New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) Diplomat-poet Abhay K captures the literary, cultural, mythical, and historical diversity of the African continent in his latest poetry collection, with each poem paying tribute to a land that has witnessed the dawn of humanity.
“The Alphabets of Africa”, published by Penguin Vintage, was borne out of Abhay’s visits to Africa on several occasions and his “first-hand experience of its rich and diverse cultures”.
In 180 poems, put together in alphabetical order, the book presents the reader with a journey across Africa’s geography and history through its heroes, myths, traditions, cuisines, cities, rivers, and flora and fauna.
“This poetry collection is my attempt to capture the astounding beauty and diversity of the continent. I could only dare to encapsulate the richness and immensity of Africa because of my earlier experience of writing poems on Latin America during my stay in Brazil and my travels across the continent from 2016 to 2019, published as ‘The Alphabets of Latin America’,” Abhay writes in the book.
The book opens with a poem on Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah in a reflection that feels personal, as Abhay writes of “homesickness”, “memories of departure”, and the “trauma of displacement”.
The book also includes poems on great icons of Africa such as Nelson Mandela, Toni Morrison, Chinua Achebe, John Menard, Toussaint Louverture, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Naguib Mahfouz, Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, Derek Walcott, Desmond Tut, Bob Marley, among others.
“There are several inspiring heroes and heroines from Africa who inhabit these pages whose lives have remained unsung in global history. Africa also presents great stories of human interaction with other species, such as that of Ndakasi, a female gorilla who photobombed herself into a selfie and became world famous overnight, or Kibande, a mountain gorilla whose serene and calm face gained prominence after being featured in a winning photograph by Majed Ali at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards in 2021,” he writes.
In the following poems, Abhay pays tribute to Africa, “from the ruins of Carthage, to flourishing Cape Town”, writes a eulogy in verse to Albert Camus who was “the stranger, the rebel, the moralist, the anarchist”, and speaks of the Asante golden stool that “descends from the sky at Kumasi” and “the Asante chiefs bow to it in reverence”.
In his poem, “A Tusker”, the Indian ambassador to Azerbaijan wonders with the “finest lager since 1922” in his hands on the way to Nairobi “if the African tuskers would last another century”.
“The book also introduces you to great African customs and traditions, and dance forms such as the Gerewol male beauty pageant in Chad and Niger, where young men compete to seduce young women; the Zaouli dance from the Ivory Coast, which honours feminine beauty and is marked by very fast and dexterous foot movements while the body remains still; and Umhlanga, the reed dance of Eswatini, which celebrates virginity and unity among young women,” Abhay writes.
Along with the well-known Egyptian pharaohs, such as Ramesses the Great, Tutankhamun and their famous royal consort Nefertari, Nefertiti, Hatshepsut and Hetepheres, Abhay pens verses for the pharaohs from the Kush Kingdom (present-day Sudan), including Piankhi, Shabaka, Taharqa and Tantamani.
The 248-page book, priced at Rs 499, is available on online and offline stores. PTI MAH MAH MAH
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