Late bloomers

It was Wimbledon finals this weekend with surprise victories with ever younger and newer talent taking the spotlight. In the arenas of sports and entertainment, it seems like the winners are getting younger each year. Fortune seems to bless only the early birds, the child prodigies, the tender saplings that are nurtured by ambitious parents and blessed by lady luck soon after birth. This seems consistent with the public interest in fresh news stories and fresh faces to look at, novelty is the first priority for an audience that has attention spans shorter than that of toddlers.

But what about arenas where age and experience blend to create masterpieces that depict the depth of the creator's talent. Performing arts require years of practice. So do the visual arts like painting and sculpture. Great literature demands the writer to dive into the world and ferret out pearls of wisdom and then fashion them by his/her talent and fluency of language into classic works. A young writer may have voice that is unique to his age and generation and certainly carry contemporary lingo with ease, but does the work have the ripeness of a rich life behind it? If publishers seek a young and marketable author to produce bestsellers, where would the writers who have toiled for decades on honing their craft and polishing their storytelling skills go?

This weekend's The Hindu's literary supplement carried an article about four senior women writers (above 70 years of age) whose initial works have been recently published by Leadstart Publishers. The women featured were Gouri Dash, Dhiruben Patel, Ambika Sirkar and Meera Sashital. What is common to these women is their ongoing interest in reading, a trait they cultivated during the years they handled traditional responsibilities. What is unique to these women from a generation where their roles were gender-bound, is their assertion that writing is as natural as breathing, it is what makes them feel young, it is their companion as they face the challenges of their age. They write for one reason - it makes them happy.

Seeing their words in print has taken them a lifetime. But they persist, they persevere, they still read and of course, they write. Their motivation is not public adulation, accolades and prizes, but a desire to share their gift through the medium of the written word. And one day, the audience shows up.

It is reassuring to see that there is a place in this world for late bloomers as well.