Monday, March 15, 2010

Of Pen. Of Paper.

In a haze of addictive substance, I thought yesterday. How I miss writing on paper.
An old thought, yes. But a heartfelt one.

Wet, glistening drops of ink curving in cursive on to paper. And paper soaking it up. Thirsty and greedy.

First I miss my ink pen. It comes with some built in Anti-Scrawl mechanism. When I write with ink on paper,( real indigo blue, blackish blue, strong smelling, wet, wet ink) it makes me want to add gravity to my words. To make them SIT firmly on a notebook line. Not to float about in abandon.

Ball-pens are rubbish. Words come out lazy. Like ill mannered children. With no sense of discipline. Up, down, slanting, straight. Weightless. Characterless.

Second I miss paper. I write on word documents these days. With spell check, that has made me forget spellings I knew better when I was eight. And on word documents, with their keen, twitchy little cursors. Writing is an exercise. The cursor twitches and twitches when left alone. Almost as if it were mocking you. You haven't written enough. There's more. There's more.

It's a bit archaic to write this. I'm not forty. Or eighty. Or a hundred and two. I've known cursors. Learnt their twitch. It's not personal. But it's more to do with missing paper. Dear, sweet old non-reactionary paper. With tactful little drops of ink.

11 comments:

ankur said...

scanners
.
Not to reduce the eloquent piece of writing to a problem statement but post thought.

Usha said...

haha ok. and I know. I owe you a post.

Anshuman Manur said...

You're right, there's nothing like writing on paper, especially the smell of ink. It can be quite a religious experience sometimes!

Usha said...

ya i know anshuman! the smell is quite unique. stinky and sublime. hahaha

ankur said...

don't fret about the post.

Maybe the point got lost in my rush.
Really wreally nice post.
the first time i did mistakes of reading it like test paper this time saw the words which were weighty and wondrous and rhythm and brevity too.

Anonymous said...

THE TIMELY DEMISE OF THE TYPEWRITER!


Most would agree that the conflict between typewriter and computer is passé or simply over. Yes, no doubt almost all would dread to draw comparisons between them or even question the sweeping way analog has been hastily replaced by digital.

To chart the evolutionary path, from handwriting to typewriting to computing, would be rather painstaking and boring, serving little purpose. Dates maybe readily available when the first typewriter was made or the first document typed, and similarly when the first document came out of a printer, or was stored in floppy disc or cd-rom format. But an interesting, useful and easy task would be to list the negatives and positives of both typewriters and computers. For what purpose, one might be thinking!
Fine, at this point maybe a confession is due. I remain an unabashed user of that antiquity, that eyesore of a thing, that noisy little big dubba that goes clut-clutty-clut-clut... And I am sure I remain in the company of many, who too, are heavily biased towards their own dubbas or Olympias, or ... and wish a resurrection if not a revolution.

A resurrection of the typewriter! Believe me, I can already hear and see the sniggers. I can sense repulsion at the very idea, and can imagine the indignation if it’s put to application.
With spell checks, word count, track changes and myriad other options, tools and applications that MS Word affords, the typewriter’s usefulness is justifiable outdone. However to relegate the typewriter to the confines of attics and museums is to undermine its past contribution and utility. Keeping sentiments aside, those adept at the use of typewriters will vouch for the reduced cost and better quality per page. Another major draw is the ability to type without electricity.
Let me hypothesize a little. Imagine, a cyber-terrorist attack, in the form of deadly viruses released into cyberdom that decimates or erodes every computer connected to the World Wide Web, or imagine still a sudden increase in global warming causes the fine ... in micro-chips to melt. Catastrophe! Have I just spelt doomsday? Now imagine, amidst all this chaos one has to prepare a document. Imagine there’s no power, imagine there’s no computer. I wonder if you can! Haa, yess, All I’m asking, or better still’ all were asking (I’m not the only one), is to make peace between digital and analog, between the indispensable computer and the never failing grandfather err typewriter. I/We hope someday you will join us and the world will live as one. HAAA.

Anonymous said...

Will follow this space for ya comments. Hope there weren't too many typos or ____.

Anonymous said...

Hehe.

Intrigued!

Usha said...

@ankur: i want to write one. but i don't know what to write on.so i keep postponing.

@anonymous: are all these three anonymous, the same anonymous? and is there a plural for anonymous? anonymusses?

Da Rodent said...

God. Reminds me.. Its been ages since I even wrote :P The only things that I've been 'writing' are my signature and a couple of boxes on white-board :P

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India said...

I still maintain a journal while I am backpacking. And a diary back home, where I scribble my poems, plan my week et al. But yes, I must consider ink pen again. Your made me desperate for this one!