From the memoir: Ghatam player Sumana Chandrashekar recalls the first calling of the clay pot

The story of my longing for the ghata, this biraha, needs some context. I have myself been intrigued by it and have spent considerable time reflecting and ploughing deeper into what on the surface seems inexplicable. Normally, we are tempted to place such experiences in the realm of the supernatural or miraculous. To my mind, this is just a lazy explanation. It only mystifies the art and the artist further, making them seem so distant and inaccessible. Not just that. It discredits the integrity of all human experiences. Therefore, to stop our inquiry on the level of the supernatural, I believe, would be a mistake, a trap that can fuel our own sense of narcissism and vanity. An experience itself may be incomprehensible; but what led to that singularly extraordinary experience is always worth exploring.

A convincing explanation to my question, I found when I read Constantin Stanislavski’s masterly work An Actor Prepares, where he says:

“It is only when an actor feels that his inner and outer life on the stage is flowing naturally and normally, in the circumstances that surround him, that the deeper sources of his subconscious gently open, and from there come feelings we cannot analyse. For a shorter or...

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