Pens
Is there anything better than cracking open a 10 pack of Schmidt 888F Safety Ceramic Roller Refills? Oh man! That removing of the nib cover, screwing open the pen, slowly. Removing the old refill, how tactile. Tossing it in a bin across the room, Perfect Shot! Then, sliding in the new refill, screwing the pen close, but quickly this time. And then, the long-awaited moment, as the fine metallic nib touches the smooth, white surface of the paper, you see that perfect flow, like sweet nectar, colouring the paper in the which is like the moon on a winter night.
This sounds deceptively similar to someone describing opening a pack of cigarettes, now that I think about it; I do not even need 'T' to tell it to me this time. But I am not exaggerating; Everything I wrote in the previous paragraph I wholly stand by.
What then one may be surprised by is that I do a good chunk of my hobby badwriting, on a computer. For which I can site many a reason; The fact that my typing speed much more closely matches my thinking speed; that my terrible spelling can be accounted for by pasting my markdown file into some word processor with a spellcheck, or just that my hand aches less after a tiresome typing session as compared to its calligraphic counterpart. But still, only a 'good chunk' is done on a computer, a lot, and I feel a more important portion is still done on paper. Why?
Because paper is more proper than the decadent digital. I can write; with electronic distractions out of my sight. I can enjoy the joys plainer, say my Pen's flush flow, or my night lamps inspiriting glow. Perchance I make a mistake, it won't be as easy to erase, I shall have to cut it out and leave a blemish, or compromise the integrity of the paper and whiten it. This demands for the mind to pay more attention, leading to words with more intention. The slower speed too, contributes to this well set out arrangement, and the tiring of my hand, it acts as a gentle reminder: perhaps it is time to take a break.
The fact that we humans have been writing for many thousands of years now, on paper with our modern pens? Not as long; but in various forms, we have been using something that resembles a pen and paper. A stylus on a palm leaf since the time of ever ancient Vedas. A stick-on clay tablets since Mesopotamia, and ink on papyrus since Egypt. But it is extremely recent, that instead of a continuous contact with our medium, we write with discrete components on a medium that is not even tangible. We do not 'Write', we 'Type'. Perhaps over the many thousands of years, we have been engrained with and made used to the tangible and continuous nature of the stylus - manuscript method, and that our mind has grown used to it, perhaps that is why typing cannot feel as 'romantic' as penning your thoughts on a sheet of paper.
But of course, what I say is just a thought that has come into my mind, I see many people who say that typing is more a part of their nature than writing ever was, perhaps it is the better method to go about, because in most cases, progress is always the good thing. Maybe it is the romantic fools like me who still try to find some pseudo - intellectual reasons to defend writing, which shall soon go extinct because what is 'connection to the medium' even? Why must one feel the tactile feedback of the scratchy fine nib of a fountain pen, why must one feel the smooth flow of a rollerball? Why must one have to move their hands in beautiful patterns that have evolved over thousands of years, and yet are still unique to them, only to convey their thoughts? Why must one get to explore different varieties of paper, explore different writing implements, different methods of writing? What a waste of time, just use a pre decided font face on computer, luddite! What is the value in annotating your old writings with new pens, finding little errors and quirks in your style that are unique to you, they are just blemishes, use autocorrect and autogrammer, save your time! Why write slowly and put more emotions into words, you can churn out so many more essays by typing, and tell everyone how many words they contain.
Maybe writing on paper, obsessing over pens and other writing implements, is now a relic of the past with some made-up benefits, bound to be made extinct by typing, it has just taken some time, for sure, it shall be fully extinct soon enough.
But there is one thing, that I shall ensure that it does not do so within my lifetime, for I shall forever be its proponent, the romantic fool defending the beauties of auld lang syne. *
~
Badwriting by Aksat Upadhyay
* I feel this essay I have done is particularly bad, I have tried experimenting a bit with my words in certain parts, but it seems that has put in a lot of gaps in the logic behind the writings, some words do not fit in, and some paragraphs just do not connect, the ideas I mean, but this is badwriting, so I think I can get away with it? Also is it not funny that this whole, almost love-letter to writing by hand has been typed, yeah, odd.
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