NANYA SRIVASTAVA

As a child, one of the things I enjoyed most was reading. I found writing to be an effective medium of communication, at times better than speaking. Having thus discovered the power and joy of writing at the age of ten, I immediately sought an audience with my parents to inform them of my decision to make my future in writing. “Oh! So you want to be a journalist?” they asked. I nodded. To me author and journalist were not very different. One wrote books, the other wrote newspapers. Ever since, my answer to the question regarding what I wanted to do in future, alternated between an author and a journalist.
Strangely, the only thing that interested me in newspaper was the crossword column and at times a random editorial or feature. For the next seven years, I wrote whenever I had an inspiration (usually a dream or a competition). They were usually features or short stories. I took science in plus two for various reasons which I don’t wish to site, but mainly because arts was not offered in my school and since the school was one of the best in the country, I did not want to relinquish the benefits of a quality education. There was a brief time when I deviated from my original plan and fancied being an engineer. This plan was dropped as soon as we started doing complex numbers in maths. Over the two years I realized that literature was my real interest whereas becoming an engineer was the imaginary part.
I did my graduation in arts. Having Political Science and Economics as my discipline subjects and Human Rights, Environment and Gender (HREG) as my foundation course helped me in my understanding of the society. However, it was not the academics but theatre that brought home the notion of importance of communication. Being part of the Hindi theatre society at my college meant three productions per year, out which most performances were that of the street play. The most memorable moment of my dramatic venture was the street play performance at IIT-Kanpur. The play was about child trafficking and the audience was moved to tears. The audience comprised of people from milieu of social strata- from professors to sweepers, students to shopkeepers. I realised the most essential thing for success of any communication was the connection with the people. Writing of course was central to it. I began to see journalism as a way to reach out to larger viewer base and sensitize them on various issues.
For a short while, I also worked for an NGO that went by the name of Sanskaari and taught children from a slum area. Despite having an access to school, education remained but a distant dream. Their only motivation to study was the stick in teacher’s hand. Coupled with this were various social constraints of the class and societal dogmas. There was need for their needs to be voiced out. Journalism was my answer, for it was a medium of two-way communication.
They say, be the change you want to see in others. Journalism is the medium and writing is my tool, to be the change I want to see in others.