With bold image,Jasleen comes as breath of fresh air for Punjabi poetry

The young poetess began writing in her school days. “Initially,I used to write in Hindi,but I tore all my poems because I did not find them good enough. Some of my works were published in college magazine but I have nothing left of those times,” says Jasleen.

On her shift to Punjabi language as her medium to express,Jasleen says,“I write in English as well. I am not very conscious about the language. I write just the way thoughts come to me. If the thoughts are in English,I write in English,if in Punjabi then that is the language for me.”

She says,“My works are very natural. I have never thought or planned about the issues on which I should write. My poems are my feelings about a thing at that moment. Some senior writers have advised me to polish my poems before getting them published and I have tried to do that. But then my words lose their spontaneity. So I just let them be.”

Jasleen says,“After having set university records academically and cleared the UGC NET exam,I was just an ad-hoc lecturer. But Manthan changed my life. I am very satisfied with my life. My poems,my book have introduced me to a whole new world of words and people of words,who introduce me to a new thought each time I meet them. I now have a friend circle much senior my age but who add meaning to my life.”

Well known Punjabi poet Dr Surjit Patar says,“The bold words and themes in Jasleen’s poetry seem to be true and not put on. Jasleen’s poetry is a new genre as far as female writers in Punjabi language are concerned for majority of our female poets and authors have been indulging either in male bashing or talk more about their suffocations. Jasleen is free from all such feelings.”

Critic Amarjeet Singh Grewal adds,“Jasleen’s work is the voice of today’s youth. She will and has clicked very well with today’s youth for her language and ideas are how and what the boys and girls of today think. Jasleen’s works will add new dimension to Punjabi poetry.”