Where do ideas come from?

Someone who has to write articles and perform jokes regularly, my work depends on 'getting ideas'.

- Hriday Ranjan

After a point, one feels like an exploitative Amrish Puri - exaggerating or lambasting this beautiful, whimsical world for a few copper coins. Actually, even the above line is an exaggeration. We are drunken pollen bees, or idiosyncratic worker ants, picking up titbits and bringing them back to our hives. But where do ideas come from?

I always envied creative people who did multiple things - Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais, and Vishal Bharadwaj. I attributed their creativity to an enriched life. They fought wars, loved deeply and felt strongly. A heady cocktail of experience, exposure, and emotions. I imagined they frolicked about in a garden and caught colourful butterfly-like ideas in their imaginary nets. I have tried many things to get ideas.