Story of the broken tusk

The inspiration for the name of this newsletter

Mar 09, 2023

When I first toyed with the idea of writing a weekly newsletter, I was not sure I was capable. The devil on the shoulder kept sowing unpleasant doubts - what if you don't have anything interesting to say? hey - this is not just an email, can you be entertaining? you have a short attention span, will you find a reason to quit? your social media game sucks, how will you find readers?

The Broken Tusk
As I was brainstorming ideas for a name for this newsletter, I looked to Lord Ganesha for inspiration - after all, he is revered by Indians as the remover of obstacles. I remembered and revisited the story of his broken tusk, a story I had heard from my grandmother as a child. It goes like this...

Sage Vyasa wanted to write the epic poem "Mahabharata" and needed a worthy scribe who could undertake this daunting mission (the Mahabharata is considered to be the longest poem ever written). He requested Ganesha to take on the job. Ganesha agreed with one condition, that Vyasa would recite the entire poem without a pause. He was in some hurry. Vyasa agreed, but countered with his own condition, that Ganesha would only write down a verse once he had understood its true meaning. A cunning ploy to buy some rest time by throwing a curve ball once in a while :-)

Vyasa started reciting, as Ganesha wrote down the words dutifully. At one point, the pace got so furious that Ganesha's pen (or feather?) broke apart. This was a problem, as he could not stop writing as per their pact. At this point, Ganesha snapped off one of his tusks to serve as a pen and continued to write down the immortal words of the Mahabharata. Look up any image or statue of Ganesha, you will notice the broken tusk.

I am a scribe, not a writer
The epiphany for me was that I need not consider myself the writer of this newsletter. I am merely a scribe, funneling ideas that already exist in the universe. I do not need to create new thoughts, or dream up new images, or write new words. I just need to listen, to read, to be present, and to serve the reader with an honest perspective. Perhaps I will not say anything original, but filtered through my unique experiences, it might shape into something recognizable to the reader. They might see the world as I saw it at that moment. It could somehow benefit them. And that's worth writing for.

“We begin with everything:
everything seen,
everything done,
everything thought,
everything felt,
everything imagined,
everything forgotten,
and everything that rests unspoken and unthought
within us.
This is our source material, and from it, we build each creative moment.
The content does not come from inside us. The Source is out there. A wisdom surrounding us, an inexhaustible offering that is always available.”
From the book "The Creative Act: A Way of Being" by Rick Rubin

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with one other person you think might like it.

Thanks,
Rakesh

TOOLSHED

I love writing with fountain pens. I wish more people picked up one, so they would realize how crappy it is to write with a ballpoint or rollerball pen. Some tools are meant to be preserved, and not relegated to history. If you think it's going to be cumbersome, get one of these disposable fountain pens that cost less than $3. It might bring back the joy of putting pen to paper ;-)

AROUND THE WEB

Watch TED talk "Your elusive creative genius" by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the book "Eat, Pray, Love". Paraphrasing:

“In ancient Greece and Rome, people did not believe that creativity came from within. Creativity was this divine attendant spirit that came to human beings from some distant and unknowable force.”

Thanks for reading! - Rakesh