#52 The world doesn't remember
June 30, 2022•333 words
In 2001, the famous Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan reached it's 75th anniversary. In the event of celebrating the remarkable milestone, the magazine organized several contests - poetry, short fiction, nonfiction writing, art, etc.
I read a lot of prize-winning short stories and poems. It was fascinating to see so many talents (including thousands of others who participated but didn't win)
What happened to those amazing stories? They have been forgotten. Readers wouldn't have saved copies of those magazines except the magazine office and the writers who got published. The rest of the copies would've been sent for recycling.
Also, what happened to those writers? Did all of them make it to the big leagues? Were they able to make a living out of their writing? Are they still struggling? Did they quit writing?
The answers are hard to find. But, we both know that the answer won't be 100% in favor of those creators.
The half-life of someone remembering your work is decreasing every year. Content that was once discussed amongst the audience for a few days is now reduced to a few seconds (Thanks to tweet threads, emails, stories, and reels).
Creators get inspired, work hard, and try unique things for a 10-second attention span from someone who is already on their way to view someone else's creation.Being a creator has become hard with each passing day. The world doesn't remember us. It brings me to the question "Does it make sense to be a creator today? Is it worth putting so much effort and creativity?"
It is if you're creating for yourself and no one else. 'Aaranya Kaandam' fame Thiagarajan Kumararaja says in an interview that he writes a script purely for the pleasure he gets out of it and doesn't care if he couldn't make it into a movie. If you're running behind fame, you'd soon be frustrated seeing how little attention you get from the world. Create for your own pleasure. It doesn't matter if the world doesn't remember.