Javed Akhtar Talks About The Time He Was Starving On The Streets, Calls It A 'Traumatic' Moment

In a conversation with Barkha Dutt, Javed Akhtar talked about how he was starving when he was forced to live on the streets. He talked about how his father had refused to help him and how he is thankful for everything that he has now. Recalling his tough days, he said, “There are two or three moments which have traumatized me very badly; that trauma has remained with me. To be hungry for two days, three days, it’s traumatic. On the third day, there is no difference between a human being and a dog. All your sense of dignity, your self-respect, it becomes so vague. The only thing that you know is that you’re hungry.”

Akhtar compared those days with his lifestyle now. He talked about how thankful he is for everything that he has today. He said, “So often, in the mornings… I live by the sea; I can only see the ocean from my windows. I sit there, and they bring breakfast on a trolley. I feel like maybe I’m a part of some drama, that all this doesn’t belong to me. And I feel so thankful for life. Look! I have so much food, I can eat. I sit at my dining table many times, and when I finish eating, I see so much food is still there. And I feel if I could’ve gotten just one dish, that daal, or that sabzi, that night when I was so hungry, how much I would have enjoyed it.”

Javed Akhtar recently worked as a lyricist for ‘Dunki’ and ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan.’