Why do I write ...

Often I am asked as to why I write? Why am I not a laissez faire guy who just lets things be as they are and ignore them to continue his journey as an "also ran" ?

"Are you crazy ? " I am asked as I spend many hours in libraries researching on a topic like say , "Dravidian Literature" .

"Are you taking enough vacations?", seems the standard question.

"People of your age and profession don't do these things. They take life as it comes. And they enjoy the happenings never bothering to trouble themselves like you do like researching on non-essential topics. They are content with Ipad browsing for news and the periodic stock market checks. Why do you maintain blogs that too in two languages and keep updating them with any issue that happens in the world ?" they ask.

So the sum and substance is why do you write, whom do you write for and how does it matter if you don't write ? In other words, who cares whether you have written or not.

"So what do people of my demographic profile do? ", I ask.

" They do things that make them happy", they say.

"That's what I do too. I write so that I am happy as I write to be happy. Writing makes me think. Thinking makes me ask questions . Questions force me to read and talk to people to understand things. And once I read and talk and listen and understand, I write what I have talked, listened, read and understood. And once I write, I am happy", I say.

They are not convinced yet. They clamor on. But why you ?

My refrain is "Why not me ?"

I consider writing on happenings that concern somebody as the clear path to overcoming the already set in cynicism and negativity in the minds of the many out there in our midst that have been there, seen that and done what not .

Writing gives hope. It gives me a means of clarifying to myself as to what my stand is on various things. Not that it really matters to others but that it matters to me.

Writing helps put things in perspective. Writing makes me read- read those masters who are long dead and gone but were doyens in their lifetimes and contributed significantly towards the intellectual thought processes that helped shaped the course of history.

For example, when I read JFK, I learn about his 'City Upon a Hill' speech that takes me back 400 years to meet John Winthrop atop the flagship Arabella who espoused the concept of "City Upon A Hill " that serves as the guide line even today for those holding a public office. That sets me thinking and I begin to validate the current rulers and powers that be, with this benchmark speech. Then you know what happens. An article gets written in no time.