When the Muse Doesn’t Know
I ask you what animal you would be. “Elephant,” you say, without hesitation. Grounded. Intuitive. Loyal to your herd. Guided by both memory and emotion. Your answer has weight. Mine flutters. The question first comes up in a leadership workshop where the exercise asks, If you were an animal that reflects your leadership style, what would it be and why? I ask the facilitator if birds count as animals. Everyone laughs. I am not joking. Birds lead differently. Through instinct and air. When you turn the question back to me, I say hoopoe. You look it up and tell me, amused, that the bird can release a foul-smelling secretion to ward off predators. I say it reminds me of my own gastrointestinal tendencies. Maybe that is a kind of biological leadership trait too. You laugh, the kind of laugh that travels through a screen but lands human. Later, I send you When Time Changed Shape , the story that begins with Rooh ki Saheli. You ask who that is. A soulmate? “Not quite,” I say. “M...