Why do I write?

Tamil E magazine Padhaakai is running a series where writers try to answer the question "Why do I write?". I was surprised when they asked me too. This is the post I wrote for them (in Tamil). Since I am a translator, am translating that post here.
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I have been writing at various places online for the last 14 years. I didn't write anything before that, except for poems in my scrap book.

Even in the internet space, my creative output has mostly been translations - 4 short stories from English to Tamil, about 20 poems from various languages to Tamil and more than 150 classical Tamil poems from Tamil to English.

If a writer is one who has sold a piece and been paid, then I am not a writer. Probably 200 people read what I write. Four or five comment. If I publish my translations as a book it might sell about 20 copies. So what prompts me to write?

A desire to share with the world what I have understood, is the answer to that question. I am not worried about whether it is of any use to the world. It gives me pleasure, so I write. There's a bit of arrogance in this, I accept. I do feel on cloud nine when people whom I respect appreciate my work.

Writing is not my profession. I write in between my work schedule. I don't need a specific place for me to write. Most of my writing is done during my weekly train journey. My writing style is to prepare a mental draft before I start writing. I hardly write in paper, it is mostly laptop or mobile phone.

If you ask me whether I can be without writing, yes I can. But there will be a sense of incompleteness in my life. I think my writing completes me, makes me a better person. That's why I write. I write for myself. I also write because of the desire to let the world know my perspective.