When I texted her, she sounded like she was so excited. I could totally imagine her getting all giddy and giggly. Aww! You are such a cutie!

The star of the day is Rabia Kapoor, an 18-year-old from Mumbai, who wrote an extremely relatable poem on being an introvert. This no-bullsh*t, no censor, no filter poem has gone viral over the internet recently after it was uploaded by where Rabia performed a few months ago.

She agreed to Skype with us about herself and her writing. So, five video calls filled with, “Your voice is cracking” and ‘’I can’t hear you” later, this is what we finally have.

Hi! How are you?

*Laughs* Very excited!

Sounds like you’re ready! Let’s start then. First one, would you identify yourself as an introvert?

Yeah, I guess, you could say that. I wouldn’t completely identify as one, but I am one to a certain extent. I guess many people are introverts to a certain level. I am a little shy, and I do like being alone many times. But I did get a lot of hate from people telling me, “what do you know about being an introvert?” But I do know what it feels like to be an introvert, so yeah.

 Agreed! Are there any personal experiences that you put it into the poem?

Many! In fact, all the situations described in the poem are based on real-life. I have many a time spent my time talking to pets than people. There’s this very famous hangout place called Prithvi Theatre here. Everyone knows each other there. Every time I go to that place, I feel scared of seeing someone I know. So, I just stare at the floor and pretend like I don’t know anyone.

 I could not control my laughter at this point. The number of times I’ve done that is uncountable.

Being the daughter of an actor, how do you deal with introversion?

I think it’s time I mention that Rabia is actor Rajat Kapoor’s daughter. Anyway, this is her story. So, back to you, Rabia.

The past 3-4 days, a lot of articles were published regarding this poem but all of those articles mentioned in the very beginning that I was his daughter. Honestly, I was a little bummed out. What I had written was my work as Rabia Kapoor and not as Rajat Kapoor’s daughter, Rabia. He’s my father, and I don’t see him as an actor but as a father.

 I understand how that can be stressful. Who do you get your introversion from either of your parents?

My parents are both introverts. Both are quite shy. Even though Papa is into the theatre and grew up in a joint family, he prefers being around people he knows. Even if he goes to parties, he only talks to people that he knows. So I get it from both my parents.

Since you come from an influential family, how do you deal with expectations of the society?

Well, both my parents have amazing jobs. Papa’s into theatre and acting and Mom’s a photographer. Also, my 12-year-old brother makes YouTube videos.

 He what?

*Laughs* He makes YouTube Videos. Shoutout to my brother, ! Anyway, even though they’re doing amazing jobs themselves, they do not have any expectations from me. So I’m happy. As of the society, even if there’s any pressure from their end, I have no idea about it.

 You lucky, lucky girl! Let’s go back to your poetry. What do you think is the reason behind that video going viral?

I don’t know how it went viral! It was totally unexpected! I first performed this poem at Open Sky in Feb. There were about 300 people, and I was so scared! That moment was such a blur. Two or three people came up to me and praised me. Then this guy named Shamir from Kommune called me forcing me to perform my poetry there. This time, there were only 30 people who were all writers and poets, so I agreed to perform. The people were really supportive. Shamir uploaded the video of me performing online and two months later; it goes viral. I did get a lot of hate, but I also got praised a lot. Like, for every ten hate comments, I had one telling me that it was good, and some of them said that they could resonate with it on a very deep level. So, it was quite overwhelming.

 So, Open Sky was your first time performing?!

Yes. Besides school competitions, of course!

 As an introvert, what is your favourite icebreaker to start a conversation?

Since I love movies, I love to talk to people about them. That’s how I usually start besides the regular ‘What do you do?’ and ‘What are you studying?’

 You know what mine is? It’s a tiny word called ‘Hi.’

 Do you suffer from stage fright?

I suffer from MAAAAJOOOR stage fright! I remember my first time at Open Sky; my legs were literally shaking. My heart was beating super fast! I could hear my heartbeat all the way up to my head. I also realised that I was breathing way too loud into the mic. Laughs. I wouldn’t recommend it.

 And how did you get over that fear?

I didn’t! I’m still scared to perform live!

 [Insert voice cracking noises here]

 Haha! I hope you get over it soon. Next one, how would you define self-confidence?

Good question! When I wrote my poem, extroverts were all like, ‘how dare you?’ and that being an introvert clearly means you’re shy, which is not the truth. It might be hard for us to open up but there are areas where we are confident too. I think self-confidence to me means being proud of who you are and what you do. Even though you might not know where your talents lie, you’ve made it this far, and you should be proud of yourself.

 Well said! How would you describe the life of an introvert on social media?

Well since I did get a lot of hate for speaking for introverts, I’d rather not say because I don’t know where I lie on that spectrum. Keeping that aside, I personally love social media. I think it’s a great platform for everyone to open up. If we did not have that option, my poem wouldn’t have made it big. So, I am quite thankful to have access to social media. Although it does have a scary side. All the hate was only available because people were able to say that. The security they had while being behind a screen.

 And who according to you finds it easier to survive on social media? Introverts or extroverts?

I think both of them have an equal chance to survive. Even if someone is shy in person, they do tend to post selfies online. I started receiving so many requests on Facebook after the video that Facebook gave the option of allowing people to follow me on Facebook. I now have a lot of followers. *Chuckles*

 What plans do you have for the future?

I want to write. I don’t write poetry very often, but I write a lot of short stories. I want to write screenplays. It would be great to see something I’ve written on the big screen. I want to take some time off to travel and see how it changes my writing style.

Rabia also plans to take a gap year and after that, she plans to find a good university in the UK.

That is so cool! So did you ever write a diary?

I did. I used to write it very religiously for many years. Then I started writing short stories, and I figured that I no longer needed a diary because I thought it was uncool. I started my own blog that I’ve been maintaining for five years now.

 Every time I start a blog, I forget the password. Bye bye, blogs.

 And when did you start writing?

I learned how to read and write much later than my friends. I went to a school called Tridha. They had a very different approach to teaching that made you wanna learn. Once I started reading, I chose a lot of Enid Blyton books, but I took months to finish them. When I was 10, I attended this writing workshop conducted by some charity in Pune, and that’s when I first wrote something. I liked it a lot, and so I continued it.

Taking schools into the discussion, whom do you think the Indian education system supports? Introverts or extroverts?

Well, I did not do my schooling with CBSE. But from what I have seen, it is a little against extroversion in the sense that the students are not allowed to speak out their opinions, but instead they are asked to write what is taught to them.

 Let’s talk a little about your friends now. What’s one activity that you love to do with your friends?

Eating obviously! My friends come visit very often. In fact, they’re probably in the living room this very moment. We go food hopping very often because we get A.C.s wherever we go and good food to try of course. If we run out of things to talk about, we just talk about the fries. And recently, we tried alcohol. You don’t have to include that, though.

 And how do you guys spend your time in the monsoon?

We go on drives. I don’t drive yet so I ask one of my friends to pick us up, and we go on drives and listen to music. It’s kinda cool to look at the rain on the windows and stair at the blurry streetlights in the distance.

 Rabia also mentioned that she recently started taking her pet cat, Soda Pop to drives as well even though her cat doesn’t enjoy the rain very much.

That sounds crazy considering the Mumbai traffic. Speaking of crazy, what is one extrovert thing that you want to do but cannot?

Start a conversation. We have guests over quite often, be it filmmakers or artists and they seem like they have a lot of fun, but I never have the guts to say hi. Every time someone from them says hi, I feel rather surprised and don’t know how to react really, so I just go like, ‘Oh hey! Didn’t see you there”.

 That’s all of the long questions. Time for some short ones. Firstly, what is one song that’s on the top of your playlist?

My playlist changes according to my mood. You’ll always find the Beatles on my phone but recently the song I’ve been playing most is ‘Dark Necessities’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

 And what web series are you watching at the moment?

I don’t watch a lot of web series, but I do spend a lot of my time on Netflix. I recently saw this one French show called ‘The Very Secret Service’ and it is amazing! You should watch it too!

 I’ll look it up. Would you rather click a selfie or a landscape?

Landscape any day. But usually, I like clicking pictures of other people laughing and smiling.

 Deep sea diving or skydiving?

Skydiving

 Sneakers or heels?

Sneakers, obviously.

 Pajamas or LBDs?

Pajamas!!

 Any other talents?

None. I don’t even consider my writing as a talent. I have a feeling that my parents are scared that I might spend all my life in their house, LOL.

 Lastly, this is one question I’ve been dying to ask someone. So, consider yourself lucky. Teehee! Would you rather fight a horse sized duck or 10 duck sized horses?

Oh, my god! Such a complicated question! I’m scared of birds but I also cannot fight duck sized horses ‘cause they sound just like puppies in my head. So, after much consideration, I will choose to fight that duck.

(Fun Fact: I heard this question at the Middle East Comic Con’s (MEFCC) Q&A with Nikolaj Coster Waldau a.k.a Jaime Lannister)

I think it’s kinda awesome that we got so much out of her from this conversation. Rabia is vibrant and has an ever-smiling face. I wish her all the luck to become an established writer.

That’s all for now. We out!

Cover Picture Source: Rabia Kapoor