Sound N Loud

The time may not be far away when pens become obsolete. They have served writing for a long long time. Howbeit, writing has prevailed through the ages in one form or another. It shall be a fitting tribute to say that the art of writing is the most substantial invention of man. The growth we have had over many centuries in terms of culture and science would not have been possible without knowledge being passed on from one generation to another. Writing and recording one’s learning and findings made sure the growth curve was continuous.

The freedom of expression which we enjoy, and at certain times, misuse, was not given to those who lived when science was just a toddler. Thought provoking ideas, questions against the existing beliefs, comedies targetted at myths and a few more; works on these were lost or intentionally destroyed by the more conservative sections. Wonder if we could have reached today a few years earlier had those works been available then.

Now, those problems are just history read in books and seen in movies. Now, writing means sitting in front of a screen and playing your fingers over something called as the keyboard. Now, whoever says whatever, everything gets piled in the vast libraries of hard disks and the internet. This is something that we should utilise for our own good and for the good of the community that might stumble upon our works.

People write for a lot of reasons - To market themselves, for their own journals, to get in touch with like-minded people, to satisfy their creative side and many more. I am not sure about myself. We all have our moments of brilliance in our fields of work. In the same way, some flashes of ideas and dazzling lines occur in my bizarre mind. I feel that those ideas would get lost if I didn’t catalogue them; or I might do it simply for personal glory.

People evolve through the years; and with them their activities. Writing being one of them it sure does oblige to this fact. Taking a look at the first story I wrote years back describes the journey I have made. Ideas are meant to start silly. We might find it hard to arrive to the point and the myth called writer’s block or muse threats. We must believe that with time we will attain our purpose and the block is just our laziness projected in a different form.

When our writing has the ability to reach others, we must take responsibility for it’s content. We must bear in mind that we are serving the community with our ideas. ‘’The best writing we do is that that lies closest to what we must not do’’, said Stephen Corey, the editor of The Georgia Review, a literary journal. Going by his lines, one must be mindful of the accessing community.

Writing is an exquisite art through which we can open ourselves to the world. Adore and appreciate it. Salutation to centuries of writing.

Swasthika Sang

Edited by

Janani Hariharan