Asian… There’s so much more to us then just being called an Asian. You know we have so many stories on our faces, so many stories inside us that are untold, waiting to be unfolded. Now I would say it’s a very limited word that is used for us I think. I would say there’s so much more to us.
So between 16 and 21…I think obviously poetry, poetry and being more connected to my roots made me realise who I am, where I come from. I think if you are not aware of your history, where you come from you’re really missing out on a lot. It depends on your interest and if something draws you towards it, then you will go towards it, but if you have no interest why would you go there? Why would you want to go and read about something that you’re not interested in? I think until it doesn’t get personal you don’t read about it or you don’t want to know more about it.
I actually started listening to more bhangra music and Punjabi music at that time, which is quite strange. I don’t really know how that happened. I very much became interested in Indian classical music, and Qawwali music, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I started to listen to his music and it really touched my soul. I went into a lot of Sufi music too. I got really into Sufi poetry as well as music, I started reading a lot of Rumi and Hafiz. They were one of the first poets I first read I believe…I was sixteen or seventeen
