Friday, April 24, 2009

Shock Therapy

Probably by now you are tired of this: I have not been writing again.

On my work station, I have pinned up stuff, which I thought would prod me into clobbering my keypad every day: A September 1, 1952 cover of Life magazine, with Hemingway on it. The issue carries his entire novel, The Old Man and the Sea.

Then there are these two messages which are supposed to have been put by writer Philip Roth on his desk: Stay Put, No optional striving. There is also a poem from Dushyant Kumar, and an old picture from rural Kashmir.

But nothing has worked. The moment I sit at my desk, my hands turn limp, and lead gets filled into my arms and head. I feel sleepy as well.

I open a blank file on my desktop, and stare at the cursor, thinking of how to push through the debris of stillness. After a point of time, I give up. I go out, light a cigarette, and exchange words with colleagues. When I come back, Hemingway is looking grimly at me. I evade his stare.

It’s like this: I need to finish writing The Last Man from Kashmir. I have the story which I need to pour out in words.

Last night, I finished reading Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar. I wonder: do I need shock therapy, too?

16 comments:

Karan said...

Rahul,

I wanted to pick up a couple of books this weekend - any recommendations from the ones that you may have recently read?

shobhit said...

If I may interject, how about "India after Gandhi" by Ramachandra Guha. I have read first few chapters and am absolutely loving it . (Learnt about Integration of Princely states (Menon,Vallabhai Patel) , partition (Nehru,Gandhi) , Constitution , etc. One Vote for every person was revolutionary at that time . As example, US did not give black's a ballot choice. ) I am looking forward to reading it more this weekend.

Rahul Pandita said...

Hi Karan
I recently read "In the country of men" by Hisham Matar, and I love it. Have you read Vikram Seth's An Equal Music? Highly recommended. Granta's latest issue has some good stories.

Manish Bhatt said...

At least you have cigarette.

Karan said...

Thanks Rahul and Shobit. I picked up Vikram Seth.

Aditya Raj Kaul said...

Plath did almost what she wrote. She died terribly. It wasn't she alone; but her son too committed sucide.

'The Last Man from Kashmir' - I'm waiting Rahul, you know that well. Not me alone but a generation is in waiting..

samay chune zyadah..raath drayi.. siryi chu wozlan, aakh nov doh ha aav, aakh bhyakh nov doh.. etyi yi beyi raath weny... soey raath..

Erectile dysfunction pills said...

THIS IS FOR THE FIRST TIME I AM HEARING A THERAPY OF THIS KIND.

Provillus hair regrowth treatment said...

Thank you for the post. I am astonished to know that you have worked a lot for this blog.

VigRX penis enhancement pills review said...

samay chune zyadah..raath drayi.. siryi chu wozlan, aakh nov doh ha aav, aakh bhyakh nov doh.

Smoke Deter stop smoking supplement said...

Very impressive story "Th last man from Kashmir".I was searching it for so many days.

Caliplus natural anti impotence pills said...

Is it really work in all cases ? . I guess no . how it come ?

Compare natural sperm volume enhancers said...

One Vote for every person was revolutionary at that time...

Caliplus said...

Then there are these two messages which are supposed to have been put by writer Philip Roth on his desk: Stay Put, No optional striving.

Best Washing machine reviews said...

The shock therapy its seems to be beneficial for the patients

Where to buy Cheap Samsung Un26D4003 said...

I am so happy for you that you have so many visitors and hope that your next articles will be as great as this one.

Duramale best premature ejaculation product said...

The shock therapy its seems to be beneficial for the patients...