don't let emotions cool down

Reading Vaikom Mohammed Basheer’s Collected Works. Came across this quote in the introduction, Basheer telling someone to write down in the heat of the emotion, but don’t publish:- “In this occasion, while your heart is full of happiness, you write stories and poems too. Don’t waste such occasions. Don’t let emotions cool down. Before that, put it on paper. Remember that always.. Don’t be in a hurry to send the stories for publishing. Write down, a lot. There is time. Just don’t waste the occasions to write”. Basheer is known to polish his writing so much that original writing to publishing might take years and the material shrinks considerably by then. What would be his reaction to this age when everyone is publishing their thought streams – to blogs, social media, emails. There is less rewrite, less editing.

In college, I read mostly pulp fiction. Gorged on the “thrillers”, any kind. It was an easy way to kill time. But last week, when I was in a used book exhibition in office, didn’t feel like picking up any of them – maybe I am growing up finally. I used to get chided by a few purists in college about reading pulp fiction compared to Malayalam or literary fiction, the real deal. But the thrillers presented a way to escape reality, live in alternate universes – not troubled by tales of poverty, real emotions and stories that don’t end well most of the times. I had read of lot of Malayalam – but still chose translations (our communist govts meant translations of Russian authors in public library). But maybe it is time to go back to the roots. There is rich fiction in Malayalam, stalwarts who has written enough for generations – even though Malayalis of today maybe mostly expatriates, the stories with the smell of the earth is the thread which can bring back the memories, keep us grounded. Hope to read more.