“Mamma, I want to write my name.”
She then gets comfy and locates Z on the keyboard and presses it. Her forehead creases when she sees the tiny z.
“Mamma, make it big.” So I increase the font size from 11 to 36.
She tries again... “z.. a...”
The creased forehead returns. “Big A please, Mamma.”
I turn caps lock on.
She then proceeds to type the rest of her name. Then she types randomly, hitting some Ls and Xs and Gs, and tells me she is writing a story.
Yesterday, as I watched her perform this daily ritual, I felt depressed. I should be teaching her to hold a pencil and write the alphabet. And here she is aping her parent’s version of writing. Whatever happened to good old ink and paper?
My trusty journals, the ones I kept under lock and key, and lovingly wrote on every night had magically transformed into a web log. A blog. This blog. My thoughts and hopes and dreams spilled, for the whole world to read (I wish). Yikes.
When I started this blog in 2009, I just wanted a platform where my work could be viewed easily. Read my first few posts and you will see how painfully journalistic I thought my posts were going to be. Slowly, I learnt to be a blogger and just went with the flow, pouring my heart into my posts.
Do I miss the actual writing process, with ink and paper? Hell no! I have no idea how to spell check, hyperlink and google for information with a pen and paper.
A better one than the I for Independence ;-)
ReplyDelete:D
ReplyDeleteSometimes I miss a pen and paper, but my handwriting is hard for me to read. So, not so much. :)
ReplyDeleteI really really miss the letter writing days!i still have letters received from my friends during school days&letters received from my mom during hostel days.I am afraid of the electronic world we live in today!in order to preserve creativity(coz i truly feel,instant gratification provided by the many forms of media today kills creativity)I am teaching my boys to stay away from the laptop like plague!!I know it's inevitable.....but at least for a while.......but Z typing away on the comp sounds really cute!:)
ReplyDelete@Pax: Same here. Soon my handwriting will turn into an indecipherable scrawl that noone can understand. Just like my doctor's prescriptions.
ReplyDelete@Vids: You are an awesome mom for keeping them away from technology as much as possible. I wish I had your insight. Kids should be busy getting their fingernails dirty and making music with pots and pans.
The first thing that came to my mind when I read the title is the fragrance of ink... And of the excitememnt of writing with a pen for the first time in 5th standard. :) I used to love the smell of ink on my fingers, and I used to collect pens as though they were going out of supply.
ReplyDeleteAt one time, I used to hate writing, mainly because my handwriting was indecipherable, sometimes even to me. How I passed my school, college and university exams, is still a mystery to me. :p Then one day, not so long back, I wanted to jot something down, and I simply could not find a pen or a pencil with me! I had to borrow it from the kid next-door. I was so ashamed, I promised myself that I would never let that happen again. So now, I always have a pen and notebook with me. To jot down thoughts, ramblings, poems, lyrics etc.. Because no matter how technologically advanced we get, nothing can beat the joy of putting pen/pencil to paper. And let's face it, technology can be a real bitch sometimes, and all you'll be left with is a crashed comp and all your work lost in the black hole of your motherboard. :p
P.S:- I have my old journals safely preserved too. Somehow, you could say a lot more things to them than you ever can to your blog, right?
Clever title! The only time i use a pen and a paper is to write the groceries i need to buy before i go shopping but now a days even the phone, iphones are so sophisticated with all advanced features to enter notes, word document, pp's reminders you think of it and you have it on your phone...Daniah loves scribbling on papers..she pulls the pen from her fathers pocket when he returns from work sometimes but she is more into phones and laptops :) like every other kid.
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