Reader’s Digest India – July 2019

My Story

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words and that I should start writing.
But every time I tried to put pen to pa-
per, I would come up against a block. I
had written an article or two that were
appreciated and had done some trans-
lation work from Hindi to English and
vice versa, but nothing beyond that.
That was until my children
presented me with an iPad on my
75th birthday. By my 80th, I was a pro
on the keypad—and quite addicted to
WhatsApp. I was at ease with framing
my thoughts cogently and was typing
without hesitation. I tend to type with
one finger on my iPad, and I work
lying down.
My 80th birthday coincided with
India’s 70th Independence Day. All
the media excitement and discussions
around the celebrations triggered
within me memories of the post-Parti-
tion era and brought alive my growing-
up years. I felt a strong urge to hold on
to those memories somehow and stop
them from slipping away. What better
way than to freeze them in writing?
Early one morning in May 2017,
I got the inspiration for an Urdu
poem, a nazm, in my meditation. I
quickly jotted it down on my phone
in English as I found that easy to do.
After that, there was no stopping me.
Now, whenever I sit down to write,
the words flow effortlessly.
In my youth, I loved historical ro-
mances: Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen,
Daphne du Maurier, Lloyd C. Douglas,
Alexandre Dumas, to name a few. I de-
cided to use their genre to bring alive

the India I remembered for the next

generations, while also engaging those

who had lived through those times. Of

course, I am not a historian—I delve

into my own memories and experi-

ences to evoke the past century and its

ethos. Neither am I a scholarly person—

I use simple everyday English, as that is

what I am most comfortable with.

But I have a simple advice for you

all: Respect the great work done by

others, no matter which field you are

in. To do something yourself, be your-

self. Listen to your inner voice. Do

not wait for the right time. Take the

first step; the path will show the way.

When I did that, my 40-year writer’s

block vanished. You can never be too

old to try something new. Eighty, to

me, is the new 50.

WHAT BETTER

WAY TO STOP

MEMORIES FROM

SLIPPING AWAY

THAN TO FREEZE

THEM IN WRITING?