The above pic was that ‘now’ moment when I took the picture on my camera seconds before forwarding my foot to step on the iconic ‘sky-bridge’. This is the sky-bridge that connects the two buildings of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The tallest twin-towers in the world!!!
Years ago I watched on Discovery Channel the entire documentary of how the feat of constructing the Petronas towers was done. I had sworn that one day I would visit these beautiful buildings in Malaysia but also walk that sky bridge. I know, I know, I keep mentioning Discovery Channel and Cartoon Network a lot. But they were my favourite channels on TV then. I am in no way promoting these channels and frankly, I believe that now, they are not the same as before in quality.
I made it to the 86th level, but this post is about the sky-bridge!!!
Here is the thing, regardless of what some people tell you and the world will try to make you believe, creativity is not a common trait.
Creativity is so rare that at any given time there may be just one or two people on the whole planet who are truly in their truest sense can be identified as ‘highly creative’. And to further be someone who is ‘super creative’ in a multi-talented sense is again so very rare that I think it happens once in a few hundred or even thousands of years.
People have changed the notion of being creative through the ages to suit their needs. But if creativity was that common we would have had everyone painting masterpieces and making inventions like Leonardo da Vinci during his period. And the Mona Lisa would be as common as an everyday hat or shoes that fit everyone.
The point is – everyone can claim they are creative, but where is the result?
The other day I heard someone say that the victories of ‘King Arthur of Britain’ must be fiction and that it must be a concoction of the stories and deeds done by many kings at different times and in different parts of Britain.
Makes me wonder, a thousand years from now, if someone read my stories, they could easily interpret them as fiction and say that one person couldn’t have been a writer, musician, fashion designer, blogger, producer, visual merchandiser, traveller, investor, CEO, all at once. Surely it must be a concoction of many men who did various things during the 21st century. Yeah right!
If I may, I think the notion that creativity is a common trait was invented by those who simply are not gifted but wish they were in that club of rarity. In fact, that is the only ‘invention’ they have done. Intelligence is not the same as creativity; intelligence is just a sub-genre of creativity.
Right from my childhood I have indulged myself in various creative tasks, without ever being concerned about or being labelled ‘creative’. I genuinely believed then that every child did what I did at home. Simply because I had no way to check it and also because the popular culture (cartoons) during my childhood had me believe that the only reason those cartoons had similarities to my life was that it’s a common thing.
Level 83 to level 86!!!
While I was into my favourite shows like ‘Swat Kats’. This was the time when daily and weekly cartoons like ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ and ‘Dennis the Menace (1986)’ was on the TV. Oh, wait…
The tech on my card (sensor chip) creating augmented reality!!!
But of all the things I did during my childhood were my ‘secret’ inventions that I kept hidden in my cupboard, mostly hidden between books, to make it a little secret den or a ‘laboratory’ which only some of my most trustworthy friends had access to. It was all purely fun and quite frankly I thought my inventions were silly so they needed to be hidden.
Here are some of my favourite inventions –
Helicopter Soap Cup
I was quite fascinated with electronics in childhood. I was a gizmo freak (and still am). I then created an invention that I loved. Using a remote-controlled car’s motor, which I had then inserted (quite neatly) into a washing powder measuring cup. The cup naturally gave the shape of a helicopter and when powered with a battery the cardboard rotors spun so fast and wild that people were sure it would lift off.
Of course, it didn’t. But what I liked to think of it was a helicopter that was in wait for people to board.
Movie Projector
This was my first invention and I considered it a piece of cake. With the help of another kid who lived in the same street, who was a few years older so I assumed he was more genius than me, I had a simple box, tightly sealed off with no openings, with a light bulb inserted on one side and the other opened up to a single frame of movie film that anyone could have found in stores those days.
When powered with a battery in a dark room, the projection would come live on a wall, showing a still from a movie.
Rockets
Trust me, this is dangerous.
I had a fascination for firecrackers and rockets. And I always kept a few leftovers from the celebration of Diwali. Once I had combined a few (I think 4) rockets together, back to back to make one powerful rocket. I had done more work on its structure too, like adding fins and making it more aerodynamic. The only thing I didn’t do was fire it.
Even at that age, I wasn’t dumb to think that just because I had the means to create something, I had the right to fire it into the sky and risk others.
Copper Dish
This one was out of pure necessity. For some reason, cable TV was not allowed during my childhood. I didn’t get cable TV until I was in high school. The only cable TV I remember watching during childhood was at my friends’ house or cousins’ house.
And somehow I learned all the dance moves from watching MTV and was able to ‘teach’ others in my dance group in school. How the hell did I do that?
But, burrowing copper wire from my friend from the street, I rolled it into one giant bundle around a metal stick. Like a big spindle bundle. Then the idea was to place the bundle somewhere near the roof of the house and then connect the copper end like a wire to the TV’s antenna. I thought this would give me free cable TV. Lmao!
Of course, it didn’t work. I was disappointed. But I remember everyone saying that the TV was broadcasting (national channels) better than before. But because I didn’t get my free cable TV, I considered it a failure.
Autopilot Robot
This one was my favourite. Yes, the word ‘autopilot’ had great significance to me in the 90s, even before I produced a song about it recently.
To have grown up looking at this big clock that was on the wall of my grandmother’s house, I was familiar with its ‘tick-tock’ sound it made all day and night and also the fact that it was ‘key-powered’. As in someone must use a key to wind the clock every morning for it to work all day until it would lose power after 24 hours.
One day the clock was deemed kaput and was left useless and I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time. My uncle asked me if I wanted the inner machine of the clock to play with.
I flipped with joy. This was my first true machine.
The fact that all you have to do is wind it with a key for a few seconds, and that would power this machine for more than a day was very fascinating. With countless numbers of clock wheels, smallest to the biggest, gauges and needles moving as if the machine was alive. I called it my ‘Autopilot’. I even altered the structure to rest upside down in such a way that the key when left inside the wind would act as a slow but powerful lever that would push the entire machine in a clockwise movement.
The motion was very slow like it would take a few minutes to make a full clockwise rotation. But the fact that it did everything on its own was the reason I named it ‘Autopilot Robot’.
I have had some great memories of this invention. As mentioned before, when I kept this clock machine hidden inside my cupboard, fully winded for a 24-hour function. The distinct machine noise it emanated made the guests who came home to perk their ears and ask questions. I enjoyed the denial.
So, don’t let anyone tell you that your rarity is common.