Everyday perils of writing

So, you can now look for a job?" asked my good relative when I was visiting home this summer. She was referring to my parents-in-law joining us in Dubai. According to her, ma and pa would take care of Sid while I could work.

Yes, most people agreed that the timing was perfect. "Well, I am a writer," I suggested. "But you can always do this. It is your hobby," she said.

Writing for most people is the easiest profession a person can hold. It is never categorised as a job and definitely not time-consuming. It can be done anywhere, and not time-bound.

Perhaps it is true, but for me writing is a constant process. It is not an activity that happens on the desk, but it happens all the time in the mind and then translated to words when the time is right.It is a simple phenomenon that anyone can do with an eye for detail and a flair to tell a tale. Yet it is also the toughest job to hold on to. Most things are never as simple as they appear to be.

As I clean, cook and do the dishes, there are ideas that creep in and suddenly there is the Eureka moment. I am like the blacksmith who has to hit the iron when it is hot to turn it into any shape. So I run to quickly fetch a paper and a pencil to write down my thoughts but somehow that is exactly when the doorbell rings. I memorise the piece and attend to the door. When I finally settle down I realise that the blacksmith was lucky and I now have a tougher job ahead.

The ideas have become sketchy and the words have mellowed down. So I reckon I have to put aside some time alone for my work when all the thoughts that will gush in will be streamlined. I start early. I finish my morning chores and settle down. I am waiting for the call, for the sprint moment, but that doesn't happen. It is a cold day.

Sudden click

So I settle down for a few lines of uninspiring words and wind up. I get into the grind. I have a long evening ahead, especially because I am going to have a few guests.

So I plan and set out cooking. I get busy and when the dinner preparations gather steam there is a sudden click, a moment when the time is just right and the picture is clear and perfect. But I reconcile and the picture again has to wait.

Later in the evening I struggle, but then I manage a decent piece. I heave a sigh — well, is this a hobby? A writer's job is never easy. It is a round-the-clock activity and is definitely not time-bound because inspiration doesn't strike when you settle down at your desk. It could happen in the most unlikely places and during all odd hours.

As I write, I realise that a writer is so many things rolled into one. He is a potter who shapes his thoughts into words and phrases, a person who can put the complex rules or emotions into words for easy comprehension, an entertainer who sweats for hours for people to enjoy, and a therapist who gives a logical reasoning to complicated issues.

As for me, I think I would still settle for a job that is unconditional. A mathematician who can stir up complicated formulae in legible, easy to comprehend words for most people to read, a story teller for my little one because, after all, it is absolutely exciting to be in a job I never have to quit.

Sudha Subramanian is an independent journalist based in Dubai.