Shikha Yadav, a student with Apeejay Institute of Management & Engineering Technical Campus (AIMETC), Jalandhar, is a very mature girl. One can easily decipher that after reading her poem Jivan, where she explains how life too is akin to a Math sum where one has to at times add and subtract some relations to maintain the balance.
Selected as this week’s Poet of the week, let us see what the young engineer has to say about her literary side.
Shikha, at what age did you start writing poetry?
I started writing when I was 15 years old. I was in class 10 then.
Woe! So what inspired you to write poems?
I began writing during the lockdown. I had some time in my hands then and wanted to do something constructive, utilize that time well. So, I began writing poems.
Tell us the thought behind your poem Jeevan?
Being a non-medical student, I have observed that life is like a Math sum. In life we often have to add relations and some subtract some relations to maintain the balance.
That’s a deep thought! Who is your favourite poet and what is your most cherished poem?
Kabir Das ji is my favourite poem. His work Saakhi is just out of this world. I often go back to reading it and it answers so many of my questions and fills me with new ideas and inspiration.
Which one do you prefer – rhyme or free verse?
Free verse! I prefer it.
Writing poems in the day or night?
There is no fixed time, it all depends on my mood and the situation.
And how does AIMETC support you to write such lovely poems?
AIMETC has introduced us to the Apeejay Newsroom , such a great platform for all students that helps us to develop so many skills.
How do you approach writing a poem? How much time does it take you to finish one? And what are your common writing themes?
I do not have a stipulated time for finishing a poem. Sometimes it happens in one go within the same day of conceiving the idea and sometimes you just write two lines and then it takes weeks to complete the poem. Among themes, I mostly write mostly on life and its varied experiences and what they inspire in me.
The best thing about writing poetry for you?
Whatever I see in life, I express that through my poems.
And lastly, how do you balance poetry with a technical course like B Tech?
Whenever I get tired of studying, poetry comes to the rescue. As simple as that.