Education
Geetanjali Shree wins the prestigious International Booker Prize 2022 for her Novel ‘The Tomb of Sand’
Becomes the First Indian to achieve this Global Landmark.
Shobhit Chandola – Mumbai Uncensored, 31st May 2022
Who is the Overnight Global Sensation Geetanjali Shree? Why the lack of praise from the Centre?
From the Longlist to the Shortlist, & from Shortlist to the Winner. This was nothing but the Upshot of the International Booker Prize 2022 whereby the Indian Author ‘Geetanjali Shree’ wrote history as her Novel – ‘Ret Samadhi’ (2018 ) translated in English by ‘Daisy Rockwell’ was awarded the prestigious award on 26th May,2022 at Guildhall, London (England ). In the Final run, the ‘Tomb of Sand’ was victorious over ‘The Books of Jacob’, a polish novel by ‘Olga Tokarczuk’. Both the winners are now entitled to £50,000 prize to be shared equally as author and translator respectively.
It can be hailed as a well deserved recognition to Geetanjali Shree as this indeed a big boost to the literary transitions in India.
Speaking on her achievement in the acceptance speech to the Press Trust of India, Geetanjali Shree said it to be the dream come true as she never thought, never dreamt of being Booker Prizeholder. The facts get more surreal as the Author’s work was published almost 4 years ago in 2018 but found immense recognition once the translator Daisy Rockwell made it go global with English. Geetanjali said – “What a huge recognition. I am amazed, delighted, honoured and humbled.” She added that Behind her and this book lies a rich and flourishing literary tradition in Contemporary Hindi literature and other South asian languages whose works are yet to be recognized on a large scale.
About Geetanjali Shree
Geetanjali Shree aka Geetanjali Pandey is a Delhi based novelist and short story writer who primarily writes in Hindi & contributes to Hindi & Urdu Literature. An Alumni of Delhi University & JNU, she has written 5 novels till now and is a promising Indian Liberal in the International writer’s Consortium. Her major works include ‘Humara Sheher us baras’, ‘Khali Jagah’, ‘Mai’ and ‘Ret Samadhi’.
As a writer Geetanjali Shree offers the readers with the enigmatic yet flamboyant style of writing. One shall find the essence of Indian literature, characters’ depth, successional run of the rhythm in the language, a mix blend of modern storytelling with mythological narration and the use of sardonicism / political satire making her distinct from the others. (Now the word Others in her case is subject to all the global contemporaries after the Booker prize and isn’t confined to Indian Hindi novelists).
About Ret Samadhi / Tomb of Sand ( English )
Ret Samadhi is a family saga set in northern India about an 80-year-old woman who travels to Pakistan to confront the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition. It re-evaluates what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman and a feminist.
An extract from ‘Ret Samadhi’
The result is a book that is a genuine and humorous take on the destructive impact of the borders of the nations on the people mostly in terms of Religion & gender.
Why BJP’s Spiral of Silence on ‘Ret Samadhi’ ?
There is no denial that the Central Government is always ahead in terms of praising the distinguished Indians who bring laurels to the country. But then, why the Ret Samadhi by an Indian novelist that too written in Hindi (which is the language dearest to the BJP and is often on cards to be termed national language by their leaders) doesn’t find the space in the mentions of the NDA ministers social media handles. Well, the obvious reason here looks like the rebellious work with respect to the craft and language of Geetanjali ji. Maybe the Central protagonist- Chandra Prabha Devi love interest being Pakistani with the backdrop of Partition Or the short stories with themes of Communalism. It could also be the author’s essay on Swaraj, secularism,demolition and riots on Hindu Muslim context which stands against the ultra nationalist stand of the government as far as the author’s left centric beliefs are concerned. But the question arises why Hardeep Singh Puri ( Housing & Petroleum minister ) looks like the sole congratulator from the council of BJP. If the Gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra has brought laurels in Sports at global level, so has Ms. Geetanjali Shree in literature. Then how come the government is prejudicial in nature. A simple recognition would be of no harm. Perhaps keeping aside the political stance for a while, it would be more unifying and pragmatic for the traditional diversity of the nation.
Up for More translated works of the Booker prize winning Novelist Geetanjali Pandey? Check out the clip below showcasing the Author’s translated books by @IndianNovelsCollective.
Just to let our readers know that the International Booker Prize is the literary prize awarded every year to the single book of any other language translated into English & should not be confused with the Man Booker Prize which is awarded for Best Fictional Work written in English & published in the UK/Ireland. Arvind Adiga, Arundati Roy, Kiran Desai, Salman Rushdie & Kiran Desai are the Indian Authors felicitated with Man Booker Prize in the past.