Tag: inspiration

The Story of THE MEHMI PRESS

04.06.2024

THE MEHMI PRESS:

https://diaryofaloneman.home.blog/

This is a story of one man, from the lowest castes of India, from the rural poor in India, from a working class background, an ethnic minority. A man rejected for no good reason from the Higher Institutions of learning in this country despite a PhD, top publications in journals and a published book proving that he is an expert in his studies. A man with no network. No helpers. A man that works seven days a week and then studies in the mornings and the evenings for an Art History degree. A man with nothing but a laptop. And a free WordPress website. This is the story of a dream of a free, Open Access Press that became a reality. A Press whose books are read or visited every single day. A Press that spreads knowledge about Hindi films and Indian culture, art, fiction, non-fiction. A Press whose mission is to share the gift of decades of reading, learning and writing with the world.

Because books are not money. Books are not commodities. Knowledge is not a commodity. Books are love. And knowledge is love. For the people. For us.

The attainment of knowledge is not for the ego. It is for the community. It is to be shared.

This is the story of a revolt against capitalism, ego, conformism, control, marginalisation and racial subjection. This is the story of genuine freedom of thought. This is the story of anarchism. This is the story of THE MEHMI PRESS.

I have been writing poetry and stories since I was six years old. Maybe even before. It has been my ambition to be a writer for as long as I can remember. Other people think about money, status, fame. I think about writing. That is how I gauge how successful I am in the world – by my contribution to the world of thought and the world of letters. I have been published in student newspapers, in academic journals, in poetry magazines, in the academic press, in social media sites. I write tour scripts in museums. All the different types of media. I have kept a blog site to share my ideas and thoughts.

But, despite that, there was a hunger. I needed something more. I needed something that was my own. Something uncensored. Something where I could express the spirit of anarchy and revolt. Something that could capture the thinking of the revolution. One man against the entire world of injustice. One man against the world of money and its fire of ignorance. One man against the same voices, the same people, the same thinking, the same bullshit. The voice of the Untouchables and the marginalised.

One day, I watched an Indian film ‘Super 30’. It was about Anand Kumar. He was a brilliant mathematician. But he could not accept the offer to go to Cambridge University because he was poor. And so, he started up a movement of free education in India to help poor students get into top universities. He did it with nothing. Except for his brains.

And then, I started thinking about Nietzsche, who wrote what he did without an audience. And Kafka, who never even published in his lifetime. Only his friends read his work.

I realised that I had to forget my ego. To become free, I had to shed the validation of other people and their thoughts about my writing. I had to forget about money. I was going to model THE MEHMI PRESS on Anand Kumar’s model. All you need is your brain. I had the basic necessities: a free WordPress site, internet connection and a laptop. And, I had something more than that: about four decades of experience as a writer.

I didn’t learn book design. I had desktop publishing software – how perfect did I need these books to look? I could do a bit of digital art. The rest was all stuff that I had done before when I wrote and published through all of those places.

So in 2023, I made the move. THE MEHMI PRESS was born.

How successful is THE MEHMI PRESS? It is read basically every single day. Although no one talks about my books and no one tells me about them, people are reading them. Most of them are perhaps people that I know. That is what is most likely. But I do not know who is reading these books. There are no reviews. No comments. No one ever tells me about reading my books. But they are read constantly. So, THE MEHMI PRESS is a success.

Without time, help, friends, connection, a network, any form of love, THE MEHMI PRESS has triumphed. With all the problems I have faced over the past two years, THE MEHMI PRESS has triumphed. Because it is the voice of the counter-culture. Because it is the voice of hope.

If you shed money, shed ego, shed selfishness and greed, if you shed external validation, you can have a genuine, authentic and pure voice. You can have something of your own. If you have ideals, you can create a new space for the people and the community.

THE MEHMI PRESS is dedicated to the Dalit Community, the Untouchables, the lowest castes in India. THE MEHMI PRESS is dedicated to my mother, the immigrant woman from a poor background. THE MEHMI PRESS is dedicated to my grandfather that told me the stories and shaped my life for learning. THE MEHMI PRESS is still in its infancy. There are many voyages to go on yet. Now, I do not have time. But there will be more books in the future. And better books.

As I say, before I start every voyage in this life, Jai Maa Kaali! Minoo tere Shakti didi! (Hail the Dark Mother! Give me your power!)

Why I Work in Museums and Art Galleries as a Visitor Experience Assistant

02.04.2024

I have a PhD and several degrees, including ones from a top university and First Class Honours. And when people find out, they ask me, ‘Why are you working in a museum as a Visitor Experience Assistant?’

The very fact that these people ask this question is revealing. These people think that the job is low status and low paid. They think it doesn’t require any skills, that it is a dead end job. That it is not a job for a professional person. Perhaps they think that the job requires no education or talent. That the job is not meaningful in any way.

Whey then, do I work as a Visitor Experience Assistant in Museums and Art Galleries? Do I really care what other people think?

No I don’t care what other people think. Other people are imposters, status-obsessed, uncultured, boring. They will work in an unsatisfying job for money and a bit of power.

On the other hand, I work in a job that gives me meaning in life. I believe in education and its power. When I work, I help people to educate themselves in their free time and have fun doing it. Unlike a state education and compulsory learning, I give them the things they need to be able to be free and learn. This job gives me a mission in life: to spread learning, to change this world of ignorance, to give culture to the people and, especially, the children.

This job is like a holiday to me. I enjoy it. I am in the most beautiful places in the world guarding treasures, the most important aspects of our history and heritage. I get to help people which makes me feel even better about myself. This job gives me not only purpose, but happiness.

And the people in this line of work are artists, musicians, writers, actors. All the creative people that you can find. We have wonderful conversations and we are all good friends with each other. We care about each other and we are all on the same wavelength.

This job gives me the time to think when it is not super busy. This job gives me a good life and work balance. This job lets me into so many museums and art galleries for free. I live the lifestyle of a millionaire doing this job.

People think you don’t have to do anything as a Visitor Experience Assistant. They are wrong.

While I have been working as one, I have helped to kick off the tours project in a museum and written my own tour scripts which involved research and original thinking – skills derived from my PhD course. I have given tours that other people have written – which required the skills of memory, performance, public speaking, humour, people management. Peppered with original research to add the extra flavour.

While I have worked as a VEA, I have planned and designed learning activities for children during half term.  Which required the skills of imagination, creativity, planning, understanding of children and education.

While I have worked as a VEA, I have attended meetings about people and resources and contributed ideas and solutions. Skills which required creativity, compassion, empathy, public speaking, the ability to make arguments and the ability to innovate.

Those are the extra things. In the ordinary course of the job, you are responsible for giving a great experience to people, for being able to talk to everyone, to teach people about the exhibits, to look after the health and safety of everyone, to be able to work with several different teams, to be able to think on your feet to solve any problem that arises. You have to be able to know your museums and art galleries inside out and to know massive areas of history, culture and art.

So when people say do something with your PhD, do you know what I say? I say that getting my thesis published as a monograph with a top publisher or articles with the top academic journals didn’t make me happy. It didn’t give me anything. But working as a VEA has given me pay, good friends, good perks, good experiences and memories, happiness. It has given me a career in museums.

The petty, selfish people that undervalue arts, culture and people skills, that ask me why I work as a VEA, revealing their insensitivity and patronising nature, these are the people that are wrong. They think money, status and power is what you need in this world. What you need in this world is to find your niche, your people, your destiny, your happiness.

Working as a VEA allows me to remain a writer, an artist, a poet. Working as a VEA allows me to study an Art History degree with the Open University in my mornings and evenings. Those are my ambitions and those are the things that direct how I live my life, my work. For me, the most important thing is fulfilment, not what the ignorant value. It is what I value that matters. It is my choice. I have what I wanted.

Everything I want from a museums career I get through volunteering: art history scholarship in an Interpretation department, being a Virtual Curator on social media online. I am getting every cerebral pleasure and satisfaction from what I am doing. I am being read by tens of thousands of people on social media.

What more could you ask from a job than happiness and to change the world of ignorance? The fulfilment of duty, pleasure, education and inspiration?