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Triveni Haikai India Book Launch
Johannes Manjrekar
Jacarandas are a Deep Shade of Blue
Selected and compiled by Nandini Manjrekar
Indulge in the mastery of haibun!
The author’s acute observations
inspired by his love for photography
reveal why he is one of India's most beloved haibun practitioners.
Speakers: Nandini Manjrekar, Naina Manjrekar, Firdaus Parvez,
Kala Ramesh, Paresh Tiwari, Shalini Pattabiraman and Shobhana Kumar.
Special invite to Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC)
Sunday: 30 April 2023
Zoom Meeting
8.30 p.m. (IST) India
8 a.m. (PST) California
*****
This book contains 53 of Johannes’ haibun about childhood. Most of the works are autobiographical (I presume), but those that turn their gaze outward are equally poignant. His keen eye for detail, deep empathy with everything around him, and ability to not take things too seriously are palpable in every haibun in this collection. Johannes even manages to include social and political commentary in these simple tales of childhood —a feat only someone as gifted as him could have achieved. I consider each haibun in this book to be a pinhole, showing us a glimpse of the largest canvas possible—life.
— Paresh Tiwari, author of Now a Poem, Now a Forest
*****
Brevity releases language as darkness releases a star.
Ernest Hemingway once said to an interviewer: “I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg, there are seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows.” When I first chanced upon the haibun and haiku of Johannes Manjrekar, in 2005, I was struck by how much was said in a few words, and by the simplicity and directness of the language. On a different note, the idea of laya (a term used in Indian languages to mean tempo/speed) is not unique to music; it exists in raindrops, the falling of leaves, the heartbeat, the birth of a child, and in our breathing. Laya means the flow of life, and we can experience this in each of Johannes’s haibun. We are fortunate to have this beautiful book, Jacarandas Are a Deep Shade of Blue, and my sincere thanks go to Nandini for making it a reality.
— Kala Ramesh, founder and director, Triveni Haikai India.
author of Haiku!, Beyond the Horizon Beyond, and The Forest I Know