Recently, I completed reading the 3rd book of Ashwin sanghi
- Krishna Key. The book was brilliant. Lot of research was being done by the
author around the Krishna-Dwaraka-Shiva. But at some corner of my mind, I felt
that it didn't match the brilliance of his earlier book - Chanakya's Chant. The
way he had structured that story, creating the fictional version of Chanakya's
story which ran parallel with a contemporary story set against the current
affairs in politics, the charm was missing in his latest offering. I thought I
might have not concentrated properly while reading it (there were just too many
proofs for various beliefs related to mythology) and hence I felt so. But when I
browsed the net, I got to know that many shared the same opinion as mine.
That made me to think about myself. I was introduced to the Writing-hobby
when the Newsletter team in the project in which I was working in my 1st
company invited articles or other contributions from the project people. I just
wanted to give it a try and submitted a imaginary story which if you ask me
even now, I feel there was nothing special in it. Well the rest was history and
I think I have discussed already about this in another post. I was a hero
overnight and this overwhelming reaction made me to take up blogging where I
made a promise of writing regularly, just to break that promise later.
None of my contributions to the newsletter received any
special reaction after the stupendous debut I had. People started stacking it
up in their To-do list of the day, since they knew that there would be something
in the article but definitely not "That something" so as to give it
first priority in the day. No, I'm not saying that I felt let down or that I
stopped blogging. None of them happened (well, blogging went on to become more
and more less frequent). But I wanted to pour it out from my heart here and
tell to myself that it is really so hard to be a writer, to win people's
satisfaction, to churn out that-really-interesting-story regularly, to deliver
something fresh and new each time. And when I see this feat being achieved by
so many authors out there, I feel so great about them. I just sit and admire
about their creative abilities after finishing the last page of that book
written by them.
For a writer to get new ideas, he has to be in touch with
people. People from different walks of life. The more we converse with people,
the more broader our ideas get. The more fodder for our brain. Recently, I felt that I wanted to be in a profession
where I could meet lot of people on daily basis - a doctor, a Public servant
etc. MY friend who was working with Marketing division of a very famous MNC
used to share stories about the people who he used to meet from Govt dept.
owing to his sales responsibility. There are other friends who being doctors,
have to meet so many people, whether they like it or not. "The toughest
assignment while doing M.S is when you are posted to govt hospitals. So many
people die daily just because they cannot afford the treatment cost in pvt
hospitals, where we ask them to move the patients due to non availability of
facilities in the govt hosp". I
asked him how it felt. "Initially there was lot of agitation inside... the
urge to hit someone, shout at someone..... do something... something to save
them...... but gradually we started to admit that we are helpless..... " A
pause and then we force the smiles on our face and switch the topic.
My mom is an ardent fan of Sudha Murthy (not sure if I have
made a mention of this in my earlier blogs). She just loves them for one reason
- practicality. No other novels are so close to reality - she tells me. There
is a reason for that. Being part of the Infosys Foundation (charity trust), she
has met Millions of people, both good and other side of good. And her books are
nothing but the reflections of her experience with them. My personal favourites
are - Mahashwetha (I just love it. Had tears in my eyes at several junctions
while reading it), Gently falls Bakula.
To put it more broadly, meeting people will give inputs -
inputs turn to idea. IF you are not a writer, the idea can be learning lesson.
There you are. This is nothing but the basic theorem of life. Meet people,
watch good movies & TV programs, read books - everything that gives input
for us to handle the different challenges that the life throws at us. "If
you don't do now itself what you want to do , you will repent after 20 years
about it..." My friend told one day while having lunch in my favourite
Fish restaurant one day. I was discussing with her my desire to learn how to
ride a geared bike and to own one. But my parents were totally against it.
Apart from the desire to learn it, I wanted to switch over to a geared bike
from activa to save on my monthly fuel bill. "I think you have to go for
it... millions of people ride bike.... if you think you can ride it safely and
have self control, what is stopping you? " My friend concluded. There I
was, being firm on my decision to buy a good economical and "Safe"
bike, I conveyed it to my parents. Though there was a slight reluctance, my mom
agreed looking at my confidence and not without giving a disk full of safety
instructions.
There is definitely lot to discuss... But I don't want to
bottle up whatever I've written so far and work on it later and make it a
lengthy and boring to read. Instead I will divide it and would make it
interesting to read. If my decision doesn't change, I will come back with part2
of this.....
