advising him/her to go into teaching? Is he/she a good human being?Does he/she care for children & their future?How passionately?Is earning the ONLY goal? |
PERSONALITY
| What hobbies have you got? Reading, Travelling, Writing, Interacting,Networking,surfing, Music... |
| Which actor would you like to be? Meryl Streep. |
| If you were sent to a deserted island, which book, CD and film would you take with you? Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Kerenina",CD of memories of close family gatherings & 'Sleepless in Seatle' Movie. |
| How do you find the balance between working to live and living to work? Out of 24 hrs; I divide equally between both the goals! |
| In moments of tension, what techniques work in calming the mind? Calling a close friend & deep breathing/reading an engaging book. |
| A simple pleasure that for you is quite big or important. Anything amusing/foolish that involves ME, & being able to share right away & have a great laugh.
Also, searching something important & finding it straightaway, makes me BELIEVE in existence of God Almighty! |
| What is the greatest loss you have had in your life? Emotional pain by dear & near ones, & humiliation by them. |
| How do you respond to telemarketing calls? Sometimes I start marketing a few things with them! But if I am in a middle of something important, I can be very harsh. |
| It is 5 pm on a typical Sunday: what are you doing? Sleeping soundly |
| Something in which you are completely incompetent. Technical matters. |
| Of what are you an addict? Reading |
| You have nine wins in a row in a game of roulette: do you continue because you are on a good run, or abandon the game because statistically, it is your turn to lose? Abondon! |
| What toy gave you the best moments of your childhood? Marble & a Wooden Doll! |
| What was your favourite primary/secondary school teacher like? Smiling & sympathetic & witty. |
| How did you meet your current boy/girlfriend? Through a mutual friend, at a paly-rehearse I was acting in. |
| What was your first vehicle? Bicycle. |
| Your New Year resolutions. I never make resolutions on new year.I do it when think, enough is enough, any time of the year. |
| Is there any superstition that makes you change your behaviour? No,never a superstition. |
| Does knowing someone's zodiac sign help you to better understand that person? Yes, but not always. |
| Please list something you have not yet done, but that you would definitely like to do someday. Figure skating, Golf-playing, bungee-jumping. |
| In your lifetime, what is the best news you have ever seen printed? People helping strangers during Bombay-flood. |
| To which other place in the world would you move without hesitation? Nice,France! |
| A bad habit you have overcome. Being Impulsive. |
| A word or expression that you love. Tread softly...for you tread on my heart. |
| A word or expression that you detest. "I do not believe you..." |
| Which animal do you prefer for company? Horse. |
| What do you imagine yourself doing for your retirement? Spending money the way i would like to:travel, read famous books, visit museums all over,doing some community service & writing. |
| If you were to return reincarnated, which real-life person would you like to be? Beauty of Lady Diana, fortune/wealth/Brains of Bill Gates, but definitely a female... |
CULTURE
| What do you currently have in your MP3 player? Richard Clayderman, Enrique Eglesias, Russian Folk, M.Bolton,Bonney M,Gujarati Sugam songs & Gujarati Folk, Rafi. |
| Places in the world that you have visited recently. Singapore & Australia |
| What is that special film you never tire of watching? Dr.Zivago |
| What is to come after consumist society? Can't envisage other than this. |
| Do you find the saturation of advertising in the media excessive? No. |
| Do you believe there is excessive sex and violence in the media? Yes. |
| What were your favourite subjects when you were in primary/secondary school? English language, Geometry, Drawing & Physiology. |
| Has there been a personal-growth book that has transformed your life? Yes, Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits..." |
| Do you defend urban graffiti? Yes. |
| Piracy continues to grow: What will happen to the music and film
industries and culture in general? Will survive. |
| What sports do you play and how often? None, except cards/carrom board at times.Love to play Throw-Ball. |
| What do you have in your wallet right now? To be frank, substantial, but no accurate amount that I know of. |
| How do you kill time? Not that I am aware of! |
| In which city do you live? What are your favourite and least favourite things about it? Vadodara.
Safe any time, at most of the lighted places too at night time.Dry zone.
Not much spots for outings or 1/2 days picnic. |
| Where have you thought of going for your next holiday? USA & Alaska. |
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GAURANGI JIGNESH PATEL
Vadodara,India
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