Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Latest Publications by Abhay K

The Inspiring Obamas: an article by Abhay K has appeared on the University of Southern California, Center for Public Diplomacy Blog. The article focuses on the soft power of the personalities of Barack & Michelle Obama.

In his article 'Beyond Diplomacy' published in the journals 'India Abroad' & 'Diplomatic Square' Abhay K surveys Indian Diplomatic Literature.

In his piece 'Appreciating Art' the author outlines what one should see if going to an exhibition for the first time.

Friday, October 29, 2010

eGov 2.0 Award 2010

 Abhay K. along with Navdeep Suri receiving eGov 2.0 2010 Award at the Claridges in New Delhi
Abhay K. along with the momento of eGov 2.0 award 2010

The story began on Thursday 8th July 2010 when Abhay K. opened a Twitter account for the Public Diplomacy Division  with the handle 'IndianDiplomacy' and put the first official tweet  -'Special Issue of India Pespectives on Tagore at http://www.scribd.com/doc/34044322/India-Perspectives-Special-Issue-on-Rabindranath-Tagore ' . The rest is history. Accounts on Facebook, Youtube, Blogspot, Scribd & Issuu followed which caught the imagination of the mainstream media. About 16 stories appeared in HT, ToI, Mail Today, Tehelka etc. on the social media initiatives of the Public Diplomacy Division. And finally the award came on Thursday 28th October 2010. It was a victory of team work, able leadership of Navdeep Suri who fought many battles to let Abhay K continue implementing his vision.

Monday, October 4, 2010

E-Release of 10 Questions of the Soul on Kindle

I think that these questions are based on ancient Indian philosophy. For me, they are a very interesting mixture of Plato, Voltaire, Vernadsky etc.

As a careful reader, I would like to make some comments on author's philosophical system. I am not quite sure that everybody craves for physical immortality. To my mind, people are simply afraid of death and the suffering connected with the process. If it were in some other way, there would be no Epicurean philosophy of death, but only Stoic.

From what I have read, SQ is an inborn stable quality of a person. I think that everybody can develop spiritually, so SQ can be flexible (improving). This would give a perspective to any person.

I also believe that a person is a combination of spiritual and material. When material dies, spiritual is liberated and goes on living. I do not see this as immortality, to my mind, our spiritual part is only lent for the period of our physical existence. It is just eternal, without the beginning or the end.

It was very interesting to read 10 questions after reading author's poems, because now I know that I have got the correct understanding of the philosophical foundation of author's poetry.

Prof. Irina Burova
Department of History of Foreign Literature
St. Petersburg State University



Friday, August 6, 2010

Golden Voice of New India

Golden Voice of New India
                                           - Prof. Irina Burova*

The history of the Indian literature began about 4,000 years ago. Anglo-Indian literature is far more younger, having started to form only in the second half of the 19th century.

It is worth mentioning that before the World War I two great men of letters whose creative work was inseparably connected with India had been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), an English prose writer, poet and journalist got it in 1907, and in 1913 it was presented to Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1841), an Indian writer, poet, artist, composer and public figure. Kipling spent the first six years of his life in India and later, in 1882-1889, worked there as a journalist. He was the first to tell the world about the real life of the British India, sighing deeply over “the White Man’s burden”, the one that was making him propagate European civilization in distant lands with marked cultural traditions of their own. Knowing India much better than most of his contemporaries, Kipling was pessimistic with respect to the perspective of achieving mutual understanding between the representatives of the two worlds, having coined his skepticism in his famous “East is East, and West is West”.

The Young Voice And The Poetry Of Eternity

                                                  By Guzel Strelkova*



I met the poet and diplomat Abhay Kumar on 7th of May – a very significant day for Indian literature, Rabindranath Tagore's birthday. Even though Rabindranath Tagore was born over a hundred years ago, in 1861, all the lovers and admirers of the Indian literature consider this day to be very special. So special in fact that festivals and conferences are held, on this day not only in India, but all over the world, where people read and love Indian literature. Moreover, this day can be an opening or a culmination for some novel. On 7th May 2006 this festival of literature was celebrated at the Cultural Centre of the Indian Embassy in Moscow. There were a number of speakers that day and I was invited to talk about the connections between the Indian and Russian literature. This is a vast, captivating and varied subject, and among multiple examples of the close bond and intertwining of our literatures I remembered «The Namesake», an English novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. The main hero of the novel, a Bengali, is called Gogol. He lives in a modern globalized world with his wonderful name, the name that was given to him for the time being by his parents, but instead became his destiny. And I mentioned that in my view one of the main goals of this literary namesake of Gogol is to remain faithful to one's national roots, when by the will of fate you were born and live far away from the native lands of your forefathers. Paradoxical, but the best way to save this faith and understand your own national identity is through the name of the Great Russian writer. And this was how I came to know Abhay Kumar. Indians call such meetings «Samyog», a lucky coincidence. It turned out that Abhay knew and loved this novel, besides he was a JNU alumnus. Not long before thisliterary meeting with the young diplomat, I had returned from Delhi, where I was researching the latest modern Hindi literature in JNU under an international exchange program. I was even more surprised when I found out, what the talented poet and writer, Abhay, who is not much older than my students studying Hindi and Indian literature, was writing about. During that time he was finishing his novel «From River Valley to Silicon Valley». The problems of connections and intertwining and the attraction and repulsion of various cultures and characters interested him greatly.


In the book «Fallen Leaves of Autumn» the love of the spoken word and the admiration for the marvellous and unfathomable nature coexist with the urge to capture the moment harmoniously be it through word , brush, digital camera or internet. But the most valuable thing about this book, in my view, is the higher feeling of human dignity before the incomprehensible universe and the aspiration to share with the near and dear ones, what you cherish the most.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Wanderer on Divine Path


 by Guzel Strelkova & Elena Kuzmina*

Abhay Kumar is very young - he was born in 1980 in Nalanda district in Bihar. He graduated from Delhi University and the Jawaharlal Nehru University and since 2003 is in the Indian diplomatic service (Indian Foreign Service). He has a successful career: in 2005 he started as Third Secretary at the commercial department of the Embassy of India in Moscow, and two years later was sent to work as Consul in St. Petersburg. Undoubtedly, Abhay's fluent Russian and his knowledge of Russian history and Russian literature which he knows well and loves, helped him to get his new assignment. While working in Moscow, he graduated from the Center for International Education (Centre of International education) Moscow State University.

He is a successful poet, novelist and painter. It can be said that Moscow has helped him become a writer and poet: it was here he completed his first novel, “River Valley to Silicon Valley- Story of Three Generations of an Indian Family ( Russian translation - 2008), which was released in 2007. His first book of poems 
“Enigmatic Love: Love poems from fairy-tale city of Moscowpublished in 2009 is dedicated to Moscow. The growing worldwide concern over environmental issues prompted the poet to release electronic edition of another poetry collection, "Fallen Leaves of Autumn" in 2010. In addition, the Indian poet’s  poems included in anthologies of poetry edited by Michelle Afford ("Natural Spirit ", 2006) and Anna Cook (" A Moment of Déjà Vu ", 2007), were published by British publishing Forward Press. His work has also been published in Russian journals, in particular, in the "Literary St. Petersburg", "Women's St. Petersburg" etc.

As for painting, critics & experts confirm the words of Abhay Kumar: "Petersburg turned me into a painter," and are not surprised that St. Petersburg  made diplomat, poet and writer, also an artist. According to Andrei Khlobystin, art historian, "Abhay Kumar completely fits into “St. Petersburg titanism” going against narrow professional specialization; if one is in a high, balanced state, one can easily engage in different types of creative activities. " However, the artistic hobbies of Abhay only contribute to his writing talents.

Cycle of poems "Candling the Light" was created earlier - in 2005-2007, in that- the poet's personal philosophy, the spiritual world of a man who is looking for Cosmos in the depths of his own heart and ask questions from the Universe, to know himself and the meaning of human existence.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

E-Release of Fallen Leaves of Autumn: Poetry Book by Abhay K.

We live in a changed world. The world of 21st century requires us to communicate in a new way so that we can stand against the challenges we face at the local, regional and global level. Internet has changed so much in our lives and it is only the beginning. Guttenburg's printing press was one of the fundamental inventions which changed the way we communicate. Now internet has once again changed the rule of the games.


We live is a world of scarce resources, where environmental concerns loom large. Considering the fact that until we change our ways, beginning at the individual level, we cannot expect any significant changes at local, regional or global level. ( We must be the change we want to see in the world- M. Gandhi) Hence I have decided to publish my new book 'Fallen Leaves of Autumn' as an e-book which can be read on PC devices, mobile phones(i-phone, Blackberries, Kindle etc.) and just a few hard copies for the libraries.
You may read the book at:-



Please find below  foreword of the book 'The Young Voice and Poetry of Eternity' written by Ast. Professor Guzel V. Strelkova of the Moscow State University.

THE YOUNG VOICE AND THE POETRY OF ETERNITY

I met the poet and diplomat Abhay Kumar on 7th of May – a very significant day for Indian literature, Rabindranath Tagore's birthday. Even though Rabindranath Tagore was born over a hundred years ago, in 1861, all the lovers and admirers of the Indian literature consider this day to be very special. So special in fact that festivals and conferences are held, on this day not only in India, but all over the world, where people read and love Indian literature. Moreover, this day can be an opening or a culmination for some novel. On 7th May 2006 this festival of literature was celebrated at the Cultural Centre of the Indian Embassy in Moscow. There were a number of speakers that day and I was invited to talk about the connections between the Indian and Russian literature. This is a vast, captivating and varied subject, and among multiple examples of the close bond and intertwining of our literatures I remembered «The Namesake», an English novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. The main hero of the novel, a Bengali, is called Gogol. He lives in a modern globalized world with his wonderful name, the name that was given to him for the time being by his parents, but instead became his destiny. And I mentioned that in my view one of the main goals of this literary namesake of Gogol is to remain faithful to one's national roots, when by the will of fate you were born and live far away from the native lands of your forefathers. Paradoxical, but the best way to save this faith and understand your own national identity is through the name of the Great Russian writer. And this was how I came to know Abhay Kumar. Indians call such meetings «Samyog», a lucky coincidence. It turned out that Abhay knew and loved this novel, besides he was a JNU alumnus. Not long before thisliterary meeting with the young diplomat, I had returned from Delhi, where I was researching the latest modern Hindi literature in JNU under an international exchange program. I was even more surprised when I found out, what the talented poet and writer, Abhay, who is not much older than my students studying Hindi and Indian literature, was writing about. During that time he was finishing his novel «From River Valley to Silicon Valley». The problems of connections and intertwining and the attraction and repulsion of various cultures and characters interested him greatly.