India, a land of cultural and deep-rooted traditions has known haiku from the time of Sri. Rabindranath Tagore. Unfortunately, it is now relatively unknown as a practicing form of poetry and children in schools and colleges hardly know the existence of this nature / season’s poetry! One of the aims of holding this World Haiku Festival in India is to create an opportunity to get to know the poets of the world and to build awareness for this ancient form of poetry in our country.

We are expecting that a festival of this kind would stir-up a lot of interest both in the minds of Japanese haiku poets as well as haiku poets world over – for haiku is deeply entrenched in the ‘present moment’ – riding on the lines of Zen which as you all know, has its roots in Buddhism, which traces its roots to Vedanta.

We are in the process of crystallizing the three days event, the time we would be together. But I felt that I needed to inform you well in advance so that you could plan out your trip to India. Bangalore is known for its temples and its scenic beauty and if you have the time and the inclination, then the Taj Mahal and the Buddhist places of interest can definitely be included in your itinerary!

We have the Buddhist caves of Ajanta and Ellora, close to Bombay. We can suggest a good reliable travel agent for your sight seeing covering the Taj and Agra, Delhi and Rajasthan.

February is a good time to be in India, the weather would be most congenial and pleasant. Aditya the Sun God, would be his most friendly self!
I am looking forward to hearing a positive reply from you.

For any further details,
please contact me at [email protected]

In haiku friendship,

Kala Ramesh
Director
WHFindia 08