What with the ubiquity of computers and the internet, the means of writing and publishing were never as widespread as they are. And yet, very few people venture beyond tweets and short Facebook status updates; and an overwhelming majority is content with even less – sharing photos and jokes.
And it’s not exactly a mystery as to why that should be so. Howsoever ‘naturally’ writing may come to one, it’s never easy. It’s positively hard work if it’s not designed to test the patience of the reader; and especially in the face of the approaching deadline, proof of which is the increasing frequency of trips to the fridge, the urge to read mathematics texts one would never read otherwise, and a general desire for any excuse that would put the writing on hold. (But then, very little writing is done without a deadline either because in the absence of one, very few people can resist the temptation to keep postponing the act indefinitely; and therein lies the classical dilemma for writers). Writing demands discipline, patience, and those things so lacking in our schools: the emphasis on, and the practice of writing prose. I have known plenty of otherwise brilliant individuals who would much sooner die than be obliged to jot down a few coherent lines on any subject. Which, despite being understandable, is a pity.
George Orwell, in his famous essay ‘Why I write’, lists sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose as the main motives for writing, in addition to monetary considerations of course. Characteristically, it’s a pretty exhaustive list as far as the great ones are concerned. When it comes to ordinary mortals like the rest of us, I believe more and more people must write prose, for their private journal if not for publication, because of the following considerations:
For starters, everybody needs to write for pretty much the same reason that everybody needs to think. The fact that we learn a lot from others doesn’t obviate the need to think for ourselves. The same goes for writing; for homo-sapiens are notoriously prone to indulge in double-think and our views on a matter can be spectacularly self-contradictory. Putting something in writing helps identify and clear those contradictions away. Few exercises train one to structure one’s thoughts better than writing them.
But writing does more than merely clarify jumbled thoughts. ‘Well you write it and you will know,’ is the brilliant advice screenwriter Dalton Trumbo received when he was haunted by and couldn’t figure out the story behind the sad eyes of a young boy when the whole arena was exploding with ecstasy after a matador had killed a bull. The result was the Oscar winning script for ‘The Brave One’. Granted that very few are as gifted as Trumbo, but the moral of the story is sound. Writing has a way of answering questions, and telling the author what he doesn’t know when he starts writing.
Another benefit of writing is that it spurs you on to read more and more. And read like you never do if you are not a writer. And it’s not just about books. Being a writer changes the very way you observe events and things. You quit being merely a bystander in the great show of life. The transition from a passive observer to an active one is priceless.
Quite apart from any benefit to others and the world at large (which is rare), you owe it to yourself to express what you think and feel. The denial of this self-expression can have a very stifling and devastating effect. Composers express themselves by creating music; poets by writing poems. Now you can’t learn to be a composer any more than you can learn to be a poet. But nothing stops you from learning to think and write.
Writing also helps preserve one’s sanity in the face of every kind of craziness happening around one. I would recommend regular writing for this reason alone. Anil Kapoor believes he survived the non-stop intrigues and schemes of the tinsel town by making it a point to give the best possible shot every day at the studio. Writing provides such a creative outlet to the ordinary mortal who doesn’t have Kapoor’s opportunities.
But most importantly, and here I feel compelled to quote the inimitable Jaun Eliya: Aik hi haadsa to hai, aur wo ye ke aaj tak – Baat naheen kahi gayi, baat naheen suni gayi. If you are a thinking man, there are things that need to be said. Of course, people are saying all sorts of things (and they are worth reading too), but nobody can say it quite from your perspective, and in your voice, for you are unique. Go ahead and say those things. And in the most beautiful manner at your disposal.