The Story-telling Room

A room as simple as the man. A man as simple as his writing. His writing as simple as his way of life.

The room mentioned here is a study. A study that used to belong to the Indian novelist known for being the simple genius that he was and his novels known for their simple Indian flavour. Through his pen was created an entire fictional village on the banks of a fictional river, close to a fictional forest, with a charming fictional railway station to complete the setting. And peopled by characters so close to real that the reader wished they could visit the place. Yes, I am talking about R. K. Narayan, one of the most illustrious Indian writers in English.

To visit R. K. Narayan’s house had been a strong wish since the day it was known to me that the house is being maintained as a museum. The house has been restored and kept just as the author had left it. The spartan interiors of his home is filled with the vibes from a past – a past filled with charming tales of ordinary people and their unpretentious lives. The house, especially the study, is reverberating with, perhaps, his thoughts that still linger unborne, unformed, unshaped by his unassuming style of writing.  His narratives are so incredibly simple that it was considered a flaw, a shortcoming, by some, the poster walls say. Surely they may not have recognised the complexity involved in his simple writing.

RKN’s writing is soaked in the spirit of the region where his stories happen. The alienness of the language he writes in does not mar the pristineness of the world of his characters. The regionalism of his tales does not come in the way of the grace of the language he writes in. Or else, Graham Greene himself would not have taken the initiative of getting RKN’s books published.

This unique raconteur’s stories took form while he was on his walks down the street. His characters took shape as he stopped to exchange pleasantries with the shopkeepers, the roadside vendors, the shoppers, and the random passersby he might have chanced upon on his casual strolls.

As a reader and a hopeful writer, one feels it’s easier to be laborious in one's writing process than be effortlessly engaging. For, simplicity has to flow naturally. Like it did from this great storyteller’s pen.

His study has many windows. So had his mind, which opened out into the world. And his thoughts would have soared the skies. Some would have flown away into the horizon. Perhaps some are still there perching on the trees. Swinging on the boughs. Rustling the leaves. He would have recalled them into his study had he lingered longer in this world. Had he lived longer, he would have ushered them in, put them together, strung them one to the other to form charming tales, and treasured them between the leaves of his books forever. Had he lived longer.

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[PC: SW, Interiors of  RK Narayan's House, Museum in Mysuru]

Tangents

Time speeds forward. Through light and dark. Regardless of the bright days or the starry, sometimes dreary, nights. Through hues and greys. Sweating up the highs and tumbling down the lows. At times warmed up by the shine. Often scorched by the heat. Bare to the nightly chills. Startled by the dawns. Anticipating the dusks. Time races on. So does life. At a matching pace. Shooting off at a tangent to every expectation.

life a shooting dart
time a tangent on its own
hope still circles though

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[Picture: On the way to Phillip Island, Melbourne]

Deeps

Still runs deep.

Still waters
Turbulent fathoms
Deeps beckon.

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A Win or A Loss?

pc: pngtree.com

 

Sue & Rue

Sue: When, exactly, is a ‘win-win’?

Rue: When both parties feel they’ve won.

Sue: So a ‘lose-lose’ is…

Rue: ...obviously, when both parties suffer a loss.

Sue: And when is it a ‘win-lose’ situation?

Rue: When there’s a winner and there's a loser.

Sue: And a ‘lose-win’?

Rue: When one wins at a certain cost. Or loses with a consolatory gain.

Sue: Then what would you call this current situation?

Rue: Oh, this is a strange one.

Sue: In which way?

Rue: The winner feels he has lost. The loser feels he has won.

©

In Conversation with AksharaSthree

 

Holding conversations is an art in itself. You enjoy talking with some people. Often, it's because they know how to make you talk. Here's an excerpt from a hearty chat that I had with Sandhya Naveen of AksharaSthree - The Literary Woman.

What made you decide to have a varied career involving writing, editing, curating, and content strategy?

During my school and college days, like all young people in those days, I too considered going for a professional degree. However, writing came to me naturally. And so I found myself veering my way into journalism and eventually found myself in this career. More than a conscious decision, it was a following of natural instinct. Writing, editing, content strategy, etc. are all creative processes related to writing which basically require the same thinking mind-set but different approaches. I was lucky that I got the chance to explore all of these. Also, with the advent of the internet, I was at the right place at the right time. I just went along with the flow.

Can you talk about your schooling and how it affected your path in literature and journalism?

When I was in school, there were a few teachers who persuaded me to engage in script-writing, versification, etc. As they say, your teacher figures out your interests before you are even aware of them. However, more than anything, it was the environment at home that influenced me the most. My father led a very successful profession as an engineer. And he was a poet at heart – a much published and awarded one. So he was a person to look up to. I grew up in my grandparents’ home though. My grandparents were huge literature enthusiasts. So is my mother. Their continuous literary conversations around the dining table and in the living room kindled and nurtured my passion for writing as well as reading.

Your poetry has been in different online literary journals and anthologies. Can you tell us about your creative process and what topics or ideas inspire your poetry?

I get inspired by things around me, things that I see and hear. Anything and everything, even a crumbled piece of paper, can inspire me. Sometimes poems written by others become a source of inspiration. There is no specific process as such. Writing begins spontaneously in the mind. Words and lines form naturally. The genre and the format are all part of this natural evolution. By the time I type it out, the poem is almost fully composed in my mind. This is followed by endless revisions. Fine-tuning is a never-ending process. But I just stop working at it after a point.  

As a Consulting Developmental Editor, what parts of working with authors do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy the challenge of editing and organising their thoughts without even slightly affecting or changing their tone and voice. I try to maintain the style and feel in the authors’ writing, sticking to their vocabulary, staying in line with their thoughts. This requires several meetings and discussions with the authors. By working closely with them, I gain a deep insight into their subject and thus get to learn a lot. This, I consider, is the perk that comes with my job. My ultimate gratification lies in the authors’ happiness when they see the final product.

How do you manage being a writer, editor, and consultant, and what do you do to stay organized and get things done?

So who says I stay organised? I get things done all right. But my mind is in a constant state of blissful disorganisation. It is always a clutter of things that I am currently doing and that I plan to do, including writing. There are words and lines that form, un-form and re-form, so to say, continuously in my mind. This generates the fuel that keeps me going.

[Read the full conversation on aksharasthree.com.]