Whole Again

I grew up in Islamabad, Pakistan. It was a great little city, known for diplomats. I had no interest in it. I would go exploring in my bike, not the serene greenery that rests in the city, but the billboards that populate its commercial spaces. To me they were dull, and I used to contemplate constantly about them. I would see something, and I would wonder how to make it more sophisticated. How to make it more appealing and fun. I always was a skeptic for the status quo. Through out my childhood I would struggle with the fact that I didn’t have the power to make people see the fun side…of anything.

When my parents brought us to the states, we had no idea what was in store for us. I didn’t want to leave good old Islamabad. It was a nice little town, known for its diplomats. But here, the advertisements on the billboards, on magazines and tv were quite different. They looked like people had tried to put in some sort of effort into producing it. The schemes behind the ads were complex, the presentation was dramatic but the product was the same. They seemed to sell the experience rather then the product itself. While still 14, that gave me some clue as to what I would eventually want to do in life.

Somewhere during my sophomore year, as I gained access to internet on a regular basis, I became obsessed with watching commercials online. When I would go to the movies, I was more interested in what was going through the directors’ mind as he created the scene. When I saw a billboard, I wondered why the designer chose the wording. I would find flaws and go home and try to edit what I saw, usually on Photoshop software, where I would recreate a better version of that something. School was no different, where content of an assignment took a back seat, as I cared more about how the thing was presented. Every group task was an exciting opportunity to organize the content and if given the opportunity, present it attractively on PowerPoint, Video or through other visuals.

Obsession with form and function transcended into passion somewhere in my junior year. Creativity would ensue, as I started writing fiction successfully. Also, I would pursue my passion to better, through media, by simply creating a youtube account. I would form short clips birthed out of creative bursts, which gained a lot of attention. In my senior year, I decided to act on the blue print of social change after graduation. Specifically, I wanted to follow a passion in life which encompassed helping change the world through media. I want to be an enabler, an empowerer for the people in third world countries who long to standout through their creative ideas but have no formal means to. Particularly, I envision my self as the apparatus that incubates young people with creative ideas in Pakistan. I want to provide young dreamers with help so they can help themselves. It could be through a documentary, a commercial, through art or anything creative. As a kid, I wondered not just about the billboards, but about the world we can better around us through media.