I learn therefore I am

On learning, attending workshops and more

In 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, Anand Gandhi (Director of Ship of Theseus) uploaded a six-minute video on YouTube that completely changed my life—and continues to do so.

The video was meant for the batch of 2020, who graduated during the pandemic into a world very different from what they must have imagined. It was intended to motivate and inspire them, and I happened to watch it. That’s when I learned the greatest lesson of my life.

I won’t keep you hanging until the end of the newsletter for the lesson, so here it is:

Everything is learnable.

I have watched this video dozens of times over the past four years, and every time I watch it, I learn something new. Anand Gandhi has packed immense wisdom into this short video through his storytelling and powerful insights.

All my life, I believed that people are born with talent and skill, and that’s just how life unfolds. When I saw someone playing the guitar, I assumed they were born talented. I thought that I could never write or shoot photographs because I was not born with those skills. During the pandemic, after watching this video, that belief evaporated. At the same time, people worldwide were trying to acquire new skills, explore their passions, and try different things. This inspired me further. A close friend learned calligraphy and then started painting; today, she’s a full-time artist. My childhood friend, an architect, learned to code and now runs a successful tech startup. Seeing these examples around me, I almost felt cheated. Why didn’t anyone tell me this was possible?

Without wasting much time, I decided to learn whatever interested me, regardless of how much talent or skill I thought I had in that domain.

Over the years:

• I volunteered at a farm for two months to learn about permaculture.

• I watched hundreds of videos and podcasts about long-distance motorcycling.

• I tried to learn how to fix my bike but realized it was beyond my mental capacity to grasp anything technical.

• I wrote children’s comic books and learned about storyboarding and conceptualizing.

• I learned how to brew excellent café-like coffee for my travels.

• I learned how to print photographs to sell them.

• I learned about e-commerce to sell my photographs.

• I learned how to build websites.
  and many other things.

The realization brought about by that video changed my life for the better. Today, if something interests me, I don’t hesitate—I jump right in and learn it myself.

2024 is history, but if you allow me, I’d like to share my journey as a student over the last few months.

Here are a few workshops I attended last year:

1) Travel Writing Workshop at Deer Park
I started my year with my favourite storyteller’s workshop on travel writing at Deer Park. Through writing exercises, discussions, and activities, we learned the art of telling engaging and impactful travel stories. Shivya Nath’s workshop was well-paced, collaborative, and meaningful. She held the space beautifully, with intent and creativity—just like her other work!

I also met fascinating people during the workshop, many of whom I’m still in touch with. This year, Shivya is hosting a similar workshop at Deer Park, and I’ll be co-facilitating with her. I’m excited to create the workshop with her and meet more inspiring people!

2) Online Travel Storytelling Course
Last year, Shivya also launched her online self-paced course on Travel Storytelling. After attending her workshop at Deer Park, I decided to also check out her online course. I have bought many self-paced online courses in the past few years but somehow they never keep me entertained after a certain point. In fact, I have never completed an online course other than this one. What is very powerful about Shivya’s course is that she has spent more than a decade in the travel writing industry. Her insights come not just from knowledge but also from rich experience. The community of the course is a godsend and I have been fortunate to find so many lovely creative people through the course. Being a writer-creator, a community of well-meaning writers and creator friends is all I wanted and I got all of that and more from this course!

3) Editing Workshop by Vidya Rao Ji
In October 2023, I happened to attend a writing workshop by Vidya Rao Ji and that led to the decision to move to the mountains. Last year, I got the opportunity to attend another workshop by her which was on Manuscript Editing. Vidya Ji’s style of teaching is very different. She engages the participants in lengthy discussions, meaningful readings, heartfelt sharing and also judgement-free writing. Through the workshop, the belief that I too can write and share my work got reinstated in me, exactly what I needed from that workshop.

4) Conscious Communication Workshop by Roy Jacob
The most transformative experience for me last year was attending this workshop on Conscious Communication by Roy Jacob. I have written a detailed post about it. In March, this year I am going for Level 2 of the same workshop. If you have the time and headspace please do check out my post about the workshop. The workshop is truly one of a kind.

5) Tell a Story by Indrajit Khambe
In the month of October, I got the opportunity to learn from one of the finest photographers of the country. Indrajit Khambe’s workshop on Storytelling through Photographs introduced me to a world of photography that I was unaware of. The kind of photography that ends at the click of the camera, not start. It starts 100 steps earlier, 99 of which don’t even require a camera.

Indrajit is a very hard-working artist who practices photography in his village in Rural Maharashtra. He dons simple photography gear and even without being part of any big photography community or living in a metro city, he has made his mark in the Indian photography scene all thanks to his hard work and creative processes. I learnt a lot about storytelling and photography from him but most of what I learnt from him was discipline. I hope to meet him someday.

6) Documentary Filmmaking Workshop at Deer Park
I got the chance to attend another workshop at Deer Park (3rd for the year) on Documentary Filmmaking. I won’t write much about it. The facilitator was a creative man, very inspiring and deeply motivated to pursue his craft. However, the workshop wasn’t planned very well and was very unstructured too. I left the workshop midway on the 3rd day but I am glad that I participated and experienced it all for myself.

7) Four-Month Facilitator Training Journey
I was also part of a 4-month learning journey to learn how to be a better facilitator and space holder. The 4-month journey culminated in a 3-day in-person meetup at Udaipur and I had the most beautiful time with the team and the participants. The journey was beautifully structured, planned and documented. It was also very deep and resourceful. I am yet to spend time and go through the resources carefully to try to make deeper sense of the journey but it was surely intense and very much needed for me. Perhaps, I will write about this again sometime in future.

Structured workshops and courses are not the only way to learn. In fact, daily life teaches us more than any workshop can but sometimes entering into the space of organised and structured learning prepares our brain to be more receptive and open to new knowledge, information and insights.

I am grateful that my privilege and my lifestyle allow me to access these learning opportunities throughout the year. I am also grateful to institutions like Deer Park that allow for free and accessible learning for all through their free courses all around the year.

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Excited to share that Creative Writing Laboratory is back with another writing space after a very long time. This year, I intend to hold many writing spaces in order to learn from other people and to offer a little of what I know.

I am sorry for the short notice but the space is tomorrow (Sunday) at 12:30 IST. The topic of the space is “Sanctifying Failure”. The intention of the space is to talk about failure, share our journey, write about it and celebrate it!

I am excited to see some of you tomorrow! Here is the link for the call.

PS: I have priced the call at 200. For any reason, if you’re unable to afford it, please write back to me and I will share the link with you for free no questions asked :)

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I invite you to reflect and write on the following prompt:

Write about the most memorable learning experience you've had. What made it captivating? Reflect on the mentors, peers, and mindset that shaped it. Share your story.

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As a feature of all my newsletters, I share one song, one book, one plant-based meal, one film/video that inspired me, and some photographic updates from my life.

• Song: I loved this Qawwali by Farid Ayaz & Abu Muhammad on Rumi’s poetry.

• Book/Newsletter: Loved this newsletter by Amie. Thank you for writing this piece

• Meal: Loved having this yummy vegan meal at a friend’s house!

  

• Film/Video: Did you get the chance to watch the video by Anand Gandhi that I talked about earlier? Watch it if you can!

• Photographs: Went to see snow with my friends!