Balochistan, a place known as the embodiment of controversy, has struggled to grasp the rope of progress. Balochis are robbed of opportunities due to the sensitive situations that has been going around in the ex-princely state, but there is a saying “if there is a will, there is a way” and one balochi embodied this saying completely. Meet Chiragh Baloch, an artist, entrepreneur, youtuber, web-developer, and an activist hailing from Balochistan. A balochi among the balochis, who believed that he had to become something not only for himself but for his people, and against all odds he managed to do that.
Born and raised in Pasni, Chiragh completed his matriculation from there. After that, he went to Turbat for his college education. Chiragh’s ambition to pursue education and making something of himself didn’t stop there. After graduating college, he went on to pursue bachelors in computer science at a university in Russia. This was the start of a journey that will take Chiragh to new levels and to achieve greatness. He spent a year learning Russian for his higher studies. He proved, that if you put your mind at something, you can definitely achieve it.
During the tenure of his studies, he saw a vine video on the internet and decided to make one for himself. Being a confident balochi, he was not someone who shied in front of a camera. He uploaded his vine videos to platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and just like that, an artist was born. The making of funny content, which started as a remedy of passing the bore time, quickly turned into a passion. After the departure of Vine, he switched to Youtube to pursue this newly born passion of his.
He started vlogging. His vlog journey started right after his completion of bachelors, by vlogging his graduation ceremony. This new way of story-telling inspired Chiragh to continue his entrepreneurship, not only for himself, but also for other balochis. He helps facilitates young baclochis who are not that privileged. He started BalochTech, an organization that assist young balochi students that are also IT aficionados like himself, to progress in their fields and dreams. He held BalochTech vision in 2017 at Karachi, whose sole purpose was to provide a platform for others to showcase their talents.
He also inspired balochis to stand up for themselves, and to be whoever they want to be. Anita Jalil Baloch, another aspiring, and first female vlogger of balochistan, talked about her journey becoming a vlogger and how Chiragh inspired her to become what she is today,
“I shared this idea with Chiragh Baloch who is a blogger too. I was greatly inspired by him and was a fan. He gave me some basic guidelines related to blogging and the rest is history. Today, I have more subscribers than Chiragh himself.”
His services to the balochi community are never ending. He created BalochHost, which developed first balochi community-based stickers for WhatsApp messenger. His another achievement is VshGap, a free audio and video chat platform that has already 50 thousand plus downloads. He also highlights balochi talent on his show “The Chiragh Baloch Show” and helps them to provide a platform that others deny. He knows what it means to be a balochi. He knows how much talent balochis can brew, and he is constantly trying to highlight balochistan in the light that the world has never seen before.
We can learn a lot from Chiragh’s story. He taught us that if you are privilege enough to pursue your dreams and ambitions, you shouldn’t stop there. Instead, help other underprivileged people to also pursue their dreams. His message is that of love, and belonging from a balochi background, he has a soft spot for his balochi people.
