Some time ago, I came across an interview of Arundhati Roy, where she explained how she wrote when the act of not writing felt unbearable. A quick search on Google has failed to yield me a source to cite back that phrase for validation. Then I realise that I am now writing about why I write! What Roy ascribes her writing to might or might not be a great sense of urgency, she feels. But when I have penned down something that has an emotional resonance, it has always come with a sense of desperation to be written and shared.
As a researcher, I would work overtime to find the facts to support my argument or alter my arguments based on the evidence at hand. However, I would also try to make a conscious effort to keep a safe distance from emotion until the moment I have read enough about a topic – to be able to relay the information, and most importantly, in a manner that almost any layperson would be able to follow my line of argument.
One of my most ambitious efforts during my online internship period at Youth Ki Awaaz was writing an article about a judgment at the European Court of Justice on the ‘Right to Forget’ case. I distinctly remember coming across an article about it on BBC’s website. What stemmed as my own personal curiosity soon unveiled the background to the final judgment – EU laws on data protection, the previous cases on this matter and just about every argument on the internet for and against giving the individuals their right to be forgotten.
By the end of all these crazed frantic readings, I had found my reason why this story needed to be told, why more people needed to be informed about what had transpired in another country on another continent and the potential impact this judgment would have on how they perceived their data on the world wide web!
And that brought me to the second phase – the crazed writing phase, in which I wrote. I referenced. I cross-referenced. I read. I re-read. I checked. I re-checked. As much as I love to break it down into something anyone reading it could understand, I also feel an obligation to convey a message in as few words as possible. So, I jabbed at my keyboard until all those violent pokes were transformed into a neat little prose piece that just about summarised everything I had been aching to say.
The moment right after I send off an article or post a blog, there are a few seconds when life feels a little lighter. I almost feel invincible in those moments. It is in those moments when I realise why I write. I write because it helps me make sense of the world. I write because knowledge was always meant to be shared. I write because it helps me put to words the weight that bears me down. I write because one of these days it might just spur a revolution. I write because the act of not writing feels too heavy a burden to bear!