To the joy of reading…
I joined Medium very recently. I remember I used to pen down stuff during my undergrad days and a little post that and then all of a sudden I had stopped writing, caught in the mundane. It is only recently post Covid, sometime towards the end of last year that I got back to scribbling away in my diary. I was pretty much sleep deprived but was rambling away anyway.
It was one way to get stuff off my chest. I do not unload all of my emotional garbage out here. Most of it is tweaked and edited drastically. Not so much as to make it more palatable to the readers but also because constantly rambling about the same woes makes me feel worse. Once it is out of your system, it should have no way of creeping back in. Easier said than done. I try though.
I have realized after coming in here that everybody here is so unique in the way they express themselves. I like how it is so easy for some people to put out their deepest emotions for the world to consume. I know and realize that many may be using pseudo names and the anonymity probably makes it easier, yet kudos to their nonchalance. How some people can describe the most trivial or the seemingly most important incidences in their everyday life and you are not even related, but wish to know how the story continues.
If I start reading an article, I usually read it to the very end. I do know that the ones beginning with ‘5 things to improve your life’ ….and ‘seven things to attain your goal’ etc. are click baits. They certainly make it seem like those 5 or 7 bullet points will suddenly transform your life. I fall for it too(deliberately) only to scan through it. However some perspectives can be of real value addition.
I am not going to diss any style of writing but going to write about what I enjoy reading. I like people writing about the mundane. How people find adventure in their day to day happenings. How people notice the smallest detail in the everyday and make a poetry or a beautiful piece of prose out of it. I do not like being extremely serious out here. It is not like this is my Linked In profile. Honestly, I have never bothered having a Linked In profile. I wouldn’t know what to do out there. This place is better.
I like stories about the everyday because my style of writing is similar. One of my favorite authors , RK Narayan had a similar form of story telling. He narrated the daily happenings so well that you felt like you were living it or watching it on screen. The stories were always about ordinary people going through something extra ordinary. His brother RK Laxman epitomized ‘The Common Man’ through his cartoons and he in turn penned down tales about them. I love reading the ordinary.
I am a satirist. I observe people, situations and events and write about how I relate and connect to them on an emotional plane. Though I am a bit of a recluse, I am also a total people’s person. An ambivert basically. Hence I read till the very end , the good, the bad, the ugly. It helps me better understand emotions and perspectives.
I recently read a writer’s write up regarding ‘writing and reading styles’. How people have different patterns of consuming content. Some people scan through content, others read bullet points, while some others albeit a few read the entire text exhaustively. I am the kind to read exhaustively. I cannot skip through content unless it is a long boring read leading nowhere. I am here to read, so why skip stuff ?
I am the sort who will listen to a friend rant for hours together about their work even when I have absolutely no clue what they are talking about. I am the sort who will read a book cover to cover however painfully slowly and watch 2 hour long podcasts of people and topics that peak my interest. I am the kind to be obsessed with details. I am the kind who will read hoardings and billboards, wall posters on the streets or a doctor’s clinic and also photograph the hilarious ones. I will read just about anything. I recently read a fine poem by a little kid on the back cover of a restaurant menu.
Short content with that dopamine hit are great for entertainment. I like the real deal. Here is me raising a toast to the simple joy of reading.
