Just four months ago, we could have barely fathomed the situation that we are all living in, one that we will remember for many decades to come. As I flipped through the pages in my diary, I found at the same time last year, I was distressed about how little time I had to write due to my 16+ hours-per-day job in advertising. I now find, after completing more than 300+ hours in self-quarantine, how wrong I was in thinking that if I had some free time, I would write.
These are not easy times, and as writers, we are wrong in thinking that free time alone would be enough for us to sit down in front of the system. The keys before me wait for a command, any command. I have all the time in the world, as I am huddled up in this room, with not a soul to disturb me. I don’t have a lot of work emails as clients are busy dealing with the free-falling market. But time is just one of the ingredients for a decent writing output.
The environment is vital. When we are bombarded by news of a deadly disease hunting us in wholesale numbers the world over, hardly will our fingers move to finish the next sentence. There is the sound of the ambulance blaring every few hours, then the silence after that which is even louder ... Our mindset is vital. When we are constantly worried about ration supplies depleting with every meal; when our security guards get stricter each day about who gets to deliver food and other supplies to you and who doesn’t; when an eerie silence is what you see, it isn’t a surprise for me when I find out there are fewer content submissions for our curated page on Instagram. A writer is least productive when the world around him is screaming terror in his ears.
Socialisation is key. There is a significant difference between socialising over phone and video calls, and meeting in person. Their physical presence, their voice relayed just by the air and not a cellular service, their touch—it all makes a difference. I cite people extensively in my stories, and with very few of them in my living vicinity, my mind is spinning like an empty Ferris wheel. This crisis taught me this among several other lessons like the value of milk, vegetables, grains and even salt. This crisis will teach us all a lot before it vanishes for good, and none of us will be the same again.
Ashwin Shanker
Email: shankerashwin66@gmail.com