Chhaya Dabas, 3rd year student of Political Science Hons at Indraprastha College for Women is the founder of famous Instagram blog named ‘BAATEIN’. She is also the General Secretary of English Editorial Society, OGHMA. Recently, she has started to sell BAATEIN’s merchandised products at various colleges of DU during the fest.
Kitaab interviewed Chhaya as a treat to the readers and also because we want the upcoming bloggers and writers to showcase their talent to a large number of crowds and gain the recognition they deserve.
Let’s find out what she has to share with us.
- How did the journey of BAATEIN start and how the journey has been so far?
Chhaya: Basically I have been writing since a really young age. I have been writing since I was 10 years old. The realization that I want to make it a career came to me in college and so I shortlisted Instagram as a platform. It is a place where Indian writers had not really launched themselves yet and I started putting posts on there. Initially it was a struggle because we had just started but eventually we started getting likes and now we are pretty popular among the audience.
- Recently you collaborated with ‘writers beyond border’ and won the best tweet under #mydelhilovestory by DELHI I LOVE YOU. How do you feel about these accomplishments?
Chhaya: It means a lot because the whole idea behind the blog was to tell people that I can write and this is the proof. Baatein is like a baby for me and getting the tweet selected was a very big thing and I also got interviewed by BBC and ANI.
The collaboration was not big in terms of outreach but we got good posts. In fact, we have more followers from other countries than from India and I can say that Baatein’s international base is pretty strong.
- What are current plans to make BAATEIN more popular and expand its reader’s base?
Chhaya: Being a student, I cannot devote my full-time to BAATEIN but the plan is to make it a proper start-up when I will have proper time as well as investment. Right now, I am going with a very basic technique which includes posting daily on the platform, following other blogs and looking for collaboration. The plan to launch a website is also in my mind. It is moving forward gradually but is getting a very good response which is really big thing for me at this young age.
- If we talk about you individually, how did you start writing and how much do you think you have grown as a writer?
Chhaya: I have grown tremendously. I can write wherever and whenever. I got writing from my grandfather. He is a very prolific and a published writer. So,one can say writing was in my genes. He is into Hindi poetry and I write in Hindi as well but then English is a global language and for Baatein I need it. I have worked more on my English writing skills since coming into college because of different literary events, inter and intra college competitions being held.
As a writer you increase your caliber with experience. For me, whatever you write is a reflection of what you feel inside you and not what you are from outside.
- One advice or suggestion that you would like to share with the readers of Kitaab Club and Baatein.
Chhaya: Well, this is something really new for me. For readers, even if you want to write or read, it is not about how complex it is. The whole purpose of a poem, that you are reading fails as soon as you open a dictionary. Similarly, when you are writing, don’t look for words in the dictionary, write whatever comes in your heart which truly expresses your emotion and conveys your thought beautifully.
If you really want to go in the field of writing you have to read a lot because reading takes you to a parallel universe, in a completely new place and you learn so much; you learn how different people survive under various circumstances and it opens up your horizon and gives you many more ideas to write about. Basically if you are not a good reader then you can’t be good writer.
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