Monday, July 11, 2005

Books I cannot write because of the places I have not visited...

Dear All,

Yes I have not written anything for a long time. Yes I did let my work get to me. And yes I promise to do my best to keep the blog updated as much as I can. But if your reading I guess thanks is due for persisting. Trust me when I say not a day goes by without me thinking of writing a word or two. A million "just perfect" ideas for posts are now languising, if thoughts can languish and lie around unused, in numerous local train bogeys, many black and yellow cabs and both floors of Cafe Sundance behind Eros cinema.

I have been buying books again, especially after the month-end pay packets have started coming through. And my latest purchase was a most economical Ruskin Bond. His latest, Roads to Mussoorie, is a delightful appetiser of a book. Just a couple of Bandra-Wadala train trips long, it is nothing more than a collection of the man's ramblings about home, the hills. animals and even a ghost or two.

Just the sort of book that you read in one sitting, recommend to all the friends you know and then needles you to write a book of your own. After all its just a thrown together bunch of experiences with the narrowest of pretenses holding it all together. I would have loved to write it. I thought about it while flying from Bangalore to Mumbai last weekend, and decided I cannot. Ever.

Ruskin Bond writes of hill-stations and freezing early morning walks. He write of the noises outside his windows and the charming familiarity of a hill-station where you know everyone, has eaten at all their homes and noone minds being written about in books. And as much as I may try I have never experienced all those things. But now, after reading the book, I really want to.

I want to walk up and down twisting moutain roads covered up in thick woolens and never looking at anyone when I speak because I watch the fog from my mouth with glee. What it must feel like to walk for hours and find a tea shop miles from the nearest hillside home. You sit on a rickety old bench and sip cups of steaming tea. I must confess I have had a few cups of tea in Kodai and Ooty myself in the thick of a cool winter. The tea was too hot to taste and my blocked nose usually meant I thanked the chai-walla for three minutes of a warm sensation. Nothing more.

I remember a wonderful new year's eve in Kodai I spent with friends. Not Ruskinesque in the least though. None of the cheerful bonhomie of his Mussoorie or the sumptuousness of his misty morning breakfasts of bacons and hearty omelettes. But I did have my fair share of chilly mornings and mist rolling down the hills. Or up rather.

We lived in a dormitory a little away from Koker's Walk and one horridly cold morning I had to turn down a trek to Pillar Rock for fear of the cold and waking my asthma. So I sat on the doorstep of the dorm perched on the hill side. A few sips of soothing Honeybee later I was treated to a brilliant banket of mist that rolled up the hillside right past me in my two jackets and over the garish green roof of the dorm. So thick and rapid was the mist that I could see some of it seeping through a crack in one of the windows into the dark dormitory with its bunker beds and the mess a bunch of engineering college students seem to carry with them wherever they go.

But Mr. Bond has his leftover englishmen and their stories to narrate too. His schoolmasters and infidel husbands and their wives who jump of a cliff only to report for duty the next day as a ghost in the house down the corner. I met one marijuana pusher and one bible preacher in Kodai that year. I refused to partake both their services. The chilly pork and butter tea in the Tibetan restaurant will do fine thank you.

So as I leafed through page after page of his delightful narrative it occured how futile was my longing to write like Ruskin Bond. And I, likemost people do when they get thoughtful while reading on a plane, rested the open book on my knee and looked out the window. Mumbai shimmered under us in a sea of flickering lights with thick veins of yellow for the highways and main roads. For a few moments the scene was impressive. But as we descended I could make out the buses and the building and not just the lights themselves.

I checked to make sure I had my boarding pass to pass on to accounts. I closed the book and placed it in my bag and then braced for the landing. I thought of the roads of Mussoorie, the sharp clear air of the hills and the stories of old schools, postmen and the birds outside Mr. Ruskin Bond's window. I guess I could write about a lot of things.

But not of hill-stations.

More tomorrow people...

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

i used to read ruskin bond too in school and after enid blyton is my fav children's book author.
all his characters had shades of grey and so seemed really real.
but i think u can write much better.the only thing is that u refuse to get out of yourself. maybe it'll change as u grow older.
iw

Tanya said...

I fell in love with bond's writing style right after reading my first ruskin bond book 'room on the roof'...The character 'rusty' is still so strongly etched in my mind.

The simplicity of his writing is amazing -- Oodles of nostalgia, a breeze of fresh air, a hint of innocence and the flicker of first love! He is magical!

'Time stops at shamli' is another fav of mine and of course 'Delhi is not far' -- It begins with a beautiful quote:

"And when all the wars are done, a butterfly will still be beautiful"

Anonymous said...

Ur blog after a long time, has just given me memories of my college days back in Coimbatore outskirts. We friends often used bunk classes and go to Ooty and Connoor just for the heck of it.. But the mere thoughts of the mist and fog, the hot tea and cofee we had there, gives me goose pimples...

gawker said...

Theres an inner traveller-writer in every restless couch potato among us. The challenge is to rise above this potatohood, experience life and then write about it.

Safari Al said...

finally, sidin writes...dude...aur milega kya?


i went trekking and then i tried to write about it. what resulted was absolute murder.

guess that travel writer in me(if he isnt permanently absconding) refuses to rise above potatohood.

sumandatta said...

u know my friend said the same thng abt me when i ranted on abt being a writer like coetze someday...she said, man u just dont hav the experiences tht these authors hav had.....and i know i can make up thngs as i write on, but can i rally fake feelings i hav never had from scenes i hav never seen? wud my writin be hollow without tht?
but where wud a 9-5 software engg./5-9 tv addict hav experiences from? r we living too dull a life to write abt?

If I tell ya, I'll have to kill ya said...

Sidin, welcome back...Your public missed you.

I don't think our lives are too dull, maybe we're just too caught up to observe some of the beautiful, poignant or simply hilarious things around us at times.

Sidin you sound introspective. Whats up? And you went ahead and lost that "available" tag.

anantha said...

Wb Sidin :) I myself got hooked on to Ruskin Bond way back in the early 90s when his short stories were a staple in mags like Target and Junior Quest!

Anonymous said...

SmOoccccccccccch...he's back

The elderly camel said...

Hi Sidin,
FINALLY swatting cyberflies no longer shows up as your latest piece :). This post and some of the comments so far are good food for thought. It’s a decent point though that the simplistic style of Ruskin Bond and RK Narayan is stunningly elegantly and charming and tough to replicate without having experienced similar environs. Pretty similar to the unique way in which you talked about the huge refinery that forms the main view from your apartment window J. Welcome back!

Aslan said...

Naice kawlitee

Deepa said...

I feel that great authors are not great authors just because they have experiences which someone like me will never have. They are capable of feeling with more intensity. Something on the lines of "capable of great happiness and great sorrow".

Arun Cavale said...

welcome back!! howz ur new job shaping up? already into an assignment? i worked with ur firm on a few assignments (both in India and elsewhere), so kind of know more than a few ppl..so have u guys found permanent office place in Mumbai?
cheers!

Anonymous said...

Good to see you back!

gawker said...

I think to be a great author its not only necessary to "feel", but also to articulate it in such a way that the reader can comprehend that feeling through his words. In fact, its quite possible for a writer to not even feel something, but express that feeling so vividly that readers can empathize. eg : male authors writing about feminine emotions and vice versa

Megamind said...

"A truly godly (meaning 'of the IIM-A') article from one of the gods (meaning IIM-A guy)", said a friend of mine when he forwarded a mail. The mail has your article where you so very beautifully explain why is it sooooo difficult for a South Indian to have a gf and night life. I simply loved it.

Now that I have found your blog, I see myself having a busy two weeks digging your old posts!!

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute, what are u doing atop mist covered hilltops on endless walks with filmy shawl and all?
the only thing missing was a song and a girl.
filmy, very filmy.

Anonymous said...

U never know that there was no girl.. you never know Sidin Sunny Vadukut!

Anonymous said...

Sidin, what's up?
this sudden shift from laughing_at_oneself to mist and honeymoon hill stations.
and sipping hot tea on rickety benches(brooding ishtyle).
The sidin fan club demands an explanation. is it too much work?, is it a girl or maybe its the wicked fredo+wine+moonlight?

Amit Pandey said...

Your post triggered memories of the growing up years in DehraDun( Dehra, in Ruskin's lingo). On many school trips to Mussorie, the added incentive was trying to bump into Mr Bond, for his autograph. In the Teen years, one could identify with Mr Ruskin's semi-autobiography - "Room on the Roof".

BTW, your long absence can't be entirely put down to reading Ruskin Bond's stories( besides consultancy work, offcourse). Aren't we really missing something...

Do keep posting !!

Alex said...

A significant transition... warm n lovely style, good change from your tongue in cheek posts, if the travel writing bug's caught you, do check out Pico Iyer's the lady and the monk.

Anonymous said...

good to c u back, but this looks like a new role.

don't tell me the consultant living out a suitcase is getting u to change ur tone. not a bad attempt at all, seriously, but i'm not sure this is really bringing out the best in u. am sure if ruskin bond had read ur "travails" he'd have wanted to write in ur style too :))

but the public will find it a bit tuff to digest a jagathy taking on a mohanlal's role at first. keep going dude anyway...

Anonymous said...

dude, you just need to type a word and you have a zillion people's comments!!

Anonymous said...

wow....boring

Sriram said...

Dude! When is the "today" for your tomorrow...?

Anonymous said...

I loved Ruskin Bond's ghost stories. Reminder of a gentler, more innocent time. I also love sipping hot adrak ki chai on cool mornings watching the fog rolling in from the Bay and blotting out the ocean.

Aqua said...

Having grown up in darjeeling...i can related to ruskin bond's writings and the yearning for mountain beauty and rolling hills. but the familiarity gets to you sometimes, which is why i prefer the anonymity which living in a city gives you.
and forget abt hill stations...we still expect a book out of you.

If I tell ya, I'll have to kill ya said...

What da, where have you dissapeared to. You said last week, that we'd get our next fix "tomorrow"....

Please Sidin. I'm having withdrawl symptoms now.

BTW, have you finally started learning how to drive?

vijyan said...

zidane,if you continue to write with similar passion with such an absorbing,insightful style you could be strong contender for booker prize in the future!!! infact imagination is more powerful than information as said by einstein. so i think you dont need to visit places to write about them. you could watch discovery chennel and write a book on african saffari, so did one of our leading mallu lit ickon.
with love
vijyan

Anonymous said...

A book can be abt anything, living opposite empty desolate warehouses in a room with colorful underwear hung to dry. It can catch you unawares, just like that, this book theme. themes are flaoting around you, crawling under you, whispering to you.
its not important to break a leg.

Anonymous said...

well, not that we dont eperience things , its just a matter of verbalization i guess; it then becomes a delightful experience to c ur own feelings verbalized.

Anonymous said...

Bryan adams wrote a song abt it.

an underwear talks abt the person a lot. ppl who wear good underwear never seek validation from anyone else.expensive underwear: u value urself a lot. dark colours speak of depression. very colorful underwear proclaim u are a little garish.
a whole chapter could be written abt underwear, esp abt the old lucky ones which u wore to the job interview, or made the presentation in.
i think it wont be too negative at all
aside to sidin: this is what's going to happen on your blog if u dont update.
iw

Anonymous said...

hey! whos the ugly geek in the photo below about me?

Anonymous said...

i love your blog. I don't know what to say. yen Vaarthai kadal vatri vittathe!

Anonymous said...

What fanfare Sidin, if i were you (not wishful thinking) i would give up on food and feed on all this praise.

But a few weeks into reading your masterpiece ( travails..) i kinda coped on to the fact that you dont write often (often nuff). I being of the eternally bored in disposition have even checked your blog more than twice in the same day (dont fancy porn) and i guess that kinda keeps the eyeball count on your site ticking. And all this fanfare, gals going catty about owning you, people watching every single move ("why did you take out the 'availiable' tag?") etc etc turns me a to a shade of deep martian green.

I guess we lot are deprived of heros and need something to worship, be it a murderous movie star, ya di ya di ya and some find that hero in you. Fair play then to you that you manage it out of all these techie geeks. I am just jealous.

Now, there you have it and i feel much better. You are immensly intresting to read ( booker? it'll be a cold day in hell before that i'd say) and i wish you would post more often, but unlike the most of us, you seem to have a life and a busy one at that too. So enjoy yourself.

I wish you would stop playing to an audience and be a bit truer to yourself. Keep blogging to keep yourself happy not that 'Rose' who is dying to get under the sheets with you, or any of the others. Or ( i can hear gunz loading) quit while you are ahead.

Have it easy and best of luck. Good luck with the job and the rest of it, hope you wont lose your cool under all that M&A pressure.

PS: Malluz Rokz!

Anonymous said...

Dude..ur becoming Domain Minimus!!..better start posting weekly

Anonymous said...

to the one who thinks all malluz rock,

was in very bad taste. dying to get under the sheets?
hell no.
We come here for brain food. some laughter. yes we drop some sweet comments as in "inspiration".
well,maximus rocks, most mallus dont.
not rosie

Anonymous said...

we all malluz are really proud of sidin, and malluz rocks!!, from lit, sports,cinema to human developemnt index-better than US andUK in certain parameters-.we are also the most cosmopolitan people in india,this hypothesis can be validated with datas,DrAmarthysen, has done it before and he has won the Nobel prize for that!!!

rosie said...

Hey Mr. Anonymous.
Dying to get under the sheets?
Jeez man, get a grip.

Never heard of appreciating good writing? Then learn - that's what the rest of us are here for.

Get a life.

silverine said...

Rusking Bond, misty hill stations and hot steaming tea. That sounds like paradise on earth. Nice post.

sathish said...

sidin, first time to ur blog. am also frm REC Trichy but i did my MCA and passed out in 2002. ru the batch of Piyush who also did his metallurgy over there.
I think v've met in college though not sure.
i'll blogroll u....

Anonymous said...

Hope y'all Mumbai ppl are doing fine.

Shruthi said...

I am a Ruskin Bond fan through and through... his characters are so real....I met him when he was here in Bangalore to promote some of his books... and he is such a sweetheart... I am the proud owner of a personally autographed omnibus of his :)

Sankalp said...

I fell in love with Ruskin Bond's books when I read Rusty when I was 12 years old.

6 years later, I got a chance to visit Mussoorie when I was in Uttaranchal for a trek.

Bond is a master at expressing the beauty in simplicity.

dazedandconfused said...

Sidin,
Read the book recently too and felt great just like I guess you did. Wrote about it in my blog though not as much as u have. My favorite chapter was the one where Bond writes of 'Trees outside his Window'. Amazing stuff.

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