A poet with a passion.

Growing up I have always had a fascination with words. I could be reading a gripping story or watching my favourite movie of all time - Shawshank Redemption, but the one thing that remained constant was that I was enthralled because of one skill: The ability to tell a story.

For a long time, these interests were naive at best as I gazed at the TV in my parents’ bedroom with an insatiable curiosity. However, that would soon change and if that child knew how life would shape him he may have walked a little more cautiously.

I was introduced to English through my International education. However, I fell in love with the language much earlier. I am grateful in retrospect for my parents' resolve to make reading everyday mandatory. I was in addition to words, spellbound by the mysterious yet delightful stories of heroes and monsters that came to life in my mind through mythology. It began with Percy Jackson - a series by Rick Riordan, and then gradually evolved to more mature tales of valor such as in the Shiva Trilogy by Amith Tripathi.

Slowly I began developing an inclination as well as a conviction to tell my tale. I did not come from a particularly hard background monetarily speaking, but I felt a disconnect as I matured between the world worked in terms of the rat race, and my conviction towards the importance of charity as a civic duty, I felt and still feel to this day that our identity is innate and that to live life well has to do with how we protect our identity through establishing and nurturing that which resonates with us.

My friends and family call me Sameer but my official name is Pothen. Sameer is a bit of a nickname. In our family, the first-born son takes the name of his paternal grandfather. A bit arbitrary to an outsider, but for me I think of it as me having direct access to the stories of who he was; as if I could go to sleep one night, and witness what he was like in life. Furthermore, and possibly more importantly, it provides me with a direct connection to what my forefathers have worked so hard to build.

I am aware that diligence with respect to discipline is crucial irrespective of the field you pursue. However - 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step' - A quote often attributed to the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. Although, committing to this ideology is easier said than done since oftentimes  we  focus on the noise rather than our own conviction. The fact that God is my well-wisher is comforting because his constant encouragement inspired me to look for the opportunity behind every challenge. So, the  next time you feel like your back is against the wall, just do your best, because despite  insecurity and short-sightedness; I was able to focus on the one task that made me understand not just superficial things but rather to delve deeper and feel a sense of pride, and that was to start writing.