WHAT TO WRITE, WHAT NOT TO WRITE, THAT IS THE QUESTION. When Soumik asked me to write something up I knew I was in trouble. The trouble increased when I asked him what he wanted me to write about.Not that I would have done as he would have asked me to.But he put the ball back in my court,by giving me 'freedom'to write what I pleased.Freedom indeed!! My linguistic talents have always been rather restricted,to the examinations. Except for the letter-writing in the tests (in school) I have not written more than 5 letters,altogether.As for some of the essays I had written,well,in retrospect,I think they were pure bilge.And in languages other than English, well,I am at best,perhaps,qualified to call myself a literate. To write something on a given topic is always an easier way out,because,poor performance can be blamed upon the nature of the topic.For instance,I have seen an article which reproduced the essay written by some candidate for some exam(I don't remember the details)and the topic was 'The Cow'.Of course he went on to say that the cow was a 'successful' animal because 'he is female'. The idea is that a subject as drole as 'The Cow'would have been such a pain to those evaluating the essays that a rather 'different' essay like this would have been of some interest.I say this because I believe the candidate passed the exam. Why I say all this is because,you can write essays during School,and earn yourself a lot of credit,without actually doing anything worthwhile. And what, with an academic schedule as in ISI,this job was getting rather menacing. I had no idea writing something,could be a hazard of this nature. To seek some solace,I asked a twin soul,a little advice.The suggestion I had was to write something humorous. "But u don't see the whole trouble.If I try something humorous and it bombs then I will become a subject of humour",I said. " Try to bring in the emotions,then.Try some kind of tragedy or u know,something that stirs one." This was no better suggestion and I told so. "To write something tragic would involve a subject and I don't have the imagination to create one." "What abt a subject,inspired by urself,as many movie makers these days do?" "But that will mean I divulge my scores in my class tests."I said.And I am in no mood of doing so. My moodiness was obviously spreading now. After a long thought a suggestion came up."Why not something like 'A brief history of time ? ' " The news narrators.That is certainly an interesting thought.But the snag is that one trying to attempt anything of this kind,must be knowing what's going around in the world. And I generally have a desultory glance at the sports sections and the cartoons.News ? What sort of news had I seen last ? My mind raced furiously; Gaisal ? Taal ? Was Taal the cause for Gaisal ? Who knows ?Statistically speaking,there may be the Taal factor in everything, even if it is not very significant.) Other topics came up. " Why not a description of some event or some such thing ?" "Well,I have witnessed a match which is certainly worth writing about.But I fear it may touch a tender spot or 2." "Why not something educative and stuff, u know ? The kind of 'Did u know' stuff." I brushed aside the idea. "Not a single person will spare me if I do something as painful as that.Soon I'll be knowing that I did NOT know how bad the ISI janta can get." There wasn't much more to say after that.I lost the only source of suggestions as well. However I began to wonder how the hell I got entangled on this mess of writing. Was it the greed of having an extra lib card ? Possibly no, because,I hardly use the 2 ones I am entitled to.I don't even remember putting up many notices here. Even if it were just the usual 'blah blah not served. Inconvenience is regretted' or a list of defaulters.I wondered if it had any kind of contribution to the whole affair. Probably,I should take a hint or 2 from Prasad and give very terse notices,on a regular basis, from now. But what RIGHT now? Of course,the only thing that occurs to me right now,is the old adage but with a different wording of course: Topics,topics everywhere,not one fit to touch!! WHAT TO WRITE AND WHAT NOT .....