The Gifts Of Writing

In this Writing Story, Paromita Bardoloi talks about the gifts that writing bestows on us.

Paromita, in her own words: A dreamer by profession and  a writer by choice. Using words to express my love for life, I consider life my beloved. Hear my love stories at paromitabardoloi.blogspot.in.

Writing does to me, what prayers do to a wounded heart. Words do to me, what a stolen kiss does to an insane lover.

Writing keeps me grounded and rooted to my personal history. Even when I am lost, I know I come from those late mornings when Grandmother would come out from her shower smelling very good. Those smells are a part of my personal history. Writing makes sure I don’t lose a track of my heritage.

I think, just because of my fascination to write, I wrote long, long letters. When I was 17, I came across my first pen friend on a poetry site. Let us call him Siddhartha, who was in a different country then and was a student. Each day Siddhartha and I wrote mails to each other. I was new to the city doing my graduation from Miranda house, discovering Gibran and Toni Morrison in the same breath. Siddhartha was discovering his music and his writing. He would say how it snowed during the day and a little sparrow sat on his window. And, I would reply how I hated the food they served in the afternoon. Apart from my friends, I grew up with Siddhartha’s mails and letters too. Years passed, we both grew, made different choices. We were supposed to meet each other this year (after 10 years), but destiny had its way. I hope wherever he is, he is happy.

Through a lot of writing forums, I met men and women like me; and I have received hoards of letters that became a part of my being. One of the most beautiful written letters is from Fawad from Karachi. Over the years, we have shared our joy and grief of growing up and letting go. When he fell in love, I was one of the first to know and he is also one of the first ones to know when something happens in my life. Over the years, Fawad has become a very dear friend; sometimes I truly wonder, are boundaries real?

I have beautiful letters from women across cultures. With every letter that comes in my mail box, arrives a story that is written from the heart. Someone talks of heartbreak; someone talks of the search of an identity after being married to a powerful man. Each letter has a story, which definitely won’t go down history, but will become a part of all of us as a whole. And yes! I became a better human being.

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The best part of writing is that you can go back to it over and over again and re-interpret it.

I write because, it has given me the best treasures in life. Someday, I guess, I will publish all these letters and let the world know, that we all are basically running the same journey with different names.

These are my gifts of writing; I get to dive into untold human stories. It gives me the wisdom of witnessing history long before it is chronicled.

Needless to say, professionally I am a writer too!

Paromita wins a gift hamper from Notex, a paper based stationary brand that makes high quality books, diaries, writing pads, 5 subject books and other products! You can check out Notex products at Shopo, Flipkart or Homeshop 18.

*Photo credit: b1gw1ght (Used under the Creative Common Attributions License.)

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