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Sunday, December 24, 2006

Writer's Blah!

One of the greatest mysteries of the modern world - how on earth do NaNoWriMo participants plug in a whopping 50,000 words in 30 days? Sure it boils down to 1,666 words a day which is doable provided you have the plot, the story, the idea, the characters, the beginning and the ending at the tips of your fingers....Or at least you have the seed of the idea germinating in the cosy windowbox of your mind.

Me? I have trouble knocking together this excuse for a blog. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. I chose the latter complete with excrutiating deadlines and well, that's that. It is difficult indeed writing for nothing.

On a Serious Note
Why is our basic Indian justice system so flawed that miscreants get away in the lower courts only to get hauled up by the higher? Manu Sharma gets what he deserves and the hostile witnesses are going to get pulled up...but seriously without a witness protection programme would you speak out? Especially considering the guilty would probably buy their way out only to come baying for you blood? Would you stand up for integrity and justice and honour, or pocket the money and maintain a diplomatic (and infinitely safer) silence? Will it only be high profile cases that grab our attention while rural atrocities languish for lack of attention?

On a Lighter Note
Read this completely insane news piece in the Hindu (of all the newspapers) sometime back - about an American who farted on a short-haul flight (within the US of A) and promptly lit a match to dispel the stench. The flight was grounded and the woman reprimanded. Which brings me to two things, what the heck was she doing with a box of matches on a plane?

I thought matches were banned along with blow torches and hair gel and silcon transplants. Clearly this was a lady of refinement, a retiring wallflower who was willing to go to any lengths to detract attention from herself...and as luck would have it, nearly everyone who reads the teeny newsprint spirited in the obscure nether-regions of the newspaper knows who farted. The poor, poor, poor thing.

Just read HUNGRY TIDE (Amitav Ghosh) - The Sunderbans never seemed as enticing or as rife with danger. Though Ghosh is absolutely no good at sketching human characters - they seem like caricatures, mere cut-outs without a soul. Frankly I wouldn't have given a hoot if Kanai and his aunt Nilima filled a hungry tiger's tum or if Pia swims with the fish...really, my sympathies lie wholly with the mangroves. On a more generous note I could squeeze in two ounces of goodwill for the foolhardy settlers..

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Miscreants get hauled up by the higher courts only after there is a public outcry (which becomes the number one news item on the television, making it a high profile case) on the decision handed by the lower court... there must be numerous cases of people getting away with murder, which do not come under public scrutiny...

And yes, without a witness protection program, down the line less people are going to stand up and stick to the truth, at the risk of bringing harm onto themselves and their family...

Jay Sun said...

Miscreants get hauled up by the higher courts only after there is a public outcry (which becomes the number one news item on the television, making it a high profile case) on the decision handed by the lower court... there must be numerous cases of people getting away with murder, which do not come under public scrutiny...

And yes, without a witness protection program, down the line less people are going to stand up and stick to the truth, at the risk of bringing harm onto themselves and their family...

welcome back...some problem with your blog...was unable to open it the last two days...also the above comment got published as anonymous...anyway, welcome back

cure for ennui said...

imagine the jessica, nitish katara matoo, soren cases sans the media coverage good or bad, for better or worse, a ray of hope for scores of ppl still waiting in line for atleast a fair trial. Witness protection programme would help a little, but with deep pockets of the high profile ppl invloved in criminal offences it remains to be seen if it would really do wht it promises, 'safety', without which you would see many more shyan munshis...

cure for ennui said...

oh hey rama! i don't have ur mail id so here goes for bith you and anand and aunty and uncle ...HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)

karmic said...

Funny bit about the Nanowrimo.
Witness protection program is a must.
Shakes head @ the farter on the short haul flight.
Happy new year to ya!

Susanne said...

Well, I don't know anything about the serious things, but I can tell you how I finished my NaNoWriMo-novel. I sat down five or six days out of seven with the knowledge of being behind and just wrote. No plot, no planning, no nothing. I set the goal of writing 2,000 words a day, and just stayed at the computer until I had written them.

When I started writing the only thing I knew was that I had a female protagonist. You know, it doesn't have to be a good novel. In a way it doesn't have to be a novel. You just sit down and write crap for about two hours each day.

mathew said...

yeah sad tale..our justice system is tailor made for criminals..where else in the world do you see suits running for 10-12 years and still getting rejected coz of lack of evidence..

sadly no one bothers to change the system..

ankurindia said...

writing so much ... might be boaring . untilwriting is not your hobby

Junius said...

haha,
seeing too much news kya? :D!!

mathew said...

hey...u are gettin lazy..some updates bud.