Just a few days ago, someone asked me why I write. Writing didn’t come naturally to me, nor did I ever admire the writing. I never wrote in a teenage journal, never sent any letters to my friends, and wasn't excited about writing bland essays for my college assignments (still not). I never thought that people would appreciate me for my writing because I didn’t believe that I had the ability or might I say my words had the power to have an impact on them.  But still, I started writing. I remember that one of the online women's magazines asked me to share my story on how I fought the patriarchy for their special segment on women's day. I just wrote about myself, no facts, no figures, nothing but just my story for that article. They shared it online and I shared it amongst my contacts. I didn't expect that people would read it, let alone appreciate me for my writing. Yet the response was overwhelming, making me want it more and at that moment, I realised the power of writing. Since then, there has been no turning back. I started writing about everything, looking for ways to just write on anything, improving my skills and sharing my stories with the world, so that they can see things from my perspective.

What began as an escape from reality, soon became my identity. Some people might think that writing is trivial but in recent times when people get detained, they get threatened, only because of what they have written, I believe writing is a privilege. 'Pen is mightier than the sword'  has been said for ages now but I reckon that it should become the universal truth as writing does have the power to transform narratives, it has the power to bring in a change.

Words provide solace to us, an excavation of hope; they are an aide-memoire of things turning out well at the end. And they are a treasure, I would never want to lose!