The Block Against Writers

If you are a student of literature, I don’t need to eulogize about the literary power of writers and how marvelous it is to be one. The sheer ability to create worlds and make an ordinary reader part of it is a quality worth applauding and of course there are enough literary honours, titles and awards that deserving writers are recognized with every year for their contribution to the world of fiction as well as non fiction. The names of contemporary novelists like Amitav Ghosh, Salman Rushdie and Hanif Qureshi may light up the eyes of many avid readers but mind you, even though you may flock to attend the book launches or dissertations of these writers, the writing profession in reality has not yet been given due credit. The truth is not many people in this country, read. And please don’t tell me you have read all of the Harry Potter series and have just put down Revolution 2020 by Chetan Bhagat. I am talking serious literature here and there are enough Indian writers in English beyond the chick lit and rom com category whose books jostle for space among the various shelves stocking American bestsellers and Mills & Boons classics to catch your attention, if you only look carefully.

Naturally, when people of a country like ours have better things to invest time in than in good books, it goes without saying that very little will be made of your literary aspirations, that is, if you dare to have any. So imagine this situation: you ask your neighbour Lalita Aunty’s son what he wants to be when he grows up and he quips-“A Writer!” Before you can pat his back for daring to dream, pat comes Lalita Aunty’s rejoinder- “Oh! He has been reading too much of Enid Blyton these days. Beta, go do your homework now.” This is such a common occurrence in most homes that it hardly comes as a surprise. So if not doctors and engineers, there are IT jobs and enough ‘MBAs wanted’ posts available to help get your kid that hefty pay cheque and an occasional trip abroad thrown in. God forbid if kids want to turn their skills towards creative streams like writing…have the corporate giants of a burgeoning superpower run their treasuries dry that one must even contemplate the chances of such a horrid catastrophe?

My heart therefore goes out to the protagonist in John Irving’s The World According to Garp wherein people react awkwardly whenever Garp so much as mentions his profession. It doesn’t seem to help that he seems like a henpecked husband who keeps house, cooks and looks after the children while his wife teaches English at a nearby college. I can easily relate to his character especially when people appear flummoxed and give an uneasy pause, when I confide, “I have been writing these days.” It usually means they are waiting for me to elaborate. Or it could mean they don’t know how they might not offend me by asking me to do so. It’s easier to be a traveler or a socialite or even an art collector. At least these roles mean you are a legitimate spender of cash, so what if that’s courtesy, your husband’s numerous credit cards. At least it sounds glamorous, chic, eclectic and justifies the means towards a covetous end. While writing…it seems like such a dead weight task, eating away zillions of hours, demanding that you tuck yourself away from the world in a corner all by yourself, indulging your imagination- an anti-social pastime truly. I also remember attending a screen writing workshop once where the conductor whined about the lack of recognition writers get for their scripts and screenplays, often leading to bitter fights between producers and the writers for payment of dues. It is still a matter that is yet to see proper enforcement of copyright law but is just another example of the common writers’ plight, faced day in, day out.


What must one do to give the career of writing the respectability it deserves? Getting generation next to understand the need to write well is top priority if you ask me. That is a humongous task considering the only writing they do is BBM chat using words like ‘Wud u lyk to go 2 dat mov 2de?’ To which the reply is ‘K. C u dr. ‘Now I know what a senior professor who teaches cinema at a leading film school meant when he said to me, “You write such wonderful emails.” The fact that I used headers, body text and then a proper sign off left him amazed. He used to lament the use of ‘cutting edge’ language and abbreviations that left too much to decipher when reading class assignments! Yep, so task 2 is getting students to write out proper sentences that make grammatical sense. Mind you, this could be tougher than you think.

Finally, task 3 is to get people to read. Only when people start appreciating good literature, is when they will start recognizing the efforts of people who pen the same. And that is when mere hopefuls like me won’t have to hide my discomfort when I confess wanting to write my own book someday!