Writers work best in specific surroundings. Of course, they can write or pound the keyboard inside a noisy, smoky chat room or daydream over a cup of steaming tea in a corner of a restaurant. But the space around them, as their fingers pause for a minute, have so often shaped their themes, inspired them, kept them organised and fostered their creativity.

This is true of E.P. Sreekumar, award-winning short story writer and novelist, too. The space in his Tripunithura house is organised as a place for writing. One side of the wall is lined with books, a cupboard on the other side stores stationery, papers, resource materials and various other things that he may need while writing. A window opens to a blank wall outside. A standing desk, a conventional desk and chair with a laptop complete the ‘sanctuary.’

Sreekumar writes standing using a specially designed desk. In fact, for writers, the standing desk has a long lineage.

History has it that great writers and thinkers, from Dickens to Churchill and Hemingway preferred the standing desk. “This is part of a change in my life, in my writing, part of the evolution. When I started out it was the regular writing table and a comfortable chair. I could have if I wrote the soft kind of stories, say like love, man-woman relationships, which I never did. My subjects have always been so serious that I could never sit down and write. The thoughts created a storm inside me, a pain that really disturbed. In such a situation how can one sit or lie down on an easy chair with a bar across the arms of the chair and write?,” asks Sreekumar who won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2010 for his searing short story collection Parasya Shareeram.

There was a time when Sreekumar had to divide his time between writing and his job as general manager, People’s Urban Cooperative Bank. Now that he has retired Sreekumar finds more time for his writing.

“Yes, but you still need to get that surging flow of thoughts to write. I simply cannot sit down after breakfast and decide to start writing. And when the ideas gush I begin writing till it ends. And when that happens I may walk around, gesticulate; it is a sort of mad experience. Those are moments of agitation within me, which affects my body too, its movements. Standing beside my desk and putting those thoughts on paper is the only thing that works for me.”

Unlike many writers Sreekumar does not fix a particular time nor does he really need silence when he is working. “This house was built 25 years back. I had begun writing even before that. So, the need of a particular space never really bothered me nor does time. But if you ask me my favourite time for work it is between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., which may sound strange.”

When Sreekumar writes he has the shruthi on. This musical pitch, the note from which all others are derived, envelops him and allows him to soar on the wings of imagination.

“Music is part of life. I have played the tampura for concerts and I know how the shruthi can transport you into another world. I don’t turn on music because my attention may get diverted by the tune, the raga or the lyrics. The shruthi then harmonises with my writing. Again this was part of the change that happened down the years. I use a CD that I put into my laptop. And then the microtone, the process of writing and I become one.”

Starting out by writing plays and the occasional short story while at school in Cherai, Sreekumar shot into limelight through his radio plays. Incidentally, he made a comeback to this genre after many years with his play Raksha, which was broadcast as part of the recently concluded All India Radio drama festival.

He switched to short stories, a field where he has won wide acclaim. Sreekumar’s stories have been translated into Hindi, English, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, his stories have been prescribed for study at Gandhigram University, Madurai, Calicut University and for CBSE students. “Prof. Selvamani of the University College, Thiruvananthapuram, was awarded a Doctorate for his research mainly based on my stories, while a new collection of stories in Hindi is ready for publication soon.”

His two novels Maaramudra and Mamsaporu, have been much-discussed for the freshness of themes, idioms and techniques in style. His latest anthology of stories Currency bagged the Abu Dhabi Shakti Award and Sreekumar is working on a couple of new projects.

“I’m working on a novel that will have Somalia as its backdrop and I have completed two new stories. An article on the noted novelist Kovilan, who was like an elder brother to me, and a couple of articles on music are also being done.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by K. Pradeep / Kochi – August 14th, 2015