Cutting it short

We were not surprised to see the variation in the talks. On one hand a theatre artiste aimed at getting the meek audience to interact more with her,while on the other,two young college students,kept their talk short and sweet. They detailed their quest in writing their own short stories for the short story collection book,interspersed with decided moments of uncertainty,which we could attribute to either stage fright or lack of topics to talk about.

We observed though,the young crowd displayed a wide variety of emotions. A lot like the variety in the speakers themselves. While a major chunk sat through aimlessly,altering between occasional glances at the speakers and texting on their phones a few heard the speakers diligently. Some others also appeared more interested in their coffee rather than the speakers. All this however did not spill over into the short speeches being made.

The highlight of the evening was an author who recently launched his book. He emphasised the importance of commitment to the cause of writing and went on to talk about struggling with the writer’s block syndrome,the occasional bursts of hysteric writing and keeping up with deadlines. A line of his that struck a chord with the audience was about his debut novel,which,he said he began writing before the Beijing Olympics and released it now during the London Olympics. The line drew positive snickers and guffaws from the young audience.

The talks were followed by a question and answer session,which we observed,was very brief. Barring a couple of members of the audience,the writers themselves posed hypothetical questions to them and answered it on their behalf.

However,at the very end of the event what we did take back from it was that the writing business wasn’t exactly smooth sailing,but it wasn’t a difficult thing to do either.