Sunday, October 15, 2006

Writers marrying writers

Being the novice that I am on relationships, period, there is only so much light I can shed on this notion. But just like while visiting my village years back, I didn’t know what I was doing the day I challenged myself into drinking milk straight out of the buffalo’s teat, I will take this under calculated risk, hoping that this one doesn’t cause any kind of convulsions, severe food poisoning or any other kind demeaning health condition.

As for the notion of writers coexisting as couples, my position on that would be somewhere in the middle. Writers write, but seldom read (most actors don’t watch movies, most drug lords don’t do drugs and Dr. Dre doesn’t know the first thing about ‘ life oun da streets’ or ‘bustin da cap’ for that matter). Unless of course it is a review of their work following its release, or if they have to skim through other literature to look for ‘inspiration’, or maybe have to read their own work with the intention of editing or mere self admiration. . In some inane yet pragmatic way I mean to say that some writers tend to be talkers more than listeners, which can be poisonous for a relationship. Naturally, when two people of that category decide to have a relationship, the eventual result may be a resentful void in their marrieage, as one flips channels on TV with both of them self-restrictedly sitting together in the living room in the name of quality time. I don’t imply that every writer is narcissistically self-absorbed, but in order to write, full-time atleast, one has to dwell deep into various abstract elements that are overlooked by the, mostly non-writing, and rarely happily married crowd.Other petty yet possible show stoppers may include, the man being a better writer than the woman, or the woman being more successful than the man.

Though, the above, at least in my opinion, is more likely to occur, there can be a positive outcome of the union as everything has its equals and opposites.

On the bright side, if the couple decides to work on a joint project, this, in contrast, may even fortify the relationship. Marriages are usually anchored by having a child or by jointly investing, putting forward a down payment for a house or something. In case of two writers that are married to each other, if they narrow their literary interests down to something common, it might very well be fun and exciting, and with enough wit, a major turn-on on a recurring basis. Consequently, the produce would be rich in quality since it’ll be backed by a certain amount of positive energy, as opposed to following the cliché of being fueled by past melodramatic tragedies, as in the case of Hemingway etc.( great writer, but thinking about what I know of his miserable life reminds me of a mule I saw at a 45`C hot construction site a little outside Lahore.)The two can exchange facts and ideas, edit each other’s work and every now and then, remind each other to take a break and pay a bill or two.In brief, who cares who’s on top? As long as we don’t blow our own horns and are open to new ideas…….……no, seriously guys, understanding, trust and respect are the ingredients to lifelong agony and eternal bliss.