I might be more famous than I had assumed

I might be more famous than I had assumed


30 Mar 2025 • 10:00 AM MYT


TheRealNehruism
Writer. Seeker. Teacher

Image credit: Nehru Sathiamoorthy FB


An acquaintance that I met earlier, who came from a meeting with a big shot lawyer before he met me, said that the big shot lawyer that he met said "he writes well" in reference to me, when he told the big shot lawyer that he was going to meet me.


As I was having tea with the acquaintance, someone that my acquaintance knew joined us, and when I told him that I am a writer and I write for a company called Newswav, he said "yeah, i know Newswav, what name do you write under?"


When I said TheRealNehruism, he said, "oh, you are TheRealNehruism" as if he already knew who I was.


Today, I was introduced as TheRealNehruism to a university professor, and when he heard it, he also remarked that he was already familiar as to who I am.


I see the view numbers on my articles. I can see my name and face appearing in google search. I know I have pissed off a couple of ministers. I have also been writing prolifically for the last 2 years. After all these signs, you would think "c'mon Nehru, surely you know that you are known", but to this I will just say, that this is not necessarily so.


It is not necessarily so , because there is nothing in my day that tells me that this is so. Other than a random conversation with my friend every now and then, where he will occasionally say something to the tune of "you are not a nobody anymore" as a passing thing after we have had a couple of drinks, there is nothing in my daily life that tells me that I might be more well known today than say, 3 or 4 years ago, before I started writing for Newswav.


Most of the time, when I write, I feel that if I am just writing for a blank space, as I am writing for this blank space here, because there is something that occurred in my mind that I wanted to put on record, without necessarily thinking that anybody is going to read it.


Many years ago, when I wrote in the blank spaces of my Facebook or Instagram posts, I did it with the expectation that someone would read it, like it or appreciate it, but that was many years ago. I think failure is one of the things that teaches you about who you truly are and what you are supposed to do. Anybody can do something if they succeed in it, but if you are still doing something after you failed in it, that is when you know that what you are doing might be the thing that you are supposed to do because that is who you are.


Anyway, when I heard that I am known from a few of the new people I met in the last few days , i recall 1) feeling not afraid and relaxed, for saying whatever it is I had said in all my articles, because I know I meant everything I wrote, even if I can't remember everything I wrote and 2) feeling a little ashamed, because sometimes, I don't do as good a job with my writing as I know i could - if I did a proper job, there is a process that I will follow, to get the writing right, tight and crisp, but a lot of times, I don't follow this process fully, simply because it is time consuming and for the sheer volume that I generate and compared to the money that I get from it, not infrequently, I just can't motivate myself to put the full dedication, effort, attention and care that I know I should be putting in.


I suppose it is true what they say - if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I can talk theoretically about calling and dedication and art and craft until the cows come home, but at the end of the day, if you are going to find it hard to put hours and effort into something, even if it is your calling, if you can paid much more doing much easier things some other way.


Other than that, I distinctly felt a joy and pleasure in realizing that I am known.


I suppose it is good to be known. You know when people talk about such things as finding meaning and purpose in life, they make it sound like it is something deep or spiritual or philosophical - but practically speaking, when you find "meaning and purpose" in your life, I reckon what it probably means that you have found at least a measure of money, power, pleasure, fame or status in this world.


If you find these things in the world, you will feel that you have found "meaning and purpose" in your life, if not you won't.


A lot of times, life might be much more simpler than we assume. Just because it is simple, it doesn't mean it is not difficult, but when you uncomplicate it and lay it down to its barest term, there might not be any greater meaning and purpose to life, other than to find a measure of money, power, pleasure, fame or status in it.


Now that I have reached the end of this article, I am starting to have doubts about how this article will be received, but considering that this is the only content that I could come up with today, and considering that as an content creator with two years of experience, I have come to learn that if you keep second guessing yourself, you will never be able to do this job, I am just going to send this piece for publication anyway, with the conviction that you can never really know how what you write will be received - the only thing that you can be sure of is whether what you write is indigenous to your mind.


With the full confidence that what I wrote here is indigenous to my mind, I present this piece to you not only as a part of my job, but also as an offering of thanks, for making me feel that I have a measure of fame, that makes me feel that I had my fill of meaning and purpose, in this thing we call life.