Hello!

I have always wanted to “Write’!

Unlike most other kids, I never wanted to be a Policeman or a Soldier. Yes, I did want to become  a Railway Engine Driver, but then, when I realized that it was my brother’s ambition too,  (and that he was likely to vehemently oppose my suggestion that he should be my coal man), I decided that he would be a better Engine Driver than me  and gave up up that profession (as though the world can accommodate only one member of our family as an Engine Driver)!

I used to read a lot as a kid (much more than I do now!). I have, depending on the book I read, moved from one profession to another in my dreams. One of my early favorites was ‘The Frenchman’s Creek” by Daphne du Maurier. I was rather talkative as a youngster  and the young housewives in the colony where I used to live were quite friendly to me (Disclaimer: Friendly enough to smile at me, lend me a book, chat with me , nothing more!) . So, I did consider being a swashbuckling French Pirate for a short while, but after a brief contemplative moment in front of a mirror, I decided that swordsmanship and sailing were fine arts that I cannot possibly excel at and that I was too thin to become a buccaneer! (Also, I was not sure at that time as to when and how I could grow a beard or a mustache!)

Playing cricket for India seemed to be a great idea for a while, by my adventures in tennis ball cricket were nowhere near those of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar! I was very good as a captain (I have always liked instructing others who do the actual work), was an excellent defensive spin bowler (my balls were so slow that the opposing batsmen had to hit the ball rather hard ), but my batting, though stylish, was not strong enough to score any runs (the ball refused to travel beyond the nearest fielder)!

And so, finally, I decided that I should be a ‘writer’!

I was the best ‘English essay writer’ in my school.  I always got the maximum marks in writing essays on ‘ Mahatma Gandhi – the father of the Indian Nation‘, or the slightly more complex subject of ‘Emperor Ashoka, the noble king‘  . (I was expected to focus on the thousands of trees he planted after he turned to Buddhism and ignore the thousands who were killed when he invaded his neighbouring nations!) Of course, the most complex topic was  ”Why does Wordsworth’s heart leap up when he beholds a rainbow in the sky‘. (Must have been a difficult life, having a heart that leaps up every now and then!) The facts that our essays were always limited to 300 words (my total vocabulary at that time) and that being in a Thamizh medium school not many of my classmates knew how to write essays in English helped!

But then I was in a quandary – I was big on my mother tongue ‘Thamizh’ and wanted to be a Thamizh writer. I knew that there was more talent and competition in this, but then I felt that I needed the challenge!

So I started writing in ‘Thamizh’. I chose the short story format and wrote around six short stories. Looking back, I think they were quite good (Yes, confidence is my middle name)! One was a humorous piece about traveling in a crowded train! Years later when I found in ‘Ananda Vikatan’ a competition winning story on similar lines, I wondered whether the writer had gotten hold my original story!)  I also had an off-beat story of a woman walking out on her abusive husband. However I was too young (still in high school) and lacked the aggressiveness to get my stories published. Once I started my undergraduate studies, I bundled up my stories and stored them in the attic.

Several years later, in my MBA program, I had a friend who wrote poems in Thamizh and even got them published (At least, he claimed that he did). My interest in writing was rekindled and I tried my hand in poetry. By then I was into reading more complex books and, as I recall,  one of my Thamizh poems was a criticism of  Ayn Rand’s philosophy or the lack of one! There was another long poem about an illicit love between a married woman and a youth and a very short one on close mindedness of elders!

Years later, while in Kuwait, I wrote and staged a play for the kids.

Other than that, my writing has been totally technical and boring upto this point. So, as I begin my blog-writing journey, don’t tell me that I have not warned you!