A couple of days back a friend asked me why I like to write. And not just write, but why do I put it up on display on social media platforms. The question set me thinking. It was something which nobody had asked me before although I asked myself that question every time I sat down to write something.

Well, the question clearly has two parts to it. The first is on the ‘why of writing’ and the second is on the aspect of ‘distribution’. Both are deeply connected with my core being and perhaps reflect the person that I am. But first let me delve into the ‘why’. Truth be told, I am an accidental writer. One fine afternoon in IIT Kharagpur, I was hanging around in the hostel football field when a senior shouted out to me. Well, seniors are a feared lot and my first instinct was to run away. But I held my ground and waited for him to come. He discreetly enquired what I was doing that evening and pat came the reply – ‘Nothing’. In a matter of five minutes I was packed off to an inter-hostel English creative writing competition. My protests went unheeded. I sat down, wrote an outrageous Salim-Javed story and came back. A couple of weeks later I learnt that I had finished in the top three. The seniors came up to me, beaming with delight and treated me to a peg or two of some ‘premium’ whisky. I still have no clue why the judges liked it. Today, I feel ashamed to think of what I wrote.

Serendipity.

Yes. I have come to believe in that word. That evening opened me up to the beautiful world of writing. For I consider writing to be a form of art. I am not sure if that is technically correct. But I like to believe so. Why? For the simple reason that I would envy all my college and school friends who excelled in music and painting and I felt incomplete without having learnt one of the many forms of ‘art’. The source of envy was a grudging admiration not of their skill, but of the magical sensitivity that they displayed toward human emotions, feelings and behavior. So the moment I started writing, I considered myself to be an artist… the small things that we human beings do to please ourselves.

The virtues of the written word are plenty. But there are some which score above others. The most potent property of writing is that one can think, deliberate and choose one’s words carefully before putting them down on paper. A conversation or a dialogue has to be by design free flowing and cannot be punctuated by ‘pregnant’ pauses. Try doing so and you’ll find that you have lost the interest of your audience. Secondly, the written word gives one the power of ‘erasing’ – yes – ‘erasing’.

Just strike off what you have written and it ceases to have any relevance.

Can you strike off what you just said — you can — but it can take a lot of doing.

Therefore, I write because it makes me feel like an artist, it makes me choose my words carefully , put them down and keep a record of my thoughts. And thoughts evolve over a period of time. And what better way to archive them than in this fashion. One may argue that speeches can be recorded, but in my opinion what one writes is the most unadulterated and uncorrupt form of expression. Speeches can be cleverly modulated through a wizadry of tone and voice… but conversely, they can also add flesh. But for a solitude seeking, introvert like me writing wins. Like a violinist feels a high after playing that composition of his, I feel at peace after having written an article. I call it ‘Therapeutic’.

And why do I publish for the whole world to see?

If you think it was the publicity seeking megalomaniac within me desiring tons of ego massaging, then you are probably wrong. I publish less than a quarter of what I write. The reason for publishing is when I want my voice to be heard or when I find it necessary to make a public display of my feelings on a particular issue. It is a form of the freedom of expression that every human being yearns for. A lot of my friends prefer to keep their thoughts to themselves in spite of having brilliant perspectives. My humble submission to them is – “If you keep an idea or an opinion to yourself, you are guilty of retarding progress”.

But then let me also confess that when I do publish I find myself puffing up when I see some encouraging replies. I can sense a sudden spurt in the number of times that I keep hitting the refresh link to follow the ‘likes’ and the ‘comments’. But then I am human – ain’t I?

Writing…..

And it all started on that afternoon in KGP.

- Shreerang Godbole, Class of 2012