International Booker winner Geetanjali Shree visits her locked Patparganj apartment
GURUGRAM — International Booker Prize-winning author Geetanjali Shree made a rare afternoon visit to her locked and dusty apartment in Patparganj, East Delhi, which she lived in for over two decades before relocating to Gurugram during the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Shree and her husband, modern India historian Sudhir, left the apartment in 2020 to be with her mother in Gurugram, where her younger sister, Jayanti, lives. The couple never returned to live in the Patparganj home, choosing instead to stay at her sister’s residence in Gurugram whenever they are in town.
The locked apartment remains a significant literary site. Within its walls, Shree wrote several of her major works, including 'Khali Jagah', 'Tirohit', numerous short stories, and the early drafts of her novel 'Ret Samadhi'. Translated into English by Daisy Rockwell as 'Tomb of Sand', the book became the first Hindi novel to win the prestigious International Booker Prize.
During her brief visit, Shree entered the apartment to find the tastefully furnished interiors blanketed in dust. The home, which the couple jokingly referred to as "Writer's Block" due to the many writers living in the building, once housed prominent literary neighbors. Poet Girdhar Rathi and translator Kiran Rathi lived upstairs, while novelist Nirmal Verma and poet Gagan Gill lived downstairs.
Reflecting on her writing process, Shree pointed out the two specific spots where she worked inside the apartment: the kitchen table, which offered a view of the trees outside, and an old wooden desk rescued from a junk house in Baroda. Beneath the glass top of the desk lies a collage of photos and sketches, along with a miniature Taj Mahal in a glass case that once belonged to the legendary writer Krishna Sobti.
Shree, who writes by hand using a Parker fountain pen gifted by her mother, recalled the long hours of isolation she spent at the desk. After spending days in silence writing, she would sometimes go for walks within the residential complex, wondering if she had lost her voice.
Following the brief visit to her former creative sanctuary, the author departed, leaving behind the locked home as her life continues in other spaces.
