Write to Connect

wow

that was a tough act to follow i’ve got

three excellent speakers ahead of me

and i’m the last speaker so i’m going to

do my best

and what i’m going to talk to you today

about is

what i am most passionate about

writing writing is

not just something that some people do

writing is something that all of us can

do

you sit before me in masks you sit

a meter apart they’ve got the speakers

completely far apart in fact and

for this is the first time that’s

happened to us this is the first time

that i’ve seen this happen in my

lifetime i can’t get off the stage after

this and do what i usually do

i can’t shake your hands i want to all

30 of you

who are here today i i want to pet you

on your back and say hey

you know i hope you had fun i you know

and i want to talk to you but i can’t

get too close

we live right now in trouble times

it won’t last but while it but despite

all of that

there is something that we can do

we can put our fingers to the keyboard

we can pick up a pen

and write now when i tell people

that i write um or when people

talk to me about my books or talk to all

you know people come to my classes on

writing

they say oh you’re right

oh you’re talented that’s why you’re

right you know

that really isn’t what it is

writing is not constrained by

age nor education or anything

in fact all of us can do it let me share

with you

an incident that occurred several years

ago

um i think about seven eight years ago

in my home

right i had come back from one of my

usual writers retreats

and you know when you go over these

writers retreats you you learn

a lot a lot of new strategies you get to

try out new things

right so i came back home to my 10 year

old

who was bent over doing his homework

something important i think math or

science you know those songs those sorts

of things

so i go over and i thought you know you

know and i’ll tell you guys

all your parents experiment on you so

this was my moment and i go

hey buddy he goes yes i’m a math of

science

and i said you want to play a game with

amma and he was like

yes you know chucked aside turns around

what are we doing

um so i take out two notebooks and i

show it to him

his eyes start narrowing already and

then i said

you know we’re going to do something

okay we’re going to make lists of things

that are precious to us he’s like

are you going to mark this you can’t

blame that child he’s the only child

of an english teacher what he has

written so many essays that i’ve tricked

him into writing

so i was like no this is going to be

private

you are going to write a list and so

will mummy

i’ll write a list as well so what are we

writing about

write about five things that are that’s

precious to you

we set the timer but we’re going to set

the timer i said three minutes let’s

make a list

we start writing we stopped timer burst

we stopped

and i said okay great now circle the one

thing that you may wish to share with me

that is

not private that i may know about so

he circles that this sounds fun right i

mean for once i tell him he can have his

privacy

so for once i say you know it’s only

what you want to tell me so you know sir

he said

he said yes i’m ready i said great this

is what we’re going to do next the next

part of the game is

you and i are going to write you should

have seen the look on his face

are you tricking me into writing another

essay i was like

no darling you write what you want write

whatever you want

just write just write i said yes so yes

we set the timer and i said look it

can’t be a trick if mummy is writing too

right

he thought about it and he said you’re

going to write about what’s precious to

you i said yes yes yes

is it me uh i’m not telling you yet so

then we start writing we set the alarm

uh we set the timer on and we started

writing

15 minutes buzzer goes off

um not you know despite my best

intentions i went into the buzzer goes

all right and what do i do

okay put down your pan and make sure you

finish that sentence last sentence

right and he gives he turns around

stares at me

and finishes it and he too is you know

cute to finish that little

essay or you know the little text that

he had written

then it was time to share and he looks

over at my

notebook and he was what

i was like why you that’s all you wrote

i was like yeah i mean like i had a page

i had i mean it wasn’t the best

handwriting i

i type all the all my essays and i type

a lot

i spent the bulk of the time doing that

right rather than handwriting so i don’t

have the best handwriting right now

i looked over to his work two-finger

spacing good boy

all right neat paragraphs he had thought

through what he wanted to write and here

i was you know

some sometimes i had a full sentence

sometimes i had half a clause

and and i had written i written from my

heart and i had just written

and it wasn’t as complete as his so

he was shocked and he turned to me and

he said

amma i’m only 10 you have a phd

and that’s all you wrote

it struck me then i mean it was

hilarious right i mean it was it was

really hilarious because he was truly

truly modified

it was hilarious because you know

it doesn’t matter how old you are i mean

it’s only physically possible to write a

certain amount

it doesn’t matter what your education is

it’s the first draft

and we what mattered is that we wrote

what would matter later on is if we

would revise it if we were to work on it

if we were to work on the craft

so really writing

is not a gift that’s missed out on just

a few

writing is for all of us especially

during these times

right to connect with your inner voice

because writing can put you in a better

frame of mind

writing can take you to a different

place now

as aaron said no talk is complete on the

humanities without shakespeare right

so certainly did you know that

shakespeare had written king lear during

the quarantine

now i know shakespeare we all can’t be i

have certainly have more hair

what can we then do well

for a start why don’t you make a list of

things

when you’re happy when you’re troubled

especially when you’re troubled

why don’t you make a list of things a

list of things that’s troubling you

when you need to make a decision why

don’t you make a list of things

list of possibilities don’t just stop

with the list you know

that’s what most people do stop

pause circle the one thing that matters

the most

and then start writing about it

just write now you are writing for

yourself you’re not writing for your

teachers you’re not writing for an

examination

you are writing for yourself you are

writing to discover your inner voice

so just write and as you write

you will discover because writing

will reveal writing is liberating

and writing will show you what

is truly in your heart

now if anne frank hadn’t written her

diary

would we know what we know today

her work i mean she was a child she

wrote a diary i mean how many of us have

not read anne frank’s diary

and one of the things she says is and

one of the quotes is that

i can shake off everything as i write my

sorrows disappear my courage is reborn

writing is cathartic writing helps

writing puts your thoughts your words

your emotions your

you know your heart out there and it’s

okay because it’s a safe space it’s you

and the paper and the pen or

two days ago i read that priyanka chopra

a very successful bollywood and

hollywood actress

had just finished her memoir during the

quarantine period

titled unfinished

now where do we start then

we want to write first and foremost

be a voracious reader

now this isn’t my library right though i

wish it was

i love books i i absolutely love books i

i walk into i i walk into airports

i walk into book shops i walk into

shopping malls

and if there’s a bookshop there and i

come back with lots of books

and these days of course with social

media i see lots of posts of books and

people you know

talking about books and i buy all of

that you have good reads as well and i

go and buy all of that as well you get

good

you could get good reviews you get to

learn about a lot more books

why each book is a little world

each book is a voice each book

is a piece of art it brings you to a

different place

it takes you where you could have never

gone

in this lifetime each book tells

many stories if you read a thousand

books you would have lived a thousand

lives i’m sure you would have heard that

if you don’t read anything at all you

would have just lived this one life

you would have only met the people that

you know in this lifetime

you wouldn’t face the different

circumstances you wouldn’t face the

different dialogues you wouldn’t see the

way different people react

you wouldn’t be able to see the world

the way you can if you start

reading widely if you don’t start

reading widely

now famous writer

author horror lots of people love his

books

and what has he got to say said if you

don’t have time to read then you

really don’t have the tools to write so

read widely read widely

read different things you are on social

media

read voraciously

now i was quite intrigued by this

challenge

that dr shashi there took um the 365

books a year

challenge right um so what he did was he

read

a book a day and he’s a

prolific writer he writes quickly he

writes you know he’s got

he’s famous for his in a command of

vocabulary he wasn’t he was an

international diplomat

he is a current indian politician he’s

an amazing writer

now but he has admitted that it wasn’t

perhaps the best thing

that he did because he didn’t get to

savor the book so you don’t have to do

that

right you don’t have to read 365 books a

year

that it’s not a challenge enjoy what you

read

pick only what you like because that’s

when

it’ll speak to your heart

now i want to talk to you about you know

i want to end with

telling you about what happened uh

recently with me

and talk to you about how i discovered

something so the circuit breaker came

arrived

and um i was i i remember the the

announcement coming in at the university

i was delivering my last tutorial lesson

it was a writing class mind you and um

and then we were told that you know

we’re going to be working from home and

there were no

classes et cetera i was

in the midst of finishing up my novel my

latest novel i had just translated it

i’d been working on it for two years

i was in the midst of finishing it up so

i thought oh great so now i can work

you know through the night and you know

what that’s what works best for me

draft after draft i went through

everything i worked on it

it was done

27 july 2 am

i remember that distinctly because my my

editor texted me remember the date

and i submitted it right i’m like okay

final set of proofs

let me submit it now i submit it and i

and i get up

and i think okay 2am i need to sleep

but i just couldn’t move i was

a bundle of emotions and i

couldn’t put my finger on it i mean

don’t get me wrong

i love writing i loved working on this

project it was demanding

it was you know it was exciting it got

me up at night i was thinking what is

the right word for it how did i get it

right did i get the new answers right so

it it was an exciting thing

but i i felt uplifted

i my heart was heavy my pulse was racing

but i just couldn’t move i thought oh

do i have more coffee in me than i

should but that wasn’t just

it so i did what i

have always advocated to all my students

and my friends and what i’ve always gone

back to

i set the timer and i said babe

you’re gonna write i started making

notes three minutes right so

i find that it works very well when you

do these these timed activities you know

to get you in otherwise you get stuck

with this

writer’s block so that okay babe you’re

gonna do this you’ve got this

so i started making notes um and it’s

all you know

little words and little phrases and like

i feel this i feel this i feel this and

then and like and then and then slowly

the words became

sentences and then three minutes was up

and i said okay time to put on the 15

minute

buzzer the timer i put that on and then

i started writing

and this is what came out from me

so please allow me to read it to you

and you will see what i discovered

eleven drafts later you arrived

fully formed in many ways for my

editor’s

red pen to shape and coax

you into the light i see she dressed you

in a ball gown too

you lucky girl the next time i see you

i’ll be able to pick you up and hold you

in my hands

inhale the woodsy pop scent and trace my

name on your cover

the next time i see you you’ll be real

you were made to live in other homes to

be held

by other hands to be loved and cherished

by others

i pray they be kind to you my love i

will think of you every day

for you were carved out of my soul and

fashioned in my mind

i’ll bet for nameless others

that gave me an insight into what was

troubling me

now right to connect it is

your right to connect with yourself and

with

others and with the society

even in troubling times even

during a long time locked down writing

is liberating thank you

you