As Young Ki Awaaz completed 10 years in March 2018, hundreds of users stormed the Internet with #WhyIWrite. They wrote about what inspires them to write, proving that in a country where trolls run amok, those who speak truth to power can’t be silenced. From discussing the healing and cathartic power of writing, to seeing it as a means of sharing one’s angst, anger, feelings and more, the reasons are aplenty. Take a look at 10 such reasons:
1. Abha Khetarpal: Through my writings, I aim to dismantle the idea that living with a disability is either something to be pitied or an inspirational act.
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“I believe that if young persons with disabilities also start writing about their unique set of personal accounts and share experiences of their families in areas like healthcare, education, and employment, all of this can personalise advocacy.”
2. Shahla Khan: I write because I am angry.
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“The more I watched the news… I felt that rage, that helplessness. I was sleepless for nights. I saw the protests by the students and the police brutality too. I wanted to do something but didn’t know what. At that point, I had this thought about the power of writing and how I could use it to help the cause of saving women from male violence.”
3. Ankita Sharma: Because women deserve to be heard.
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“It’s cathartic. I have been tagged a feminist in my circles because of the pieces I write and I am proud of it. Everyone should write, in my opinion. Writing for me is about ideas, it reaches out to people and believe me, I have seen people changing their views over a well-crafted writeup.”
4. Aman Sinha: To unlock the achievements of my life.
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“Think of those moments – when you were too drunk, the rush of enthusiasm when India won a match, the dances we did on our birthdays, the beautiful rhythm of the music we listened to. Happiness and confidence create a loop to unlock achievements. In the end, I have a few companions who can dance to any song after two pegs of alcohol. I wonder if my friends will be crying on the last day of college.”
5. Yash Marwah: Because I have seen change spark more change.
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“I wrote about Gurmehar Kaur on Youth Ki Awaaz. About why Kiren Rijiju is wrong about her and people who are polluting her. I wrote about my personal problem with the goons that have messed up our universities. I wrote about environmentalists and the Save Aarey issue. That made me change things myself, rather than just write about it. I write about change and changemakers because the will to change is contagious. Just like the will to sit back and watch the world burn.”
6. Minakshi Bujarbaruah: To share unheard stories from Assam and the northeast.
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“Journalism as a profession has also primarily been male-dominated and this is more so when one speaks of the northeast and Assam. There are only a few women writers who have made it up there and considered ‘successful’ enough. Irrespective of the success bit of it, it is time women are encouraged to write. To write not only to publish, but to develop an art and skill of writing, to enjoy this beautiful experience of penning down, to voice the angst, to subvert the dominant narrative, to question and to critically argue.”
7. Quratulain Rehbar: Writing is how I tell the world about the real Kashmir.
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“Kashmir, I believe writing has helped everyone here counter the negative narrative of Kashmir. To correct the facts, I write about reality. I write when someone is killed in Kashmir and about the injustice faced by them. I write when our rights are repeatedly violated. I write to narrate the pains of funerals which have become a norm now. I write when the ones who rule us make repeated farce promises.”
8. Rachit Shah: Because whether we realise or not, our words are making a huge impact.
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“The issues our parents struggled with are different from the issues we strongly feel about. They had to work hard to earn the bread and we have to work hard to deal with social media anxiety. Each generation has had a unique set of problems. The advantage we have though is that we have the luxury of getting heard easily. The online platforms allow us to voice our points, spread awareness and in turn, find company to work with on these issues. So let’s keep our words flowing, whether we realise it or not, it is making a huge impact.”
9. Priyanka Pardasani: For me, writing is therapy and rebellion.
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“I feel that writing is a physical manifestation of all that happens inside of my mind, so in order to keep my body healthy, I write to express all the pain I feel.”
10. Akshita Prasad: Because I see women being owned, discarded and silenced
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“I write because I see that political statements are often rhetoric; I see women being owned, discarded, and silenced; I see the toxic myth of real masculinity that patriarchy perpetrates and the lives this myth shapes; I see marriage equality being granted as a privilege that should be met with gratitude and not as a basic right.”
Why do you write? What inspires you, what pushes you to write? Publish your story with #WhyIWrite here.