Reflect thyself in thine writing

He calls himself a reluctant engineer. When his friends were enjoying the final year of their engineering, the then 21 year -old Surya Adavi was on an eighteen day train journey with a team of proficient youngsters and a group of 350 people. He met a few entrepreneurs and media professionals, visited many institutions across the country and came back with an ambition to start a youth magazine.

In the year 2009 the magazine named ‘ode’ was launched in its print form and later they went live with the online magazine renaming it as Youthopia, in April last year. The magazine is doing extremely well as an institution where amateur writers can improve their writing skills they are given feedback on how to hone their skills, develop and maintain a style of writing, without rejecting or editing the received copy.

“Being an engineer and more inclined towards creative stuff like photography, film direction, writing etc. I always felt most of the youngsters besides me pursuing a particular course have a hidden talent in them and they always wanted to break free, but the lack of a platform to showcase their talent, voice their views and express their feelings and thoughts, is when ode/Youthopia happened”, says the young entrepreneur.

Youthopia is India’s first ever freestyle magazine that says ‘reflect thyself’ and where the reader is the writer. It is basically an idea to promote freestyle expression and is a place for part time writers writing from places like Bangalore, Gujarat, Delhi and one of the most culturally rich cities Kolkata.

This passion driven initiative conducts workshops for young enthusiasts in and across many cities, and currently has a team of 60 members including interns who have excelled in the stream of writing. The young aspirant is now an entrepreneur and a resource provider to many companies. Youthopia is more of a school that encourages young talent, transforms an aspiring professional into a real professional without charging a penny.