Kusum Ji’s Hindi classes not only incorporate learning about the scripture and language itself, but also various activities that immerse her students in the Indian culture. This is my second class with Kusum Ji (I took Hindi 101 last semester and I am taking Hindi 102 this semester), and in both classes she has done an incredible job of exposing us to multiple facets of Indian culture through both workshops and activities. Last semester, we did a dance class, an acting workshop, and a poetry workshop. This semester, we have done a cooking class, and a haiku workshop that I was very fond of.
In Hindi, haiku are formatted slightly differently than they are in English. While English haiku are formatted based on the number of syllables in each line (five in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third), Hindi haiku are based on the letters in each line (five in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third). However, you must be careful when counting the letters, because certain letters do not contribute to the count such as half letters and the additional “a” in long letters.
For class, we were instructed to write multiple haiku based on images provided for us. One image included a bridge, another included a body of water, etc. The purpose of providing these images was so our poems could be descriptive and display imagery. Hindi 102 was my first time learning about and reading/writing Hindi haiku, and I found it extremely fascinating. As a lover of creative writing, poetry specifically, writing these poems was a lot of fun for me. Kusum Ji went the extra mile and brought in Manju Mishra to do a more formal haiku workshop with us.
Ms. Mishra conducted a very interactive workshop in which we each showed her the haiku we wrote, and she gave us specific feedback for each one. This allowed us to make our haiku the best they could be. Ms. Mishra pointed out if we should use a more descriptive word, change the subject of our haiku, or adjust the poem to give it a deeper meaning. By the end of the workshop, all of our haiku had significantly improved. We were able to take her advice and make adjustments.
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience with haikus in Kusum Ji’s class, and I hope to continue writing more Hindi poems in the future.
Below is a haiku I wrote edited by Ms. Mishra (with English translation):
This event was supported and funded by Asian & Middle Eastern Studies and Duke Service-Learning.
Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies