Indian diplomat poet talks of hope, belief in tomorrow

New Delhi, Nov 4 (ANI): Indian diplomat Abhay Kumar has come out with another book of poem, titled "Candling the Light."

The book, which was launched at the Sahitya Akadami here on Thursday, talks of hope and a belief in tomorrow.

Kumar said: "The theme of the book is hope, to believe in tomorrow and finding the goodness in humanity and Candling the Light rightfully brings it out also telling us about the process of enlightenment".

Kumar started mirroring his thoughts in the form of poems when he was sent to Moscow in 2005. His philosophical thoughts and surrealist undertones were displayed when he was studying Russian at the Moscow State University.

It could be rightfully said that Moscow got the writer out of him.

"I was in Moscow, saw different things and it touched me and I started seeing life in a perspective which was fresh and this was the phase when I was writing," Kumar said.

When asked about the contrasting connection between being a diplomat and a poet, Kumar said a diplomat's job is to implement, while a poet's job is to project an ideal world.

Suresh K Goel, Director General, ICCR said: " I know Abhay as a member of the foreign service, and he is working in a division which is working very closely with the ICCR. Though I know him since a year, but as a poet, I only came to know a week back. Diplomats are turning into writers maybe because that's what maybe can give expressions to them"

The poems in the book have a child like appeal to them along with having a deep existentialist thought.

When asked what would be the next thing that we could read out of him, Kumar added "I am in love with Delhi, I want to embrace it every time I come to this city, I think Delhi is going to get something out of me soon"

As a diplomat, Kumar has travelled to Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and written a paper proposing a SAARC University at Nalanda, sent to Moscow, on his first diplomatic assignment in 2005, he studied Russian, history and literature at the Moscow State University. By Ronisha Bhattacharyya (ANI)