Mrityunjay Kumar Singh

Mrityunjay Kumar Singh मृत्युंजय कुमार सिंह
Born	August 30, 1961(1961-08-30) Sonbarsa, Bihar
Occupation	Indian Government Service, Poet, Columnist, Lyricist, Folk Singer
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	St. Columbus College, Hazaribagh; Kirori Mal College, Delhi University
Notable work(s)	Collection of Hindi Poems, KIRCHEN & Bilingual Transcreation (Hindi & English) of 'MEGHDOOT' of Kalidasa
Spouse(s)	Manjula Singh
Children	Ishaan Singh & Shaunak Singh
mrityunjaykumarsingh.blogspot.com

Mrityunjay Kumar Singh (मृत्युंजय कुमार सिंह) (born August 30, 1961) is an Indian Police Service Officer of the 1987 batch belonging to the West Bengal Cadre. He is also a poet, columnist, lyricist and folk musician.

Life

Mrityunjay Kumar Singh, also known as MK Singh, was born in 1961 in Sonbarsa, Bihar. He was brought up in the rural environs of Western Bihar, a land rich and ripe with crops and culture.

As Superintendent of Police, Murshidabad he worked for safety, security and conservation of the Hazar Duari palace and museum of Murshidabad in West Bengal, being maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India in 1997-98.

He also worked simultaneously as the Director of the Branch Secretariat of Ministry of External Affairs, Kolkata dealing with consular, border and bilateral and multilateral diplomatic matters related to Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

MK worked with NGOs of India and Bangladesh dealing with illegal child trafficking and migration across International border and their restoration and reintegration with their families from 2003-2007.

He also represented India in UNICEF’s multilateral discussion on illegal trafficking and migration of Children across International borders in South Asia held in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2007.

MK represented India as a member of the Working Committee to formulate scope and objectives of ‘Bali Democracy Forum’(a multilateral forum to discuss and deliberate on development & implementation of democracy and it’s ethics) in December 2008.

As Counsellor of the Embassy of India, Jakarta and Director of Jawaharlal Nehru Indian Cultural Centre, Jakarta and Indian Cultural Centre, Bali, worked to innovate ways for breaking new grounds of people to people contact, collaborations, sharing and deeper understanding of diverse views and cultures. Hosted a very successful ‘Festival of India’ in Indonesia in 2009-10 (held after 7 years) with 48 events in 7 cities of Indonesia under the supervision of the Ambassador of India to Indonesia. Commended by the Indian Ambassador for the said feat.

MK is married to Manjula Singh, who worked as Lecturer of Political Science in University of Delhi, Loreto College, Darjeeling (from 1986–1993)and as a Consultant to the National Centre for Jute Diversification, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India for a project jointly funded by UNDP and Government of India (from 2004–2008). She is also associated with the management of ‘Sarada Kalyan Bhandar’, a NGO working with the women and children of 9 villages of Midnapore in the state of West Bengal since 1998.

He has 2 sons – Ishaan Singh (18 years) – since passed 12 grade and Shaunak Singh (13 years) – 8 grade, studying in Jakarta International School.

Today MK is living and working in Jakarta, Indonesia as a Counselor of Culture in the Indian Embassy.

Work

MK Singh's work content

Works

Poetry (काव्य)

• Collection of poems - ‘KIRCHEN’ (The Splinters) in 2007 by Anupam Prakashan of Patna, attracted critical appreciation of many Hindi literary magazines including ‘Vagaarth’ of Bhartiya Bhasa Parishad, Kolkata and received special critique of Mr. Arun Kamal, a hindi poet of exceptional repute
• Poetic transcreation of Kalidasa’s Sanskrit Classic ‘Meghdoot’ in Hindi following a rhyme scheme for suiting the musical score to be prepared soon by Mr. Debajyoti Mishra, a renowned music director who is known for his work in the films like ‘ Hazaar Churasi ki Ma’, ‘Raincoat’, Chokher Bali’, ‘Dharm’etc. (The work is translated in English also by me and is due to be published)

Music & Drama (संगीत & नाटक)

• Wrote lyrics, co-composed music and sang a Bhojpuri folk song for an album ‘Suranjali’ made by Eastern Zonal Culture Centre, Ministry of Culture, Government of India in December, 2006 and was released by the President of India
• Travelled to Guyana & Surinam on ICCR’s sponsorship in 2004, and to Mauritius on Ministry of Culture, India’s sponsorship in 2005 to perform during various events organized by the Indian Diaspora
• Wrote lyrics for the songs of films like ‘Chokher Bali’of Rituparno Ghosh, ‘Dharm’ by Bhavna Talwar, ‘Via Darjeeling’ of NDFC by Arindam Nandy, ‘Chaturanga’ of Suman Mukhopadhyay and many others
• Wrote lyrics for the songs of films like ‘Chokher Bali’of Rituparno Ghosh, ‘Dharm’ by Bhavna Talwar, ‘Via Darjeeling’ of NDFC by Arindam Nandy, ‘Chaturanga’ of Suman Mukhopadhyay and many others
• Wrote concept and script of two collaborative dance dramas – a) ‘Sri Kandi’ (Shikhandi) based on tales and mythologies from Mahabharata encated by Javanese dancing icon Didik Nini Thowok with his group of 6 dancers along with 3 Kathak and 2 Chhau dancers from India. Staged in 5 cities of Indonesia and selected by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Republic of Indonesia for their ASEAN International cultural event
• ‘Putri Segara’ (daughter of the Sea) with Balinese and Kathak dancers based on Rabindranath Tagore’s poem ‘Sagarika’ written on Bali in 1927 during his visit to the island

Papers & Presentations

• presented a paper on “Literacy and Education through Mother Language” in a Seminar on International Mother Language Day organized by UNESCO and the National Ministry of Education, Republic of Indonesia at Institute of Technology, Bandung on 26 May 2009. The paper is published in the book of selected presentations
• Spoke on “Moslem’s Heritage and its Challenges: Acceptable and Integrated Moslem” in a Talk Show at Universitas Indonesia, Depok in June, 2009
• Key note speech on ‘Language Policy in India’ was published in the Book of selected Papers of the Language Centre, Ministry of Education, Republic of Indonesia in November, 2010
• Lecture at London School of Public Relation (LSPR), Jakarta on ‘The similarities and affinity of Indian & Indonesian Culture” for Intercultural Day (STIKOM) in July, 2009
• Represented India in the ‘Trail of Civilization’ on Borobudur at Yogyakarta in May, 2009. It is a Multi-lateral cultural forum initiated by Indonesia by signing a ‘Borobudur Declaration’ between 6 nations - Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. The forum has included India, China, Japan and Korea as friends and observers to the forum.

Awards

• Awarded the President of India Medal for Meritorious Service in 2003.
• Awarded ‘Kalakar Award’for ‘Best music in Regional Language’ in 2003 for Bhojpuri album ‘Ae Babua’ released by T-series in India.
• Felicitated by Bharatiya Sahitya Punarnirman Mission for my contribution to folk music and Hindi poetry in 2003 at Kolkata, India.)

MK Singh's poetry in Indian cinema

MK's song Uphaar was featured in the Hindi film Dharm (film) (2007) ^[1] and Via Darjeeling (2008),^[2] also a Bengali film called Chokher Bali.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ Dharm at the Internet Movie Database
2. ^ Via Darjeeling at the Internet Movie Database
3. ^ Choker Bali: A Passion Play at the Internet Movie Database
4. ^ Read MK’s poems on his personal blog at mrityunjaykumarsingh.blogspot.com

External links

• - Songs from the movie Via Darjeeling
• - Songs from the movie Dharm
• - 'Ae Babua' & 'Ruk ja Sajanwa' by Mrityunjay
• - for a reference to the film Via Darjeeling
• [1] - 'Nothing Official About It' article about MK Singh in Times of India, Kolkata
• [2] - 'Top Cop In Tune' article about MK Singh in The Telegraph, Calcutta
• [3] - 'The Wanderers' article about MK Singh in The Telegraph, Calcutta

Persondata
Name	Singh, Mrityunjay Kumar
Alternative names	MK Singh
Short description
Date of birth	August 30, 1961
Place of birth	Sonbarsa, Bihar
Date of death
Place of death