Writers. Such intriguing beings. Only today I was reading about an Indian writer who prefers to write under the influence of alcohol. For a second, it made me wonder about me and if I should try it. I laughed off the thought of-course. Drinking and I, we don’t gel well. I drink extremely rarely. Although, an astrologer had prophesied that I would become a chainsmoker and a drunk philanderer when I grew up. Oh, was he wrong! I mean, I am already 27, I hardly drink and prefer to stay miles away from smokers. How am I supposed to write?
When I was in school, I remember reading about Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his history with opium. He wrote his poem “Kubla Khan” after a dream he had under the influence of opium. I came to know about his opium usage when I was looking for some information after I read his poem The Rime of The Ancient Mariner. It’s the poem where the phrase “water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink” comes from. That line maybe overused to death, but it’s still one of most cruel ironies of life – to be a man in the middle of the sea, surrounded by only water and yet dying of thirst.
Oh, that reminds me, quite randomly of how Scott Fitzgerald had a drinking problem and how I have never come across a writer who mesmerized me so much with their writing style. Oh god. This is triggering another thought – Stephen King was also an alcoholic. Well, now I am wondering, what is even the point of writing this, the names are just going to keep coming and they will never end.
Although, in Fitzgerald’s defence (or should I say alcohol?), Ernest Hemingway believed that is was Fitzgerald’s wife who encouraged him to drink, so that it would distract him from writing long form novels. This, she apparently did, so that Fitz was forced to finish short stories instead and sell them to magazines for an income.
Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter really. Some day, I ll probably find the right groove, without a drink in my hand.