Ayaan Ali Bangash

Imagination: Our Manifestation

An imagination is one of the most beautiful things we can manifest. It’s our copyright and no one can claim it at any given point of time. There’s a very thin line between dreams and an imagination. Though I’d like it to be real, we do end up imagining many things that perhaps are for the best or even for the worst! One can use imagination to represent possibilities other than the actual, to represent times other than the present, and to represent perspectives other than one’s own.

To imagine is to have a canvas in your mind. Your paint brush is literally unleashed to a world of no limits. It’s somewhat interesting to observe the role of our imagination in irony and as a metaphor.

Imagination is an extension of who we are as people. It’s all about perspective and ideologies which can hypothetically be right or even wrong. One doesn’t have to perceive or believe in what you imagine. Similarly, the world of desiring or anticipating doesn’t conflict with imagining.

For an artist, there is no world without imagination. An artist can only make art his or her own with imagination. Without imagination the work or an artist’s work has no soul. To imagine is to represent without aiming at things as well. I feel that our imaginations can really help us sail through the journey called life or they can even mislead us if the imagination is unreal and perhaps not practical at times. I am all for manifestations and sending out the messages to the universe, but having said that, I cannot be complacent about the unlimitedness of imaginations that we must sometimes, not always, but sometimes, limit.

We cannot rule out the role of imagination in practical decision-making. Imagination is one of those words that inspire us. In essence, it allows us to explore ideas of things that are not in our present world, or perhaps not even real.

Ayaan Ali Bangash is an Indian classical sarod musician whose music is forged from a unique artistic vision that rests upon a legacy seven generations deep and includes his father, sarod virtuoso and composer, Amjad Ali Khan, and grandfather, Haafiz Ali Khan. He has performed across the globe, including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, and WOMAD festivals in many continents.