Writer as I am, I’ve taken a hiatus to ponder on a few things. I’m thinking of my past and present. An analogy that I draw tells me of a difference which the advent of time has brought into my life. Earlier images that I was used to see around my table and in my room used to be no different from the images that may have existed in any Victorian master’s den. Yes, except a discernible difference in the jazzed-up latest gadgetry is undeniable. My room contained everything, time-travelled, such as a teak table cluttered with papers, a chair, myriad books pushed into the grimy shelves, broken-and-new pens, inkpots and similar things a lot of which I’m not even able to recall. Then a new member entered the little world I was dwelling in. Make no mistake, it is not a typewriter. I don’t like typewriters, I never liked one, though I’ve the privilege of learning typing on the same in one of the walked-into-the-history typewriting institute in my hometown—Hamirpur. Rather the new member was a computer, a desktop—assembled. The feeling of owning a PC was pervasive, though it took me a while to straightway write drafts on the computer. And it was obvious to tame reservations in the beginning because the mindset was taking time to adjust to the new machine.
The experience was amazing, I shouldn’t lie a bit. I could write and listen to the music in the background simultaneously. Besides, it helped me store a number of data, books, pictures on a hard-disk that it had inside. The images, thus, that appeared constantly around me took a virtual shape and thus, had slightly changed. The computer’s word processor—which was Microsoft’s MS Word—was the most recurrent image. However, I did not abandon the pen. I continued to fight with the pen on the paper to write scripts, poems and stories (many of which are still unpublished). Despite the preference for the computer, I was unwilling to shun the practice of writing and reading in the traditional form. Many times I penned hundred pages and later spent days to type the same in the computer. It was a sheer waste of time, indeed. The only positive that emanated from this head-jerking practice was the improved typing speed. Thanks to those days, I can type with a lightning fast speed on the computer.
During the course of time, I went into writing and journalistic profession. The job, as every journalist would agree, needed me to work briskly. The speed at which I worked mattered most for personal growth. It did not allow me a time to write first on the paper and later type it on the computer. So I learnt the hard trick finally. And I loved it. It was fast, abrupt and made me productive.
Today, there is no limit of the stories I’ve done. It’s just because of the technology at my desktop that offers me information at a lightning fast speed. I’ve Google and I’ve Yahoo! to help me gather information and do the secondary research for the write-ups and stories.
It is a whole different world from the one that used to exist in my room half a decade ago. The images I now see and remember, for my professional and sometimes personal benefits, are Google, Twitter, Facebook, Smilies, tags, RSS feeds and YouTube videos which stand in stark contrast to those that surrounded back then. The flow of information, no doubt, drives me sometimes delirious. But it helps me write and connect to the world. I, to the best of my knowledge and belief, write more informative pieces. These tools of the Internet age, which I’m proud to be using, also help me in writing fiction, and inspire me to compose new poems, and do a lot more.
The experience is awesome to learn all this. Since I’m a young person, it may be a thrilling experience for me. It might be totally different for a person in the later years. But I would suggest them to have a feel of the change that is happening around. It will change their lives and replenish them with exultation.
O S scribbles... 