Awaiting the good news that hardly breaks soon!

Disrupting the rhythm of my deep breathing, I rush out at full steam to pick up the newspaper before the rest of the family

The pining of the star-crossed Ranjha for his beloved Heer mightn’t have been as intense as that of a writer wistfully yearning to see her write-up getting published.

Thanks to the long queue of writers of all ages and professions, the wait to get into print grows longer. Days stretch to weeks and untowardly morph into months, wilting the enthusiasm. (Representational photo)

Wielding a pen, I often wonder what else could dread the writers’ fraternity more than receiving a soft-toned rejection by the august editorial team; exhorting them to further hone their writing skills. It takes years of reading and inking reams of sheets in practice to frame a well-rounded, all-inclusive, and relevant piece worth passing muster for publication.

No sooner had an acceptance mail hit my inbox, weighed down with a truckload of rejected mails, than a vehement maelstrom of ecstasy would begin whirling dreamily all around. The news would transform me into a broken record parroting out the content of the received mail verbatim to the entire family for its veracity. My sane conscience, silently at times, would exhort me to contain my self-indulgent childlike animation the moment somebody asked me the date of its publication.

Over time, one realises that awaiting the publication of a piece turns out to be irascibly itching at the subliminal level even more so than awaiting the editor’s final word. Breaking of the dawn injects an overdose of edginess into my yoga sessions as my closed eyes and unreceptive ears apparently sapped all their energy into paying heed to the anticipated sound of the newspaper that could any time flop onto my balcony, brushing the edges of the iron grilles. Disrupting the rhythm of my deep breathing, I rush out at full steam to pick up the newspaper before the rest of the family. My impatient mind reflexively urges my fidgety fingers into skimming through the pages fast, overlooking the hottest headlines of the day to jump straight to the Spice of Life column only to end up folding the paper slowly with a crestfallen visage having failed to muster a moral goodwill to read the write-up of a fellow author.

Thanks to the long queue of writers of all ages and professions, the wait grows longer. Days stretch to weeks and untowardly morph into months, wilting the enthusiasm.

Then out of the blue dawns a balmy day when fortune smiles upon you. Reading your name in the author’s adored space pumps pleasure and contentment into the heart, reflecting on a lofty thought that the hard work coated in a thick layer of patience has finally come out with flying colours. With small, slow, painstaking strokes of a scissor, you merrily snip out the article. What makes your day even more special, lending an indelible and unforgettable aspect to the experience, are all those heart-warming feedbacks that land in the inbox and comment section on social media platforms, refilling the pen with the much-needed tonic of rejuvenation and impetus to get the momentum going.

That over-the-moon feeling hangs in the air for long until the world around begins enquiring about your next write-up. To that question comes a formal retort: “By the Almighty’s grace, the next write-up has been shortlisted.” Then comes the question over its publication date. Though the reply is a stoic “very soon”, the heart that everlastingly beats under its own breath within the earshot of the mind’s ears says, “Good news, like always, is in an uncertain period of awaiting.” 0423radhika@gmail.com

The writer is a government teacher at Gagret in Himachal Pradesh