Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Shalini Yadav: An avid poet, writer, humanitarian, ambassador of peace and professor, Dr Shalini Yadav holds a PhD in Post-colonial Literature and M. Phil in English Language Teaching (ELT) from the University of Rajasthan, India and a course in Advanced Creative Writing from the University of Oxford, UK. During her tenure as an educator in India, Libya and Saudi Arabia, she has participated and presented papers at conferences and seminars, chaired sessions and delivered lectures. She keeps reading her poems and short stories at various National and International poetry carnivals. She has meticulously written and also reviewed a large number of scholarly research articles for various National and International refereed journals and edited volumes. She is executive member at iSPELL India, Administrator and Star Poetry Publisher at The Passion of Poetry and member of various literary societies including ICERT, PLCS, IELTA, AINET, Writers Capital Foundation etc. She is managing editor at Glitterati, a quarterly magazine and editor at Rhyvers Beat, a monthly literary magazine. The editor of Open Page in Writers International Edition, she is also an efficacious member of the editorial boards of various qualitative journals of many countries. She has authored and edited 10 books till now and working on her next project entitled Contemporary African Women Writers. Her major books include Reconnoitering Postcolonial Literature, Emerging Psyche of Women: A Feminist Perspective, On the Wings of Life: Women Writing Womanhood, Postcolonial Transition and Cultural Dialectics, and Communication Techniques. Besides, her poetry books includes Across the Seas, Floating Haiku, Kinship With You: A Collection of Poems, Till the End of Her Subsistence: An Anthology of Poems, and one in Hindi Kshitiz Ke Us Paar. Many of her short stories and poems are published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and anthologies. She is recipient of Savitribai Phule Excellence Award-2023 and Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award-2023.
Walking on the Trails
Real or Surreal
Deceptive or True
It seems vice versa
Whenever I think of a Walk
On the trails of Muir Woods…
Sunshine reaches
To brown humus-rich gravel loam
Making its way through Redwood trees
And my heart delights
The serenity of Woods…
Burnt by fire and wind
Chopped by deceiving human
Yet standing still like my little heart
With all its grandeur
Being ancient and tallest in all…
Healing the beauty of Woods
Exoticizing my Soul
Surpassing all draughts and diseases
Thousands of tempests, floods and avalanches
A survivor in all…
I wish to walk with You
For the joy of mesmeric Woods;
Where you sing some musical strings
Dwelling me deep in your love-lexis…
House Maids
The sun rises, and it’s time to start,
Another day of mopping floors and cleaning pots,
Wiping away the dust, scrubbing every spot.
Sitting in corners, invisible to the guests,
No greetings, no recognition, no respect.
Treated like objects, pulled and pushed around,
No proper meals, no rights, no sound.
Working hard from dawn till dusk,
Enduring the pain, no one to trust,
Beaten down by the burden of labor,
Their lives, a never-ending torture.
They are the forgotten, the voiceless,
Living in the shadows, their pain is relentless.
Abused, exploited, and mistreated,
Forced to work for just a few crumbs, defeated.
They longed for a life of their own,
A chance to live, to laugh, to love, to be known,
But they are trapped, shackled to their fate,
Enduring the sufferings, that’s what they hate.
Yet, they continue to persevere,
Holding onto hope, the light that’s near,
For they believe that one day, their voice will be heard,
And their sufferings will be known, they will be observed.
No More and No Less
I was a girl, no more and no less
When I fell in love with You
And dreamt of you and me
Growing together
On adolescence’s cozy cradle.
I was not to write a tragedy
As Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Though my love was full of piety;
Jesus’ mother Mary’s virginity
I was just a girl
Who wished for
Your attention and friendship
Like Radha for Lord Krishna
No more and no less……
I was a young lady, no more and no less
When I again fell in love with You
And hallucinated of you and me
Sleeping together
On youth’s sensuous couch.
I was not to indulge in adultery
As Flaubert’s Madame Bovary
Since my love was full of dignity;
Qur’anic verses’ divinity
I was just a young lady
Who desired for
Your passion and courtship
Like Lady Chatterley for Oliver Mellors
No more and no less….
I am a woman, no more and no less
Who loves You deeply
And envisages you and me
Walking together
On adulthood’s zigzag course.
I am not to enter in the fire
Like Janak’s daughter Sita,
Though my love is full of loyalty;
Bhagavad Gita’s spirituality
I’m just a woman
Who yearns for
Your affection and companionship
Like Zulaikha for Prophet Yusuf
No more and no less…..
