When I began writing this, the first thing that came to my mind was – why do I, or anybody else for that matter even, need a reason to write in the first place?
I believe to write, for me is what it is for cows to produce milk, it is what is inside and it has to come out. But then I realised that writing has also been a meditative therapy for me. Life and the people it brings with it leave no opportunity to pull you down, to make you feel that you are not good enough and every time that happened, I wrote… about my feelings, about the suffocation I felt and everytime, it has helped me cope. Writing has been a friend who at least would never give up on me. That one thing I could turn to, to release my pent-up emotions, be it hurt or anger for anger is not something you can turn your back on either. Everytime I wrote, I would discover a little more of myself, something precious and hidden deep down…and I never knew I could think so deeply.
Writing is like religion for me. A religion, where you are the worshipper and the worshipped as well, where you learn to love yourself and your words like a place of worship and where you cultivate your prayers. It is something that has given me an identity, helped me express myself and understand more about where and how I stand in the world. And perhaps, most importantly, it has made me understand that no matter what and why you do something, the world in general is never going to be happy but you need to keep doing what gives you pleasure. I could never have realised this if I didn’t write about how I felt. Also, another very important thing that writing has taught me is to express my honest opinions and to speak up about issues. To write is a very powerful way of reaching out to other people and to speak up about whats right and wrong and how to correct the wrongs in the society. Isn’t that what Youth Ki Awaaz is all about? Its not actually the ‘voice’ of the youth but rather their words which convey their thoughts and influence the society. Writing is a beautiful activity which has never failed to make me happy and self-reconciled!