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Can we make something with this?

Ever so often, the little ones come up to their appa (father) (me) and say, "Can we make something with this?" The 'this' could be an empty soap packaging, a paper cup, a satin ribbon or a huge piece of cardboard or thermocol from leftover packaging. Sometimes, the asks are specific - like- can you make a house for me? But mostly, it is an open question.

Earlier, the ideas would come from me, but over time, the ideation is outsourced to them - think what you think you can make with this. Reject the first, obvious idea and think what else you can do with it. The results have been fantastic - not necessarily with the outcome, but with the thinking process.

Sometimes, the answer is not apparent and that point it goes into a collection box - which is emptied once in a while - and stays there until an idea or boredom happens. This has resulted in a little bit of collection of junk - but we call it recycling.

A few days back, the question was posed to me once again - with some an innocuous ice cream stick and my immediate response was to say, "No, you cannot make anything with this." But I paused at that point and said, "Lets see what we can make with it." And sure enough, that innocuous icecream stick became the handle of a shield.

And then, epiphany. Ever so often we are put into opportunities that are essentially problems in disguise. Sometimes, it is a vendor who quotes a high price and you have to do something very quickly, by yourself. Sometimes, there is so much change from a current position of comfort that it shakes you up and sometimes you want to say no.

But if we could change that no, to "Can we make something with this" - it helps. After all, destiny is what you make with what you get, right?

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