Woe-men's Day

Wednesday, March 08, 2017

I am a firm believer in learning by observation.

I may have accidentally picked up writing and reading, in that order now, while growing up. No one ever asked me to do either. To be fair, reading was something that came naturally. There were books all around my house. I don't remember seeing my mother without one, and both she and my grandmum made it a habit of handing me one if I was ever idle for more than a minute. My mother maintained a diary all the way till 2006 or so, after which she gave up. Subconsciously, I may have picked writing regularly as the means to cover the gap that was left by mother. Things are different now, if you come over. I was told, it doesn't look good to have so many books on display at all times. Twenty four years worth of pocket money is packed in cartons and tucked inside shelves which are nowhere close to my accession.

To this day, I am obsessed with the written word. Albeit, not the same way as I was when I was 7 and had memorized all the sign boards that covered the distance from my residence to the school, but enough to keep me going. Even without all the books in my face. Books covering the back wall of where the bed is placed. I don't think I've read more than 10 books in the last two years, barring the academic titles.

To be fair, my observation sat on the bed crosslegged and sipped beer at 12 noon, when my friends toiled their butt off making fantastic films for different production houses. "I'm writing", I justified in my head, each time I'd exit a get together where everyone would be discussing their bosses. I would be chugging some more beer and patiently wait for the evening to end.

I know people who swear off the substance when they attempt to write. I also know people who have to have three drinks before they can begin to write. In these years of writing crap and not thinking twice about it, I have tried both. For the sake of focus and detailing, I would have to say, former bodes well for me. As for the people who enjoy their glass of scotch/coffee while they write, you are fucking amazing.

In a long list of things that are essentially unhealthy towards human growth and mankind, writing when surreptitiously angry is right on the top. It's something I completely understand, now, ten years since the initiation of this blog (and several failed attempts at others). As a writer, or well, a flaneur, I have learned the nitty gritty through observation. I feel that you're pouring a lot more raw emotions when you're angry. These emotions may or may not contribute towards your work. However, writing when one is neutral- well fed, short on sleep and without a deadline- is always pleasurable.

There is nothing I relate to more in the world, than Hannah Horvath, right about now. I've been blue for a while now. It's probably PMS- but as a cardinal rule of writing, I should not be fucking diagnosing it in the middle of this post. Same way, how you should never be found with toilet paper stuck behind your pants at work.



I digress, but the thing about observing people is that you're always motivated to try some new crap. The worst that can happen to you is that you make a fool of yourself. If that doesn't happen, then you're gold, baby.

If done in moderation, observation can be a fucking wonderful way to know what you ought to be doing better with your life. If not, then you'd make a colossal ass of yourself.

You'd wonder, then, when can observation backfire.

"If you're so anti-national, why don't you go to Pakistan? Leave JNU if you hate this country so much", read the inbox message request to me. Facebook notifications wouldn't stop buzzing, as I was head on with trolls for what seemed like the longest month of my life. Not just me, everyone I knew, who had supported the idea of stopping the witch hunt inside campus, last year.

13 months later, Karan Johar's observation put him right next to the league of the extraordinary gentlemen trolling the rest of us.

"I’m done with Kangana playing the woman and victim card. I am done! You cannot be this victim every time and have a sad story to tell about how you’ve been terrorised by the bad world of the industry … leave it."

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