Abid Surti: Difference between revisions
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'''Abid Surti''' (born 5 May 1935) is a National Award winning [[Indian]] author who has earned accolades within India and abroad as a painter, author, cartoonist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter besides being a ‘one-man’ NGO out to save every drop of water.<ref name=A>[http://www.ovguide.com/aabid-surti-9202a8c04000641f80000000087cf79e#]</ref><ref name=B>[http://www.harmonyindia.org/hportal/VirtualPrintView.jsp?page_id=13363]</ref> |
'''Abid Surti''' (born 5 May 1935) is a National Award winning [[Indian]] author who has earned accolades within India and abroad as a painter, author, cartoonist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter besides being a ‘one-man’ NGO out to save every drop of water.<ref name=A>[http://www.ovguide.com/aabid-surti-9202a8c04000641f80000000087cf79e#]</ref><ref name=B>[http://www.harmonyindia.org/hportal/VirtualPrintView.jsp?page_id=13363]</ref>He has won critical acclaim for multiple creative talents.<ref name=A/> He was given National Award by Government of India in 1993.<ref>[http://www.aabidsurti.in/ Aabid Surti]</ref> |
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==As Author== |
==As Author== |
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He has written many books which include short stories, novel, plays, children's books and travelogues. Several of his books have been translated into various regional languages. He has also been writing for [[Hindi]] and [[Gujarati]] newspapers and magazines for over 40 years and has won a national award for his short story collection ''Teesri Aankh'' in 1993.<ref name=A/> Aabid Surti became an author by accident. When his first love broke due to family pressure, the teenaged Aabid had no one to confide in – so he began putting his story on paper. The story was published in Gujarati in 1965 as ' Tootela Farishta ' (Fallen Angels) and proved to be an unexpected success.<ref name=H>[http://www.aabidsurti.in/author.htm]</ref> As of now, he has written more than 80 books including 45 novels, 10 short story collections and 7 plays.<ref name=H/>The biographical novel ‘Musalman’ (Muslim) was the actual account of the author’s childhood in the poverty-ridden Dongri area of Mumbai<ref name=H/>In 1975, his fictional version of the Devil’s Bible titled ‘The Black Book’ created a nationwide controversy, even amidst critical acclaim. It was translated into 7 languages and voted ‘The Book of the Year’ in Kannada.<ref name=H/>He earned the nickname the "Salman Rushdie of India" after his "Black Book" was published.<ref name=A/> |
He has written many books which include short stories, novel, plays, children's books and travelogues. Several of his books have been translated into various regional languages. He has also been writing for [[Hindi]] and [[Gujarati]] newspapers and magazines for over 40 years and has won a national award for his short story collection ''Teesri Aankh'' in 1993.<ref name=A/> Aabid Surti became an author by accident. When his first love broke due to family pressure, the teenaged Aabid had no one to confide in – so he began putting his story on paper. The story was published in Gujarati in 1965 as ' Tootela Farishta ' (Fallen Angels) and proved to be an unexpected success.<ref name=H>[http://www.aabidsurti.in/author.htm]</ref> As of now, he has written more than 80 books including 45 novels, 10 short story collections and 7 plays.<ref name=H/>The biographical novel ‘Musalman’ (Muslim) was the actual account of the author’s childhood in the poverty-ridden Dongri area of Mumbai<ref name=H/>In 1975, his fictional version of the Devil’s Bible titled ‘The Black Book’ created a nationwide controversy, even amidst critical acclaim. It was translated into 7 languages and voted ‘The Book of the Year’ in Kannada.<ref name=H/>He earned the nickname the "Salman Rushdie of India" after his "Black Book" was published.<ref name=A/> |
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Revision as of 18:07, 20 March 2011
Abid Surti (born 5 May 1935) is a National Award winning Indian author who has earned accolades within India and abroad as a painter, author, cartoonist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter besides being a ‘one-man’ NGO out to save every drop of water.[1][2]He has won critical acclaim for multiple creative talents.[1] He was given National Award by Government of India in 1993.[3]
As Author
He has written many books which include short stories, novel, plays, children's books and travelogues. Several of his books have been translated into various regional languages. He has also been writing for Hindi and Gujarati newspapers and magazines for over 40 years and has won a national award for his short story collection Teesri Aankh in 1993.[1] Aabid Surti became an author by accident. When his first love broke due to family pressure, the teenaged Aabid had no one to confide in – so he began putting his story on paper. The story was published in Gujarati in 1965 as ' Tootela Farishta ' (Fallen Angels) and proved to be an unexpected success.[4] As of now, he has written more than 80 books including 45 novels, 10 short story collections and 7 plays.[4]The biographical novel ‘Musalman’ (Muslim) was the actual account of the author’s childhood in the poverty-ridden Dongri area of Mumbai[4]In 1975, his fictional version of the Devil’s Bible titled ‘The Black Book’ created a nationwide controversy, even amidst critical acclaim. It was translated into 7 languages and voted ‘The Book of the Year’ in Kannada.[4]He earned the nickname the "Salman Rushdie of India" after his "Black Book" was published.[1]
As Painter
Abid Surti has been acclaimed as a painter, who has been credited to have used creative and original techniques to paint with oil and water colors. His using of acrylic colors applied to Italian art paper are also said to be indeed out of this world.[5]An accomplished painter, he has held 16 exhibitions in India and abroad. In his early years, he invented an innovative technique called ‘mirror collage’ which won critical acclaim in Japan. In 1971, the Indian government commissioned a short film to showcase his creative work.[6][7][8]
As Cartoonist
As a cartoonist, he created the lovable simpleton ‘Dhabbuji’. The highly original and popular cartoon strip has been one of the longest-running comic strips in India, running without a break for over 30 years. It was the weekly comic strip that first appeared in Dharmyug.[6][9] He also also created another popular comic book character, ‘Bahadur’[6][1],which achieved a large fan following, when the comics started to be published in Indrajal Comics from 1978.[10]
As an environmentalist
Abid Surti is the founder of Drop Dead, a unique initiative he set up in 2007 for water conservation. Every Sunday, along with a plumber and an assistant, he visits houses in and around Mira Road and fixes dripping taps. His plan is simple yet ingenious. He simply replaces old O-ring rubber gaskets with new ones. The idea struck him in 2007 when he noticed the dripping tap in his friend’s house. “A tap that drips water once every second wastes about 1,000 litre of water every month so imagine how much we all waste,” he points out. Surti and his assistants raise awareness through posters and pamphlets.[2] Before fixing a tap, they obtain permissions from the housing society concerned. And Surti pays for all expenses from his pocket. He buys gaskets from the wholesale market for Rs 50 each and pays each plumber Rs 200 per day. In 2007, when he was awarded the Hindi Sahitya Sanstha Award by the Uttar Pradesh government, he even used up the cash prize to fix leaky taps.[2]
Pesonal life & Family
Abid Surti was born in a poor Muslim family, who lived in Dongri area of Mumbai. His mother tongue is, however, gujarati, as his parents belonged to Surat city of Gujarat, India. That is why, he, probably uses Surati as his pseudo-name. Today, also he lives in Mumbai but in posh locality of Mira Road.
Recently, Abid Surti's son Aalif Surti, was in news, when Aalif & his wife Aditi ( a Maharashtrian Hindu ), refused to fill in the column titled 'Religion' in their child's most basic document, the birth certificate. They said, "We are not against religion, but who are we to choose a religion on our baby's behalf? We will expose him to the values of different faiths and cultures, and when he grows up he will be free to follow any faith—or none if he wishes."[11]