Sanjay Bahadur

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Born in 1966, Sanjay Bahadur grew up in half a dozen cities in north and west India. He completed his graduation from Elphinstone College, Mumbai in 1987 and his Masters in Economics from the University of Mumbai in 1989. In the same year, he qualified for the Indian Civil Services examination and joined the Indian Revenue Service. During 2000- 2004 he worked as a Director in the Indian Ministry of Coal, which gave him the opportunity to observe mining operations and lives of miners at close quarters. He spent 2004 - 2005 in the UK and acquired an MBA in Public Service from the University of Birmingham in Merit Class. He has travelled extensively through Europe and in India and has also trekked in the Western Ghats and the Himalayas, including a solo trek in the Gangotri region. He enjoys reading, music and cooking. For the last two years he is living in Goa where he is posted as the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax.

The Sound of Water is his first novel which has been included in the long list announced by the Administrative Committee of Man Asia Literary Prize. The theme of The Sound of Water is inspired by the account of an aged miner who was trapped underground for a week in a flooded coal mine in 2001 in a disaster that claimed more than forty lives. Although written with the backdrop of a mining disaster, it is not a disaster novel. It essentially talks about the psychological and spiritual reactions of persons involved in and affected by the mine accident. It is a very unusual plot for an Indian novel and talks about events and people who exist at the periphery of the consciousness of educated, urban readers. It breaks away from the typical mould of autobiographical soul baring or family sagas that has for some time been the popular genre of Indian writing in English and dares to create a new genre that can best be called ‘alternate realism’.

External Links

2007 Man Asian Literary Prize

Work of fiction set in India's deep, dark mines

Prize for Asian Authors

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