At every situation, we have a choice of being ourselves or block ourselves from being what we believe. I realised that it takes a lot of energy to not be ourselves and it doesn't even make us feel better. The world needs us and what we bring into this world rather than fit into other's expectations.
Being authentic seems to be a presence of flow. There's no point of blocking the flow and suppressing ourselves.
I have travelled a lot of places for a different reasons. And everytime I've been learning different ways of traveling. Just before I began to travel a bit of Europe, I attended a lecture by Brindusa on 'Contextualising ME in the world' by Brindusa. She emphasized on the concept of Flaneur, the act of strolling the spaces being an acute observer, without any other purpose. Also she suggested to create some rules on our own to follow and immerse onself in the act of strolling.
I began to contemplate on the act of strolling and sensing the spaces in our own ways. When I landed in Leuven, I decided to create a rule on my own and stroll around.
1) Turn Towards A- Whenver I notice the first alphabet of the word to be A, I turn towards it.
I didn't think much about creating a rule and I began to contemplate on how I may immerse myself in noticing only the alphabets. In the beginning, I was always noticing the text and ignored anything around as I walked. As I began to notice the alphabet-A and turn towards it, I was wondering If i'd be missing out other places because of the rule I've created. As I turn towards new streets and look for the alphabet-'A' again, I was sensing the place, people, texture of the buildings with keen attention. After a little bit of distance I noticed 'A' again and turned. There were times where I had to turn thrice in less than a minute and such turns/changes were too fast to grasp. I was feeling my discomfort with the quick change. Where will this take me? Why can't I visit any famous monument and sit there? I thought. I continued walking and didn't force myself to look for A. I immersed myself to observe the place and ran into different sculptures, garden and got interested in it's stories. Eventually, I forgot the pressure of looking for A. As I kept walking, If I looked at A, I turned and if not, I continued to walk as my feet took me. There seems to be an act of surrender in this type of traveling. Had fun and explored the place in different way.
2) Take a turn whenever there's one
As I reached Ghent, a port and university city, it has a rich history as it was capital of flemish region. With port on it's side there are a lot of Canals in the town. With little bridges, there are a lot of junctions and connecting roads. Walking in the town, I came up with the rule- 'Take a turn whenever there's one' Spending some time on Ghent, the rule came very naturally sensing the turns and connecting roads. Following the rule, I visited a lot of bookshops, thrift shops, cafes and old buildings. I realised how our idea of success is always straight. All the rules seems to teach me the act of surrendering and navigating in life. I never felt I'm missing out experiences and important monuments due to this travel, as I embarked on the famous cathedral and market squares naturally.
3) Song suggestions and Stations
I have a travel pass where I can get on any train in Belgium for a limited time. I had an option of traveling to a certain place and spending time or hop on trains and arrive at any town and stroll around. Why do we always have to reach the famous places, who makes places famous, I pondered.
I hardly use social media when I'm traveling. To be more open rather than judgemental about anything, I decided to use social media in this trip. I asked my friends to share their favourite songs. Whenever, I notice the first alphabet of the song, I'd get off the train and take a new one. Seemed very interesting. I received my first suggestion and got off the train. I also realised, I can't spend much time waiting, I need to get on the next available train. Thanks to my data network, I was solely relying on the train wifi. Hence, I was not keen to check social media whenever I was on train between the stations. I checked my phone only when I reached any particular station. I changed 7 trains while I got a chance to meet my senior by coincidence. I got off the train,went ahead to meet my senior and spent 3 hours catching up on our journeys and resumed my journey. It seemed worthwhile rule as I met my senior, serendipituously.
4) Don't wait too long. Move forward.
I began my journey in the wallonia region of Belgium and was amused to travel through the hilly region. As I reached the border of Belgium and Luxembourg, I walked out of the station and got on to the bus provided by Luxembourg. In Luxembourg, the public transport is free for everyone. I got onto the bus at Gouvy and traveled through Luxembourg. I was amazed by the nature and weather. It's a small country with places that can reached within 40-50 minutes. Everywhere I went, I waited less than 4 minutes and got onto the bus that's heading to a different place. Like that, I ended up entering Germany as well. I met interesting people and travelers on my way. It's another story for another day. By evening, I ended up at Bastogne, the place where battle of bulge is fought. Watching Band of Brothers- HBO Mini series on war, I have a lot of affinity to these places. So happy to end up here. I'm glad I kept moving forward and embraced the experiences.
In retrospect, all the rules seem trivial but, they are very close and relatable to whatever is happening in my life. Very intuitively, listening to the inner voices, I came up with these rules and explored the places. Now, it's time to travel inwards and outwards trusting our voices rather than relying on some external fears and standards set by others.
Friends ask me how people strike a conversation deeply the minute, they cross paths with me. I don't have an answer but my experiences push me to continue to trust as I cross paths.
On a windy day, I strolled in the streets of Amsterdam, just returning from a windmill's place where I was intentional in celebrating friends' birthdays who are far away across the sea.
Passing the canals, I kept strolling, absorbing the space and the sounds it had to offer. There's a lot of hustle and crowd. I kept walking watching around. Suddenly, I saw an art gallery and entered it without a second thought. I was awestruck by the paintings.An intimate experience to see the paintings all by myself without any distraction. Later, a lady walked in striking a conversation.Planning to travel is a very intense task as it takes a lot of energy to move. Wherever I live in a certain place, I call it a home. And leaving the home for certain time drained me a lot in the past as I've to change the routine once in 3 weeks. As I got ready to travel again for long time, I got reminded of the days when I clean my house before I leave. I used to wonder whom am I cleaning the home for. When I leave, I clean the home and return after two to three weeks. As there'd be people who clean the space I used to live for three weeks, I get used and I don't clean the home. The moment I had to leave, I realise that no one would clean the space and I have to clean it by myself and I hurry to clean it.
The pattern just got repeated. I cleaned it and got late to bed and rushed to the airport. Hope I change the pattern soon.
After a long time, I got a chance to watch a full length TED talk and thoroughyl enjoyed it.
Ever since I began to attend the concert, I always planned to attend the concert organised by Migros. This is the second orchestra, I'm listening to. I like the conductor who has his pecuiliarities. He had a drum by his side and gave a rhythm at times. Loved it. After the performance, a orchestra full of cellosist behind the flautist and people with Japanese drums and opera singers walked in. It was a fabulous 2 hour performance. Soon after the performance, the whole hall was silent for a minute. I felt the power of silence then. People were in trance as they were immersed in the performance. Enjoyed it well. Great day.
As I drafted the message and shared it across, a couple of friends walked into exhibiton and shared their response. Grusha & Anirudha shared as they checked out the exhibition. Shabon and his friends joined and appreciated my efforts. They helped me in placing the posters in right way. As I headed to the class and got back, found few friends. One of the persons whom I shared my art class with shared that he love the pieces. At the end of day, walked along with Tanya and shared a conversation.
I learnt that my art is out there and doing it's job. I may not be there in person but, my art is evoking someone who pass by and interact with it. Do I need to know what emotions is my art evoking? Do I need to know if my art found it's purpose? Do I need to know how it's affecting? I do not know. Also, I wanted to write an introduction for myself and struggled a bit.
I realised that to hardest part is to tell about yourself. The more aware of who you are, the better you articulate yourself.
Here's the introduction I wrote-
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Abhinay Renny currently lives in Geneva, pursuing master’s in international development studies at Graduate Institute, Geneva. He authored 4 books- 2 novels, ‘In between the bridge’, ‘Rainy Summer’, 2 books of poetry- “The Wordless Conversation,” “Colourless” & got poems published in a few international anthologies. Along with it, he had Art exhibition at Bangalore & Jaipur in India.
In the past 6 years, he worked in IT Industry as well as social organisation. Curious to perceive the world, not in silos, he began his journey to Geneva to explore the themes he’s passionate about- Education, Technology, Environment & Art- its effect on humanity.
Staying in the questions- ‘What it takes to trust others?’ & ‘What it takes to say- ‘I don’t know’ Abhinay Renny has taken up hitchhiking in India, trusting strangers and seeking help from them and striking conversations with them.
Continuing to trust people around him, share a space with others, he has decided to put his art for sale.
Sanket and Poorvi walked into the rooftop, mentioning that others would join. I joined them and I got reminded of my Sirohi days where we used to play basketball everyday. Following the old style of flipping hands and choosing the teams, we changed the teams frequently and played for hour or more. S took the role of DJ and played peppy music. Half of the time, I find myself grooving to the tunes rather than stay focussed to the game. Had fun.
S shared the song that I enjoyed listening. This time, it's an acoustic version. Thanks S. Enjoyed listening to it.
We didn't have empty space to host the empty space art exhibtion. I wanted to keep the space empty on the first day. However, it was not empty at all. I had to wait till things are removed and I walked at 10 am, prepared to set the exhibition up. I got reminded of all the friends who were there during this journey. In Jaipur I had the whole gang who were there through out and supported me. In my first exhibition in Geneva, Ann and her friend joined to help me out. This time, I went alone carrying all the paintings, taking my own time to process the changes in life.
As I began to set it up, I fumbled with the orientation and height. I walked here and there. I kept moving around watching the empty space. Playing Aadujeevitham songs, I organised the art within 2 hours. I placed it on the ground to see how it looks and it took me a lot of time to set it up.
Sanjna walked in and loved the canvases more than the postards. She offered orange. So thoughtful of her. I was working continuously without taking a break. It was indeed a needed. Later, Puru walked in and was amazed by the size. Happy to see the reactions. A few others passed by and felt that I'm insane by producing the huge amount of work. I do not paint when I'm free. I make myself free to paint. After few errands, I continued setting it up catching up with Jaya.
As I began to bring it on the wall, people began to stop by and wondered what this is all about. Anthony walked in and appreciated my effort. Others were curious of it. Adhira joined me in the evening and within few minutes, she showed me the way to stick the post cards in smart way. Smart lawyer pondered on her life decisions but, I'm confident she'd figure out soon and celebrate her life.
As the golden hour passed, everyone left the space and I got a chance to catch up with myself and the emptyspaces. Shruti joined me and suggested a few changes as I set up the canvases. It indeed came out really well. I'm so happy with how the the exhibition is turning up. A long day. Time to celebrate the hard work.
At every situation, we have a choice of being ourselves or block ourselves from being what we believe. I realised that it takes a lot of ene...
