Gaargi Jamkar
SY BSc
Editor-in-Chief (Coffeecon)
‘Words have no meaning unless they are put together’
– Evelyn Koschiteker
That, my friends, is my favourite quote that I’ve ever read…
Yeah, no that quote is completely made up, and so is the name. I had fun typing out the last name by just aggressively clacking too many keys at the same time!
Just like everyone else mentioned in their candid essays, I too fell in love with reading and writing at a young age. It seemed like the perfect way to escape reality and not suffer any consequences. That does sound corny and depressing now that I read it again, but to me, it was magical.Read that sentence again. Reading ‘was’ magical. Today, weirdly enough, I do not like reading at all. Nope, I don’t even try anymore. I’d rather watch a 40 minute roast video on why I shouldn’t read a certain book (Cough *Colleen Hoover* cough) instead. Even when I’m in the library, I’m trying to find the thinnest book, with a readable font size and preferably with pictures! From wolfing down 500 page novels in one sitting to asking if books had plot summaries on YouTube or Wikipedia, my life has definitely taken an interesting turn!
Writing, on the other hand, has had a positive trajectory in my life. Since 7th grade, every new year I would beg my parents to buy me the prettiest diary which I could journal in. I wanted to write and record my days but never for ‘gratitude’ or the ‘nostalgia’ that I would feel twenty years down the line. Nope- I always had lofty aspirations in mind. I fully intended to monetize my journaling just like Anne Frank did (yes yes, I’m totally making that comparison) and to win the Nobel Prize for Literature! Unfortunately, just like everyone else, I gave up on my diary on Jan 20th pretty much every time. (I hope to change that in the future.)Serious talk, writing gave me the solace and satisfaction which I could previously only harvest from reading the cringe interview articles in Pune Times. Hehe!
Soon, it became pretty obvious that writing was something I was good at and something I enjoyed (a lucky intersection). Since then, my only aim was to keep my fire for writing alive and not let it get doused (RIP my love for Reading).I was lucky enough to get recruited for 8:10 content team where I had the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone to write scholarly articles for econ or pen my passionate opinions for sports and arts. The 8:10 newsletter helped me embrace my love for simplicity in writing and make it more communal. It felt great to be a part of these awesome nerds who could produce the most sophisticated articles but would still have to google synonyms for words like ‘good’ and ‘bad’ (We all do it, don’t worry!)I don’t know how my writing journey will shape up in the future, but I am happy that I got this position at the 8:10 to explore and experiment So I guess this is me trying to entice you to join our newsletter and be part of our gossip loving family. We definitely aren’t perfect, but we are worth your opportunity cost.