Painting with words

Ram Dayal Rakesh’s Haiku

Writer: Dr Ram Dayal Rakesh

Publisher: JICA Alumni

Association of Nepal

Pages: 22

KATHMANDU: Writing haiku is not a new trend in Nepali literature, though the word haiku itself is imported from Japanese. Dr Ram Dayal Rakesh has brough his collections of haikus — Ram Dayal Rakesh’s Haikus — that he has penned down since the seventies.

Most of his haikus are inspired by places — and few by people — during his travels to various places in different time intervals. They not only paint the colourful pictures of places of his visits but also bring it alive to the readers.

Haiku is an essence of poetry and a perfect blend of painting and words. So is Dayal’s haiku collection, where he has painted vivid pictures with the help of words — not brush.

Though haiku is considered the ultimate of Japanese cultural history of shortening things, it is beyond any culture and has lately become a universal culture. What better example can be than this collection.