Mulk Raj Anand

Mulk Raj Anand, one of the grand old men of Indian writing in English, died on Tuesday morning in Pune. He was 99. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

The writer was admitted to Jehangir Hospital in Pune on September 17 with pneumonia. He lived in Khandala, a hill station between Pune and Mumbai, while his wife lives in Mumbai and daughter in London.

Anand passed away at 8.30 am due to complications arising out of old age, said his caretaker Ram Gohar, who was with him till the end. His family was informed of his death, Gohar added.

Anand has bequeathed his property to the Sarvodaya Trust he set up for charity.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up the hospital to offer his condolences. With R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao, Anand will be remembered as one of the pioneers of Indian writing in English. Born in Peshawar in 1905, he graduated from Punjab University in 1924. He went for further studies to Cambridge and received his PhD from London University in 1929.

Later, he divided his time between India and the UK, working as a broadcaster in the films division of the BBC in London during World War II. He also fought with the Republicans in the Spanish civil war.

A prolific author, Anand wrote on several subjects, with his earlier books including titles like Curries and Other Indian Dishes (1932), Marx and Engels in India (1939) and The Hindu View of Art (1933). His autobiography is the seven-volume The Seven Ages of Man.

But his best known ? and best loved ? works are his three early novels: Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936) and Two Leaves and a Bud (1937).

Untouchable brought Anand, who is said to have written English with a Punjabi flavour, fame. It is the story of one day in the life of an untouchable youth, Bakha, through whose encounters with the world is narrated the brutal experience of being an outcast in Indian society, something that resonates strongly today.

A passionate Gandhian who was equally at ease with Marx?s ideology, Anand, who knew Gandhi personally, wrote in the tradition of social realism. Sometimes his plots got a little too stressed by his politics, and sometimes he was accused of na?vete. But his stature is unquestionable.

?He is one of our important writers,? says author Adil Jussawala.

?He brought to Indian English literature writing about the underclass without self-consciousness,? says author Jerry Pinto. ?He wrote two extremely good novels,? he adds, ?Untouchable and Coolie??

The pain in Untouchable and Coolie can still be felt, says Pinto. ?They still awaken our conscience,? he says.

In his best writing, says Pinto, Anand could take a political stance without sounding like he was sloganeering.

?He was a pioneering force,? says poet and art critic Ranjit Hoskote. ?He had an important humanist vision, which we are in danger of forgetting. It was an overarching vision that combined fiction with the situation of the subaltern, labour with grace,? he says.

?He also combined Gandhi with Marx and sometimes his politics outweighed his aesthetics. But it is best not to judge him by his style. He opened up important areas for Indian English writing,? says Hoskote.

Anand was Tagore professor of literature and fine arts at Punjab University and visiting professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla. He was also the fine art chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi.

He was a lively personality, till the very end. Ad personality Dolly Thakore, who visited him in Khandala a year ago, remembers him bursting with ideas about his new books. ?He was also very happy in his lovely bungalow, where he was into organic farming,? she says. ?He was full of life, always concerned about people, about issues,? she says. He may not be any more, but he will always be there, she says.