Writing Gives Power To My Voice And Lends Wings To My Thoughts

There are certain passions in your life which stay dormant inside, sleeping somewhere, waiting to be unearthed. Writing was exactly like that for me. The year was 2016. I had been working and travelled extensively across geographies, supporting various telco assignments. Thanks to the challenges of motherhood and a spouse extremely busy on an entrepreneurial pursuit, I decided to take a break from my professional life, and explore things which I was always passionate about but never had time for, in the corporate grind. Though with two small children and a spouse deeply into his professional pursuit, there wasn’t much luxury of time that I had, yet I filled up whatever extra bandwidth I had with things I felt strongly about working for underprivileged children, volunteering in my community as an office bearer and restarting my piano lessons.

One day while listening to some of my experiences as a mother and a community work enthusiast, my spouse said, “I think you should write.” His casual remark triggered my first blog and then the second one. I wrote my heart out. Some bitter-sweet experiences of being a mother and a better half to an entrepreneur who had just ventured out into a new realm found release in the medium of words. The blogs were well received and many people – friends as well as strangers - shared how my writing resonated with them. I felt elated, satisfied as well as empowered at having touched so many lives. What followed in the next few months was writing which was erratic, but which brought relief and fulfilment every time I attempted it. A new journey had begun!

I felt elated, satisfied as well as empowered at having touched so many lives.

From those initial blog posts to writing for various publications about things that moved me, and to be a part of Write & Beyond last year, has been a journey of knowing myself better. Gradually, for me, writing has gone beyond being an outflow of emotions or narration of experiences. Now it is a tool which connects “me” with “myself”, gives power to my voice to travel far and wide, and lends wings to my thoughts to touch new horizons which never existed till now for me.

Now it is a tool which connects “me” with “myself”, gives power to my voice to travel far and wide, and lends wings to my thoughts to touch new horizons which never existed till now for me.

The impact on me is magical.  I observe more, reflect more and feel more deeply aware of and connected with my feelings. I see stories all around me, as well as alluring characters urging me to write about them. I feel tempted to peel and look through the various layers that we all are made up of. Writing, to me, has also been the key to an enchanting world of books and the various perspectives that lie hidden in the vast ocean of words out there. I guess, I am like Alice in this new wonderland.

Writing, to me, has also been the key to an enchanting world of books and the various perspectives that lie hidden in the vast ocean of words out there.

My story “For the love of likes”  in the anthology “Escape Velocity” is also my reflection on today’s society and its new-found opium i.e. social media. In my attempt, I bring this addiction a little closer home, through a short story about a Facebook addicted mother and her son.

As I end this piece, want to share these beautiful lines from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which keep coming to my mind as I delve more into Why I Write - “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

Anjali G Sharma is an engineer and a telecom business professional. On a thought through sabbatical at present, this mother of two confesses that her passion for writing was unearthed because of motherhood, and a spouse deeply busy on an entrepreneurial path. The views expressed are the author's own.