Dear readers,
Today I greet my keypad with a rather unusual and yet a very pleasant endeavor writing about my journey of writing. It is I have so much to say and yet, I find myself speechless! I believe that this truly captures the beauty of my journey that has humbled me at every step and yet, empowered me to be proud of who I am. Back in 90’s when there wasn’t English newspaper from Kodagu, Coffeeland made its way which helped the people of Kodagu with vibrant package news, sports, politics, and a lot more every day. This made us to wake up to the exciting news every morning.
To put it rather simplistically, I reckon my writing journey been as a little girl who enjoyed writing her diary entries. No matter how the days went by me, my naive little mind occasionally enjoyed putting it into words, joyous, frustrating, saddening, dramatic, my mind was gradually trained to pen down all that I felt.
When I say I am a newspaper columnist, what I mean by this is that I write to this particular paper and they reserve space for me every week for my piece. I suppose you could call that a column. Nevertheless, it always excited me to have my face appear in my corner every week. Better yet, they pretty much let me write what I want, within reasons. It is long been a hobby of mine. Writing has always been my natural tendency to spurt out my thoughts. Nobody has ever told me in my life that I must be a writer. I just started writing to Coffeeland News since the paper saw its existence and eventually began enjoying it. After reading, my college senior’s wonderful work of imagination I said to myself “Hey I can write too”. I promptly posted my hand written article “On smoking”. My joy knew no bounds when my article got published in Coffeeland News when I was just an undergraduate. Having my write ups go through editors to be proofread and corrected has helped me in a lot of ways. I became more focused and careful with my use of grammar. Nonetheless, a lot of people read it and loved it which made me proud of myself and encouraged me to write more and more. The more, i wrote, the more my imaginations grew such that everything around me started becoming an inspiration for an article. I got accepted to write for an amazing journal “Writers Bureau of England ” which has influenced me immensely.
Reading and writing has always played a major role in my life ever since I was younger. My father enabled me to use my imagination so much, I believe that this is one reason why writing was the route. I have a lot to thank my dad and Coffeeland News for. In my opinion having an education in today’s society means nothing unless you know how to use it properly and the central part of education is learning how to write.
Looking back today many years later, there are so many experiences and so many people who played their part in making me who I am. The initial hand holding must all be credited to my father who encouraged me to just start, wherever I am with whatever I have and the Coffeeland News team to have encouraged and motivated me all through. I am blessed to have my articles and opinions on a host of societal issues published. To the risk of sounding cliche, I drew my inspiration to write from everything, the big and small. Illegal land conversions, railway and highway projects, excess tourism, mushrooming of illegal resorts, man – animal conflicts, migrant labourers, women safety, environmental protection, pollution of river Cauvery, illegal homestays, openletters to DCand Forest officers, protecting western Ghats and Many more issues bothering Kodagu and a range of diverse topics. I always stood against the unnecessary projects like railway lines, commercialisation of land, world environment school, cricket stadium etc. These columns were warmly welcomed and received an overwhelming response the regular readers which helped me believe in my power, the power of my work. Today, I feel writing is the best way for me to express my thoughts on anything it fulfils me. After I complete writing a good piece, I somehow feel abundant and content. Just the act of putting down some words gives me inner joy and peace. I write and often times I end up marvelled at the way words just flow continuously. No doubt, I have definitely come a long way.
Coffeeland News has been very reflective of my writing process from the day I have been on a journey. My journey to discovery. Reflection and growth still continue as I write down every day. This has given me a modicum of recognition. Wherever I go people recognize me as a columnist in Coffeeland News. My readers have constantly encouraged my innovations, provided valuable feedback, and maintained a long- term relationship based on trust and affection. THANK YOU COFFEELAND NEWS AND THE READERS for the constant support and motivation. I would continue my journey with all the strength and confidence that comes naturally to a writer.
Kodandera Mamatha Subbaiah
