Indra Sinha
Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Short description
Indra Sinha (born 1950 in Colaba,[1] Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a British writer of Indian and English descent.[2] Animal's People, his most recent novel, was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize[3][4] and winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Europe and South Asia.
In July 2015, Sinha was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Literature by the University of Brighton for "his major contribution to literature and demonstrating the power of words in changing people’s lives".[5]
Biography
Sinha is the son of an officer in the Indian Navy and an English writer.[6] He was educated at Mayo College, Ajmer, Rajasthan in India; Oakham School, Rutland, England and Pembroke College, Cambridge in England, where he studied English literature. His wife and he live in the Lot valley in south-west France.[7] They have three grown-up children.
Formerly a copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather, London,[8] and, from 1984, Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners,[9] Sinha has the distinction of having been voted one of the top ten British copywriters of all time.[1] He became known for hard-hitting, campaigning advertising for charities such as Amnesty International and the Bhopal Medical Appeal,[1] but became increasingly disenchanted with commercial advertising.[1] In 1995, Sinha resigned from the agency to concentrate on writing.[7]
Books
Animal's People, set in the fictional Indian city of Khaufpur, was a reworking of the Bhopal disaster[10][11] based on Sinha's long association working with the Bhopal survivors. His earlier works include translations of ancient Sanskrit texts into English,[12] a non-fiction memoir of the pre-internet generation (The Cybergypsies),[13] and a novel, The Death of Mr. Love, based on the case of K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra.[14]
Bibliography
- 1980. The Love Teachings of Kama Sutra:[15] With extracts from Koka Shastra, Ananga Ranga and other famous Indian works on love. Translations from Sanskrit and commentary. London: Hamlyn. Hardcover first edition: Template:ISBN. First North American edition 1997, New York: Marlowe & Co. Paperback: Template:ISBN.
- 1993. Tantra: The Search for Ecstasy[16] (also known with the subtitle "The Cult of Ecstasy").[1] London: Hamlyn. Template:ISBN.
- 1993. The Great Book of Tantra: Translations and Images from the Classic Indian Text. Rochester: Inner Traditions - Bear & Company. Template:ISBN. London: Hamlyn paperback edition: Template:ISBN.
- 1999. The Cybergypsies: a True Tale of Lust, War, and Betrayal on the Electronic Frontier.[13] New York: Viking Press, hardcover first edition. Template:ISBN. New York: Simon & Schuster paperback edition: Template:ISBN.
- 2002. The Death of Mr Love.[17] New York: Scribner (Simon & Schuster). Template:ISBN. (See also: K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra.)
- 2007. Animal's People.[10] New York: Simon & Schuster. Template:ISBN. (See also: Bhopal disaster.)
Bhopal
Sinha has been a passionate campaigner for justice for the victims of the Bhopal disaster since 1993,[7] when he created the first advertisement for the Bhopal Medical Appeal (using the now-famous photograph by Raghu Rai of a dead child being buried)[1] that raised money to build a clinic to provide free treatment for the survivors.[7] He is an outspoken critic of Dow Chemical Company, the multinational owner of Union Carbide, whose neglected, dilapidated and undermanned chemical plant in the city of Bhopal leaked 27 tonnes of poisonous gas on the night of 3 December 1984, killing up to 8,000 people and injuring upwards of half a million. Around 22,000 people have died as a result of injuries sustained on "that night", and more than 100,000 remain chronically ill; the abandoned, derelict factory continues to leach toxic chemicals into the groundwater, poisoning wells.[18]
Apart from his novel, Animal's People (a fictionalised account of the aftermath of the disaster), Sinha has given many interviews and written several articles on the subject,[19] including one in The Guardian marking the 25th anniversary of the disaster, in which he roundly condemns local politicians (particularly Babulal Gaur of the BJP) for their failure to comply with a 2004 Supreme Court ruling ordering them to supply clean water to the poison victims.[20] Nor does he absolve the Indian Government of blame.
As a former advertising copywriter, Sinha is particularly scathing about Dow Chemical Company's attempts to improve its image through its sponsorship of events such as the Blue Planet Run and Live Earth Run For Water. He has called Dow's "Human Element" advertising campaign "glossy falsehoods", and quotes artist Paul Phare (who created a set of e-cards in response to Dow) "Telling a lie beautifully does not make it true".[21][22]
See also
References
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- ↑ Biography on Indra Sinha's website Template:Webarchive.
- ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Ogilvy Indra Sinha's website blog Template:Webarchive, accessed 21 October 2011.
- ↑ Indra Sinha's website blog Template:Webarchive, accessed 21 October 2011.
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". (This book review also discusses Sinha's book in the context of previous books about the Bhopal disaster: It Was Five Minutes Past Midnight (2001) by Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro; A Breath of Fresh Air (2002) by Amulya Malladi.)
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- ↑ KM Nanavati v State of Maharashtra
- ↑ Common misconceptions about Kama Sutra. Template:Webarchive "The Kama Sutra is neither a sex-manual nor, as also commonly believed, a sacred or religious work. It is certainly not a tantric text. In opening with a discussion of the three aims of ancient Hindu life – dharma, artha and kama – Vatsyayana's purpose is to set kama, or enjoyment of the senses, in context. Thus dharma or virtuous living is the highest aim, artha, the amassing of wealth is next, and kama is the least of the three". —Indra Sinha.
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- ↑ Indra Sinha, "Abandoned to their fate", The Guardian, 9 April 2008, accessed 5 December 2009.
- ↑ Indra Sinha, "Why I'm going on hunger strike for Bhopal", The Guardian, 12 June 2008, accessed 5 December 2009.
- ↑ Indra Sinha, "Bhopal: 25 years of poison", The Guardian, 3 December 2009, accessed 5 December 2009.
- ↑ Bhopal.net "Behind the mask of Dow" e.cards accessed 5 December 2009. Template:Webarchive
- ↑ A glimpse behind the mask of Dow Indra Sinha's website blog (cached), accessed 5 December 2009.
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External links
- Interview on Radio France Internationale (2 December 2009) to mark 25th anniversary of Bhopal disaster
- Pages with script errors
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- 1950 births
- Living people
- Writers from Mumbai
- 20th-century British novelists
- 21st-century British novelists
- People educated at Oakham School
- Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
- British writers of Indian descent
- Indian copywriters
- English-language writers from India
- Indian male novelists
- Indian people of English descent
- 20th-century Indian translators
- Mayo College alumni
- 20th-century Indian male writers
- 21st-century Indian male writers