If I am closer to nature that is a wonderful thing, even better if it rains. This variety is missing. One needs to dream different things and possibilities. There is also a way to be aloof in chaos and to be able to select the right subjects from that chaos to create what one has set out to create," says Bhattacharya.. With the concepts of going slow, celebrating unbusyness and the art of doing nothing gaining traction, boredom is no longer a bad space to be in.In these technology-driven times, it has become rare to hear that one is bored. The emphasis of productivity is on quantity. However, there are some subjects that have to be explored in a chaotic situation, like Chandni Chowk. He agrees with Shyam Benegal as far as creativity and chaos is concerned. "One requires consistency in order to create but to take that work to a spectacular level, one also needs a stroke of insight — that will only happen when you are prodding. Breaks provide insights. Demanding careers, personal responsibilities, increasing social anxieties — the list is long. "But it does more than just bring rest. Internet has become compulsive and obsessive and if something is compulsive and obsessive, it hardly qualifies as enjoyment."Shiv Vishwanathan agrees, "A free mind is not just a devil’s workshop, it’s a workshop of any free person.

It can be intense as well. We find out. There are so many things to worry about, the things happening around you occupy your mind. All sorts of things are happening around you. That is the best part of it. A person who knows how to create a lazy day in a hectic frenzied life is a very smart person and will probably be the most successful one."A shot from the film Notebook, where Allie (Rachel McAdams) is finally able to unleash her creative side owing to a slow day and countryside, which she experiences after a long timeOne can be aloof in a crowded room, feels artist Sanjay Bhattacharya. It is plurality. Of course, there is a possibility of being devils but there is also a possibility of being angels and inventing new alternatives, new imaginations. Mindfulness on the other hand is deliberate slowing down and it brings with it a sense of peace and comfort.Striking a chord of creativityArtist and curator, Alka Raghuvanshi believes that creativity has to emerge from a space of Eros and not Thanatos, where boredom lies. It’s a different world. If lazy means setting aside agendas for a while and doing nothing, yes, then it is wonderful. The notion of idle time and dream time is mistaken one. She says, "Boredom is just the flip side of busy — both are restless energies. We are living in an environment full of life. Life is breathlessly fast-paced."While management and HR in several companies might promote lazy days and vacations, they are merely interested in the employees not having strokes and burn-outs due to stress.Boredom is no longer a bad space to be in. It can also be destructive and can lead to risky behaviour like substance use. Balance in life is probably the most difficult thing to achieve."Psychotherapist Ritika Arora agrees that slowing down is necessary for the psyche to recover and replenish from moments of doing and active living, just like sleep is rejuvenating. So what one needs is a free mind but at the same time also a responsible mind.Ravinder Singh, Author"I would rather be alone, specifically in the morning hours. When I shoot in the scorching sun, I forget everything because my focal point is my subject. The one per cent of blessing that will change any work can only come when one waits.. Anyone who says that is lying."Sleep are quite intriguing as they focus on a single subject for hoursProductivity and creativityBeing bored can help one get one’s priorities straight, for if something still matters when nothing really does — one knows what really matters after all. It means festivals, time for your physical body, and rapprochement with nature. There is so much to occupy one’s mind."(Photo: Pixabay)Of devil’s workshopsThe adage goes, ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop’ but life coach Suneel Vatsyayan believes, "Doing nothing with awareness can be positive and can help you harness something  unexplored. It can add new depth and dimension to life — the many plus points include respite from stress, a much needed mind pause, encouraging reflection and creativity. They are not interested in improving the quality of their lives. Unless I have gone to sleep, my mind is working. But there is one thing that people seem to unanimously agree upon — the ‘me time’, the lazy day and even a boring one is welcome now. Which is why Shiv argues the difference between productivity and creativity. "Creativity is about quality and difference. It doesn’t add quality. It comes from a variety of encounters.

It could also be a moment wherein I enjoy the eco-system around me that motivates me a lot. Getting up in the morning silence and knowing that I have the rest of the day to myself and there is nothing that I need to plan — it leaves me in a phase where there is a lot of energy around me. I used to capture  pictures there. When I was at a ghat in Varanasi, I thought maybe I am in the past. I might not finish a painting at one go. The mind in fact opens up to perception and discovery far more when there is a freewheeling environment, at least for a period of time. He says, "Yes, there is an importance of a slow-paced day. It is a time that I can enjoy on my own. When I know that I am not in a hurry and don’t have a big plan as a part of my day, that’s the kind of moment when the creative cells in my brain get super active and I read something that inspires me to go ahead and pen down the thoughts in my head."MindfulnessHowever, for one to keep up a certain lifestyle and to ace one’s career, slow days can even be used as tools."Niru Kumar, PsychotherapistFreedom from social mediaFreedom from internet and social media opens up a lot of free time — to think, to paint, to rant, to cook, to love — just really anything random enough to calm our nerves, soothe our souls and set our spirits free."So it is not really boredom but free time that inspires me and there is a difference between laziness, free time and boredom. The challenge is that it is the busy people who find it most hard to be lazy, not because there is no time but because the brain goes into the mode of constant activity. But it can’t be called boredom that inspires us, I would call it resting. The level of concentration has to be very high and you have to know the art of being aloof. To create something, you don’t necessarily have to be physically active.". From time to time he/she is able to give the brain the resting time it needs to organise and sort out all the enormous amount of information it receives. Only then can you create something wonderful. The idea of internet time as leisure time is a wrong equation. Slow time needs a variety of time. People are either too lazy or overworked. Many people are celebrating the slow moments of life that have become increasingly rare in this fast-paced world and embracing the joy of unbusyness. It is all about perspective. Slowness is not just de-acceleration. So what we need is dream time. There is no harm in stopping for a while for sometime but without losing control. That inspires me. This reduces stress and increases output. So I am not bored with life." Talking about relishing moments that are free of responsibility, he adds, "There is no such thing in life. So it is difficult to understand boredom in that way. At the same time, if you go to Varanasi it feels as if time has stopped."Quiet amid chaosIf slow-paced days play an important role in enhancing one’s creativity, what about people living hectic lives and trying to create marvelous work? Is boredom even easily available to all?Director Shyam Benegal laughs, "I am never bored.Recalling his college days, he adds, "We were at Howarh station and it is very crowded and chaotic. And that doesn’t come from slowness. Unless you wait and watch, you can’t get inspired. Creativity emerges from the chaos of life. I may not be doing anything for links of time but that does not mean I am bored. It doesn’t give one a notion of leisure. So when they say slow time, they just mean de-acceleration, it doesn’t add to quality of life. "You have to be aloof but you also have to be in the middle of the chaos."Shots from Andy Warhol’s films EmpireArt of being aloofHe believes chaos and aloofness both act together to help one be their creative best. Democracy too was created from free minds. It can be mental activity, spiritual activity or anything else.

A routine practice of meditation and mindfulness is the most effective solution to this. People have been taking inspiration from flora and it is very slow-paced to observe. So that is also a kind of inspiring space. Everybody has something to do. Once a friend came along with me and said, ‘How can I concentrate in this chaos?’ But it all depends on how engrossed you are. There are lots of subjects that inspire you in their own way. He says, "Certainly not a boring or a lazy day but a day where I can be myself and have time to spend and think about a lot of things. I am alone but not lonely. As professor Shiv Vishwanathan puts it, "The problem is that it is required of you to be productive first in order to have a lazy day. Shiv adds, "Internet has actually destroyed the notion of free and idle time.Psychotherapist Niru Kumar calls it mindfulness than boredom. While this is not to say that one has to induce boredom or try to sit through Andy Worhol’s films like Empire and Sleep. The notion of slow time is a very impoverished one. Social media has almost become a duty because if you are not on internet, you are out. Slow time in terms of quantity won’t do. However, I do meet very boring people, and that is something I can’t control. A lazy day, hence, is only the slowing down of that quantity. Freedom can cut both ways. But  getting a lazy day has become a tough task in present times. An awake state where little or no demand is made of one’s mind, where one is free to wander, can actually allow a person to come upon spontaneous links and connections, as the mind finds a free reign within an unstructured atmosphere. However, not all reasons to switch off lead to the pond polymer coating for disposable gloves Manufacturers of wisdom."Author Ravinder Singh, who has written many bestsellers, also loves such days but carefully differentiates between boredom, laziness and free time. It is more of a management notion than anything to do with creativity and arts or sciences.

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