Amrita Writes on Writing: Did She Forget the Wastebasket?

Writing about ‘writing’!! Funny as it may sound, but let me share (or write?) a few thoughts about 'writing' and the ‘writer’ who finds the wastebasket ,his best friend! Finally….I realized that this unbeatable tool deployed (or should I say ‘exploited’?) to vent off the wildest of imagination, ideas, emotions and expressions needs a better acknowledgment. Why don’t our dear writers ever end up writing about ‘writing’ itself?? Writing about stuffs ranging from worth raking up issues to the so-called social taboos find hard escaping the gaze of a sensitive writer….nonetheless the art of writing still doesn not lure that frequently. Fine….but since the idea did (ultimately) visit my mind, judiciously I shall not not let it ebb with the thousands other frivilous ones.

What gives writing an edge over speaking or any other form of expression ?? Well, this inexperienced little brain is naïve about any hard core theories…. but then, let me try answering…The best part about writing is ,it always succeeds in giving the writer a chance to make his/her point at least once!Isn’t writing like speaking uninterrupted?? I mean, how often do we find people who want to listen to our bla-bla?? Isn’t it always so, that any offbeat issue that we want to be considered, is mercilessly belittled? I must not be mistaken for accusing the listeners. Its just that we don’t have the option of deciding the congruent listeners and what follows is that we prefer to remain dumb and keep things to our inner being .But according to Carlos Fuentes ,writing is a struggle against silence. And here’s where the writer wins. Everything that is on his mind is also in black and white. What more?? He never fails winning over a chunk of fascinated lot who are ever willing to give ears to him. There definitely exists another race of those who don’t miss on lambasting a writer’s view, but only after going through the inscription once!! And who cares afterall, because by then the author has already made his point. Moreover, if at all ,there is an ‘anti-view’ the confrontation also proceeds in a the much likeable , decent non-violent and the ‘holding-no-hard-feelings’ way ,that is, through writing.

Shakespear called ‘mercy’ ‘doubly-blessed’(for blessing the one who shows mercy as well as the one who receives it.) . Isn't the art of writing a similar thing? For, writing entertains those who do it and also those who read it! It certainly is a doubly-blessed art. And adding yet another feather to its cap, it can also be considered as an antidote to every ailment with the immense diversity of the product of the art that is available. We have all kinds of writers whose works can be rightly described as ‘a heart-warmer’, ‘a mood-chiller’, ‘a wound-healer’, ‘a true-guide’ ,‘a support-in-times-of-strife’, ‘a worthy-companion’….and what not? Man aspired to capture the images of certain moments in life,so that ,they last not just for a split second ,but a lifetime.Technologists breathed life to this dream by inventing cameras. So why would the writer lag behind in lending a helping hand when man endeavoured to make some invaluable thoughts tangible and immortal. Well said, that writing is not apart from living.Writing is a kind of double living.The writer experiences everything twice.Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind. The act of putting the pen on paper briefly pauses the reflections and makes us more familiar with life itself!!