Welcome Speech

Kala Ramesh, 
Director, 
World Haiku Festival 2008 in India
 
Every festival is about interaction.

Its about similarities and differences. new ideas, contrasting views imparting, absorbing, forming opinions, breaking prejudices—

It’s about agreement and also argument but most importantly, it’s about people who have cared to come together in full spirit and enthusiasm . . .with each individual making it a richer and a more varied experience for all of us!

So lets begin this inaugural function, with a round of applause for our selves!

This is the 9th world haiku festival— the first in India, and the first, for most of us haiku poets, to meet and exchange and collaborate in such a grand manner

This is a new form of expression that India is waking up to… and we are all so fortunate to be a part of this rising wave.

Thanks to Susumu san, The World Haiku Club India came into its existence, on 14th of November 2005. And within a year we had our first Meet of Indian haiku poets at Pune Okayama Friendship Garden, on a very humble scale. Riding on the success of our first meet, it was unanimously decided that we would host the next World Haiku Festival. An ambitious dream, no doubt!

They say, a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or else, what's heaven for?

Fortunately for us, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji’s gracious offer of the venue and to look after our stay during the festival was truly a Godsend. After a long knuckle-breaking search for funds, we approached Sri Ratan Tata Trust, once again, on Thiagarajan’s insistence.

You can imagine our joy when Sri Ratan Tata Trust granted funds that made this festival possible. A grateful thanks to both our sponsors, with their gracious help we see our dreams unfold before us.

To my core-cell members Thiagarajan and Vidur my heartfelt thanks. Even though both of them gave me full reigns to chalk out the program and to co ordinate between the events and the poets, the amount of timely advice and encouragement I received from them is unaccountable. The many emails that crisscrossed literally rattled our mailboxes!

My heart felt thanks to Sri Girin Govind, Sri Dhawan ji, Sri Narendra Lamba, Sri Ambarish, Sri Vikram and many others from the ashram for their constant support and patience with my many recurring doubts and worries.

To my own family members, had it not been for the immense reassurance and help that I received from them, I would have literally turned tails long back . . .

For giving me this grand opportunity and entrusting me with this festival, my heartfelt thanks to Susumu san. This in turn made me reach out to all the wonderful people present here. It has been great fun and immense learning in event management!!

The sun never set for us these last few months . . . so many details had to be looked into, many things to be coordinated. I’m not claiming that things are going to be perfect, but we tried to do our best, with the limited experience that we could bank on.

Linking to this thought but shifting perspective, I always wonder what it is that makes us strive to gain proficiency in anything we do. Why do human beings have this obsessive passion to reach perfection? In any field, to attain perfection is not easy. In Hindu philosophy, we say a perfect person is one who has attained 'mukti' or enlightenment. Adi Shankara in the Viveka Choodamani says that we need to be born a million times and more before we reach that state! A state, which takes us beyond 'time and space'

Then why, do we strive to reach out for the impossible?

You could, may be, put it to the undying spirit of Man!

Like for instance, the crescent moon or the waxing moon on the third day is very important to us. And generally, when we were kids, our elders would try to point out that almost non-existent moon to us! This is how it would go! You see that low branch over there in that mango tree? You see that fork in that branch? See that leaf in the corner, at the tip? Yes? By now, we would be so excited like we were on a mystery trail or something. Now between that leaf and the other leaf from the other branch, do you see the sky? Yes! We would cry in chorus! Now look straight ahead, into the night sky, do you see a thin silvery line? There would be great excitement. Yes, we have ‘discovered’ the new moon. —— The adult, can lead the child only to that last leaf, after that, the child needs to take that LEAP into space to find the moon!

To seek that last leaf, which enables us to take off into infinite space. That inward leap that each of us would experience as we learn to write that one perfect haiku, embedded in the power of now, with the dream of many more to come It is for this, that we have gathered here today- the core purpose of this interaction.

We have masters here to guide us, to take us toward that leap.

As I stand before you, a beautiful Tamizh proverb rings in my mind

                katrathu kai manu alavu

                katraathathu ulagalavu

 
What we have learnt is a handful of sand

What we have not learnt is as big as this world

Let us become the innocent child again – willing to discover, willing to partake and willing to share freely…

Let us revel in the Joy of Haiku!

Revel in the 9th World Haiku Festival 2008, India.  Thank you.

 

Kala Ramesh.



The Joy of Haiku


Text of speech by Dr Angelee Deodhar 
 

 
 
Haiku,  this  tiny  seventeen-syllable  poetic  form  of  Japanese  origin  has  taken  the  world  by  storm.  All  over  the  world  haiku  and  its  related  forms  are  being  written  in  various  languages.  The  popularity of  haiku  over  other  forms  of  poetry  is  evident  by  the  number  of  haiku  associations  which  have  their  own  magazines  in  different  countries.  With the  accessibility  of  haiku  on  the  Internet  the  world  is  further  enmeshed  and  haiku  moments  are  just  a  mouse  click  away.  Sometimes one wonders  how  the  haiku  has  become  so  popular  and  several  questions  arise.  What  can  we  do  to  create  better  haiku ?  Does  the  haiku  have  uses  other  than  to  satisfy  the  poet’s  ego ?  Can  the  poet  be  more  than  a  writer ?

The  haiku  experience  is   a  way  of  life  that  incorporates  an  awareness,  a  mindfulness,  and  a  disciplined  approach  to  that  which  is  around  each  one  of  us.  So  much  depends  upon  our  milieu  interior,  but  so  much  also  depends  upon  our  milieu  exterior  as  they  are
interdependent. After  all what  is  Experience?   Experience: is  the  act  of  living  through  an  event  or  events;  personal  involvement  in  or  observation  of  events  as  they  occur. The online  Encyclopedia  of  Philosophy  clarifies  experience  further  as  being,  “ information  obtained  externally  by  means  of  the senses  or  internally  through  emotions. ”  It  further  goes  on  to  say  that,    “ A  single  impression  at  a  distinct  moment  of  time  is  not  itself  an  experience,  instead  experience  involves  a  series  of  events  from  the  past  which  are  actual  in  one’s  memory  and  are  included  in  a  present  situation. ”

What is Joy? Joy is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires or  the expression or exhibition of such emotion.

What  are  words  for ?  Words  are  for  communication  of  ideas,  feelings,  joys,  sorrows,  hopes,  despair,  and  a  myriad  other  moods.  We  as  poets  have  a  responsibility  towards  those  who  cannot  express  themselves,  we  can  be  examples,  voices  for  those  who  do  not  have  a  voice  and   in  a  maddeningly  stressful  world  where  ambition  overshadows  finer  feelings  of  thoughtfulness,  tenderness,  sacrifice  we  can  bring  some  hope,  some  faith,  some  truth  that  all  is  not  lost. Sharing  one’s  words  with  others  gives  us  a  kinship  with  those  who  read  them and makes  them  understand  the  sorrow  the  longing  the  loneliness  of  the  one  who  wrote  them.

I  have  included  some  haiku  here  from  different  haijin  from  all  parts  of  India to  show  the  commonality  of  their  experiences.  Whether  joyous  or  pensive  they  indicate  how  the  poet’s  life  affected  the  haiku.  In  reading  these  haiku  one  feels  conscious  of  having  received  a  gift. No  explanations  have  been  given  as  I  believe  that  the  haiku  themselves  will  stimulate  the reader  to   re-experience  the  moment which  formed  the  base of  the  poem.

Conclusion :
Can  it  not  be  said  then  that  the  haijin  no  matter  what  his  calling,  what  his  profession,  what  his  culture  or  background  can  be  a  messenger  of  peace,  for  whom  there  are  no  barriers  of  time  or  space ? It is my belief that by embracing  the  quest  for  understanding  through  the interpretation of  one’s  own  and  other’s  experiences , which  may  or  may  not  be  the dictates  of  the  immediate  moment,  the  haijin  can  go into a new dimension of  creativity, into the joy of haiku. Thank you.

Angelee Deodhar

 

 

 

Vote of  Thanks 

by A. Thiagarajan.

Dear friends, fellow poets and guests,  

I propose to take this pleasant and reverential task from more than one representative voice.

First and foremost, from the point of view of everyone assembled here ... a great and never fully expressible thanks to H. H Sri. Sri. Ravi Shankar gurudev but for whose spontaneous and most generous support, we would not have been here now for this festival. It may be of interest to you to know that H. H Ravi Shankarji was guest editing the newspaper Times of India for its edition for the day on which we had concluded a small gathering of haijin in Pune in Dec 2006 and he chose to pick up the report of the Pune Haiku meet for a prominent placement- that was and is his disposition to this form of poetry. Many thanks to him and to everyone in the Ashram for the unstinted support, cooperation and above all, for the understanding indulgence or rather indulgent understanding, which is the hallmark of generosity and empathy.

The first loud thinking came from Kala on the 9th Dec 2006 at the Pune Okayama Friendship Garden if we could organise a festival in India- we owe it to her and her 'never say die' attitude, enthusiasm and above all, an untiring stamina- both mental and physical. Though in terms of protocol this looks out of place, I could not help mentioning this, though I know I am embarrassing Kala- thanks Kala, from all of us- we know (surely me and Vidur do know) what you have gone through to see the Festival happen.

When I first approached Mr. Malesra of the Ratan Tata Trust, it was with a bit of hesitation. I expected him to ask me as to how we can expect them to support something which could at best be perceived as the indulgence of a handful of people as against the endeavors which could benefit multitudes such as in public health, mass education, poverty alleviation etc; but then,
Tatas being Tatas, they know. like our ancient kings knew that there are domains and domains and each one needed assistance and allocation. I record here with sincere thankfulness and appreciation our indebtedness to the Ratan Tata Trust for their support.

Susumu San, how can I not thank you or can I thank you enough, for the hassles you took upon yourself to be here, for your wonderful address, sponsoring a competition- an original initiative suo moto from you, your support to WHCindia. a big thank you, sir.

Special thanks to Norman Darlington, Stanford M. Forrester, Angelee Deodhar, Fakhruddin Mohammed, Dwarakanath Kabadi, and Dr Vyom . We are grateful to Dr. Jayant Karandikar, Kiran Purandare, Yogini Gandhi, Tom Alter, Cyrus Dastur, and Juhi Babbar. Particular mention, I happily make of the help from Lambaji, Ambarish, Vikram, Rohit and my fellow poets, volunteers, moderators and paper presenters. I acknowledge with gratitude the enthusiastic support from the poets from the Indian languages- we managed to bring colleagues from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka and central India. It would be our endeavor to explore further to gather from the other Indian languages as well in future.

Above all. our thanks to the great masters, haijin and enthusiasts who have carried this movement forward all along and who remain our perpetual source of inspiration. Thanks in advance, for your putting up with any inconvenience caused on account of lack of coordination and management... this is really a one-man-show- sorry, it is a one-woman-show and we seek your patience, indulgence and understanding.

Thanks everyone.