"How It All Started?"

I was a naughty little thing in my childhood, ideal to be the child star of movies like Denis the Menace, Problem Child, and Home Alone! Outdoor games, the adrenaline rush, attention deficit disorder (come on!), and soda were responsible for me wreaking havoc on the little planet of perfection I lived on. Everybody wanted me to sit down and be calm but I was everything otherwise until I found the realm of imagination and its endless wonders. I began to write and transformed into a sober and composed individual ... of strong word and stature. But as they say ... Silent waters run deep?

As a child I was a stranger to English language until I was introduced to the alphabet in kindergarten. There was consistent pressure on me to learn to speak in English which, being a secondary language, was new to me. Several video cassettes (movies, cartoons, and educational tutorials) were brought in from HMV stores in London to help me learn the language. Magazines and story books were brought to me to develop my interest in written words. It worked. 

Parallel to developing my English language skills, the various media developed something magical ... imagination. From the movies I developed a strong liking for the Medieval times and the legends and myths associated with that era. The Chronicles of Narnia was my first ever favorite TV series that was telecasted by the BBC. Beauty and the Beast was my first favorite fairytale.

It was in the 3rd grade when an English Composition text book called Reasons For Writing sparked my interest in creative writing. It was a simple exercise of writing a story inspired by a group of graphic cartoons depicting a bunch of friends pitching a camp and then making an escape from a rainstorm. I found myself thoroughly enjoying the activity of framing a story plot, detailing characters, expanding on the story, and writing dialogue. That was the decisive moment that concluded for me that I loved creative writing. I wrote my first poem the same year, and the journey had begun ...