Dear Wafa...

Twenty One

Wafu, you want to know how I started writing? Because you never knew me to have literary ambitions, did you? Something must have happened to turn your friend into a writer (however insignificant), don't you think?

I was always into reading-- that you know. Even as a child, I read excessively. I loved (and still love) reading the newspaper thoroughly. I read whatever I could from our school's limited library and having had enough of children's tales and Goosebumps and Nancy Drew, started pestering the lady librarian (who talked so fast that she tended to reduce words and phrases into single syllables) for bigger "expensive-so-access-denied" books. And then, I discovered the wizarding world of Harry Potter, thanks to Balarama Digest, and was so enchanted by its magic that when Dad unexpectedly brought home the first four Harry Potter books (the fifth was yet to come), I talked of nothing else. Then I read library books from my cousin's college that she was so kind to lend me. I even devoured snippets from old newspapers that shopkeepers sometimes use to wrap things in. All in all, I loved reading.

So what made this reader start writing? I honestly don't remember what my first foray into literature was but I know without doubt what made me want to be a writer. Meeting William Godwin made an impact on Shelley, Ruskin Bond admits that finding David Copperfield in an abandoned forest house was his turning point-- similarly, there was something that made me want to be a writer too. I have written poems even before I made the conscious decision in my mind that I'll be a writer when I grow up-- thanks to school policy that made off-stage items compulsory for all students during arts fests, I've had to try my hand at everything from pencil drawing, water colouring and poster making to essay writing, story writing and poem writing in English, Malayalam, Hindi and Arabic (I still remember my first ever Malayalam poem-- it is the silliest thing I've written to date and makes me want to puke). This policy had its disadvantages (like making me write in Hindi, a language whose grammar I could never master) and gave rise to lots of fun (like when a classmate adapted an English song lyrics for an essay titled 'India of my dreams'), but it had its positives too. It made me discover a love for poetry, for rhyming words and meter and rhythm and figures of speech. That's how I started representing our school in inter-school competitions. I'll never forget the encouragement of certain teachers either, especially my dear English teacher Miss Hasna.

But what made me want to try a hand at stories was, sadly, the tragedy of losing you. When you died, something changed in me, something that could be let out only in written words. So I planned my first book ever- a novel about a girl called Janet who dies of cancer. I planned the book cover, wrote the prologue, first chapter, last chapter and the epilogue, and a few scenes in between. And then, I grew out of it. Because try as I might, I could never bring myself to write the rest of it. My second book was also a novel- called The Rain in My Heart, with a difficult marriage as its theme (though I was just thirteen and knew nothing of married life back then!) I can't recall what my third novel was about. But the fourth one called The Home was set in an orphanage and its central character was a little orphan boy named Eddy. This book was the one that I gave most thought, though the character names and the likes were more researched for my first novel. And then, a friend's one-day-old cousin died, and the resultant grief moved me to write 'My Dear Daughter'-- and then I knew that novels weren't my cup of tea. I realized that I was better fit for the short story.

And then I met Niyas Sir and in the midst of long conversations about poems and books that we love, he convinced me that pursuing a degree in literature would be the best, considering my love for reading and writing. And once I went to college, there was no turning back. There was Fathima Ma'am (Dr. E. V. Fathima, a dedicated professor and translator and speaker, a multi-talented personality) and Nishad Sir (V. H. Nishad, a Malayalam writer and journalist, a man of great initiatives, an overall genius) and the Media Club-- I was glad that I chose to study literature and nothing else. From these most beloved teachers, I learned valuable tips about writing. They moulded my writing into what it is today.

So Wafu, my journey into writing has been a strange one-- compulsory school competitions and my love for reading brought out the poet in me; and then I lost you and turned to novel writing, and then a dear friend's aunt lost her baby and made me a short story writer.