Phursath.com

On writing…or not (because apparently I can’t write today)

“So You Want To Be A Writer

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
su***de or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.”

- Charles Bukowski

On nostalgia…..because the foggy morning reminded me of Delhi.

की याद में…

तारों वाली खिड़की के उस पार आज धुँध है।
२० साल पहले वाली धुंध जैसी नहीं लेकिन ।
इस धुंध की ख़ुशबू वैसी नहीं।
जीभ के पीछे धुएँ का स्वाद छोड़ने वाली धुँध नहीं,
मीठी मीठी सौंधी सौंधी ख़ुशबू वाली धुंध।

कैसा यादों का खेल है की धुएँ वाली धुंध की याद, सौंधी वालीं धुंध से मीठी लग रही है।

On companionship…

When stories come home, friends become storytellers and storytellers become friends…
जब कहानियां घर आती हैं, कुछ दोस्त कहानीकार बन जाते हैं और कुछ कहानीकार दोस्त।
पिछले हफ़्ते एक कहानियों के सिलसिले की शुरुआत हुई। ख़ुशक़िस्मती से शुरुआत जिनके साथ हुई, वो कहानियों के जादूगर हैं। उम्मीद है अब बस सिलसिला जारी रहे।
आपका सितारा और ऊँचा हो, उम्रिका क्या, पूरी दुनिया में। ऐसी सिर्फ़ आशा नहीं, ऐसा मेरा विश्वास है।

Thanks to and to other friends/ storytellers, for a wonderful evening. Hoping to do many more of these.
बनी रहे, कहानियाँ चलती रहे।

Today’s treasure hunt haul at the !