Haibun: Parallel lines--By Angelee Deodhar--India

Haibun: Parallel lines

In eight decades only one Indian film has captured the world’s imagination, a glitzy portrayal of poverty within which lies the poignant side of this country’s dilemma, the unwanted, unwashed, unfed children foraging with vermin for the dregs of a meal. For this the film won eight Oscars.

At the same ceremony, a documentary about an Indian girl, with a congenital deformity also won acclaim when a team of dedicated philanthropists restored her smile. The confused but happy parents are shown cuddling a shy little girl who clings to her mothers’ sari ,wondering why so many cameras are pointed at her. There was a time no one would play with her in her village…today she has new clothes, new friends. The air is thick, with the shouts of the paparazzi.

How will one slum dog help the hungry children eking out an existence besides the railway lines?

hawk's shadow
    the songbird's trill
        suddenly shortened

Previously published in the Spring /Summer issue of Frogpond, 2009

Angelee Deodhar, an eye surgeon by profession is a haiku poet, translator, and artist. She lives and works in Chandigarh, India. Her haiku/haibun/haiga have been published internationally in various books and journals, and her work can be viewed on many websites. To promote haiku in India, she has translated six books of haiku from English to Hindi, which she distributed for free. These bilingual books include: If Someone Asks: Masaoka Shiki's Life and Haiku (2005),Classic Haiku: A Master's Selection, edited by Miura Yuzuru (2006), Ogura Hyakunin Isshu: 100 Poems by 100 Poets (2007), Children’s Haiku from Around the World–A Haiku Primer (2007), Indian Haiku (2008), and The Distant Mountain: The Life and Haiku of Kobayashi Issa (2009).