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About Sumita

Sumita considers herself as a writer for all reasons. She has written most of her adult life starting with a book of stories at the age of eleven. After an unsuccessful attempt to get into journalism school Sumita fell head first, into advertising copywriting and that started an affair of a lifetime (at the risk of sounding a tad cheesy). Today Sumita is a not so lean and mean writing machine displaying capabilities in many styles. Check out the offerings on display and do get back to her with your feedback and requests for writing work - sumita@sumitachakrabarty.com

Some words have textures

Yes they do.

Try saying haberdashery a few times and you can feel it roll around awkwardly in your mouth till you have to either spit it out or gulp it down, whole. I have a lot of problem with words that have to be pushed out instead of coming off silky smooth from my mouth. Imagine having to say potential twice in the same sentence. It never sounds the same. In fact it sounds a lot angrier the second time as if my tongue is having a hard time getting it to sit right. On a good day metropolis sounds just about right but on a bad day…woah, you don’t want to hear me say it.

My favourite word in the last century was rendezvous. I fell in love with it the day I learned to pronounce it correctly. And since then I’ve always tried hard to put it into every conversation of mine. This century it has taken back seat to protagonist. There’s so much old-fashioned majesty in the word, protagonist. It doesn’t need a sentence to prop it up. It’s fine alone like a hero from a Shakespearean tragedy standing up to an unkind world with tear stained cheeks and quivering lips. It’s texture? Definitely, salty and coarse.

The word which wins hands down in texture is velvet. Sit in a quiet corner, then take a deep breath and finally say it …softly at first and then a little louder. Then feel the air around become heavy with a feeling of luxurious decadence. And if you add the word gown after you’ve said velvet then you can almost hear the music and the sounds of bacchanalian revelry. Oh no, nothing less. Because once you’ve said velvet gown it’s like you’ve opened the cellar doors wide to the world.

2 Comments
  • raj rangarajan

    October 1, 2016 at 10:17 pm Reply

    When you mentioned “haberdashery”, my mind harkened back to a bad cold — for some reason — and I thought of “phlegm” — another word that needs pushing, more appropriately, clearing — you can almost feel the obstruction — the phlegm getting stuck, as in Bangalore traffic! It is sitting there but you cannot do a thing about it! No amount of clearing your throat helps. Seems almost arbitrary — an extra “g” thrown in between the “e” and the “m”. It’s the “g” that’s entrapped in a manner of speaking, What is the “g” doing there — a pleonasm of sorts?

    Moving on, “velvet gown” has a certain element of luxury, grandeur, hope, and to get back to your theme, potential — and what could be — with the person who could be — which again harkens me to “potential” — for the evening. Ultimately, one has to be in the moment, to enjoy these words — not the past, nor the future.

    • Sumita

      October 2, 2016 at 11:01 am Reply

      Phlegm, yes, you’re right. It’s a heavy word. And one that gives me an icky feeling!

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