Writing the Column and Getting it Right

 I have written three columns so far - one for The Indian Express in 2010 titled 'Un Intended' which was a humorous take on life. I did it for a year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I did a column called 'Life's Like That' for HANS India which was a satirical piece centred around two characters, the narrator and his imaginative friend Subbu. I did that for two years and enjoyed it. We only recently stopped it when the lockdown began. A year ago I started writing 'Canteen Fundas' a column for the education page of The New Indian Express.

My 10 drafts!

Writing a column is interesting work. You have a strong core or kernel of an idea and go with it. Many times finding that strong kernel is not easy. I note down thoughts as and when in my phone because those gems don't stay too long. More so when you are writing humour or satire and trying to connect two different ideas to provoke laughter. In the normal columns its easier because you can pick a subject or topic, or even an idea in a bigger topic and talk about that. Since I use characters in the column, their dialogue lightens things up a bit.

Sometimes columns flow easy and sometimes they don't. I realise that the core area can get hijacked by more information. By trying to say too much we can dilute the main idea and the whole purpose is lost. I have messed up like that a few times. At times however the idea and the flow just goes through like a bullet.

The other day however I was stuck with an idea that I wanted to express well. I got the basic research done, it looked pretty simple, answer a couple of basic questions, give a couple of new ideas and we are done. So the first draft looked reasonably there. But I checked with a couple of friends and associates and took their feedback and realised that there was a difference in opinion on the most basic stuff too. So it was back to more research, more notes, more clarity and more discussion until I arrived at a decent draft by the fifth draft.

I sent it of but I knew there was still something not right. It was saying a lot of things fine, but somewhere it did not align much into my thinking and beliefs. So I had more discussions, more feedback and more research and kept on working on more drafts. By draft ten I felt I had something close to what I thought was good enough. However since I worked at it from 6 am till 10 pm, with breaks of course, I knew I had to keep it aside for a while. I slept over it after asking my editor time.

Next morning, I sat in absolute peace and looked at it. As it happens after good effort, it clicked into place, A word went here, another got changed, an idea got added here, and voila, it was perfect.  Not a word more, not a word less. All ideas in. Just perfect. I felt like how Nawazuddin Siddique's character must have felt in 'Bombay Talkies' after delivering his 10-second performance.

Bliss.