Diplomat Abhay K's book 'The Seduction of Delhi' to be launched at Jaipur Literature Festival

The new book The Seduction of Delhi by diplomat-author Abhay K is set for launch on January 21 in Jaipur. The launch has been organised by the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Abhay K writes about with great love about the seven cities of Delhi, including old monuments viz. Qutub Minar, Alai Minar, Lal Qila, Ugrasen Ki Bauli and Jantar Mantar, as well as new edifices such as the Cannaught Place, Khan Market, Nehru Park and the India Coffee House etc, historical personalities like Mirza Ghalib, Dara Shikoh, Rahim, Nizamuddin, and the Yamuna that flows past Delhi, Delhi's ubiquitous trees such as Neem and Jamun, and the unique three-wheeler auto rickshaw.

The poems are well crafted and short, like kaleidoscopic, impressionistic snapshots. Major Indian poet Jayanta Mahapatra says about the The Seduction of Delhi - "The poems in the three thematic lines, viz., Places, Portraits and Reflections, dovetail into one another to make Seduction of Delhi a remarkable, exciting book.

Qualities of love, tenderness and compassion set Abhay K's work apart from much of the general run of current poetics. Like the River Yamuna, I too, felt its "dark silver/ draining darkness/ from Delhi's soul." Abhay K's poems speak from the heart in language that doesn't compromise."

The book has been beautifully illustrated by the Italian artist Tarshito aka Niccola Strippoli and carries a preface by retired author-diplomat Pavan K Varma and a note on poetry-painting pairing by noted art critic and poet Ranjit Hoskote.

Varma, in his preface, says that -" As someone in love with Delhi myself, I applaud Abhay for falling poetic prey to its seductions with such literary elegance and poise. Delhi needs its own balladeers. In Abhay K it has found one."

The Kathmandu-based Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K has five collections of poems and two memoirs to his credit. He has received the SAARC Literary Award for his contribution to South Asian Poetry and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He is also the lyricist of the Earth Anthem and SAARC Song which have won praise and several celebrity endorsements.

Abhay has been working on a collection of poems on Nepal as well. The collection titled The Eight-Eyed Lord of Kathmandu will come out later this year. He is also editing an anthology on the national capitals of the world.