Whenever we write we write for others. Probably the only exception is personal diary. That too until it is unpublished. The moment we go for the publication of a diary, it is a piece of writing for others.
No doubt most of people know this fact. But how many are really aware of this? Very few. When we write we forget this fact. The result is a write up which is basically a distorted communication. It fails to convey what we mean. It does not convey our message.
In my almost three decade long career in media, I have come across number of people with this problem. Most strange is the case of so called scientists. I wonder why do they fail so miserably when it comes to communication.
Science stands for facts and perfectness. But the communication by most of people with science is very poor. I can site many examples of this. But I would prefer a positive note. My first encounter with a good communication was my science teacher Khusihram. What he spoke with illustrations on the blackboard went down straight into the mind of most of the students.
This made him very popular among students. However, his communication skills were limited to the lesson which he taught. It lacked motivation for students to study science in details. But, in first year of my college I met a man who knew mathematics. He talked about complex topics like calculus and Boolean algebra like a chapter from a popular fiction book.
He is Professor A R Rao. He is 100 plus. He lives in Ahmedabad and very much active with Vikram Sarabhai Community Science centre where I met him first in 1974. It was a friend of mine, Ullhas Buddhisagar, who took me to Community Science Centre for his weekly lecture on Mathematics.
Very much impressed and encouraged by Prof. Rao that I became a regular member of the library of the VASCSC. Ullahas who later specialized in mathematics and proved his surname Buddhisagar (Ocean of intellect) became my pal in these visits.
We had animated discussions about science. Number theory and topics like perfect numbers animated our discussions. This first meeting was really a turning point in my life which turned science and mathematics from boring subjects to appealing fields.
You must be wondering what I am writing. My biography? No my dear friend. It is not so. I am trying to communicate to you on the basis of my experience. And my experience is that we must know what we are writing or talking about. It is easy to say, but one of the most difficult to act on.
When we talk, we can know from the body language and experience of others whether we are communicating effectively or not. We can bring some changes. Is our talk engaging the attention of listener or audience or not?
We can add a little joke or a humorous anecdote to bring life to communication. But writing does not give us any chance. Even in the world of web 2.0 where one can react to an article using comment facility, it is not possible. This makes our task a little more difficult. It requires patience to craft our communication. And the beauty of the writing process is that it allows us to polish our content to focus on our reader.
But we must remain aware of the fact that we are writing for others. We need not remember that we are writing for others. Remember that we always write for others. If we are conscious of this fact, we will not make a blunder in our communication. This is true not only for science communication. It is the benchmark for all communication.
