‘Jeetanjali’: Amul cheers as Tomb of Sand becomes first Hindi novel to win International Booker Prize

Originally published as Ret Samadhi, in Hindi by Geetanjali Shree, the book has been translated into English by Daisy Rockwell.

Tomb of Sand has the distinction of being the first in any Indian language to win the high-profile award. (Amul/ Twitter)

As Tomb of Sand won the 2022 International Booker Prize on Thursday, it created history by becoming the first book written in an Indian language to win the honour. As congratulatory messages have poured in for the winners, Amul dedicated its latest topical advertisement to celebrate the amazing feat.

Originally written in Hindi as Ret Samadhi by Geetanjali Shree, the book was translated into English by Daisy Rockwell. To mark the joyous occasion, the dairy brand featured both Rockwell and Shree holding the winning book, replicating their photo from the awards ceremony in London.

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“Jeetanjali,” the dairy major wrote in a witty play of words accompanying adorable caricatures of the author and the translator. “Amul — your Bhook ka prize,” it added in a nod to the award’s name and its brand as the duo were seen sitting on a couch, with a slab of butter and a loaf of bread between them.

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Although the dynamic duo left everyone behind winning the top prize, they met each other in person for the first time at the ceremony. Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, they did not get a chance to interact with each other face to face during the past two years that they worked on the translation.

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The book, originally published in 2018, centres on an octogenarian who slips into depression following her husband’s death. However, she bounces back to challenge conventions, by striking a friendship with a transgender person and deciding to travel to Pakistan to confront the ghosts of her past.

Announcing the win, Frank Wynne, Irish translator and jury chair, said, “This is a luminous novel of India and Partition, but one whose spellbinding brio and fierce compassion weaves youth and age, male and female, family and nation into a kaleidoscopic whole.”

The International Booker Prize, earlier known as the Man Booker International Prize, was launched in 2004 to reward, every two years, a contemporary author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or available in English translation. Since 2016, it has been given every year to a book translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.