Almost three years ago, I started writing on online platforms. It was a few days after my Class 12th board examinations. I felt that the platform on which I initially started writing, Quora, had a lot for my interest and opinions. I love politics and started to explore writing on International Politics and International Relations soon after. Till school, academics had been my only strong area. I was intimidated by many that I didn’t have any talent in extra-curricular pursuits such as music, dance or any other type of art form. After having explored all the topics to write on during the holidays, I started reading up on several topics, especially Indian politics and society.
I joined a B. Tech course after my entrance exam results were out. I got myself enrolled in the college Model United Nations for the first time, and got to revive my hidden interest for news and politics. Many peers, including my seniors, indeed found my Quora profile. They asked me to join the content writing team, and trained the team to write for the college blog. Thus, I started writing a lot of articles, mostly based on socio-political issues. There was a lot of scope for me, as my college was a technical institute and the knowledge of politics was rare. I later participated in many MUNs across the State, and my interest only grew exponentially.
I later started my personal blog on medium. As part of a blogging contest Spot-On 2018, which was in collaboration with Youth Ki Awaaz, I got introduced to this platform. I had earlier heard about it only through my Facebook feed, which I used to seldom read. I wrote two articles here, one on Campus Politics and the other on why humanities courses are less sought in India. I also did a vlog for a contest on the same topic. Surprisingly, I won the contest and in return, I got a free two-month course with Youth Ki Awaaz on ‘Formal Writing’. I wrote many articles on various social issues, and realised that writing is my real talent, and politics is my passion.
In February 2019, my friends and I started an MUN society to strengthen public opinion in our college, as well as to host various events. I improved my blog and started to commit one article every two weeks. Many of my articles attracted a lot of attention and gave me confidence and support. In June, the MUN Society started a blog covering, social, political national and international issues. In the Millennium Fellowship class of 2019 by UNAI and MCN, our blog received international attention.
Finally, in August 2019, I got selected as the Campus Reporter for the English website of Manorama, a premier newspaper of Kerala. Many of my articles got published on Manorama Online, and I continued to work part-time, while practicing a lot of content work and volunteering for various organisations and blogs. My articles were also published regularly on YKA and IEEE Kerala CS section blog.
I believe that just like me, everyone has a story of how they started writing and continue to do so. Us writers aren’t born, we are consequential, we start writing due to something else, and that prompts us to unleash our hidden talent and continue with it, unlike many others who stop writing.
Today, I am proud to open up about my story #WhyIWrite on YKA. For me, writing is not just about sharpening my skills, but also a process of learning, sharing knowledge and expressing my opinion. Today, writing has brought me far ahead from where I was three years ago. I am determined to take my passion for politics and my penchant for writing ahead to achieve my dreams.