Essay
A writer's world
Writers are supposed to be lonely people, living in a world of their own. Indeed, even in a crowded place the writer will seem to have little touch with all that is going around him. He will be in another world, a world of his own. People all around seem to be irrelevant to the imaginative world in which the writer is absorbed. His world is inhabited by imagination. The imaginative characters are at times worldly people but on others they are wild and totally out of this world. Demons and monsters, kings and queens, witches and wizards --- all crowd the imaginative world of the writer. In the real world the writer may be a lonely soul but in this world of imagination he is the king all his creations. He is surrounded by crowds, screaming, laughing or whispering in thousands of voices. The writer's world transcends the world in which we live. The imagination grasps the writer very early in life and runs through his life and beyond. The little one's world of imagination is very much alive though it is not always identified. As the years bring maturity the characters in the writer's world dance, sing, cry and laugh as they like. They find their own places in the imagined world. They are created and recreated on the whim of the writer. The characters die or live according to the creative forces of the writer. This imagined world is much bigger than the actual world in which the writer lives. It begins on the day the writer finds the force of imagination and finds its way beyond the grave. The writer imagines even beyond the times he will not be in this world. The writer is happy when he is in his imaginative world. He sits with his readers leading him on, making him write wonderful stories to make them laugh, to make them think, shed tears and at times to wake them from their slumber. When he writes, the writer targets a class of readers. But he also is in awe of thousands of unknown others who may read what he writes. There is excitement in imagining and writing for the thousands, possibly millions of unknown readers. When the readers send their feedback the writer rediscovers himself. A writer unfolds new petals in his art of writing through criticism. Most writers welcome criticism and through them attain a state of finesse in their art. The mystery of the writer's world never leaves him. It is always there, the mountains and the seas are beyond the soul. This world lives within him. No one can bring forth news of this world. Only the writer brings such news of this mysterious world through his words. Poetry and prose invade this mysterious world. The writer's insight delves deeper into the unknown and comes out rich with imagination. This is a richness that cannot be traded for any worldly possessions. The writer relentlessly creates. He is the word artist. In this world the writer, though rich with visions and ideas, still craves for deeper insights. The writer is not content with one complete story; his soul is hungry for yet more creations. It ventures out seeking yet more plots, creating witty characters, looking for strange facts and discovering new fields of fiction. In his imagination often the writer sit inhabits a lonely island surrounded by the hushing and the rushing sea, the mad, whirling world, the crazy world. His existence is riddled by all that he hears and sees. He waits for the boat called Words to come to him. It is only when this boat comes to carry him that he starts his adventure of creating his saga of words. He sails out on this boat and reaches the sea that holds him spellbound with its different visages. The rough sea, the calm sea. The Word carries the writer through it all. He does not want to cease his creation of various works. It is only when the writer is weary that the boat comes ashore and leaves him tired and spent. And yet once again the writer waits for the boat to come. He is helpless in his creative world without this boat. Though in the world of the imagination the writer anchors his vessel, he does not stray from the real world. The world of literature is attached to real life like a spider's web. The best food for thought comes to the writer through real life, for truth sometimes is stranger than fiction. Even in the most bizarre tales the reader will find a touch of real life, the actual world that goes on round us. The writer leads readers on to the strangest paths and, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, they follow him. The readers, sometimes unbeknownst to themselves, seek out similarities of life in the materials they read. And so writers seldom leave real life in gutters; they never soar too high above it. Even in science fiction we come across subjects that go through love and hate, through tears and joy. The writer tries to touch the soul of his readers. At times, though, some characters do not find any place in the human world; they are unique creations of their own. No Gulliver has up to now come down to the real world with the Lilliputs. The vision of the writer is a varied one. He sees things in varieties of ways. Usually to the writer the world appears like a kaleidoscope. The world is seen through different lights. And at times he sees beyond what the actual eyes see. His creation, his masterpieces begin here. He, the lonely writer, grasps the imagination of thousands of other people. The writer writes for the contentment of his soul. Though he may earn his living through writing, the satisfaction of the word master always gnaws at his heart. He wants to play his own flute to the music of the world. And the writer does not stop writing until he has sung his songs. Great writers like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Robert Browning, Kahlil Gibran --- I wonder if the writer's world they had created still exists. Is there any way I could enter them and meet the writers? I mean, maybe their spirits still linger in the world of writing! I often imagine Kahlil Gibran's spirit is there when I read his works. I feel as if Tagore is near me when I take up his "Geetanjoli" or "Geetobitan". I suppose this is how writers stay in the world long after they have physically made their exit. Their works keep them in this world, keep them in company with upcoming writers. They live on. They are immortal.
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