Nalanda-born diplomat pens anthem for Mars

PATNA: Nalanda-born diplomat-turned-poet Abhay Kumar has teamed up with Kenyan music group Kapnea to bring out a Mars Anthem for our neighbouring red planet.
As NASA plans to launch Mars 2020, a Mars rover mission on July 17, 2020, Abhay has collaborated with Kenyan singer Ondiko Kevin of the Kapnea music group to bring out the Mars Anthem aimed at inspiring younger generation to pay attention to the upcoming exploration on the red planet.The music video has been made by Mishree Yadav of Nepal.
Speaking about it, Abhay said: “Mars is the new centre of space exploration where a man is likely to land soon. I wanted to write an anthem with the perspective of a Martian, the way a Martian would feel about his planet, brag about it to us earthlings. For example, its lyrics includes lines like“Earth’s twin in the Milky Way/Similar seasons, length of the day/Channels, valleys, dykes and dunes/dry ice, dust devils, two moons/vallis marineris, Olympus Mons/ highest mountains, deepest canyons...”
Abhay has penned Earth Anthem and Moon Anthem in the past. Earth Anthem has been translated into over 50 languages and is widely used to celebrate Earth Day and World Environment Day, while the Moon Anthem was telecast live on major Indian TV channels hours before landing of Chandrayan-II on the moon.
India’s own Mars Orbiter Mission-II is scheduled to be launched in 2022.