Abhay Kumar is an Indian poet-diplomat. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2003 and served as the Indian Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros. He has been recognized for his poetry, including the Earth Anthem played at the United Nations on the 50th Earth Day. He also wrote a song for ISRO’s (Indian Space Research Organisation) Chandrayaan-2 mission and all the planets in the solar system.
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Wiki/Biography
Abhay Kumar was born in 1980 (43 years; as of 2023) in Bhattu Bigha village near Rajgir in Nalanda district of Bihar. When he was 2 years old, his family moved to Chhabilapur village in Nalanda district of Bihar. He completed his schooling from RDH School Rajgir, Bihar and then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography from Kirori Mal College, Delhi from 1997 to 2000. From 2000 to 2003, he attended Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, where he earned a master’s degree. Degree in Arts and M.Phil in Geography and Population Studies. In 2003, he completed the Civil Service Foundation Course in Administration at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie (LBSNAA). In 2006, he learned Russian at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) and in 2011, he studied American foreign policy at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He also studied Nepali at Tribhuvan University and Diplomacy module at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy USA.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 7″
Hair Color: Bald
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
Abhay’s father’s name is Rajendra Singh and mother’s name is Dayawanti. His father was a school teacher who died in 2006, and his mother is a housewife.
Abhay Kumar’s father Rajendra Singh
Abhay Kumar’s mother
Abhay has an elder brother named Ajay, who works in the IT sector in America.
wife and children
There is not much information about Abhay’s marital status.
livelihood
Diplomat
Abhay Kumar passed the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) examination in 2003, securing 71st rank. He began his training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie in September 2003. He then moved to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in New Delhi in January 2004 for further training. He trained at FSI for a year and then worked as a Desk Officer in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for six months, handling the Eastern and South Africa divisions.
Abhay Kumar with his batchmates at LBSNAA
In 2005, he went to Moscow to learn Russian at Moscow State University (MSU). He also worked in the Economic and Commercial Wing of the Indian Embassy in Moscow until 2007. He passed the Russian language test conducted by the School of Foreign Languages of the Ministry of Defense of India and became Second Secretary (Commerce) in the Embassy. His work included handling trade issues, organizing business events, facilitating trade delegations, and preparing economic reports. He worked as Under Secretary for Digital Diplomacy at the Consulate General of India in St. Petersburg from 2007 to 2010 and in Delhi from 2010 to 2012.
Abhay Kumar (second from right) welcoming PM Modi in Buenos Aires
He was the spokesperson of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu from 2012 to 2015 and the Deputy Chief of Mission in Brazil from 2016 to 2019. He was India’s Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros from 2019 to 2022, where he equipped the Indian Embassy with solar energy. -Operated and opened a street library. On 19 September 2022, he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), responsible for cultural programs during India’s G-20 chairmanship from December 2022 to November 2023.
Abhay Kumar in his office as Deputy Director General of ICCR
Author
His first book, ‘River Valley to Silicon Valley’, is a memoir published in 2007. He wrote two non-fiction books on spirituality titled ’10 Questions of the Soul’ (2010) and ‘Colors of the Soul’ (2011). He is known for his poetry collections, such as Enigmatic Love (2009), Fallen Leaves of Autumn (2010), Remains (2012), The Seduction of Delhi (2014), The Magic of Madagascar (2021), Stray Poems (2022) ), and Divya (2023). He also published many poems in various magazines and anthologies.
Abhay Kumar signing Stray Poems book
Editor
Abhay has edited several poetry collections, including ‘Anthology of Contemporary Indian English Poetry’ (2016), ‘Capitals’ (2017), ‘100 Great Indian Poems’ (2017), ‘New Brazilian Poems’ (2019), ‘ ‘The Bloomsbury Book’. Great Indian Love Poems’ (2020), and ‘The Book of Bihari Literature’ (2022).
Abhay Kumar’s book, Great Indian Poems
translator
He translated two works of the classical Sanskrit poet Kalidasa into English in 2021. They are Meghdoot, a lyrical poem about a cloud messenger, and Ritusamhar, a collection of verses about the six seasons. He also translated poems by 60 Brazilian poets into English.
Abhay Kumar translated Kalidas’s Ritusanhar
lyricist
In 2013, Abhay wrote the Earth Anthem, a song for the planet, which was translated into 8 languages, including 6 United Nations (UN) languages, Hindi and Nepali. Nepali singer Shreya Sotang sang the English version of the song. It has been translated into more than 150 languages. In 2021, to mark the 51st Earth Day, over 100 artists came together to read it. Abhay also wrote songs for SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), Chandrayaan-2 and all other planets in the solar system.
Earth Anthem is written by Abhay Kumar
painter
Abhay’s artwork focuses on the theme of planetary consciousness. He has exhibited his paintings in cities like St. Petersburg, Paris, New Delhi and Brasília.
Abhay Kumar’s invitation for an art exhibition in Brazil
In New Delhi, his poetic paintings were displayed at the National Academy of Arts along with paintings by Italian artist Tarshito, showcasing the rich history of Delhi.
Abhay Kumar in the exhibition of his paintings
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- First Prize for Digital Revolution and Business Case Study in 8th Renvoi, an International Management Case Study Competition by Amity School of Business, Noida
- SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Literary Award 2013 for his contribution to contemporary South Asian poetry
SAARC Literary Award citation to poet-diplomat Abhay Kumar
- Asia-Pacific Excellence Awards 2014
- Kalinga Sahitya Mahotsav 2020-2021 Poetry Book of the Year Award for translation of Kalidasa’s Meghdoot and Ritusamhar
- KLF (Kalinga Literary Festival) Book Award 2022 for The Book of Bihari Literature
Favorite
- Food: Litti-Chokha, Bhutta
- Musician: Ustad Bismillah Khan
Facts/General Knowledge
- Abhay’s grandfather was a local wrestler.
- He participated in the 19th World Universities Debating Championship in Manila, Philippines in 1998. He was a student of Kirori Mal College, Delhi at that time. He represented his college and India in international debate competitions.
At the age of 22, Abhay taught Geography at a coaching institute called IDP9 in Delhi before clearing the UPSC CSE (Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Examination).
- He started celebrating Indian Foreign Service Day on 9 October 2011.
- He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2013 for his contributions to South Asian poetry.
- His book ‘The Seduction of Delhi’ was shortlisted for the Museum India-Satish Verma Young Writer Award 2015.
- He proposed celebrating International Diplomats Day on United Nations (UN) Day, which was first celebrated on 24 October 2017 in Brasília which was attended by diplomats from many countries.
- Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Vijay Sheshadri called him a ‘world poet’.
A note from Vijay Seshadri referring to Abhay as a world poet
- In 2019, Abhay Kumar became the youngest ambassador to be appointed to the Indian Embassy at the age of 38.
- In 2018–19, Abhay became the first Indian poet to be invited to record his poems in the Library of Congress, the National Library of the USA.
- He is multilingual (a person who speaks many languages). He speaks Magahi, Hindi, English, Russian, Nepali and Portuguese and knows French and Sanskrit.
- Abhay Kumar’s poem ‘The Partitioned Land’ was included in the curriculum of Cornell University in the fall of 2021.
- His book-length poem ‘Monsoon’ explores the impact of climate change on India. It is one of three books chosen by Sarah Dimick, an assistant professor at Harvard University, for her book project on climate and literature. The other two books are by famous Indian author Amitav Ghosh.
- Abhay Kumar’s poetry has been the subject of academic research. Amit Dhawan received his PhD from Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India in 2017 for his research paper on ‘Cultural Structure of the Self: A Critical Study of Abhay Kumar’s Poetry’. Academician Sapna Dogra, in a research paper, has compared Abhay’s poem ‘Yamuna’ with AK Ramanujan’s poem ‘A River’.
Scholar Amit Dhawan was awarded the degree of PhD on the basis of his research paper on the poems of Abhay Kumar.
- Abhay Kumar enjoys photography, traveling and cooking in his spare time.
- He maintains his physical and mental health by following a regular exercise routine and practicing meditation.
Abhay Kumar practicing yoga
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn