A Writer’s Dilemma

My second attempt at script writing for my Creative Writing Class Presentation. (The first one was for Inter Hostel Short Film Making in my second year. I will try to locate the script if people don’t trash this piece :P)

Scene 1

(Sohini is sitting at her study table and scratching something in a sheet of paper. Priya is reading a book. Sohini keeps down her pen and stares at Priya for a while.)

Priya (turning around to find Sohini staring at her): What are you doing? Whose thoughts are you lost in huh?

Sohini: I have a presentation tomorrow. For my creative writing course. I am trying to compose a poem but I have not been able to write even one sensible stanza.

Priya: You have been scribbling for quite sometime. I am sure you must have come up with something decent. Let me hear you out.

Sohini: Umm okay. I came up with this:

Oh my love, give me a dove.
Hold my hand with yours,
But before that, take off that stinking glove!
Up above, in the clear blue sky,
You and me will fly and fly.
Our love is sweet, our love is kind,
I over burnt the rooster for dinner tonight.
Hope you don’t mind!

Priya: It sounds bad! Like really bad! I would have just given you 2 marks for your out of the world imagination. Oh my love, give me dove? Who comes up with such a such a horrendous starting line?

Sohini: What? It’s not that bad. It rhymes. And it is not easy to make a poem rhyme! Anyone out there can write a free verse. All you have to do is to write a thousand word essay and hit the Enter button at the right places. That’s what the so called contemporary poets do! And even if it is the worst poem that you have ever heard, you surely wouldn’t have graded me so less because you know me!

Priya: That is like saying that you expect your Prof to give you an S in the course because you are the CR of the class! Oh come on, you surely can do better than this. I suggest you take a break and take a bath since you are stinking horribly. Oh, you are supposed to have an MBA admission interview in the coming week right?

Sohini: Oh yeah. Talking about that, I precisely know what to answer when they ask the all important million dollar question “Why MBA?”. Check this out!

I was a kid, you know,
When I hurt my toe.
I went to the hospital all alone
And accidentally drank acetone.
It messed up my brain
And made me insane.
I want to be a writer
But my future is anything but brighter.
MBA will get me loads of money,
Which is why I want to do it honey!
So that I can be a publisher myself
And I needn’t work like an elf!

Priya: You need a bath. Right now!

Scene 2

(Sohini is back from her bath and is sitting at the same spot as before. Pradeep enters the rooms. Sohini is biting her pencil and staring at her sheets.)

Pradeep: Hey Sohini, what’s up?

Sohini: Nothing much. I have a presentation due tomorrow. And I have hit a dead end. I really can’t think of what to write.

Pradeep: I have an idea. Why don’t you write a sequel of the Twilight series?

Sohini: Wait what? Why would I write a sequel to the Twilight series? I don’t even like those books.

Pradeep: But you are the perfect person to become the next Stephenie Meyer. Aren’t you a vampire disguised as a human? Your hideous teeth blow your cover perfectly. Bleh, bleh-bleh!¹

Sohini: Very funny. Well, if that is all that you have to say, I would like you to leave myself in peace and let me do my work.

Pradeep: I could see some legible lines in your notebook. Show me. I can give your some constructive criticism, help you with your write up and make your day. Bleh, bleh-bleh!

Sohini: Will you stop saying that again and again? It is irritating, being compared to a vampire all the time.

Pradeep: Oh okay! As you say! Bleh, bleh-bleh!

(Sohini gives Pradeep an angry look and searches for her piece among her sheets.)

Sohini (clearing her throat):

Oh my love, give me a dove.
Hold my hand with yours,
But before that, take off that stinking glove!
Up above, in the clear blue sky,
You and me will fly and fly.
Our love is sweet, our love is kind,
I over burnt the rooster for dinner tonight.
Hope you don’t mind!

Pradeep: Wow! You came up with that? And I thought nobody could write worse than me. Now, let’s make it a bit more awful!

Our lives is going to be so beautiful.
Oh, did you know that sheeps give wool?
I will knit jumpers for you, my love,
But it might get dirty with the shit of our dove!
We will have a cute little house
And chase each other like cat and mouse
Our romance will succeed, come what may.
I would like to end it with Bleh, bleh-bleh!

Sohini: Get out! Right now!

Scene 3

Sohini (standing in front of the mirror and staring deep into it): What does it take to be a great writer? Oh wait, I took it a bit too far. What it takes to be a good writer?

Mirror Image: Just be yourself.

Sohini: Be myself? Oh no! I can’t afford to be myself. You don’t know me. Not at all! I am so incompetent. And lazy. And callous. And so confused. I want to write but I don’t know where to start. I am not even confident of my talent. What I thought was creative, was treated as trash by others. I am giving up on this presentation.

Mirror Image: Don’t be disheartened so easily. It is all inside you. The words, the starting lines, the plot, the magic. Brewing like a morning cup of coffee to induce freshness and a new line of thoughts in you. Trust me to trust yourself.

Sohini: This all sounds like the jargon that those yoga instructors keep saying. Can’t you give me some simpler guidance?

Mirror Image: Poetry is alchemy. It transforms the simplest of actions into pure magic, when touched by a sublime blend of untainted words. The first rays of the early morning transforms a drop of a dew into a sparkling pearl; the rain drops falling upon your face hides your tears and mends your broken soul; the vast expanse of the sea makes you realise that humility is the most valuable virtue to possess. When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.² You are here for a purpose and you have everything that you need at your disposal. You just have to believe in yourself.

Sohini: Ah hmm. How do you know all this? You are my mirror image. I never ever had such insights till now.

Mirror Image: Of course it is happening inside your head, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?³

Sohini: Oh yeah. Harry Potter is fucking awesome!

(Sohini goes back to her table and starts scratching furiously in her sheets. After sometime, she comes to the front of the stage, holding a piece of paper.)

Sohini: Good Afternoon everyone. I am going to present a poem today. The only character appearing in this poem is me and so any resemblance to me, living or dead, is purely intentional. It is titled as Being A Poet.

It is not easy to become a poet;
To express your thoughts on a piece of paper.
To grope for words well crafted.
To live and breathe your passion every single moment.
I would spend hours and hours.
Erratic deliberations kept hovering in my mind.
Difficult it was, like walking barefoot on sand.
To inscribe your tangled psyche in a few lines.
Those moonless nights would never end.
And I, sitting beside a flickering lamp,
Would rummage through a lexicon of phrases,
In yet another attempt to compose a meaningful poem.
It is not easy for everyone
To survive in the world of wordy obligations.
Inspiration and imagination are all that you need
Which is not everyone’s cup of tea, indeed!

It turned out to be a free verse, more than a rhyming poem. But then, I don’t mind being a contemporary poet! But this is not sufficient for 15 minutes. Maybe I can act out everything that led to this. That will be one hell of a presentation!

The End

Notes:

1. “Bleh, bleh-bleh!”: Dracula, Hotel Transylvania.
2. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”: Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.
3. “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”: J K Rowling, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.