India, Aug. 8 -- When I was in my twenties I put writers on a pedestal, believing that writing is an exertion of power. I still largely feel this way because in our present time, where attention is fleeting, to be read is to hold someone's undivided attention. Unlike speech, which can be drowned out, the written word grants you quiet authority where, for a time, it's just you inside another person's head. This is why writers say that to be read is a privilege. It is.

But the real reason so many of us write is because we must. Because writing is more than communication. Writing demands stillness and introspection. It distils and crystallizes what might otherwise remain unuttered, unfiltered. It sharpens thought, and in doing it, you disco...