Even though I have been quite tied up with the launch of Cult of Chaos, I was glad to have said yes to a chance of judging the Haiku Competition for IIT-Kanpur students. There was a first for me too. I’ve never judged before and wasn’t sure I could do a great job of it. So to figure out the winners, I decided to use reason rather than instinct. Finally, here are the results. Loved the three I chose! And being rather wordy, am amazed at how these haikus could express things. Both intellectually and emotionally. Enjoy the lovely poems!
THREE WINNERS (not in sequence)
Vaidehi Menon
Winter vibrations
Teeth chatter, bodies shiver
Hear the symphony
(This has been able to capture the music of winter very well. Though I wish the word ‘winter’ hadn’t been used. It kills subtlety.)
Harshit Bisht
Cups of steaming tea
Under the afternoon sun
And her memories
(This haiku makes me linger. Makes me ponder on my own memories and that hot cup of tea. Again, it has captured winter as I’ve experienced it.)
Nitica Sakharwade
Light sleeping angel
Deep under the snow she lies
In quiet misery
(I so wish the first line could’ve improved a bit. But I loved the surprise of misery that the haiku ended with. Again, a trueblue winter haiku)
ALMOST MADE IT (not in any sequence)
Swapnil Gupta Continue reading “Results of the IITK Competition”