It is known that with the advent of writing came the dawn of civilisations. It is no wonder then that writing is a unique occupation, one that fascinates me to the core. It is as challenging as it is fulfilling. It is also abstract and elusive. In the world of arts and culture, writing is the elite occupation, one to which I desperately want to belong to.

What drives me to writing? It is a combination of ennui and loneliness and a striving towards novelty. It is when I have exhausted all faculties and am rendered vulnerable that I can truly and effectively write. I write poems when I am sad and depressed. I write stories whenever I am drifting towards boredom and I write essays on rare occasions of insight and anxiety. So, feelings and emotions and moods are what drive me to pen my thoughts into words. I like to think that, as a writer, I have the responsibility to choose words carefully. But creativity is supposed to be a hallmark of a jump towards unknown terrains. I find that when the moment of inspiration hits me, I write with a flow connecting dots that thread my way towards the unknown. So, it is not that I choose words but rather that the words seek me out.

Creative writing is a strange vocation because it is driven by inspiration and novel ideas. For me creative writing is an outlet for frustration and desperation. Frustration because my life hasn’t been what I had dreamed it would be and desperation because I am ambitious and have yet to taste the sweet nectar of success. Yet, creative writing is a spiritual journey that treads amongst materialistic goals such as financial success and accolades. I write because I must—in order to find some semblance of sanity in my life and to find a way of expressing my pent up thoughts, both conscious and sub-conscious. I envy writers who seem to write with ease and comfort because that is not the case with me. There are writers and then there are writers. There are many nights that I have spent wide awake because of the book I was reading and the thoughts that the book evoked. I have lain in bed trying to find that much-needed sleep while constantly pondering on the message in a book and marvelling at the talent of the writer. I wonder if I too can create similar impression on my readers.

Writing is a struggle for me. It is a constant struggle to find a balance between materialism and spirituality. I do want recognition but I also want to find myself. To write is to discover yourself through words threaded out of imagination

and reality. Imagination is immensely helpful but so is your vast world of knowledge and information.

Why do I write? I ask myself time and again and I can only say that I write because I must. It brings order in my life. It justifies my inane imagination and to be true, because it fuels my creative sparks. It fulfils my need for expression and communication. It eliminates any sense of boredom and as I write, new worlds seem to appear that make my real world more novel and colourful. Writing is a two way street. I write and I receive. I receive satisfaction over sentences well written, of characters well woven and stories

that make me feel that yes, I do have

some sort of control over my life.

It provides solid foundation to an otherwise shaky life. I write because it is through words that I can conjure up new stories that can entertain, inform and educate. I can command attention through my writing. I can create waves that can have ripples like a domino effect.

The question that begs asking is: are writers doomed? Are they self-destructive neurotics? I must say both yes and no. Yes, because there are examples of writers who were troubled, such as esteemed writer Ernest Hemingway. But that is stretching it too far because there are many happy and successful writers who have made a name for themselves without any chaos and self-destruction. So the point being made, I must turn the attention to creativity and what it entails.

Being creative means that you are driven by the need to create and in a writer’s case by the need to weave words that when put together forms a world. In fiction, it functions as imaginary world filled with imaginary characters. In non-fiction, these words form a pool of knowledge and facts. Either way, these words hold significant space in the world of writing. Because writing isn’t just entertaining, it is also informative and educative. Creative writing come with a price as it depends on a mixture of imagination, research, experience and thoughts for which the writer must expend a lot of effort and sacrifice. The writer must be willing to sacrifice the current world to the newly created world that only the right combination of words can create. It is a lonesome occupation where the only communication is between the writer and the words. Choosing to be a writer means spending a lot of time debating with yourself as to what words to choose, what characters to create and what message and information to educate the readers with. I say educate because the writer must convey a message to the world. Even in purely entertaining fiction, the readers can learn and gleam something. So, reading is also a two way street where the readers are entertained and educated too.

Writing creates a legacy, a trail of words that when put together, almost magically, form a world where the readers can escape and find their way out emerging anew, entertained and educated. The writers are a select few and the readers are vast and as I write words into sentences, I do hope that my readers will be filled with awe and wonder.

Sharma is an undergraduate student at Lalitkala Campus