About Shaleeni YH
Shaleeni Y H is an emerging Indian poet and author who writes under the pen name Shaluu. She hails from Hutti Gold Mines, Karnataka, and is currently living in Bangalore. Since her school days, she has nurtured her passion for words, finding in them both a sanctuary and a voice. With a career in software engineering and a calling in literature, she blends logic and creativity, showing that the worlds of technology and poetry can coexist beautifully. She believes that writing holds the power to heal, inspire, and connect souls across unspoken experiences.
Her work delves into themes of love, longing, heartbreak, self-discovery, and hope, blending emotional depth with lyrical simplicity. Her debut poetry collection, Petals from Her Heart, blooms with verses that carry raw emotions and heartfelt reflections, poems that are deeply personal yet universally relatable.
The journey has not been without pauses. Her late sister, Sumati, the first person to review her writings, remains the soul behind her pen. After Sumati’s passing, Shaleeni stepped away from writing for nearly four years. Returning to it became not only an act of courage but also a way of honoring the bond they shared. Today, every poem she writes carries a part of that love and memory.
Alongside poetry, Shaleeni is working on story-driven books that weave together romance, emotional journeys, and elements of suspense. For Shaleeni, writing is not about fame; it is about being heard, felt, and remembered in the quiet spaces of a reader’s heart.
LiFT: Tell us about your book, the journey of writiang it, and its content.
Shaleeni YH: Petals from Her Heart is my debut poetry collection, a tender bloom of forty poems that speak the language of every woman’s soul. The book explores love in its many shades, the first stirrings of affection, the ache of heartbreak, the silence of longing, the strength to let go, and the quiet hope to begin again. Each poem carries an intimacy that makes it deeply personal, yet it resonates universally with anyone who has ever loved, lost, or dreamed.
The journey of writing this collection was both emotional and liberating. For years, poetry became my way of giving shape to feelings that often remained unspoken. These poems reflect the inner journey of a woman, her teenage dreams of true love shaped by fairy tales, her struggles as she grows up and finds herself caught between love and society’s expectations, and the courage it takes to finally fall in love even when reality does not promise a happily ever after. Sometimes love is misunderstood, sometimes it is silenced, sometimes time itself stands in the way. Sometimes the promises made to her are never fulfilled, yet she still longs for the love she once believed in. It is easy to say, “He or she is not perfect for me,” but the truth is no one is perfect. Love is not about perfection; it is about presence, about staying when it is easier to leave, about keeping promises and honoring them with sincerity. And sometimes, after a breakup, a woman is left carrying the weight of unspoken emotions, feeling unheard, unseen, and yet still holding on to the fragments of what she once dreamed. Yet the yearning for true love persists, as she still whispers to the wind, hoping someone somewhere will one day truly listen.
Every poem in Petals from Her Heart is a fallen petal of emotion, capturing the raw truths of love and longing. Slowly, these poems came together as a single voice, my own, yet one that belongs to many women who carry the same unspoken feelings within them. In writing this collection, I did not aim to create perfect verses, I aimed to write truths that echo in the quiet corners of every heart.
This book is not just a collection of poems but a companion for the reader’s own journey. It holds space for those who loved without conditions, waited without a clock, or moved forward carrying memories in silence. Petals from Her Heart is an invitation to feel softly, truthfully, and entirely, a reminder that love, in all its beauty and pain, is what makes us human. And within its pages lies a quiet strength, offering comfort to those who have endured heartbreak and hope to those who still believe in love’s return.
LiFT: Why did you choose this title?
Shaleeni YH: I chose the title Petals from Her Heart because every woman in herself is like a beautiful flower. Her petals are her feelings, her emotions, and her happiness, all kept safe within her since childhood. Every fairytale dream she once held is like a petal that bloomed quietly in her heart, filled with the hope that one day someone would truly love her.
But as she grows, she realizes that not all fairytales are real and not every promise is kept. That is when she feels misunderstood, taken for granted, or even forgotten. Her confusions, her anger, her innocence, and even her hope are petals too. And when her dreams are broken, the tears she sheds become petals as well, delicate fragments of her heart that the world often overlooks.
Yet despite the fading and vanishing of these petals, she continues to hold them close, painting her world with whatever remains, still in the hope that someone might one day see her world filled with those hopeful petals and complete the shattered ones into a beautiful flower with his love and care.
For me, each poem in this collection is one of those petals, an unspoken feeling, a silent tear, or a dream once cherished. The word petals carries the tenderness and vulnerability of emotions, while heart represents the true source of love, longing, and resilience. Together, they capture the essence of the book. That is why I chose the title Petals from Her Heart, because every poem is one of those petals, carrying the unspoken truths of a woman’s soul.
LiFT: When did you realize that you wanted to be a writer, and what was your inspiration behind it?
Shaleeni YH: I realized I wanted to be a writer quite unexpectedly. Back in school, when I was in 7th standard, my Kannada teacher once punished me for not completing my homework. He handed me a jasmine flower and asked me to write a poem on it. I stared at the flower, unable to form words. Seeing my struggle, he gently said, “If you look at it as just a flower, you can’t. Look at it with your heart and imagine.” Those words stayed with me forever. I don’t remember what I wrote that day, but I do remember how it changed the way I began to see the world.
From then on, I started writing small poems on different things around me. Growing up in a hostel, I learned to observe people closely, to feel their emotions, and to capture them in words. Whenever someone shared a personal struggle or emotional story, I would write a poem from their perspective and gift it to them. The most rewarding part was watching them smile through their tears as they read their own emotions reflected back to them in words. That joy kept me writing.
Storytelling also became a part of me during those hostel days. Since we had no TV or mobiles, I used to create stories and narrate them to my friends and to my sister, Sumati, for entertainment. At first, I pretended they were real movies from other languages, and they would listen with wide eyes, fully absorbed. When I finally revealed that they were my own creations, their excitement and appreciation gave me the confidence to trust my imagination and creativity.
As I grew older, I was further inspired by the stories of those around me. I saw friends cry in relationships: some were cheated, some abandoned for family’s sake, some valued only for their beauty, others left behind for “better options.” Some were never understood, some drifted apart due to ego clashes, some moved on too quickly, while others gave up easily without finding a reason to stay. And there were those who were tired, yet still chose to wait in quiet hope.
I noticed how the beginning of relationships often overflowed with affection, with words like “You are my world, my goddess, my everything,” only to later fade into “I want peace, I feel like torture with you, give me a break.” What struck me most was how love can mean different things to different people. For some, it ends when the spark fades, but for others, true love continues to remain and even grow deeper, regardless of circumstances. These emotions, the contrasts between fleeting affection and lasting devotion, inspired me to frame them into words.
And when I looked back at history, I felt we often forget the silent strength of love. We praise the Taj Mahal as a symbol of love, yet overlook stories like Parvati’s pure devotion while waiting for Shiva, or Sita’s selfless loyalty even in the face of trials. These timeless examples reminded me that love is not always about grand gestures, but about endurance, waiting, and the hope that never dies.
All these emotions stirred me, and I realized how often people are overlooked in love, whether as partners, companions, or family. Through my poems and stories, I try to give voice to those unspoken emotions. My words are not just my own; they carry the feelings of many, and that is what continues to inspire me as a writer.
Above all, my sister Sumati has been my greatest inspiration. She was the first person to whom I showed my writings. She always reviewed them with a smile and encouraged me by saying, “I’m your fan.” Her words boosted my confidence and made me believe in my voice as a writer. After losing her, I stopped writing for almost four years. But the memory of her encouragement and her constant reminder never to stop writing became my strength to begin again and find my way back to poetry/writing.
LiFT: Where do you see yourself ten years down the line in the world of literature?
Shaleeni YH: Ten years from now, I see myself as a storyteller whose words reach far beyond the page. I aspire to write stories not only in books but also for movies and daily soaps, where emotions come alive on screen and connect with millions. I want my voice to be heard and felt, touching hearts and lives through hope, love, and spirituality.
I also want my writings to be answers to the deeper questions rooted in our dharma. Why is this pooja done? Why do we celebrate this festival? I wish to help people connect with their traditions in a way that feels meaningful and alive.
I see my words becoming companions to people in their quiet moments, answering questions they could never ask out loud, and offering comfort in the silent corners of their hearts. My dream is to create stories that heal, inspire, and remind people that love, faith, and dharma are the truths that never fade.
LiFT: How important do you think marketing and the quality of a book are in promoting it and increasing its readership?
Shaleeni YH: Quality and marketing are both essential for a book’s journey. Quality gives a book its soul. Strong writing, genuine emotions, and a meaningful message ensure that readers stay connected and carry it with them. But even the best story may remain hidden if it does not reach people. That is where marketing comes in.
Marketing creates visibility, builds curiosity, and brings the book to the readers it was meant for. Quality makes readers remember a book, while marketing ensures they discover it in the first place. One without the other feels incomplete, but together they allow a book to truly live and be cherished.
LiFT: What message do you want to convey to people through your writing?
Shaleeni YH: Through my writing, I want people to know that they are not alone. The voice they have buried, the emotions they could never express, live in my words. My poems and stories are not written to instruct but to reflect, to become mirrors that hold the tears, silences, and quiet hopes often left unnoticed.
I want to remind readers that emotions are never small. Every feeling, whether joy or pain, carries meaning. For me, writing is about giving voice to what is unheard and helping people see that their experiences are shared by many.
At the same time, I want my work to carry a spiritual note. Life is a constant play of karma, of choices and consequences. To me, love is the purest truth and devotion is the path that connects us to the divine. When we wound love, we wound something sacred within ourselves.
For me, writing is a way to connect hearts across experiences. I want readers to feel understood when they read my words, to know that their unspoken stories are shared by many, and to believe that love never truly disappears. It waits, it grows, and it continues to shape us.
If my writing can bring even a little comfort, resonance, or hope to someone who feels unseen, and renew their faith in love, then I feel I have done my part as a writer.
LiFT: What do you do apart from writing?
Shaleeni YH: Apart from writing, I work as a software engineer. Alongside my profession, I am trying to be more active on Instagram and short-form platforms, where I share glimpses of my writings and creative journey. I am also beginning to explore the path of a content creator, with the aim of connecting with more people through poetry, stories, and thoughtful reflections.
LiFT: What activities do you resort to when you face writer’s block?
Shaleeni YH: When I face writer’s block, I step away from the page and connect with people. Listening to their journeys, struggles, and emotions gives me both ideas and inspiration. Catching the reality in their stories often sparks new perspectives, which I later weave into my poems and narratives.
LiFT: What if your story were to be adapted into a movie? Who would you want to work as the director or actors in it?
Shaleeni YH: If “If Only You Had Heard Me” (Novel/book) were to be adapted into a movie, I would love to see Vicky Kaushal and Shraddha Kapoor as the lead actors. I believe they could beautifully portray the emotional depth of the protagonists’ journey, bringing out both tenderness and intensity in their story.
For Santrika – The Blood Spell, if it were ever adapted for the screen, I would choose Rishab Shetty as the director. His ability to weave rooted storytelling with strong cultural and spiritual elements would perfectly capture the essence of the book.
LiFT: Are you working on your next book? If so, could you tell us something about it?
Shaleeni YH: Yes, I am currently working on two upcoming books.
The first is “Santrika – The Blood Spell”, a horror–thriller that blends black magic, karma, and the timeless truths of Sanatana Dharma. Inspired by the Bhagavad Gita’s teachings of Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha, the story reflects how every act of adharma eventually returns through karma. At its center is Keshavi, a young woman drawn into a web of fear, desire, and destiny, whose path crosses with Bharath, a man she can neither trust nor escape from. As she is pulled deeper into a mysterious world of tantra and black magic, she is forced to confront secrets from her past and the larger powers shaping her fate. The novel ultimately asks: when kama, adharma, and black magic intertwine, will love and karma rise to glorify dharma?
The second is “If Only You Had Heard Me”, a tender love story written for anyone who has trusted too soon, felt too deeply, or carried their silence. It follows Sita, a woman anchored in caution, and Rama, a man full of light. Two different hearts, yet they find each other, proving that even brief connections can leave lifelong echoes. This book is a mirror for those who have ever loved, lost, or longed to be truly understood.
LiFT: What are your suggestions for budding writers and poets to help them improve their writing skills?
Shaleeni YH: Write every day, even if it is just a few lines, because consistency shapes your voice. Read widely across genres to learn different styles and rhythms. Do not be afraid of imperfections, as real emotions often carry the most truth. Most importantly, write from the heart, not for validation, because words born from honesty always find their way to others.
Click here to order Shaleeni YH’s Book – Petals From Her Heart
