i.Reminiscences
I frequently recollect reminiscences
And I recall most things
To each smallest detail
I repeatedly relive those years
Somewhere deep inside my heart
And retrieve them back to my life
Those are easily apprehensible
Which I often pass through
Realization of that phase
Make me feel a bit strange
Mishmash; distress and delight
Initially I feel overjoyed by memories
Soon after I am driven with pain
In the moments of sadness
I wish I could roll back the time
And could take all my sorrows away
But I am familiar with the fact
That both are related with each other
If I take all those sufferings away
My happiness would also be gone
So I usually strive
To accept all memories
Just as they come to me
No matter what they fetch to me
I acknowledge irrefutably
With their perceived omnipresence.
ii. Self
Folks say
‘Self’ is vital for me
And I have become self-centred
Is it so?
Don’t I pay attention?
Am I not dutiful?
Shall I merge myself fully
To cater to sexual aspirations
Or shall I be a machine
To produce kids
If it is so
Yes, I want to retain ‘Self’
At priority
As I am told
I am losing my femininity
Is this the way
To refrain it
Either by producing offspring
Or fulfilling sexual needs
Firstly I am supposed
To be enlightened
However I tried my best
Somehow became emancipated
But again I am kept
In the shackles of patriarchy
To make me submissive
All eyes are on me now
And a hitch in my giddy up
I collect my strength
Not to abide by a decision
With which I might disagree
This makes me more assertive
And I resolve to sustain my ‘Self’
Bionote
Dr Shalini Yadav holds a PhD in Post-colonial Literature and M. Phil in English Language Teaching (ELT) from University of Rajasthan, India. Additionally she has done a course in Advanced Creative Writing from University of Oxford, UK. She has progressive teaching experience of 16 years at University level in India, Libya and Saudi Arabia. She has participated and presented papers in many conferencesand seminars, chaired sessions and delivered lecturesacross the tenure. She has edited and authored various books including Reconnoitring Postcolonial Literature (2022), Emerging Psyche of Women: A Feminist Perspective (2022), On the Wings of Life: Women Writing Womanhood (2021),Postcolonial Transition and Cultural Dialectics (2012),Communication Techniques (2010) and A Text Book of English for Engineers (2008). Besides, she is a freelance writer whose creative writing publications include three poetry books in English Floating Haiku (2015), Kinship With You: A Collection of Poems (2014), Till the End of Her Subsistence: An Anthology of Poems (2013), and one in Hindi language entitledKshitizKe Us Paar(2016).Many of her short stories and poems are published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and anthologies;besides, she is member of various virtual poetry and literary societies. She keeps reading her poems and short stories at various national and international poetry carnivals. She has meticulously written and also reviewed a big number of scholarly research articles for various National and International refereed journals and edited volumes. She is also an efficacious member of the editorial boards of various qualitative journalsincluding World Journal of English Language, Canada, The IAFOR Journal of Literature and Librarianship,International Journal of Languages and Culture, South Africa,International Journal of English Language Education, USA, English Language and Literature Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, Canada, International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, Australian International Academic Centre, Australia, andFrontiers of Education Technology, USA.
