A Voice Unheard- Part I: Prose

A Writer's Tools

A man once said that "The pen is mightier than the sword" Well HE was one wise man. Martin Luther King even said "If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write." I know today, everything is, in the words of my cyber law professor, "Digitized" or in electronic form. Most people prefer typing to actually physically writing on a piece of paper with a pen, for whatever the reasons.

E - Newspapers and e - magazines and blogs and websites have cropped up all over the place with people writing in them, expressing their thoughts and ideas the way they want. The internet has made life for struggling writers very easy (it has done so for anyone with an idea and a desire to express that idea in words for others to see). It is quite mind boggling, if I may say so, to know that with a click of a button the whole world has access to something you've said or done (not that the whole world WILL definitely read or see your work). The ease in transmission is definitely an added advantage that attracts people to typing up their work...

But to this very day, I am unable to let go of my pen and paper.... I have to write everything first, physically, before I finally type it up. Its as though my brain doesn't work to the blinking cursor on a blank page.

I sometimes imagine myself sitting on an old English style desk, brandishing a grand quill made of say Flamingo Feather, scribbling away furiously on a piece of parchment, only stopping to dip the tip of my quill into a pot of ink. The whole idea that people wrote letters for centuries on end, just fascinates me and enthralls me to no end! Imagine it. Take a second to really see yourself writing letters. There is nothing more valuable than the written word. It is no wonder that more importance is attached to a written document than some oral declaration... the written word is a clear depiction of intention.

The time and effort that goes into penning down one's thoughts itself is enough to show how much that person cares (or doesn't care, as the case may be). It is a real skill to expose oneself in the written word. I often feel that people can be more forthcoming, honest and open in the written word, because no one is there watching them as they write. No one is inside their mind controlling their form or manner of expression. But that's just my overly-romantic way of looking at writing. I humbly admit my strong case of bias towards expression and more specifically expression in written form.

Scores upon scores of letters, documents, diaries etc have been written using - what I think to be the best of a writers tools - the classic fountain pen. There is something so spectacular in feeling the ink flow from the pen to the paper, as though it is flowing from your very hands... like there is no pen. Just the ink, your hand, and your thoughts. The sound of the scratching of the nib as it makes its indelible imprint on the paper, is oddly comforting... the entire process of writing for me, becomes enjoyable only when I have these familiar sounds, and sights, and feelings as I write.

No doubt I like the steady clicky-clack of fingers tapping on a keyboard (any kind: typewriter, laptop, computer, palm top). That has its own pleasure. But nothing comes close to the kind of satisfaction you get when you actually write something, in your own handwriting. Its like eating food with your hands, is 100 times more satisfying than when you do it with cutlery (well it is, if you're used to it).

William Makepeace Thackeray had it all figuredout when he said that "There are athousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up thepen to write." A writer has numeroustools to use to express his ideas...... I think the classic combination of pento paper, will never ever get old!