In this book, Arun Kumar offers a seer’s moving testament of hope in a time of precarious relationships, political upheaval, and environmental degradation. In the title poem, ‘Mantram Beach’, the rhythm of the ocean salves the suffering mind; in ‘The Family Temple’, like refugees from the storm, we enter a serene sanctuary; in ‘Shwedagon Pagoda’, a timeless tranquillity permeates every aspect of the place that is being portrayed; in ‘Remembering’, the timelines and tumults of our world give way to a simpler time, a simple peace; in ‘Gudalur, Nilgiris’, as the sun rises, the dew dries out, and the bougainvilleas light up in lilac and red. Elegant, luminous, stark, Mantram Beach is a superb collection of poems by a poet at the peak of his powers.
ARUN KUMAR has relished traversing many worlds. He and his wife, Poornima, now live in Mumbai, where he serves as Chairman and CEO of KPMG, India. They continue to maintain a home in the San Francisco Bay Area where they raised their two sons and lived for over three decades. They then moved to Washington, D. C. where he served in a senior position in President Obama’s administration.
Mantram Beach is his second book of poetry; the first was Plain Truths. He co-edited Kerala’s Economy: Crouching Tiger, Sacred Cows.
Arun received a master’s degree from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Kerala. He started his career in India as a member of TAS, the central management cadre of the Tata Group.
He credits his interest in poetry to his father, the late B. Madhavan Nair, and the late Mr W. J. McMahon, his English teacher at Lawrence School, Lovedale.
Read More‘I’ve long felt a kinship between coding and poetry. The elegance and economy essential to both are the hallmarks of Arun’s poetry. And he reminds us that the eyes and ears of a poet can enrich business and government leadership.’
—SATYA NADELLA, CEO, Microsoft
‘The poetry of Arun Kumar is deceptive in its simplicity. He isn’t one for the grand flourish or the overwrought emotion: his spare, illusive lines convey wry, sometimes playful, often sharp observations of people and places. But overriding it all is a warmth and affection for nature, and even for humanity in spite of all its pretensions and its foibles. Mantram Beach is a wonderful collection of poems by a poet at the peak of his powers.’
—ANIL DHARKER, Writer, Columnist, and Founder and Director, Tata Literature Live!
‘The nuanced translation of “kavi” is a wise person who is more than a poet, an individual with insight. Arun Kumar sees what others don’t. Mantram Beach is sometimes a dark and disturbing read, and I mean this as a compliment.
Arun Kumar has a way with words, and he uses this felicity to paint on a very broad canvas. This is not his first book of poetry, nor will it be the last. ’
—BIBEK DEBROY, Writer, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India