List of poetry books written by Indian diplomats

“Once the storm has passed

Once the dust has settled down

Who remembers the blood-sworn vow?

The cloud serpent

Again, steals the water-womb.

The sacrifices made

At the altar of trade

An uneasy head wears the broken crown” —Anshuman Gaur, 2001 batch IFS

Do you know former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao is also a poet? Or that poet-diplomat Abhay K had published five collections of poetry? “When the mood is on, words, thoughts and images flow with ease”, reads the preface of the book — Snowflakes of Time (Poetry Collection) — written by another former foreign secretary, Kanwal Sibal. As Keats wrote once, if poetry comes “not as naturally as the leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all”.

Here below are some of the poetry collections written by Indian Foreign Service officers, both serving and retired:

1. Pillars of a Landscape: A Poetry Collection (by Aftab Seth)

2. Enigmatic Love: Love Poems from Moscow (2008) (by Abhay K)

3. CAPITALS: A poetry anthology (2017) (by Abhay K)

4. Isthmus of Time: A Poetry Collection (2017) (by Anshuman Gaur)

5. Jonaki, A Collection of Poems (Marathi) (Dyaneshwar Mulay)

6. Droplet— A Collection of English Poetry (by Gauri Shankar Gupta)

7. Chand Lamhe: A Collection of Hindi Poetry (by Gauri Shankar Gupta)

8. Snowflakes of Time (Poetry Collection) (by Kanwal Sibal)

9. Samay, Sapna Aur Tum (Poetry) (by Madhup Mohta)

10. The Fifth Element- A poetry collection (by Manju Seth) 

11. Rain Rising: A poetry collection (by Nirupama Rao)

12. Oriya story and poetry collections (by Subhakanta Behera)

13. Several Poetry Collections in Urdu (by Surinder Malik)