Anshul Tewari

In 2008, when I was 17, I felt invisible, and not like Harry Potter with an invisibility cloak.

I actually felt really powerless.

I remember watching the news every single day with my parents.

It was like a ritual in our house.

And the more I saw it, the more I realized that I just couldn't relate with it.

The people didn't look like me, the issues didn't feel like mine, and more than anything, young people's voices were nowhere to be found.

Now, I've grown up in a family where everybody cared deeply about what was happening in the world.

So naturally, we had a lot of conversation at home.

I had many opinions, many perspectives and experiences that I wanted to share with the world.

But there was absolutely nowhere to go.

My friends who I spoke with, my teachers who I spoke with, they all reminded me of the only thing that mattered, and that was how I performed in my exams.

And that's it.

So I was extremely disappointed, very frustrated, and the only thing that I knew and I loved was writing.

So I started a blog.

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

I just went online and I started writing.

And I forced my friends to read what I was saying.

My first story was actually about climate change, and I remember asking a friend to read it, and she went ahead and she commented on it.

And the comment was a smiling emoji.

So I was disappointed because I wanted more.