Abhay Kumar

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Abhay K
Born Abhay Kumar
1980 (age 43–44)
Nalanda, Bihar, India
Residence Brasilia, Brazil
Nationality Indian
Alma mater Jawaharlal Nehru University
Occupation Diplomat, Poet, Artist
Known for Poetry,Earth Anthem,SAARC Anthem,Digital diplomacy
Website www.abhayk.com

Abhay Kumar/Abhay K (Hindi: अभय कुमार) (born 1980) is an Indian poet-diplomat.[1][2] His books include The Seduction of Delhi[3][4] among others.[5][6][7] His writings cover poetry, art, memoir, global democracy and digital diplomacy.[8][9][10][11] He wrote the Earth Anthem[12][13][14][15][16] and the South Asian Anthem[17] spurring search for an official SAARC Anthem.[18]

He received the SAARC Literary Award for his contribution to contemporary South Asian Poetry[19][20] and nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2013.[21] In 2011, he also received the Gov 2.0 award on behalf of the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs.[8][22] He has been featured as a nominee on the longlist of the Forbes India 100 Celebrity list[23] and has been honoured with Asia-Pacific Excellence Award in 2014.[24] His The Seduction of Delhi was shortlisted for Muse India-Satish Verma Young Writer Award 2015.[25]

Early life

Abhay was born and raised at Chhabilapur near Rajgir in Nalanda district of Bihar. He studied at the Kirori Mal College Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2003. He studied Russian language, history and literature at the Moscow State University, Nepali language at the Tribhuvan University, U.S. Foreign Policy at the George Washington University[26] and how writers write poetry at The International Writing Program, The University of Iowa.[27]

Career

Literary

Abhay K is one of the literary flag-bearers of contemporary Indian poetry.[28][29] He features among five Indian poets everyone should know about.[30] Major Indian poet Jayanta Mahapatra thinks "qualities of love, tenderness and compassion set Abhay K's work apart from much of the general run of current poetics." [31] As per the Hindu Book Review- "Abhay K.'s words don’t sit outside and observe. They dig in, making their subject their home, and then they turn outwards, watching the landscape, the people, the city, change." [32] His poetic works startle and heal [33] and give humanistic outlook to Indian English Poetry[34][35][36] making subtle use of metaphor and imagery.[37]

His poems have appeared in several magazines and literary journals including The Caravan, The Missing Slate, The Stony Thursday(Ireland), Mud Season Review (USA),Eastlit, Kavya Bharati among others.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] Wasafiri quarterly notes Kumar's absence from the HareperCollins anthology of English poetry stating "The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry does miss out on Agha Shahid Ali, the poet-diplomat Abhay K and Nabina Das."[40][46]

His poem "Foreign Service" is a take-off on Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage" summarizing diplomatic careers.[47] while the poem "Gogol" alludes to the works of the writer Gogol such as "The Nose", "The Overcoat", "Nevsky Prospect", Dead Souls and The Government Inspector.[48] His poem "Ghalib" is a glimpse of tragic life of poet Ghalib.[49] Kumar's poems have been translated into Irish by Irish poet Gabriel Rosenstock[50] and in Russian by noted Russian poet Andrei Rodossky,[45] in Turkish by noted Turkish poet Müesser Yeniay, in Slovenian by Slovenian poet Katja Gorečan, in Italian by Italian poet Franz Laszlo Melas,[51] in Chinese by Chinese poet Arthur Zhang,[52] in Nepali by Nepalese poet Kishore Nepal, in Portuguese by Brazilian poets Antonio Miranda and Marcos Freitas[53] and in Spanish by Spanish poet Alicia Silvestre Miralles.[54] He said in an interview to Alok Mishra, "Poetry for me is what the soul is for the body. I read and write poetry to satisfy my spiritual hunger."[55]

Kumar has read his poems at several literary occasions including at a poetry evening hosted by the Governor of Goa along with Keki N. Daruwalla, Sitanshu Yashaschandra, Ranjit Hoskote, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Mamang Dai etc. during the Goa Art and Literature Festival 2014, at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2015 with Lionel Fogarty, Fady Joudah among others and at Mountain Echoes Literature Festival, Thimphu, Bhutan.[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65] He was nominated for the Pushcart Prize for his three poems ‘What’s a Beach’, ‘Masseur’ and ‘Everything has Secrets’.[66] He was also awarded SAARC Literary Award for his contribution to South Asian poetry.[19][20] His poems have been read aloud by actresses Hazel Keech, Reecha Sharma, Priyanka Karki, models Sahana Bajracharya, Talia Bentson, Nagma Shrestha, actor Rajesh Hamal,[67] poets K.Satchidanandan [68] A. J. Thomas,[69] and Helena Sinervo.[70] He also co-founded the Poetry at the Monument poetry movement.[71] His first book was River Valley to Silicon Valley(2007).[5]

As an editor, he has edited a special edition of The Enchanting Verses Literary Review on Contemporary Indian Poetry in English[72] and an anthology of poems on capital cities of the world.

The Seduction Of Delhi

Kumar's collection of poems The Seduction of Delhi became a bestselling poetry book after its launch in January 2015.[73] It was released by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra at the Jaipur Literature Festival.[74] T.S. Eliot Prize winning poet George Szirtes writes about The Seduction of Delhi- "One may visit a city and one may live in it. To experience it as a presence and as a history is more than either and to experience it as poetry is sublime. This is a beautiful way to be introduced to a great city as both specific and essence." [75]

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“The Seduction of Delhi” is both inspired poetry and visual illustration (by Italian artist Tarshito) in motion, covering and recalling nearly a thousand years of memory, achievement, success and loss, daily grind and drudgery, a contradictory city of ruins and sprawling high rises.

—Financial Express[76]

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Abhay K's poems serve up a Delhi, resplendent with character, torn asunder by marauders, patch-worked back several times with belief and faith - and above all saturated through with the touch of time and history.

—The Times of India[77]

The Seduction of Delhi was shortlisted for Muse India-Satish Verma Young Writer Award 2015.[25]

Jatra

Jatra, his latest collection of poems on Nepal translated in Nepali paints a poetic portrait of Nepal.[78] It was launched by the Vice-President of Nepal.[79]

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In Jatra, Abhay has written on beautiful architectural masterpieces of Nepal's cultural treasures and historical sites which attract tens of thousands of tourists from around the world.

—Business Standard[80]

He is currently editing a global anthology of poetic-portraits of about two hundred capital cities of the world[81] and is also the guest-editor of the special issue of The Enchanting Verses Literary Review on contemporary Indian English Poetry.[82]

Earth Anthem

In 2013 Kumar released Earth Anthem, a song intended as an anthem for the planet Earth, written by him in eight languages including six official UN languages — Arabic, Chinese, French, English, Russian and Spanish — as well as Hindi and Nepali. It was set to music by Sapan Ghimire and sung by Shreya Sotang from Nepal.[83] It has been translated into 26 languages including Tamil, Hindi, Nepali, Russian, Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Turkish, Arabic, Estonian, German, Bhasa, Czech, Japanese, Tibetan,Slovenian, Montenegrin, Kazhak, Khmer and Uzbek and has received acclaim[13][84] and is being used by CBSE.[clarification needed][85]

In 2014, Kumar suggested that UNESCO stage a global online competition to establish an official anthem for the planet, but the organization felt unable to conduct a global competition due to its "limited financial and human resources".[86][87] The Permanent Delegation of India, Paris had recommended Kumar's proposal of an official anthem for UNESCO's consideration.[88]

SAARC Anthem

Abhay wrote the SAARC Anthem in Bengali, Dzongkha, Maldivian, English, Hindi, Nepali, Pashto, Sinhalese, and Urdu, in an attempt to attempts to foster South Asian consciousness and bring the member states of SAARC together.[89][90] It has spurred discussions on the need for an official SAARC Anthem.[91] Columnist Stanley Weiss hopes that the South Asian leaders will choose to move forward in the words of the SAARC Anthem.[92] Nepal's foreign minister has expressed the need for a SAARC anthem to connect SAARC nations.[93] SAARC Anthem was to be played at the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi in presence of the SAARC leaders.[94] Nepal at the 18th summit in Kathmandu in November 2014 is planning to introduce proposal for a SAARC Anthem in the agenda of summit when heads of all member states meet here.[95] The song penned by Abhay K may become SAARC Anthem.[96] Pooja Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt have praised SAARC anthem.[97]

Diplomatic

Kumar is an Indian Foreign Service officer and has served in positions at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of the government of India and at the Indian missions and posts abroad in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kathmandu. At the MEA headquarters in New Delhi he served as the Under Secretary Digital diplomacy and sent the first tweet after setting up official Twitter account of the Ministry of External Affairs of India in 2010.[98][99] He served as the spokesperson of the Embassy of India, Kathmandu from 2012-2015.[100] He was appointed as the Director of the Nehru Centre, London in March 2015.[101][102] Subsequently, he was appointed as India's Deputy High Commissioner to Australia in August 2015.[103] He currently serves as India´s Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil.

He was also assistant editor of India Perspectives, a monthly magazine published by the Ministry of External Affairs in 17 languages from September 2011 to July 2012.[104][105]

Artistic

Kumar's art work focus on planetary consciousness.[106] He has exhibited his paintings in St. Petersburg, Paris and New Delhi.[107][108] His art has received good reviews.[109] Poetry-paintings of Abhay K and Italian artist Tarshito exhibited at the National Academy of Art, New Delhi highlight Delhi's glorious past.[110]

Awards and recognition

  • 2016: Listed Among 15 Noted JNU Alumni Who Have Proudly Represented India Nationally & Internationally [111]
  • 2015: His book The Seduction of Delhi was shortlisted for Muse India-Satish Verma Young Writer Award 2015.[25]
  • 2015: Invited as a speaker at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2015 with major international poets [112]
  • 2014: Featured in Forbes India Celebrity 100 Nominees longlist 2014[23]
  • 2014: Asia-Pacific Excellence Award[21][24]
  • 2013: SAARC Literary Award[20][113] - Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature
  • 2013: Nominated for the Pushcart Prize[21]
  • 2012: Received 1st Class diploma from the Steiglitz Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg for his exhibition We are different, We are together.[114]
  • 2012: 1st Prize by the Amity School of Business, Noida, India for the case study Digital Revolution and Business at the 8th Renvoi, an International Management Case Study Competition[115]

Publications

Non-fiction

  • River Valley to Silicon Valley (2007)
  • 10 Questions of the Soul (2010)[116]
  • Colours of Soul (Cvet Dushi) (2011)[117]
  • Becoming A Civil Servant (2015)

Poetry Collections

  • Enigmatic Love (2009)[118]
  • Fallen Leaves of Autumn (2010)[119]
  • Candling the Light(2011)[120]
  • Remains (2012)[121]
  • The Seduction of Delhi[122]
  • The Eight-Eyed Lord of Kathmandu (English) / Jatra (Nepali)

See also

References

  1. UNESCO finds Indian poet-diplomat's idea of an Earth Anthem inspiring, Business Standard, 27 Feb 2014
  2. Unesco lauds Indian poet's idea of earth anthem, The Times of India, 28 February 2014
  3. The Seduction of Delhi Jaipur Literature Festival website, January 2015
  4. Diplomat Abhay K's 'The Seduction of Delhi' launched at Zee Jaipur Literature Festival DNA, 23 January 2015
  5. 5.0 5.1 The Hindu Literary Review 2007 The Hindu, 5 August 2007.
  6. Pen Drive, The Indian Express, 22 Nov 2012
  7. "The Poetic Side of Indian Diplomats", The Times of India, 25 August 2012
  8. 8.0 8.1 Public Diplomacy Division Receives Gov2.in 2011 Award Deccan Herald, 12 March.
  9. "Better with verse" The Hindu, 2 November 2011.
  10. "Indian Diplomat's Paintings on Show", indusage.com.au, 29 April 2011
  11. "Indian Diplomat turned artist presents his work on planetary consciousness" Yahoo, 27 April 2011
  12. ANI, 4 June 2012
  13. 13.0 13.1 "Indian Diplomat pens anthem for Earth" The New Indian Express, 5 June 2013
  14. "Inspiring Earth Anthem" The Himalayan Times, 9 June 2013
  15. "UNESCO to consider making Earth Anthem by Indian diplomat a global initiative", Business Standard, 26 June 2013
  16. UN to consider "Indian diplomat's song as a global initiative", The Economic Times, 26 June 2013
  17. "Indian poet-diplomat pens S.Asian anthem after Earth anthem success" ANI, 27 November 2013
  18. "Indian diplomat's poem spurs search for SAARC anthem", Hindustan Times, 9 January 2014
  19. 19.0 19.1 "Poet Abhay K wins SAARC Literature Award", Hindustan Times, 14 March 2013
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 "Five writers honoured at the SAARC Literature Festival", PTI, 11 March 2013
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 "IFS officer nominated for coveted Pushcart Prize", 2 December 2012
  22. MEA's Public Diplomacy Division gets coveted Social Media Award, ANI, 11 March 2011
  23. 23.0 23.1 Forbes India Celebrity 100 Nominees List for 2014, Forbes India, 12 December 2014
  24. 24.0 24.1 Asia-Pacific Excellence Award to Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K, ANI, 14 October 2014
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 Poet-diplomat Abhay K's 'The Seduction of Delhi' shortlisted for Muse India award, Business Standard, 11 Nov 2015
  26. "Diplomat-writer, who pens verse", The Tribune, Chandigarh, 16 December 2012
  27. University of Iowa 's certificate in Poetry to Abhay K, Issuu, 25 June 2015
  28. Five Literary flag-bearers, Indian Poetry has been benefiting from INVC, 28 November 2014
  29. Voices and Visions in Indian Poetry in English after 1980s LITSEARCH Vol.II Issue No.II, ISSN 2277-6990 June 2012
  30. [1] The Pigeon, 25 March 2016
  31. Diplomat Abhay K's book 'The Seduction of Delhi' to be launched at Jaipur Literature Festival DNA, 10 January 2015
  32. Free-flowing verse The Hindu, 4 April 2015
  33. [2] Poetry at Sangam, November 2014
  34. "Contemporary poets, storywriters to exhibit their oratory skills at Sahitya Akademi", Yahoo News, 2 May 2011
  35. "Young Indian poets, storywriters mesmerize audience with their skills"
  36. "‘Diplomat poet’ creates rhymes from life" Millennium Post, 1 July 2012
  37. Review of The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India by Rob Harley, The Enchanting Verses Literary Review, Issue XIX, November 2013, pages 34-35
  38. Poems of Abhay K. translated into Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock An Gael, Samhradh 2014
  39. THE IRON PILLAR OF DELHI' AND OTHER POEMS Chiaroscuro, June 2014
  40. 40.0 40.1 Dara Shikoh and other poems
  41. Ghalib The Missing Slate, 11 February 2014
  42. Poems of Abhay K in Indian Literature, June-July 2012
  43. Kritya Poetry Journal
  44. Poetic License
  45. 45.0 45.1 Северная Аврора № 12, 2010. Абхай КУМАР
  46. Review of HarperCollins Book of English Poetry by Roomy Naqvy Wasafiri Reviews Volume 28,Issue 3, 2013, 19 August 2013
  47. "Foreign Service Poem" Diplomat Magazine, London, 23 January 2013
  48. "Possessed Idiots and Deadly Demons" Pratilipi, December 2012
  49. "Ghalib" The Missing Slate, 11 February 2014
  50. Dornán Dánta le Abhay K Rogha Gabriel 13 January 2014
  51. [3] Il letterato Franz Laszlo Melas, 5 February 2015
  52. [4] The International Poetry Translation and Research Centre Website, 18 November 2014
  53. [5] Website of poet Antonio Miranda, 13 April 2016
  54. [6] The Booksmovie 3 April 2016
  55. "Interview with Alok Mishra for Ashvamegh Journal" Ashvamegh Journal
  56. ‘Hindi, local languages have a bright future in changing India’ The Times of India, 8 Dec 2014
  57. JLF Program 2015 Jaipur Lit Fest website 21 January 2015
  58. Kavita Nirantar, Poetry 24x7 JLF YouTube Channel 25 January 2015
  59. [7] Mountain Echoes Literature Festival website, August 2015
  60. "Young Indian poets mesmerize audience with their skills"
  61. [8]
  62. "Sikkim Akademi hosts literary interaction programme"
  63. [9]
  64. Kritya.in Kritya, 6 October 2013
  65. ANI 14 September 2013
  66. IFS officer nominated for Pushcart Prize The Hindu,3 December 2012
  67. Poems of Abhay K Read Aloud
  68. K. Satchidanandan reads poems of Abhay K, 15 Nov 2011
  69. A.J. "Thomas on Abhay K's new book Candling the Light 15 Nov 2011
  70. Helena Sinervo reads Abhay K 19 September 2013
  71. "Take it in a word" The Hindu, 12 May 2012
  72. A promising new edition of Indian poetry in English edited by Abhay K launched Business Standard, 23 November 2015
  73. Abhay K's 'The Seduction of Delhi' becomes bestseller poetry ANI, March 30, 2015
  74. The Seduction of Delhi launched by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra at Jaipur Lit Fest ANI, 11 January 2015
  75. Poems on Delhi The Rising Nepal Friday Supplement,page 3, 19 Dec 2014
  76. ‘Seduction of Delhi’, a fascinating combination of poetic verse and drawings Financial Express, 27 July 2015
  77. Book Review : The Seduction of Delhi The Times of India, 6 August 2015
  78. Now, go on a 'Jatra' of poems on Nepal IANS, April 23, 2015
  79. Vice President of Nepal releases Abhay K's collection of poems ANI, April 22, 2015
  80. Indian diplomat contributes to Nepal tourism through poems Business Standard, 2 August 2015
  81. Can you write a poem about Canberra? Australian Poetry, 2014
  82. Poet-diplomat Abhay K to be guest editor of Enchanting Verses YahooNews, March 21, 2015
  83. [10] ICCR website, June 2013
  84. "Indian diplomat in Nepal pens the Earth Anthem" IANS, 27 June 2013
  85. [11] CBSE Website,6 October 2013
  86. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  87. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  88. UNESCO Lauds Indian Poet's Idea of Earth Anthem Outlook, 28 Feb, 2014
  89. Indian diplomat pens "SAARC Anthem" NDTV, 3 December 2013
  90. The Hindu, 4 December 2013
  91. Indian diplomat's poem spurs search for SAARC anthem Hindustan Times, 9 January 2014
  92. The Most Important Regional Organization That Nobody Has Heard Of The Huffington Post 12 May 2014
  93. Nepal foreign minister expresses need for an anthem to connect SAARC nations Business Standard, 6 June 2014
  94. SAARC Anthem to be played at Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony DNA, 25 May 2014
  95. Will SAARC have an anthem like ASEAN? Hindustan Times, 3 November 2014
  96. Song penned by Indian may become SAARC anthem The Sunday Guardian,16 August 2014
  97. Pooja-Mahesh Bhatt praise SAARC anthem The Himalayan Times,06 August 2014
  98. "A diplomatic web", The New Indian Express, 5 August 2011
  99. "Poke your Babus Online" The Times of India, 26 March 2011.
  100. Nepal Rations Fuel as Political Crisis With India Worsens The New York Times, 28 September 2015
  101. India appoints poet-diplomat as Nehru Centre Director in UK Business Standard, March 26, 2015
  102. Abhay K. to head Nehru Centre in London The Hindu, March 28, 2015
  103. Abhay K appointed India's Deputy High Commissioner to Australia ANI, 28 September 2015
  104. "In the Service of the Nation", M.Y.O.D. 12 April 2012
  105. India Perspectives, ISSUU 16 August 2012
  106. Indian Diplomat turned Artist presents his works on Planetary Consciousness, ANI, 28 April 2011
  107. "We have come far", Indrus, 15 April 2011
  108. Art exhibition "We have come far" by Abhay Kumar opened at RCSC, rusembassy.in, 15 April 2011
  109. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  110. Artists highlight the glory of Delhi through poetry-paintings, Business Standard, 16 September 2014
  111. 15 Noted JNU Alumni Who Have Proudly Represented India Nationally & Internationally www.scoopwhoop.com ,26 February 2016
  112. Speakers for 2015 Jaipur Literature Festival website, January 2015
  113. Poet Abhay K wins SAARC Literature Award, IANS, 14 March 2013
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External links