Sophomore Riva Razdan from Mumbai, India, is majoring in Film and New Media. Naturally creative, she enjoys writing fiction, scripts for film and poetry. Drawing inspiration from people she knows and observes, she weaves universes around them and puts them onto paper. She writes about select moments in reality she wants to savor or prolong for a bit longer, and in doing so, she attempts to makes memories tangible. Conversely, writing also serves as an escape from the seeming banality of particular realities. A quote from J. K. Rowling always comes back to her, “Wherever I am, if I've got a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy." Through her writing, she hopes to give others the same solace she has received from literature.

Moving to Abu Dhabi has “exoticized [her] writing with the most clichéd, romantic elements of the Middle East: the desert, sleeping under the stars and sand.” Interacting with people from so many different nationalities in the UAE has given her a sense of authenticity to write about people from countries she is not a native of. However, despite the diversity, she finds that primarily, people share the same human problems.

“We’re all so fundamentally human despite the color of our skin and the way we look,” says Razdan.

Over the summer, she wrote a book, which she hopes to get published. She also worked on scripts for a children’s television show which will be aired in India in October.

Watch her interview.