Creative writing | Ramu Das

A very important question for us: is observation more important or imagination? If you ask me, I would say both are of equal importance; a creative writer will make use of everything, of every occurrence, of anything literally, to give an artistic touch to his or her work.

However, not everyone can be as good an observer as Conan Doyle’s the great Sherlock Holmes. I think, if you cannot be, you do not have to be. Human mind is capable of doing much more than what is visible to the naked eyes.

We can create something out of nothing. Here is one instance:

I was in my office, sitting on the chair, facing the computer. I was smiling – no, smiling is not the right word, blushing suits better. I blushed for the first time, then for second time and so on… Next to my desk was a colleague staring at me as blankly as one would stare at the question paper during the exam if you have not studied at all. I knew the reason for his curious stare, he might have thought I was eccentric, but I thought not to explain the reason for which I blushed.

He could not keep his thoughts to himself and finally blurted out, “Is something wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” I said.

He was not convinced with that, he added, “Looks like something is wrong, though.” I did not say anything, but he wanted to know, really know, what the matter was, “We believe in sharing, so say what’s it, why do you blush so much?”

I feared he would spread the rumor that I smile/blush/laugh and sometimes talk to myself for no reason. Therefore, I told him what he asked for: “See,” said I, “I was blushing not because I remembered something sweet or funny from the past, nor did I smile for something that I like about the present, nor did I think anything about the future that could possibly make me blush.”

“Ha! Then?” he said mockingly.

“I created a scene _,” I could say no more for the impatience colleague interrupted me.

“A scene!” said he. I nodded. “What are you talking about?”

“Yes,” I answered, “a scene in my mind that was nonexistent in reality.”

That was so, a nonexistent thing that I gave shape to, a situation I created. In reality, things seldom happen as we want them to, but we can think about them and make them appear in our mind as we wish they were. And thinking that, at least for a moment, we can be happy and smile and blush and laugh and talk to ourselves.

Watching movies and reading books serves as a supplement to the quality of our imagination. We can imagine anything, create a world full of demons, and imagine things beyond that. But, I have found, I can limit my imagination to things that are relevant to me, so to speak, I can be realistic even in my imagination, but of course, with a little twist here and a little twist there.

I never thought that someday I would maintain a diary, but last year I decided to pen down my thoughts (which are many) that keeps fluctuating in my mind on paper, so that I could reflect upon my past as I grow older, at the same time improve my writing skills.

From the 1^st of January up till the 31^st of December, I wrote all the day-to-day happenings of my life, and the happenings around me in my diary. Now, it’s 365 pages of memories that I can cherish. Let me share what I wrote on the 2^nd of January, 2012. There are certain things which are very private to me, and I cannot share them all. However, the 2^nd of January is an exception. So here it is reproduced:

Damn my phone! It always wakes me up when I’m least inclined to wake up. But I cannot defy what I must do just because of my laziness; therefore, I woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning, and did everything that a person do in the morning.

Then, at 12:05 in the afternoon, I reached my college, before entering the classroom I looked around to see if there were any latecomer who might accompany me to the classroom because I was late my five minutes, and, I feared the lecturer might not allow me inside the class if I was the only latecomer, and, ha! Luckily, there were some latecomer who looked disheveled and walked near me with a dizzy pace.

‘Late?’ I enquired, but I don’t know what made me ask that, I knew very well that they were late so much like I was.

‘Late, dude, late,’ answered a friend, and I nodded.

The lecturer inside the classroom was lecturing in full swing; her name was Smita Ramakrishna, one of the best teachers I met in this college, who also possess a fantastic sense of humor and a good taste in music, and she looks some years younger than she actually is. She teaches us Managerial Accounting. She no longer will teach us after someday, as she is moving to a better position, and is going to teaches the PG students, or so I heard.

I stood by the door and through the glass door-frame she saw me moving incoherently. The door was ajar, I pushed it a little more and said: ‘Ma’am….’ and that’s all I could say, because she made a statement: ‘31^st is over, and so is the 1^st.’ She kept examining me minutely, I could not understand the statement, and mulled over it for some time, then I realized that she made a satirical statement, though I wasn’t drowsy and did not appear inebriated or hung on to a celebratory mood – bidding farewell to the previous year and welcoming the present year – but I liked her statement. I’m a satirist myself. I could not help the urge of wishing her, and so, I said with a broad smile on my face: ‘Happy New Year, Ma’am!’ ‘Hahaha!’ She laughed.

‘Where is you ID?’ she asked, it was in my hand, and she answered her own question, ‘You are suppose to wear it on your neck and not on your hands.’ I quickly did what she said; she smiled and said, ‘Now, get in quickly, and latch the door.’

So that’s about it. Here are four suggestions on how to keep up a diary.

Be Honest. In-case you cannot be honest with others (which is very disgraceful), at least be honest to yourself. However, if you are honest with all, that’s wonderful. Personal bias should not creep in while writing about yourself, or your friends, or anyone else, that is to say, don’t make it a point to find all kind of virtues in yourself and faults in others.

Be Creative. Don’t just write about the everyday happenings that more or less are same, for example, some people might write ‘I went to college by train’ on the first day, and on the second day you write the same thing, and same thing on the third… so on you keep repeating, your writing experience would be mundane. That’s a very childish act, so try to use your imagination, try to write your feelings, your thoughts, etc, but make it different. You may write prose and poetry as well.

Improve you writing. After writing the day’s entry go through what you have written, find if you have made any mistake – grammatical or spelling – and amend them, and be careful the next time.

Keep It Private. I’m talking about personal diaries. Keep your diary in a safe place, far from people. By people I mean anyone – your family or friends – with whom you don’t like to share about your private life. My brother, for instance, takes the pleasure of reading my diary, and when I get the slightest hint that he read it, I take the pleasure of scolding him and shouting at him; “Do not touch that, you buffoon!”

The advantages of maintaining a diary are many. If you are a writer or aspire to be one, you should maintain a diary and write every day, and improve your story telling skills. You can improve your handwriting as well. I don’t believe that practice makes a man perfect, my handwriting is poor I must admit, I write very roughly; I believe that perfect practice makes a man perfect, now, slowly my handwriting is improving because I’m practicing it in the right way… better late than never. But then, perfection is non-existent, so don’t waste your time to be perfect, but you can definitely be efficient.

Do you keep a diary, or intend to?

A Thinking Man