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Renu Singh's literary career discovered itself with the Hindi novel, ‘Vaapsi’. According to her 'it was the first introduction to the writer in her'. Vaapsi is the first Hindi novel to be written and published in North America, and is honoured with the House of Commons Achievement Award in 2001. She has also written children’s books, two of which are in submission. She enjoys writing Poetry. Some short stories in Hindi have been published in magazines, and an English postcard story dragged itself to be among the first sixty finalists in a postcard story competition held by the Writers Union of Canada.

Renu Singh has just completed an English novel, 'The Return', which is in the process of being reviewed.

She strongly believes: 'Writings write themselves using the writer as a medium. And it is my effort to be a good medium, and I’m open to any criticism on my work.'

'Likhari' is very pleased to publish a short, thought provoking and impressive article of her entitled: 'Taste of Words'

Taste of Words

-Renu Singh-

 

Now that more artists are using modern technology to bring out the art in them, I often wonder if there is any difference if you hear yourself between the creatively held pen and the paper or tapping along the keyboard and the words appearing magically on the computer screen. Is it the soft whispering of the pen on paper? Or the tap-tap of the keys on the keyboard? What connects the writer more to its writings? Every time I sit down to type my thoughts, I stop to think that if I write using the traditional pen and paper, I might be able to do connect more with what’s happening inside me. I have tried to play around with the newborn thoughts in many ways and the experience has been more so extraordinary that trying to put it in words would be impossible.

I have come to realize that what matters is how it flows out of you. What it flows out on is not important. Either it is a wrinkled piece of paper lying around you when you feel like writing, or few post-its scattered on your desk, or a computer screen. The source is within you and the canvas could be anything. Sometimes, the writing is so intense that the need for any kind of canvas becomes pointless. You don’t even feel it is being written. It is only afterwards when you feel yourself drowned in the taste of something written that you realize it has already happened. Those are the most beautiful writings ever…the ones that you can only taste afterwards, but can’t trace the words anywhere.

 (30th December 2007)