Abhay Kumar is an Indian poet-diplomat. He joined the Indian Ministry of External Affairs in 2003 and served as India’s ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros. He has been recognized for his poetry, including Anthem to the Earth, performed at the United Nations on Earth Day 50. He has also composed a song for ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization)’s Chandrayaan-2 mission and all the planets in the solar system.
Wiki/Biography
Abhay Kumar was born in 1980 (43 years old; as of 2023) in Bhattu Bigha village near Rajgir, Nalanda district, Bihar. When he was two years old, his family moved to Chhabirapur village in Nalanda district of Bihar. He completed his school education from RDH School, Rajgir, Bihar, and then pursued BA in Geography from Kirori Mal College, Delhi from 1997 to 2000. From 2000 to 2003, he studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, where he pursued his MA in Bachelor of Arts and MA in Geography and Population Studies. In 2003, he completed the Basic Course in Administration from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie. In 2006, he studied Russian at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), and in 2011, he studied U.S. foreign policy at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He also studied Nepali at Tribhuvan University and pursued diplomacy modules at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in the United States.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′7″
Hair color: Bald
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Abhay’s father’s name is Rajendra Singh and his mother’s name is Dayawanti. His father was a school teacher who died in 2006, and his mother was a housewife.
Abhay Kumar’s father Rajendra Singh
Abhay Kumar’s mother
Abhay has an older brother named Ajay, who works in the IT industry in the United States.
wife and children
There is not much information about Abhay’s marital status.
Profession
diplomat
Abhay Kumar passed the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) examination in 2003, ranking 71st. In September 2003, he started training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie. He subsequently moved to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), New Delhi, in January 2004 for further training. He underwent a year of training at the FSI and then served for six months as a charge officer in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), handling matters in the East and South Africa Departments.
Abhay Kumar and his classmates at LBSNAA
In 2005, he traveled to Moscow to study Russian at Moscow State University (MSU). He also worked in the Economic and Commercial Section of the Embassy of India in Moscow until 2007. He passed the Russian language examination conducted by the Institute of Foreign Languages, Ministry of Defense of India, and became the Second Secretary (Commerce) of the Embassy. His work includes handling trade issues, organizing business events, facilitating trade missions and preparing economic reports. He served as Consulate General of India in St. Petersburg from 2007 to 2010 and Deputy Minister for Digital Foreign Affairs in Delhi from 2010 to 2012.
Abhi Kumar (second from right) receives Prime Minister Modi in Buenos Aires
He served as the spokesperson of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu from 2012 to 2015 and as the Deputy Chief of Mission to Brazil from 2016 to 2019. He served as India’s Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros from 2019 to 2022, where he made the Indian embassy solar-powered and opened street libraries. On September 19, 2022, he was appointed as the Deputy Director-General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), responsible for cultural activities during India’s presidency of the G20 from December 2022 to November 2023.
Abhay Kumar in the office of ICCR Deputy Director General
writer
His first book, “From River Valley to Silicon Valley,” was a memoir published in 2007. He has written two nonfiction books on spirituality, Ten Questions of the Soul (2010) and The Color of the Soul (2011). He is known for his poetry collections such as Mysterious Love (2009), Falling Autumn Leaves (2010), Relics (2012), The Temptation of Delhi (2014), The Magic of Madagascar (2021) , “Wandering Poems” (2022), “Heaven” (2023). He has also published many poems in various journals and anthologies.
Abhay Kumar signs the book “Wandering Poems”
edit
Abhay has edited several collections of poetry, including Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry in English (2016), Capital (2017), 100 Great Indian Poems (2017), New Brazilian Poetry (2019) , The Bloomsbury Book , The Great Indian Love Poems (2020), and The Bihari Book of Literature (2022).
Abhay Kumar’s book “Great Indian Poetry”
translator
In 2021, he translated two works by the Sanskrit classical poet Galidas into English. They are “Meghaduta”, a lyrical poem about the cloud messengers, and “Ritusamhara”, a collection of poems about the six seasons. He also translated the poetry of 60 Brazilian poets into English.
Ridasamora from Kalidasa, translated by Abhay Kumar
lyricist
In 2013, Abai composed a song dedicated to the earth, “Ode to the Earth,” which was translated into 8 languages, including 6 United Nations 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 commemorate the 51st Earth Day, more than 100 artists gathered to read from the book. Abhay has also composed hymns for SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), Chandrayan-2 and all other planets in the solar system.
“Hymn to the Earth” composed by Abhay Kumar
painter
Abhay’s artworks feature planetary consciousness as a theme. He has exhibited his paintings in cities such as St. Petersburg, Paris, New Delhi and Brasilia.
Abhay Kumar was invited to participate in the Brazilian Art Exhibition
In New Delhi, his poetic paintings were exhibited at the National Academy of Arts alongside works by Italian artist Tachito, illustrating Delhi’s rich history.
Abhay Kumar at his painting exhibition
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- Amity Business School, Noida bagged first prize in the 8th Renvoi International Management Case Study Competition for its case study “Digital Revolution and Business”
- 2013 SAARC Literary Award for his contribution to contemporary South Asian poetry
Poet-diplomat Abhay Kumar wins SAARC Literary Award
- 2014 Asia Pacific Excellence Awards
- Kalinga Literary Festival 2020-2021 Annual Poetry and Book Award Translation of Kalidasa’s “Megadutta” and “Rudra Sanhara”
- “The Book of Bihari Literature” won the KLF (Kalinga Literary Festival) Book Award 2022
Favorites
- Food: Litti-Chokha, corn cobs
- Musician: Ustad Bismillah Khan
Facts/Trivia
- Abhay’s grandfather was a local wrestler.
- In 1998, he participated in the 19th World University Debating Championship in Manila, Philippines. He was a student at Kiromare College in Delhi at that time. He represents his university and India in international debating competitions.
Abhay, 22, taught geography at a training institute in Delhi called IDP9 before clearing the UPSC CSE (Union Public Service Commission Civil Service Examination).
- He initiated the celebration of India’s Foreign Service Day on October 9, 2011.
- In 2013, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for his contributions to South Asian poetry.
- His book The Temptation of Delhi was shortlisted for the 2015 Muse India-Satish Verma Young Writers Award
- He proposed celebrating the International Day of Diplomats on United Nations Day, which was first held in Brasilia on October 24, 2017, with the participation of diplomats from many countries.
- He has been called a “poet of the world” by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Vijay Seshadri.
Notes by Vijay Sheshadari calls Abhay a world poet
- In 2019, 38-year-old Abhay Kumar became the youngest ambassador to be appointed as the Indian Embassy.
- In 2018-19, Abhay became the first Indian poet to be invited to record poetry at the Library of Congress and the National Library of the United States.
- He was a polyglot (a person who spoke many languages). He speaks Magahi, Hindi, English, Russian, Nepali and Portuguese and understands French and Sanskrit.
- Abhay Kumar’s poem “The Partitioned Land” will be included in the Cornell University curriculum in fall 2021.
- His long poem “Monsoon” explores the impact of climate change on India. This is one of three books selected by Harvard University Assistant Professor Sarah Dimick for her Climate and Literature book project. The other two books are by the famous Indian writer Amitav Ghosh.
- Abhay Kumar’s poetry has been the subject of scholarly research. Amit Dhawan received his PhD from Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India, in 2017, with a research thesis titled “The Cultural Construction of the Self: An Essay on Abhay Kumar A Critical Study of Poetry.” Academician Sapna Dogra in a research paper compared Abhay’s poem “Yamuna” with AK Ramanujan’s poem “A River”.
Scholar Amit Dhawan earns PhD for research paper on Abhay Kumar’s poetry
- Abhay Kumar enjoys photography, traveling and cooking in his spare time.
- He maintains his physical and mental health through regular exercise and meditation.
Abhay Kumar practices yoga
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education