“I like reading and writing a lot. The first poem I wrote was when I was 13-14 years of age. Today, when I read that poem, I realised it’s a sad poem. But, I think that one poem is what gave way to writing. Even though it was a bad poem, it helped me.

It’s fascinating the number of people I’ve met via art. I remember my first event till date. It was far away, in Novotel. I had taken my dad along as it was my first time going to an event. There were around 100-150 people there and they were running around to make that one event event happen flawlessly. I loved every aspect of it. When you hear so many people, perform so many different poems, it gives you so much exposure and perspective about what you could write as a 14 year old. I performed for the first time in that event. Imagine a teenager with crippling stage fright going up in front of 150 people and performing? But, I did it and it felt really good. Writing is one form of venting out, but narrating it to an audience is a whole different thrill. That’s how it began. Every event I went to, I never planned on performing but I always ended up performing.
Watching all these events, I realised organising these events is something I would love to do. I started working with the Hyderabad Poetry Project. I also later on went on to work with Tree Huggers Club and volunteered for the Under 25 Summit. There was this one event that I and a very close friend of mine organised together called BYOP (Bring Your Own Poet) where everyone was supposed to get a person with them. We had a list of people that confirmed but as the event was approaching, half of the people cancelled. We decided that, okay, even if 15 people show up we will sit and jam together and have a good time. The day of the event arrived. People started walking in. There were new faces everywhere. People kept filing in and by the time of the event we had around a 100 people. The place we booked wasn’t made for so many people. But, somehow we settled everyone in, nestled very close to each other. Despite it being the middle of may, where the heat was at its peak, no one complained. Every single person present there that day had a really good time. You see, that’s it. The whole idea of an event you organised coming together, people coming to participate in it, and watching new faces get familiar with each other. It is beautiful.

In the beginning, a lot of people were surprised that I was 15 years old and I was doing all of this. But, I remember someone saying that age doesn’t matter and honestly, it really doesn’t. You do what you want to, regardless of how old you are. All the events I have organised had some form of Art in them. I personally think everyone should have one medium of art because it keeps you creative and sane. You don’t necessarily have to be good at it, you just have to do it/ want to do it because you love it. Simple. It can even be just looking at some form of art. Art is important, period.”

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