There is always a common thread binding writers, be it novices, polished professionals, someone who dishes out unintelligible rants, or those who make a living through overdose of saccharine-laced love stories that sell the hottest these days – the first trigger to write.
I still remember the first two lines of my poem when I was in class 6:
“Trees are Green
On the Earth’s Screen”
I know this sounds pretty bland now, but it brought me immense joy back then. But what exactly triggered those two lines? Well, I was quite a loner at school, and my home was full of books. It was a perfect recipe for a budding teenage writer, who would in due course end up writing scores of very bad poems and equally bad or worse short stories.
But once you get bitten by the bug “I can write” or any of its many forms, the tendency to write keeps on erupting every now and then. The work that I do in rural development and the books that I read also egg me on to write now. And the reasons I put down below detail how exactly they do that, and why I chose to write on this platform.
I read Orwell’s essay “Why I write” some years back. Before I read it, I made a mental note of my own reasons to write (albeit erratically). In a sense, one of the reasons was not very dissimilar from Orwell’s line of thoughts. So, minor resemblances to his essay are mere coincidences and not an attempt at plagiarism.
Egotism
There is a certain degree of narcissism and vanity about writing. I realised young that any amount of praise, even from someone who barely understands the topic in which you are engaged in (the quality of your work is a secondary here), is an ego booster.
Moreover, a writer – at least a good writer – is perceived to be of a higher intellect than mere mortals. Over the years, I have written very average to decent articles and stories on eclectic subjects. This has largely been read by colleagues, friends and family. Some have been published, but most are waiting on their wings to fly. This has given me a good dose of ego massage. Posting it on Facebook and the minor thrill associated with likes and comments are all manifestations of this self-love.
Clarity
I co-authored my first article on organic agriculture in the year 2012. Until then, I was acquainted with agriculture. In that period of 3 months where I engaged in systematic research as well as field work, I really began to understand the nuances of agriculture, particularly in rain-fed areas. Writing helps me join the dots and make sense of things I want to understand.
Reading
If you eat a lot of junk food, you will probably end up with a big belly. Likewise, if you read a lot, there is a good chance that the sleeping writer in you suddenly wakes up one fine day. My tryst with writing is also similar. In periods when I gobble down books regularly, I have an incessant urge to write.
Reporting The Unreported
This is one of the major reasons I write today, even to make a minor difference. Masala news is what runs (in) India and largely shapes the perception of people in the largest democracy. One justification of this is that news outlets simply cater to the taste of their audience.
But I believe it is a chicken-and-egg problem, because media and markets also shape the need of the viewers. And in a democratic setup, when Sridevi’s death hogs the headlines for weeks while the death of a million children every year due to institutional neglect barely makes a whimper, there have to be alternative voices to raise the issue.
There have to be alternative platforms to facilitate this reporting too, so that mainstream news of this nature is back to its rightful place instead of being reduced to the fringe. Only then we can imagine a democratic setup where discussions revolve around the subject of societal importance and the public is aware of this importance. That explains why I write on Youth Ki Awaaz!
The author is a part of the Youth Ki Awaaz Writers’ Training Program.