MY TOP TEN BY By Abdul Samad

I HAVE been closely connected to writing from a young age having written everything from songs to a short film and a book. With that in mind, here are 10 literary moments that have impacted me...

The short story: The Missing Weeks is a short story I wrote, which is set between England and Pakistan. Based on real events, it illustrates a journey beginning with hope and excitement, but due to certain incidents, becomes life-changing for my family and I, including a death. My perspective in life changed after the incident. The story was written as a means of inspiration and healing. It got into the semi-finals of the short story contest on Screencraft.

My current book: A Journey To The Beginning is a book I am working on. It’s a 20 year story of a married woman from Pakistan in England, who has to live as a single mother raising two children with no knowledge of the language, society and without financial support. This book demonstrates various events in her life and the choices she makes to better the life of her children single-handedly. I have chosen to write this as many women will be able to relate to the life of this mother and appreciate her strength.

Short film: A Mirror was an experiment that grew out of my love for writing. I had thought of a quote, ‘a lesson is taught every day, but we do not learn it on the very day’, which led to me writing a fictional short film script. It is about a letter that comes from the characters’ future self, describing the mistakes and wrong decisions that led her towards depression.

Unreleased song: Soniye Tu Ah is an unreleased song sung by upcoming artist Ibe and produced by Vee. I wrote this love ballad within 30 minutes of meeting Ibe. I acknowledged and understood what he wanted from the song and our minds synced very well together. This was the first time I had written a song over a composition. A video will be shot for the song and will hopefully release soon. Additionally to this, I have written for Hunterz, Falak Shabir, Renee, Soni J, Salique, Shaz IA and Desi Boi, which have all been memorable.

Inspiration: Due to being more of a visual person, I tend to be influenced by things around me and what I watch. The inspirations trigger moments of literary inspiration. For example, as a songwriter, watching stories within Pakistani dramas allows me to explore new concepts. Also, listening to factual inspiring stories generates song ideas.

The Notebook: The Nicholas Sparks’ romance has influenced me in exploring and writing love songs with different concepts. The number of situations throughout the story, including the long separation, had assisted me in writing love ballads as I am very passionate about experimenting with lyrics and searching for new ideas.

2 States: The novel by Chetan Bhagat has been quite an eye-opener to see how much of an impact different cultures have on relationships and our decision-making when it comes to choosing a partner. Being a Pakistani-Punjabi myself and surrounded by Kashmiris has made it quite apparent that we may be quite similar in our dress, language etc, however we differ in many other things.

The Kite Runner: The best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini has been of great inspiration to me personally as I found the story quite similar to my own life. I grew up in a single parent household, tried to build a relationship with a father, but found it very difficult to bury the past.

Around The World In Eighty Days: The classic story by Jules Verne is one of my favourites as I love to travel and explore the world. It was a delight to read a journey, learn about different countries and the adventure in itself was very intriguing.

Shree 420: The wonderfully-written classic starring Raj Kapoor and Nargis would have to be one of my all-time favourites. The struggle of coming to Bombay from Allahabad to achieve greatness, falling in love and also witnessing some painful realities of ‘successful people’ within the city opens many discussions. I believe that a story like this is still relevant today. I would hope to write something of a similar nature in the future.