It's a necessary quality of a diplomat
or a politician that he will compromise.
Uncompromising politicians or diplomats
get you into the most terrible trouble.
-John Keegan
A diplomat is a representative chosen by the government to represent the country with other governments who have also served their countries as diplomats.
Kavishala presents the top Indian contemporary poet-diplomats who are well-known for their literary contributions too. Some of them are Abhay K, Indran Amirthanayagam, Kofi Awoonor, Philip McDonagh, and Yiorgos Chouliaras.
This year we're going to celebrate the 5th edition of International Diplomats Day with an outsourcing idea inviting the celebrities and general public in the celebrations from across the world in Dubai.
Realizing the importance of Global Peace and happiness on the occasion of the International Day of Diplomats, Kavishala is compelling to present the list of our Poet - Diplomats from different corners of the world on our platform.
1. Abhay Kumar- Abhay Kumar is a well-known Indian poet-diplomat and our country's 21st Ambassador to Madagascar who is an Ambassador to Comoros. Although he has served in various diplomatic capacities including Russia, Nepal, and Brazil. His most read collections of poetry include The Seduction of Delhi, The Eight-Eyed Lord of Kathmandu, The Prophecy of Brasilia, The Alphabets of Latin America, The Magic of Madagascar among others, while his edited books are CAPITALS, 100 Great Indian Poems, 100 More Great Indian Poems, New Brazilian Poems, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems, The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems among others. He has translated Meghaduta and Ritusamhara of Kalidasa into English from Sanskrit.
HIS ASTONISHING ACHIEVEMENTS
- He has also recorded his poems at the library of Congress.
- He had also written an anthem for SAARC spurring in the search for an official SAARC Anthem.
- He compiled a 'Moon Anthem' to celebrate the success of India's Moon Mission Chandrayaan-2 .
- He has penned a 'Mars Anthem' to inspire the younger generation to explore our neighboring red planet.
- He had received the SAARC Literary Award for his contribution to contemporary South Asian Poetry and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2013.
- Honored with Asia-Pacific Excellence Award in 2014.
- His translation of Kalidasa's Meghaduta and Ritusamhara has received Kalinga Literary Festival 2020-2021 Poetry Book of the Year Award. Let's read out his wonderful poem of all time -
Earth Anthem
Our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl,
the most beautiful planet in the universe,
Asia, Australia, Europe,
Africa, America, Antarctica,
Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic or Indian,
all the continents and the oceans of the world
united we stand,
united we stand as flora and fauna
united we stand as species of one earth,
black, brown, white, or yellow,
different colors
but one truth,
we are humans
and the earth is our home,
our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl
2. Shashi Tharoor: He is an Indian politician, writer, and former international diplomat who has been serving as a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. In 2006 he was Under-Secretary-General of the UN.
Shashi Tharoor had served as a Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology and All India Professionals Congress. He had been appointed as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs from 2014 to 2019.
In 2019, Tharoor had received the Sahitya Academy Award for his book An Era of Darkness in English.
This poem is from Shashi Tharoor's book The Riot:
How to Sleep at Night
Try to think of nothing.
That's the secret.
Try to think of nothing.
Do not think of work not done,
or of promises unkept, calls to return,
or agendas you have failed to prepare for meetings
yet unheld.
Think of nothing.
Do not think of words said and unsaid,
or minor scandals and major investigations,
of humiliations endured, insults suffered,
or retorts that did not spring to mind
in time.
Think of nothing.
Do not think of your wife,
of lonely children and their reproachful demands,
or the smile of the pretty woman
whose handshake lingered just a shade too long
in your palm.
Think of nothing.
Do not think of newspaper headlines,
of the insistent transience of the shortwave radio,
or the seductive stridency of the TV microphones
thrust so thrillingly
into your face.
3. Amarendra Dhatua: Amarendra Dhatua is a multi-talented leading Indian diplomat who is an expert in Foreign Policies and Trade.
Here are the few lines of poetry -
REACHING OUT INTO NOTHINGNESS
Say it again, the simple words
won't denote meaning to such banal
meaninglessness, as we know,
the precious waiting is a dignified
entity, the backside of your temperamental
visiting card.
Bones have this funny habit,they have to
shed flesh, water down the blood and
have to embrace dust to become dust.
Inevitably our knowledge regarding
despair does never flower into
protected relationship and, it is really funny, that
relationship is like fossilized bone,
once intact, now seemingly meaningless dust
even nostrils failing to acknowledge.
4. Gauri Shankar Gupta: Gauri Shankar is the Author of Mongolia: The Land of Blue Skies, which was published in 2007.
But as a part of his diplomatic assignments, Gupta had served as India's ambassador to Mongolia, Hungary, and Bosnia & Herzegovina and as High Commissioner of India to Trinidad and Tobago.
HIS PROMINENT WORKS
- Appointed as India's Deputy Permanent Representative to UNESCO.
- Worked as India's diplomat and Deputy Chief of Mission in Belgium, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Mexico, and the Philippines.
- His 4th book Unraveling Mysteries of Life – Modern Science and Ancient has received excellent reviews around the world.
- Other books are Science and Spirituality, published in 2017 is a including Limits of Consumption – Environmental Degradation and Ancient Wisdom was published in September 2018.
Mother India
A land,
Ancient and old,
With thousands of legends in the fold;
A cradle of cultures and civilizations,
And the mother of spiritual reflections.
A land,
Where Rama once walked,
And Krishna revealed his thoughts;
Where Vedas were unveiled,
To let the truth prevail.
A land,
That gave birth to human speech,
Where love and tolerance are preached;