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Puppet Show at Workplace



You want me to be creative wearing the rigid straitjacket you’ve fabricated. 
You fix the routine of my each day with sirens that bombard my mailbox.
You started as my leader and turned slowly,
Like a mythical insect drawing nutrition from some invisible god’s ignorance,
Into a gargantuan monster whose shadow bedevilled my footsteps
Wherever I went, whatever I did.
And you chastise me for not being creative.

Can a puppet be creative?

Epilogue: “Being creative means being able to relax into uncertainty and confusion.”  [Fritjof Capra, The Hidden Connections]

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Comments

  1. Very well expressed and a good thought.
    Also love the vocab :)
    A puppet can't be creative :)

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    Replies
    1. The vocab is directly proportional to one's emotions :)

      Delete
  2. Actually they don't have the right too..creativity is also measured in our modern workplace..a bit of this and a spoonful of that..Oh yes..you're creative..how dare you mix that spice without asking me ? darn your creativity !

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    Replies
    1. Very right, you are, Maniparna. Everything is measured today. Only the boss can determine how much of each ingredient is acceptable. In Maruti company, I heard, the boss decides when the staff can pee!

      Delete
  3. Lovely unique side to an expression....creativity flutters wings

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    Replies
    1. Glad you loved my creativity, though I'm also metamorphosing into a puppet. Is this a swansong? I hope not. I know how to redeem myself.

      Delete
  4. How true, Sir!
    How we stiffle creativity & then demand it :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Especially in schools? You know it.

      Delete
    2. Yes Sir!
      Watched Taare Zameen Par yesterday again & my belief was reinforced...We need more creativity & allowing freedom to our kids to pursue their interests...

      Delete
  5. So very true of the corporate scene! similar sentements I had expressed in my poem"Employee in Knots"

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    Replies
    1. It's interesting (and more consoling) to know that there are a lot of people who find my poem relevant.

      Delete
  6. Hmm... by venting out feelings... beautifully in verse ! creativity of puppets:)

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Nicely expressed Matheikal jee. Can a puppet be creative? I don't think so, and I guess this is the reason why companies are becoming less productive these days. I suppose, just because of all these only I wrote that post on why quitting job is becoming the option of serious consideration among young generation.

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    Replies
    1. Companies are converting people into robots - mechanical creatures who follow orders or instructions or programmes. Pathetic. I have seen schools where the authority/authorities have to sanction what kind of posters students can or cannot prepare!

      Delete
  9. This is for the first time that I have seen your poetic skills. A puppet cannot be creative. A creative mind is a free mind. If a person is not allowed to think and implement freely he would turn into a robot, a preprogrammed machine which can only execute instructions in a fixed order.

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    Replies
    1. Poetry can come only from emotions, Namrata. I generally control my emotions. Or the emotions are not strong enough for poetry.

      Do the systems today allow people to think and act freely? Rigid structures are being imposed on workers in the name of quality control, profit, productivity, or whatever.

      Delete
  10. Truely said, Tomichan! Creativity and autonomy go hand in hand! Let it bloom and not restrict by instruction. Well written!

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    Replies
    1. Instruction is good and needed. But when, for whom, how much, for what...? Can adults be treated like children and ordered about? I quoted Dr Fritjof Capra in the epilogue. Let me quote him again from the same book: "A machine can be controlled; a living system, according to the systemic understanding of life, can only be disturbed. In other words, organizations cannot be controlled through direct interventions, but they can be influenced by giving impulses rather than instructions. ... intelligent, alert people rarely carry out instructions exactly to the letter. They always modify and reinterpret them, ignore some parts and add others of their own making."

      I come across management systems that want their employees to be unquestioning, unthinking robots. Follow the orders or get the hell out - that's the attitude.

      Delete
  11. you have hit the bulls eye with this...bang on!!

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    Replies
    1. I can see that many employees today are in the position that Karl Marx described as "nothing to lose but their chains".... Frustration makes us aim directly?!

      Delete
  12. Very well put Tomichan Ji!

    It's unfortunate that not just majority of our schools but a large section of work environments also do not encourage free and creative thinking, and believe in 'following the norm'.

    Pretty sad utilization of what one should be ideally hired for: 'thought process and brains'. Following norms and standards does not mean that we should not question the status quo and look beyond what is...isn't that the only way to grow?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who wants the growth of the employees? The growth of the firm is all that matters. And if the firm's avowed goals and ulterior motives are different, then chaos ensues. Some choose to be robots, robot-hood is thrust upon some others, and a few manage to find their way out. OUT.

      Delete
  13. creativity descends upon us, we cant descend upon creativity :D

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    Replies
    1. when creativity descends we allow ourselves to ascend, it a mutual collaboration, not a single handed job :D

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    2. Right, buddy.

      The only problem is that it works in ideal conditions: Normal Temperature and Pressure :)

      Delete

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