Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Write right?

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to write. To start with, write reviews of books I have liked or rather read and “felt about”. I even tried one on Pride and Prejudice and failed miserably. Writing comes easily to me. But when it involves readers, its way too difficult. Since the day I thought I would write publicly, one question has always bugged me.

When I used to write in my diary or general articles on sheets of paper, I never had to scratch the words written. Even if there were spelling mistakes I would let them be; because even those represented my state of mind (or so I liked to believe ;)) Its not that my diary was secret. It was open for anyone who wanted to read it. I have proudly shown some articles to my friends, both for the language and the content. But when you write for unknown readers you have to be very careful. Especially about the content. I mean, the readers are gonna judge you based on what you have put on paper. They wouldn’t know who you are or why have to written what you have written. For them it would be an article (in my case, generally an opinion) with which they would either agree or disagree.

But there is also the other side to the coin. When my friends read my articles they know precisely why and how I have written it (which may not always be right). For instance when I wrote the article on Ganguly, Maitreyee accused me of being biased. But for a stranger it could have been a very apt observation. At times writing about personal things becomes easier for unknown people than for intimate ones. Whereas writing memoirs appeals more to the people who can associate with the incidents.

So the main question remains: what does one write about? And How? It’s difficult to be spontaneous and correct at the same time. “To write but what is right” becomes the question…