When diplomat Abhay Kumar was posted as ambassador in Madagascar in 2019, he had little knowledge about constellations. The pollution-free, clear and star-lit sky from the balcony of his residence in Antananarivo, enticed him to gaze at the different patterns every evening.
“I began reading about constellations and their names and was fascinated by the stories and mythologies associated with them,” he says. The first constellation he could identify easily was the Orion. The verses came to his mind one night when he suddenly woke up from sleep and saw, through the window, the constellation of Scorpion shining bright in the eastern sky. Lines of Locksley Hall by Alfred Tennyson that he had read during his college days played in his mind.
“I always wanted to write a dramatic monologue like Locksley Hall; so I reread the book inspired by Sir William Jones’ prose translation of Muallaquat, a group of seven long Arabicpoems. Tennyson’s poem consists of a set of 97 rhyming couplets and makes a reference to the Orion constellation . I sensed a connection,” says Abhay. He set out to write 100 rhyming couplets that would help to understand the beauty of the dark skies and the starlight. Astro-tourism is an emerging global trend but people in large cities do not get the ideal free-from-pollution location to stargaze, he proffers.
Deputy Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Abhay Kumar at Azad Bhawan in New Delhi | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Somewhere along his two years of working on the book, it turned into a long love poem. The International Astronomical Union recognises 88 star constellations and Abhay kept dedicating a love-laced couplet to one constellation. He added linking stanzas to hit a century for the book, Celestial: A Love Poem, published by Mapin.
Wordplay is part of a diplomat’s job and the feelings wrapping those words stem from his impulses or emotions. What enhances the beauty of his book are illustrations of 48 constellations taken from The Book of the Fixed Stars by renowned 10th century Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, known in the West as Azophi.
Based on Ptolemy’s classic work Almagest, Al-Sufi’s book carried dual illustrations – one portrayed on the celestial globe and the other as viewed directly in the night sky - for each of 48 constellations as identified then. Abhay took the effort of getting the illustrations from a true to the original facsimile copy of the book available at the Library of Congress, USA, because he wanted to introduce the immortal work to new generation readers.
Talking of Celestial as one-of-a-kind poem that transcends poetry, art and astronomy, Abhay says, it has a plot. Someone on Earth is restlessly trying to find his beloved who is playing a game of hide-and-seek in the remote corners of the universe.
Diplomat Abhay Kumar's new book Celestial | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
With Celestial, Abhay wishes to nudge more people to look at the night sky and revel in its wonder and beauty. “People have forgotten to look up at the night sky; the interest needs to be preserved,” rues the author of a dozen poetry collections. His last book Monsoon, a single poem of 600 lines, follows the path of monsoon from Madagascar to the Himalayas. It was chosen by Harvard University for a book project.
One of the youngest Ambassadors of India, Abhay has also edited six other books, translated a 100-year-old novel written in Magahi language and also books from Sanskrit. His first book was a memoir River Valley to Silicon Valley in 2007 at the age of 25.
So what is the connection between poetry and diplomacy? “In diplomacy, there is a saying: alcohol and protocol, the fine art of wining and dining involves a mix of political acumen, communication skills and cultural finesse. Persuasions are done in sentences which reveal as much as they hide; poetry is no different,” says the winner of the SAARC Literary Award 2013 and KLF Poetry Book of the Year Award 2021
“Whether you are writing verse or drafting resolution, both require careful calibration of words, an appreciation for ambiguity, brevity, senstivity, sensibility and charm. When you have to diffuse a situation, poetry helps to blow off the steam,” adds the 2003 batch IFS officer who has served in Nepal, Moscow, Brazil, Madagascar and Comoros.
Deputy Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Abhay Kumar speaks during an interview at Azad Bhawan in New Delhi | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
He reminds that diplomats over the ages have excelled in poetry; seven of them have even won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel League of diplomat-poets includes Gabriela Mistral, Saint-John Perse, George Seferis, Ivo Andric, Miguel Angel Asturias, Pablo Neruda and Octovio Paz.
Currently posted as the Deputy Director General of ICCR, Abhay says a poet and diplomat are both global citizens who play the role of bridge builders to connect cultures and civilisations.
Poetry is perhaps the most refined and profound kind of diplomacy that helps understand the world, the pain it holds and the losses it suffers. Does Celestial, that strikes as a balance between solitude and waywardness, reflect his loss? “You have to read it first to ask!”, laughs Abhay.
