Dear Diary - 12: 47 AM

Today, again someone tried to shrink my dream as always.

That was my cousin's dream weddjng. The smell of turmeric, the sound of shehnai and all the relatives with a uniform verse, " Beta, what are you doing now a days? "

I said, " I write, I want to be a writer. "

After a couple minutes of silence, an aunty said, " Oh beta, look for a govt. job. You can't fill your stomach with writing. "

Uncle added, " who became a writer from odisha and got famous at least in India? Go to Mumbai or Delhi then you can discover your position."

I smiled, Held my teacup tighter to let it not shake.

You know Diary, according to the National Book Trust, over 90,000 new books are published in India every year. But 80% of those authors are from metro cities. Voices from Tier -2 and Tier -3 town rearly make it there.

Is that why people think that only exists in big cities?

This afternoon, I looked at myself, 400 + books, Tagore, Mahasweta Devi, Manoj Das dust on all of them.

Mahasweta Devi was also from a small village of Bengal. People must have told her too " why are you writing about tribes? "

But she wrote, and the words read.

Once I posted a story on a platform. 3 readers came, one commented, " this touched me" and left.

That night I couldn't sleep till 3 AM. I kept thinking, - If even 3 people are reading, should I stop? "

No, Diary.

I am writing for that 16 years old girl sitting in some corner of Balangir, Sambalpur or Kalahandi thinking, " I wish someone would read my story too."

I am writing for everyone who told in school, " take science, there is no scope in Arts."

I am writing because representation matters.

When girls from a small town or village see a name from Odisha on a bestseller list, she will think, "I can do it too."

When a mother tell her daughter, " see, the writer comes from Odisha too", my struggle will be worth it.

Yes, My English is not perfect. I make grammar mistake.

Yes, I don't have a laptop. Just a 6 - inch cracked phone.

Yes, my data runs out and I hunt for WiFi at 12 AM.

But, my spirit???

It doesn't run on WiFi Diary, It comes from inside na !!!

Stiphane King got 30 rejection letters. Jk Roulinng wrote Harry Potter as a single mother in a cafe.

What if they had given up???

So I won't either.

One day, it will happen must.

One day Amazon will say, " By NJ of Odisha. "

One day kids of Odisha schools will read my poem and the teacher will say, " she is a writer from our state. "

One day a girl will DM me, " Didi, because of you I started writing in my diary for the first time. "

Untill that day, I will continue...

Whatever, there are 3 readers or 300 readers or 3 lakhs.

Because I'm a girl from a small town, and we don't sit quietly.

We write.

We fight.

Right na???

Good night My Dear Diary.

I will be up again at 4.30 AM with lots of tasks.

Till bye... See you tomorrow...