Tuesday, November 15, 2011

K. Satchidanandan reads from Abhay K.'s Candling the Light



Noted poet and literary critic K. Satchidanandan reads from poet-diplomat Abhay K's latest poetry book Candling the Light at the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi

Monday, November 7, 2011

Abhay K latest poetry book Candling the Light released



Abhay K.'s third collection of poems from the period 2005-2007 was released at Sahitya Akademi in New Delhi by Director General of ICCR Suresh K. Goel in presence of K. Satchidanandan, J.P. Das, A.J. Thomas, Sandeep Marwah and Padma Sri awardee artist S.V. Rama Rao. Amb. Bal Anand, Amb. Surinder Malik, Amb. Amarendra Khatua and other senior official and diplomats.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Abhay K.'s interview to The Hindu

Abhay K.'s interview to The Hindu on the occasion of the release of his new poetry book Candling the Light

Poet Abhay K. whose latest anthology, “Candling the Light”, releases this Thursday tells Anjana Rajan of his vision for humanity
Shastri Bhawan, home to many government offices, is not what one associates with the stuff of poetry. Yes, one might think of it as the place where files moulder and dreams await fulfilment, sometimes for endless years. But a place where dreamers go daily and work for the betterment of society? Not quite the right use of words, one would object. Yet this is where you will find poet Abhay K., an Under Secretary in the Government of India's External Affairs Ministry. What's more, he sees no dichotomy between his job and his poet's vocation.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Civil Servant's Tale

The Civil Servant's Tale by Abhay K. is a must read for all Civil Services Aspirants. A candid and inspiring story of a diplomat from Nalanda to New Delhi.
                                                       - Founder UPSCPortal.com



Sunday, September 4, 2011

Advance praise for Abhay K.'s new poetry book Candling the Light




Candling the Light is a collection of unassumingly plain meditations on everyday life shorn off the usual poetic embellishments. They are soothingly optimistic considering the tension-fraught world that we live in.
- K. Satchidanandan,Noted Poet & Literary Critic of India

In Candling the Light the poet looks for the cosmos in the depths of his own heart and asks questions from the universe to know himself and the meaning of human existence.
- Prof. Guzel V. Strelkova, Moscow State University

Candling the Light is about poet's desire to make  difference to someone's life through his poetry. When he reminisces about the past he is moving. Recollections of his grandmother and father strike a deeply poignant note that we can identify with.
 - Jehanara Wasi, Editor of several books of poetry

Abhay K.'s poetry gives Indian English poetry a fundamentally new supranational character, at the same time preserving traditions.
- Prof. Irina Burova, St. Petersburg State University

Through the poems in the collection Candling the Light, Abhay K. brings out the beauty and grace of the human mind in meditation, through well-chosen words that fit into rare aesthetic patterns. 
-Dr.A.J.Thomas, Editor, Indian Literature

Candling the Light is, arguably, the most refreshing and noteworthy of Abhay K.'s works till date, especially in its orientation around key human emotions and experiences, like love, loss, family ties, spontaneous kindness from a stranger et al
- Gautam Chakrabarty, Ast. Professor Eng. Lit. Delhi University 

Life in the Indian Foreign Service

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Please direct all your queries at http://www.abhayk.com/2014/01/life-in-indian-foreign-service.html



Life in the Indian Foreign Service
-Abhay K.

Please take out a moment to watch this video...support our home planet to get an anthem


Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is unlike any other Civil Service such as Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or Indian Police Service (IPS). An Indian Foreign Service officer spends most of his/her time abroad ( two-third of his/her career) and only one third of career in India at the headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) in New Delhi.

After joining the Indian Foreign Service, for which one has to be generally at the top of the ranking order in Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) of India, one is sent to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussorie for training for a period of three months where he/she is known as Foreign Service Probationer/ Officer Trainee. 

After completing the three months training, which involves training in multiple disciplines including a foreign language, horse riding and trekking in high Himalayas, a Foreign Service Probationer moves to the Foreign Service Institute located in New Delhi for further training.

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At the Foreign Service Institute, which is located on Baba Gangnath Marg near Jawaharlal University (JNU) campus, a Foreign Service Probationer undergoes training for a year which involves International Relations, Indian Foreign Service Pay, Leave and Compensatory Allowances (IFS-PLCA) Rules, Foreign Trade, functioning of Indian missions in neighbouring South Asian countries, attachments with the Army, Navy and the Air Force, attachment with the district and the state administration and attachment with the corporate sector. 


Monday, August 29, 2011

Best of SAARC Poetry


Abhay K. has listed below some of the best poems from Beyond Borders: An anthology of SAARC poetry edited by Ashok Vajpayee published by Rainbow Publishers in 2002 in association with Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi

Fatima Hassan

I can also Live like the Wind 

For you
I am the bitter Neem tree
Its fruit you cannot taste
Even if you wanted to
All you can do is rest for a while
In its shade
For I am also green in colour.
Some time back a jinn used to live in me
But after a long journey
I refused to recognize him as a jinn
And he was offended.

I did not try to placate him
Since the lessons the passing seasons have taught me
Include this lesson:
I can also live like the wind.

Translated from Urdu by Asif Aslam Farrukhi

Perveen Shakir

Where Do I figure in Your Life, My Love?

Where do I figure in your life, my love?
In the freshness of the morning breeze
Or in the sheen of the evening star.
In the reluctant drizzle
Or in the laughing rain,
In the cool of moonlit night
Or in the indifference of afternoons.
In deep thoughts
Or in some casual tune?
How do you take me?
As a puff of cigarette
A toast for weather?
Of that famous temporal tragedy
In which one love affair is dead
And the other not yet born.
Am I your summer resort?
Or just one long weekend?

Where do I figure in your life, my love?
(translated from Urdu by Lesilie Lavinge and Baidur Bakht)

M.A. Nuhman

When I was waiting for the White Dove

I was waiting in my courtyard
For the arrival of the white dove

The hawk came first
And took away my chiks

Then
Came a vulture
And landed on the coconut tree
In my courtyard

It purges a volley of shells
Tearing apart my house and living
My souls withers
And I am refugee once again.

(Translated from Tamil by Sumathy and the author)

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Abhay K.s visit to the United States (17 June-16 July 2011)

Abhay K. visited Washington DC where he studied American Foreign Policy at the Elliot School,  George Washington University, visited Harvard Univerity and MIT in Boston, United Nations and New York Times Headquarters in New York, Farm Houses in Wisconsin and Silicon Valley and Stanford University in San Francisco. (17 June-16 July 2011)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Russian Contemporary Art from the collection of Abhay K on display in Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 8 (ANI): An exhibition of Russian contemporary art from the private collection of Indian artist, poet, and diplomat Abhay Kumar will showcase another facet of universalism and creative diversity at the Russian Centre in New Delhi from 9-16 June 2011.


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Video of the Art Exhibition of Russian Art in New Delhi

Monday, April 18, 2011

Sunday, April 3, 2011

We Have Come Far- Art Exhibition of Abhay K curated by Suneet Chopra


Life is a profusion of different colours, forms, shapes and  stages of development and Abhay's art which is essentially Naive Art reflects all these stages in a spontaneous manner and then this spontaneity has its own sequences and its own approach to reality. What I find fascinating about his work is that he goes from very individual signs to broader symbols so that you can understand the individual impact of colour and form at any particular time as well as (get) general understanding of certain colours and forms. So his art is not just an individual expression it is also rooted in general forms, colours and (their)developments.


Abhay's art can be understood as the attempt of self taught artists to capture life around them and express their emotions. As a genre it is part of Naive Art and it is interesting how he uses a blend of dots, lines, colours, spaces and even geometric shapes to give us a rounded picture of the works he is exhibiting here (We Have Come Far). Naive art has a special quality in that it is very closely related to the expression of the artist and it has in fact also references to a number of art forms. For example a number of his works remind you of Cubists, there are others that remind you of Pointillists, and other forms of art; however the way he has blended them all together is his own and the way he has progressed through the whole exhibition is also his own.

-Suneet Chopra

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Latest column of Abhay K in Governance Now

Abhay K column on Twitter turning five on 21st March 2011 in Governance Now.

Twitter turned five on 21st March this year. It has already changed the way the world interacts.Twitter widens and deepens democracy. It reflects the swinging global opinion.Twitter is frivolous and very serious at the same time. It undermines as well as complements traditional media. Twitter is inexpensive. It costs nothing. That's why it is such a great tool of direct democracy. Read the full column at Twitter-Instant Voice of the Planet Turns Five

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Abhay K receives Gov2.in-2011 Award

Abhay K receives social media award on behalf of Public Diplomacy Division


New Delhi, March 12 (IANS)

The Public Diplomacy division (MEA) was given the Gov2.in Award for being the first central ministry to propagate and use social media extensively as a communication tool to connect with the ordinary citizen.
The event was held Friday evening at a function at Hotel Le Meridien here. The award was received by Abhay Kumar, under secretary, Public Diplomacy, on behalf of the division.

Full article at http://www.deccanherald.com/content/145189/public-diplomacy-division-gets-social.html

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Harmonious Palette- Poetry Anthology in 11 Languages Released

Harmonious Palette is a new poetry anthology published in St. Petersburg, Russia. The new book has poems in 11 languages. It carries four poems of Abhay K.



The Soul Song

Moments

The Garden

 &

I Saw Leaves Dancing With Joy






The Soul Song

I was always there
As the blowing wind
Or the falling leaves,
As the shining sun
Or the flowing streams,
As the chirping birds
Or the blooming buds,
As the blue sky
Or the empty space
I was never born
I did not die…

Monday, January 31, 2011

Prestigious Art & Literary journal 'Severnaya Aurora' publishes Abhay K's Poems

Prestigious Art & Literary journal 'Severnaya Aurora' publishes Russian translation of  Abhay K's Poems titled 'Reflection' in its 12th Volume of 2010-

Poems can be read here .

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Abhay K's Birth of Global Democracy as lead edit page article in Times of India

Abhay K's article 'Birth of Global Democracy' appeared as the lead article at the edit page of India's leading English language daily Times of India on 21st January 2011.