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

NEW DELHI: Amitabh Bachchan's film "Kaala Patthar" had famously brought the lives of India's coal miners to the silver screen in the 1970s. Now a work of English fiction again tries to weave a story around them.

"The Sound of Water", written by Sanjay Bahadur, is the account of an aged miner trapped underground for a week in a flooded coalmine. Set in 2001, it talks of a  disaster that claims more than 40 lives.

The book is still awaiting its official release because it has been nominated among the top 20 entries for the inaugural Man Asia Literary Awards, which considers only unpublished works.

"I have not set my story in a specific place. It in a way represents the entire community of miners,"  Bahadur, an Indian Civil Service officer who worked as a director in the ministry of coal, said.

Mine accidents have claimed many lives in the coal rich states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

"It's a different world once you get inside a coalmine. It's very difficult to explain what goes through the mind of a miner when he gets trapped," said Bahadur, who is currently posted in Goa.

The story deals with the trauma that a miner goes through, his mental state, he said. 

Bahadur also claims the book is the first ever work in English fiction that deals with the mining industry in India.

"India's coalmine industry is the oldest organised industry in the country, but as far as my knowledge goes, there has been no work in English fiction on this topic.

"There are innumerable research works, essays on miners in English and a good lot of fiction in regional languages, especially Bengali, but no fiction has been written in English," he said.

The book tries to give the perspective of three sets of characters - those facing the disaster, those responsible for taking out the trapped miners and the family members of the miners. 

"I have presented the perspectives of all the three quarters involved during a mining disaster. This will give a total picture of what the miners go through," he said.

The Man Asia Literary Award recognises the best of new Asian literature to bring it to the attention of the world. It is a part of The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival conceived by a group of journalists, publishers, editors, authors and academics in 2000.

The final winner of the award will be declared in November this year.