S.R. Harnot born 22 January 1955) is a creative writer from

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

, India. He is noted for his numerous poems, short stories, and novels in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and

Pahadi Pahari or Pahadi may refer to: * Pahari language, the name of several languages and dialects of South Asia * Pahari people (Nepal), an ethnic group of Nepal * Pahari people, a cover term for many Northern Indo-Aryan speaking groups of Uttarakhand ...

. He has received multiple awards on the state, national, and international levels. His is work has inspired both a considerable body of scholarship and a number of adaptations in various artistic forms by others. Harnot writes mostly about societal issues such as socio-cultural change, casteism,

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

, corporate greed, and official corruption in the everyday life of contemporary rural western Himalayas.

Personal life

Harnot was born in village Chanawag, Tehsil Seoni,

Shimla District Shimla district, known as Simla district until 1972, is one of the twelve districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Its headquarters is the state capital of Shimla. Neighbouring districts are Mandi and Kullu in the north, ...

. While growing up he faced a lot of financial constraints, but eventually had a successful career. He worked at the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation for 36 years till 2013, retiring as Deputy General Manager. Prior to that, he had worked for some time at the Industries Department. Harnot holds an MA in Hindi, a

BA (Hons) A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in Hindi, and a Diploma in PR, Advertising and Journalism. Harnot's son Girish Harnot is an actor, writer, and director.

Works

Harnot is the author of several short story collections. These include ''Panja, Aakashbel, Peeth Par Pahad, Darosh tatha anya kahaniyaan, Jeenkathi Tatha Anya Kahaniyan, Mitti Ke Log, Lytton Block Gir Raha Hai, Keelein, Bhaga Devi ka Chaighar. Nadi gayab hai, Dus Pratinidhi Kahaniyan ''and ''Aadhar chayan kahaniyan. ''His novels include ''Hidimb'' (2011)and ''Nadi rang jaisi ladki (2022).'' He has also written certain works based on culture and travel in Himachal Pradesh. These include'' Himachal ke mandir aur unse judi lok kathayein (1991); Himachal at a glance (2000), ''and ''Yatra: Kinnaur, Spiti, Lahaul, aur Manimahesh par sanskritik aur aetihasik yatraein (1987)''.''

Views

Harnot is critical of the widespread caste discrimination in Himachal Pradesh, a theme he has engaged with both creatively and through activism. In January 2022, he launched the book ''Hindi dalit sahitya: vimarsh ke ayine mein'', an anthology on contemporary

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

writings in Hindi edited by Dr. Surendra Sharma. In 2007, Harnot offered to provide the Bangladeshi writer

Taslima Nasreen Taslima Nasrin (born 25 August 1962) is a Bangladeshi- Swedish writer, physician, feminist, secular humanist, and activist. She is known for her writings on the oppression of women and criticism of Islam; some of her books are banned in Bangl ...

refuge at his home, a time when Nasreen was facing flak due to her controversial writings about Islam.

Recognition

Some of the early awards won by Harnot include the Bhartendu Harish Chandra Award, the Creative News National Award, Himachal Kesari Award, and Himachal Gaurav Award. Other awards include the Himachal State Akademi Award, the 'Award for Tourism and Literature' from the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, and 'the Fiction Writer of the Year Award' by Divya Himachal Daily Newspaper. As of 1 October 2018, his work had been the subject of three PhDs and 17 MPhil dissertations at various Indian universities. A more comprehensive list of Harnot's awards, influence, and the adaptations of his work into other media can be found on his Hindi Wikipedia page. Some particular recognitions include the following: * Harnot's book 'Himachal ke mandir aur unse judi lok kathayein' (The temples of Himachal and the folk tales associated with them), originally published in 1991, has been digitally archived on

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

. * In 2003, Harnot was awarded the Indu Sharma katha samman. * In 2010, Harnot was awarded the Hindi Sewa Samman. * In 2012, he was awarded the Jagdish Chandra Smriti Award. * In 2012, the Bollywood actor

Anupam Kher Anupam Kher (born 7 March 1955) is an Indian actor, director and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, he has acted in more than 540 films. A veteran of Indian cinema, Kher is recipient of two Na ...

organised a month-long theater workshop in Shimla's Gaiety Theater based on Harnot's short story 'Bezuban'. * In 2014, Mariola Offredi, a researcher from Italy, presented a paper titled 'The effects of glocalization on the mountain villages of Himachal Pradesh: an analysis of the Hindi short stories of S.R. Harnot' at the 23rd European Conference on South Asian Studies. In 2012, Offredi had translated and presented Harnot's short story 'a manav' at a literary conference in Lisbon. * in 2018, 'Cats Talk', an anthology of 12 short stories by Harnot translated into English, was published by Cambridge Scholars (UK). * In 2021, Harnot's short story 'Ma padhti hai' was translated into English as 'Ma reads' and published in the

Frontline magazine ''Frontline'' is a fortnightly English language News magazine, magazine published by The Hindu Group of publications headquartered in Chennai, India. Vaishna Roy is the editor of the magazine. It is a news and views magazine that provides in-d ...

in the January issue. * In 2022 (August), Harnot was the convener of the 'Bhalku smriti literary yatra', a journey along the historic Kalka-Shimla railway line involving recitals of stories, memories, poetry, and music.

References

{{authority control Writers from Himachal Pradesh 1955 births People from Shimla district Novelists from Himachal Pradesh Poets from Himachal Pradesh Hindi-language writers Hindi-language poets People from Shimla 20th-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian male writers Living people Indian environmentalists Himalayan studies Hindi-language novelists