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By:

Shiv Sethi

10 January 2026 at 2:43:11 pm

Poetry Beyond Labels

Vandana Kumar , a New Delhi–based multiple award-winning author and poet, has steadily carved a distinctive space in contemporary Indian poetry. A French teacher, translator, and passionate cinephile, Kumar’s creative world draws from diverse artistic influences ranging from classical music to cinema and visual arts. Her celebrated poetry collection ‘Mannequin Of Our Times’ has garnered international recognition and has now been translated into Greek, with a French translation scheduled for...

Poetry Beyond Labels

Vandana Kumar , a New Delhi–based multiple award-winning author and poet, has steadily carved a distinctive space in contemporary Indian poetry. A French teacher, translator, and passionate cinephile, Kumar’s creative world draws from diverse artistic influences ranging from classical music to cinema and visual arts. Her celebrated poetry collection ‘Mannequin Of Our Times’ has garnered international recognition and has now been translated into Greek, with a French translation scheduled for release soon. Shiv Sethi  had a tête-à-tête with the author. Excerpts… Mannequin of Our Times has now been translated into Greek. A French translation is soon to be released. Your poetry is in over 150 websites and anthologies -is this a childhood dream coming true? On the contrary my childhood fantasies and ambitions never included being an author -poet. It was only after my father’s death in 2014 that I actually started to write about anything and everything within me and around me. The poetry was perhaps always there, unnoticed and it needed that incident or event to bring it all out. Since my childhood I have been into everything that one can call art – enjoyed classical music, appreciated paintings and the poetry of cinema. What is good poetry according to you? At one level one can say poetry is very personal and subjective -so the definitions of good and bad poetry differ according to taste and what people consider good poetry. Sometimes poems are heavy on the message aspect but light on aesthetics yet they earn lot of praise simply because they tick the right boxes of all that is in fashion and the current flavour of the day -a lot of writing on nostalgia of our childhood days for example.   Good poetry, at a basic level is poetry that does something to the reader by the end of it, irrespective of who has written it. A poem is a complete story, a complete painting and a complete film in itself. The completeness might also be in it being open ended or seeking introspection. You write articles for cinema too? What is the connection between poetry and cinema? It is not for nothing that good cinema is called poetic. There is poetry in everything – in silent cinema, in its dialogues and the visual. Both written poetry and a scene from a film, for example, rely on imagery to evoke something within us. A metaphor in poetry works as a visual symbol in film. Will you label yourself as a feminist poet?  I don’t respond to labels -labels slot us in a sense and for me as an artist it is difficult to breathe with a label. To label is to confine and define through a particular lens. Naturally as for most of us -patriarchal mindsets, gender inequality, racism, environmental issues are things that disturb us and so they come into my poetry every now and then. I can’t write on things just to tick boxes. Messages do come in, but organically when they have to. I live many existences and my poetry is also a result of who I am and all the layering and complexities that go along with my personalities – I am a feminist but not just a feminist -I am many more things and unconsciously many identities that I take along with me. I inhabit many selves and my poetry is the dialogue between my various selves. So, while social issues naturally surface in my work. I do not write to fulfil ideological positions. Instead, my art seeks truth, beauty, and resonance, which sometimes align with feminist concerns, but are never limited to them. Is there any recurring theme in your poetry? What is the subject or issue that reoccurs in your poetry, directly or indirectly? Well, that is for readers to discover -my poetry on the surface is about anything that catches my fancy -I write about city life, love, longing, death, seasons, journeys, women, the social media and its hypocrisy. The overall arc is always loneliness- urban life and the impact of globalization over the last couple of decades is a recurring theme – primarily its resultant alienation.  I have written about coping with the information and disinformation around us as well as on topics of environmental concerns. Another area where I have penned my thoughts is the sexual behaviour in cities and how romances are impacted with global distances and yet a strange surreal sort of intimacy because of cyber proximity. Other themes are weather – passing clouds or droughts. I occasionally write humorous poetry too – which sort of is a reflection on our middle-class lives today and social media in particular.

AI in Sperm Sorting: An Unbiased Decision for A Better Outcome

Artificial Intelligence or AI is revolutionising fertility treatments of the future. The inclusion of AI enhances the accuracy, efficiency, and objectivity of sperm selection, hence potentially improving fertility outcomes by leaps and bounds. Traditionally, sperm sorting through manual methods is subjective to judgments. Processes like centrifugation and swim-up methods are used to separate sperm based on motility and morphology. Although they are effective, they have their limitations, leading to human errors that affect the success rates of fertility treatment. For instance, studies have shown that traditional sperm sorting techniques can have variability in success rates, with reported live birth rates ranging between 15 per cent to 25 per cent per cycle depending on the method and quality of sperm. Hence the introduction of AI helps in maintaining consistency in evaluations of sperm, using the same data set for every sample which leads to better judgments.


Automation and Standardisation- Automation of sperm selection and also introduction of AI in the process have improved the results in ART. AI-assisted sperm selection improves the accuracy in choosing high-quality sperm for fertilisation purposes, and also, pregnancy and live birth rates might be improved. Technologies like Intracytoplasmic Morphologically Selected Sperm Injection along with AI ensure the chances of pregnancies increase by about 10-20 per cent compared to the standard procedures. AI and Automation will decrease time taken to analyze sperm and increase opportunities to select better sperm with DNA integrity for better development and higher success rates in embryo selection. These processes ensure that the sperm selection process follows consistent criteria, reducing variability in outcomes caused by human error.


Analysing Complex Data for Better Outcomes- AI plays a crucial in improving IVF outcomes by analysing complex data and providing tailored recommendations. AI-driven tools and models such as those on SpOvum.ai point towards an opportunity to optimise ovarian stimulation decisions by assessing patient characteristics and follicle growth patterns. A study revealed that the use of AI in IVF improved egg yield and reduced medication costs. AI enables fertility specialists to make data-driven choices, improving overall IVF success rates and streamlining treatment processes.


Reducing Human Error- AI models can continuously learn and refine their performance by being trained on newer data. This adaptability ensures the technology remains unbiased and up-to-date with the latest scientific insights into sperm quality and fertility success rates. Studies have shown that AI-driven sperm sorting can decrease human-related errors by up to 25 per cent, improving sperm selection quality in terms of morphology and motility.


Reduction of Sperm Damage- The new AI-driven sperm sorting techniques also include microfluidic systems that are known to exhibit several advantages over the most commonly used conventional method, which is centrifugation. Traditional centrifugation methods, such as density gradient centrifugation, also cause severe oxidative stress and DNA fragmentation of the sperm because of the very high mechanical forces involved. The AI-infused microfluidic sorting minimises this damage significantly by involving gentler processes that mimic the natural pathway of sperm selection. The studies show that the process of microfluidic sorting decreases DNA fragmentation in sperm, which gives improved opportunities for success for IVF. For example, DNA fragmentation is 20 percent lower in sperm sorted using microfluidic processes than in traditional processing methods.


AI is bound to play an increasingly definitive role in fertility treatments, which will improve the outcomes for couples experiencing infertility.


(The author is a Co-Founder & CEO at SpOvum® Technologies. Views personal.)

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