Reading & Writing

        By profession I am not a writer. But I have written two thesis in the field of architecture and got two technical papers published in an Indian architectural journal. However if you read a lot, somehow it inspires you to write. Its almost like if you read 10 great receipes, you will want to try out atleast one! Also after you cross the age of forty, you have done enough, seen enough, travelled enough to write about life in general.

        In the last 10 years or so I have read books recommended by the New York Times bestseller list. Some of the books which I really enjoyed reading are: The Greatest Generation ( by Tom Brokaw), Most of Deepak Chopra’s books, The God Of Small Things (by A.Roy), East Of Eden ( by J. Steinbeck), A Fine Balance (by R.Mistry), The Tipping Point and Blink (both by Malcolm Gladwell).

        Besides this I love to read biographies with a strong human element in them. Its wonderful to trace the evolution of great lives and careers. Its fascinating to see how each individual is so unique and how the journey of life for each person is so uniquely distinct. 

        As for writing, strong parallels can be drawn between writing and Architecture. In Architecture one deals with basically three elements, namely Design, Structure and Construction. Design consists of the plan, section and elevations of the building which is like how you weave a story with language, grammer, prose and poetry. Structure dictates how you hold the building together as a whole so that it does not fall, which is like the main story line. Construction is about the materials and how you build them together. Almost like what the story is made up of, its characters, setting, context etc.

        I love to write short stories. We are living in the digital age and the world is moving too fast. Personally I don’t have time to write thick novels, but writing contemporary fiction is what I indulge in. Also with globalization, the whole world is churning and in doing so it generates lots of interesting material to write about. Last October I finished writing my first book, of contemporary fiction, which is yet to be published.

 Ratna

September.26.2007