Opportunities given by the written text

As commanded by vibhav in the comments on the previous post, I had to write a post on this and it has been long due. It got a little delayed because I left for home (am still there). So, here it is. In case the previous post left any misconceptions, let me clarify that I like written mode of conversation a lot.. in fact, I am dependent on it a lot more than you can imagine. In the last post I just wanted to say that written text can be misinterpreted very easily.

Text is like voice for most introverts and its significance cannot be over-emphasised. In fact I think I enjoy writing more than reading, given that what I write is read by people. You might consider this self-obsession. Whatever. So here are some "opportunities" I can think of from the top of my head.

I normally do not argue with anyone for anything and I hardly ever feel the need to convince anyone about my point of view unless the person is very close. In fact I don't have a strong point of view about anything. But there are times when it is fun to argue and to 'win' an argument. Just for kicks. However I am not so very quick with arguments. This is where the written text comes in handy. In college, we used to have newsgroups for internal discussions. There were these certain people who are so so well read that they seem to know everything about everything. Almost. I distinctly remember those occasions when I jumped into some argument and kind of 'defeated' them. It felt real good, you know. I know it sounds stupid and foolish and kiddish and any other adjective you might want to add. But it is a lot of fun.

What else? Well, less things give a smile better than reading something you wrote long back.. or reading some older conversations. The main purpose of this blog is that too. Ek baar kabhi first year of college mein personal diary likhne ka josh chadha tha mujhe. I wrote all kind of things there and it was crappier and hence even more fun than this blog. A few days later I misplaced it and then suddenly got hold of it one fine day a year or so later. The delight on reading that at that time was immense. Don't know if anyone else would enjoy it but I loved it. I regret having not kept my childhood essays. It would have been great fun to read those. I used to write pretty good in those days. At least that is how it seemed to me :D

Writing helps me distil out my thoughts and they become very clear when put on paper. This helps a lot even in research. This is one thing I have learnt from my advisor. Earlier I would find writing out the ideas formally a very boring exercise. While writing proofs formally still gets a little boring at times it is really really helpful to be clear about the thought process.

There are some people I would very much love to talk to but I would never ever go up and talk to. Simply because I won't know how to do so. However writing to them is much easier. At times just reading what these people write is satisfying. I can't explain how. But, for example, the blogosphere helps in this regard. There are a lot of blogs in my blogroll of people I have never ever talked to and probably never will and who don't even know I read their blog. It is still fun. So written text is useful you see.. be it others' or mine.

There are some things that are so easy to say in writing but are very embarrassing or almost impossible to say in verbal communication. Even to the closest of people. I won't elaborate on this, I guess. In fact I think if/when I get married I will end up having a lot of conversation with that certain someone in writing :P

Ok, enough self stripping for the day ... baaki phir kabhi.. ye blog to rahega hi :)