The Paradox Of Writing

Sridevi Datta beautifully explains how truly whimsical writing is, in our As You Write It writing theme.

Sridevi Datta beautifully explains how truly whimsical writing is, in our As You Write It writing theme.

Sridevi, in her own words: I am a resident of Vizag and although all genres of writing excite me, poetry has always been my first love. You can find much of my work at my blog http://sridevi-datta.blogspot.in/.

What does writing mean to me? A rather difficult question. Maybe it’s a sky that’s just begun to witness its birth… or a word which enfolds before my very eyes all its naked pristine glory… or a sudden thought that comes running to my mind like September rain. For me, writing is a dream vacation walking on the pearly sands of Maldives; or sweating it all out in sultry kitchen frying endless batches of puris. It is exotic. It is esoteric. It is mundane. It is a truth. It is a lie.

So when was the sky born? As a child I remember I would gaze unblinkingly at puddles on the road and wonder why the rain water always slept there; or sit by the window on a train and wave to the little girls and boys in those tiny hamlets, feeling thrilled as though before my very eyes a whole life has passed by; Or stare at the lone bird in the sky and wonder why with freedom comes the loneliness of the most excruciating kind. Maybe writing was the conversation I had initiated with myself even before I fully understood what speech or words actually meant.

Then there were the stories; tales which my mother would spin out of her lovely mind. I remember every time a new character would be introduced, I in my own childish voice would chirp out, “Is s/he good or bad?” to which my Mom would reply ,”You decide when the story is complete”. Eventually I made peace with “Good” and “Bad” as I realized that maybe they were the two most deceptively simple words meant to con people. I was not ready for being conned yet.

Maybe that was when I began to write; maybe it was the innate desires to unearth the mysteries of “Good” or “Bad” … Or maybe to find out what lay hidden under the seemingly placid rainwater puddles on my path… Or simply to let my caged thoughts take flight into the open skies.

In the end, maybe that’s what writing means to me; to seek an oasis and slake my thirst – or to seek thirst which in itself is new. In the end it is only the sky that matters. The words had always been there.

notex logoSridevi wins a gift hamper from Notex, a paper based stationary brand that makes high quality books, diaries, writing pads, 5 subject books and other products! You can check out Notex products at Shopo, Flipkart or Homeshop 18.

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*Photo credit: LarimdaME (Used under the Creative Commons Attribution License.)

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