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Creativity at its best

typewriter

I remember when I started writing – way back in my late school days and early college days – I used to write in long hand on a piece of paper. And corrections were messy – but still each word was meticulously weighed, compared with others, and either discarded or put on the paper. Once on paper, it was very difficult to make corrections.

How I craved for a typewriter that time! I used to borrow my father’s portable typewriter – I had to lug it from the shop to home – and then back to shop again – everything done on the bicycle. Precariously balancing – But it was heaven – to be able to type out what I had written in long hand. I was never proud of my handwriting – but I took pride in my typing skills! For reading the typed stuff was much easier than reading the ‘kombdiche pai’ – literally translated means legs of the hens. Take a hen – or two. Deep their feet in the ink, and let them walk on white paper. My handwriting would resemble something like the marks left by the legs. Or so I was told by my teachers! But the typewritten pages – were just marvellous.

Write love

Then came the ‘love stage’ – and the writing took a whole new meaning. Bright, white paper was replaced with mauve and pink (I still never understood the difference between the names of various colours – but mauve , amethyst, and baby pink sounded very cool!). And the writing was restricted to letters to my sweetheart; and poems. “Come step into my garden, I would like my roses to see you” came very naturally and automatically. Romance was in the air and so was it on the mauve or pink papers!

As I grew older, my writing found another channel. Book-writing. No, I don’t mean writing books like the famous authors did. But to write the books from the accounting records given to me! With the passage of time, and pressure of work, et al – the creative writing habit was relegated to the attic, and  only the account books and letters to the tax authorities were the order of the day. I forgot to mention collection letters, too!

“You accountants are boring – you just dig into the boxes of receipts and do the books. There is no scope for creativity. BORING!”

Creativity? Creative writing? How could one be creative when it comes to writing up accounting records and tax letters? Well the person asking the question was proved wrong.  Recent fiascos in the listed companies proved that the accountants and the auditors can be very creative and can cook (excellent) books! The stock exchange and the investors are still reeling under the creativity of few. The series is as thrilling, if not more, as J. K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter series.

Use of computers increased the potential for writing. Specially for me. No longer bound by the pen and paper – now I can type almost the speed of my thoughts (either my thought process is slowing down or my typing speed is improving). Editing is also much easier; and with the right click of the mouse, I can find the synonyms, antonyms, meanings and what not. But I can no longer smell the paper, nor wash off the smudges left by the ink on my fingers. I miss my olden days of writing by long hand. Every few years, the same fashion is rolled in with a bang – so it is with my preference to writing. I wish I could go back to my paper and pen days.

Back to writing….

Abhik, my son – always likes my writing. He is always after me – “Dad, write on this, and just sign it”. You guessed it – he is giving me a cheque to write and then sign. He is very happy when I sign a cheque. Who wouldn’t?

It is said that writing is good for your health. It increases the brain power and is soothing. It can calm the nervousness, and is almost like meditation (that’s why I continue to write).

“Sticks and stones may break my bones – but mere words will never hurt me!”

Mere words – the Writing never hurts anyone! True? I really don’t know. Drawing cartoons may kill you. But writing? Hmmmm…Few name comes to my mind – one of the earliest one is about Narayanrao Peshwa –  a change in the Marathi syllable resulted in the death instead of imprisonment. Recent history is that of Salman Rushdie’s novel “Satanic Verses” which created quite a furore. – resulting in a ‘fatwa’ being issued for his head!

So Writing Heals! And Writing Hurts!

And I continue to dwell in my favourite pastime – ‘writing for pleasure’ – which one day will turn into ‘writing for profits’.

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Last modified: March 30, 2023
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