Rough Hewn: Anonymous

Shon Mehta, creator of the Jivavarta universe and the author of the 'Rough Hewn' series.

When you write you only think of writing, you do not think anything else. 

Only afterward does the dilemma appears should I keep it hidden, folded inside yourself like a letter never sent, or to expose it to the world. Then family intervenes saying it should be seen, that others might feel what you felt, that your characters might find other hearts to stay.  You listen.

So you show it to the world. Not asking for money. You place it there like water left outside for thirsty birds during summer days.

Then one day you learn that it is not one thought, nor two, but all of them. Every feeling you offered has been taken. Repeated….Paraded and Called someone else’s insight, ancient wisdom, or most painful of all anonymous. As if feelings could exist without the suffering behind it.

It crushes you because every line you wrote  was not literature but memory. 

You remember the afternoon you wrote, 'Maybe I am the villain in your story...' and then spent years searching for the story behind the face of the one who spoke it to you.

An excerpt from The Timingila by Shon Mehta, featuring the original context of the widely cited "villain" dialogue.

Or remember the day, when  you changed  “No thinking of old worries,” to  “No brooding over old worries” because someone close to you insisted that it sounded wiser.

Or you remember seeing a friend, who you thought is good person, treat a stranger  extremely  rudely then the sentence struck like a verdict “Judge a man's  character by how he treats person he does not know…..”

Or you remember illness, weakness, and the smell of broth made by your mother entering your body, before the spoon did, and thinking “Never underestimate the power of good food, …”

These were not clever quotes. They were your confessions. 

You feel not just offended but morally injured, as though something sacred has been violated. You tell yourself you will not write another word. You  make this promise seriously. But within a day you understand the lie of it. You must write. You must fight. Because writing is not what you do it is where you rest, you find your inner peace. Without it you would  descend into chaos.

Then comes the next thought.. should I hide it now? Should I stop showing it to the world that takes it without seeing you?

"They may take your words, but they cannot take the nights that produced them." — Shon Mehta, Rough Hewn

And suddenly…clarity…. It does not matter. It never did. 

They may take your words, but they cannot take the nights that produced them. They may repeat your thoughts, but they cannot live your memories. You know where these sentences were born. You  recognize yourself in them wherever and wherever they appear.

You  are the one who suffered.

You are the one who wrote.

You are the “Anonymous.”

—————-

Edit: Even this post is being actively plagiarized.

Shon Mehta is an author and philosopher known for creating the Jivavarta Universe, a fictional setting used to explore sociopolitical themes, human resilience, and moral philosophy. Her work has transitioned from contemporary fiction to foundational academic material used in several countries. Rough Hewn is her series of reflective essays, where she explores the personal memories and philosophies behind her writing.