Senior IAS officer Rajeev Sharma is not only known for his efficiency, honesty and conscientiousness, but also for his writings. Currently posted as the Divisional Commissioner of Shahdol district in Madhya Pradesh, the 1988-batch officer recently launched his latest book, The SDM.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Sharma shared about his passion for writing.
WRITER SINCE CHILDHOOD
As a young boy, Mr. Sharma was a keen reader and had a inclination towards penning down his thoughts. He grasped the art of writing from his grandfather, who was a writer himself and had his own publishing company in the Chambal division. Even his father was extremely fond of reading books and had a very rich in-house library, where Mr. Sharma spent most of his time, growing up.
“During my school days, I took up Classical Sanskrit Literature along with World Literature. The credit for my passion for writing goes to the atmosphere in which I grew up. Both, my father and grandfather inspired me to write from as early as class 5,” shared the officer.
After completing his schooling, when he reached college, he became particularly famous as the ‘poet’ of the college. His poetry appealed to all the youngsters of his institution as they flocked around him to listen to them. He used to write either romantic or patriotic poems during that time, which appealed to the young generation.
THE SDM
Talking about his latest release, The SDM, Mr. Sharma shared that as far as books on bureaucrats are concerned, there is not a single book in the market that focuses solely on the life and work of a Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM). The officer found this concerning as he realised that an SDM has to go through hundreds of Acts and laws during his posting, because of the lack of availability of books on SDMs.
“I faced the same difficulty during my posting as SDM. That’s when I decided to handle this deficiency and write a book that will include the roles, duties, and rights of SDM based on my experience and study. This book is important for discharging the subdivisional officer’s multifaceted and detailed responsibilities,” he told Indian Masterminds.
The SDM is the first book on this subject in Hindi and will work like an encyclopaedia for any new Sub Divisional Magistrate.
OTHER WORKS
The SDM is Mr. Sharma’s eighth book. Prior to this, he had written three compendiums of his poems, a historical fiction, and two novels. The officer wrote his first collection of poems, Umr ki Ikkees Galliyan, in the year 1999, followed by Dhoop ke Glacier, another set of poetries, in the year 2000. After a hiatus of eight years, he released his third collection of poems called Prism, in the year 2008.
The officer then started working on his novels, which took a long time to complete, as he had to balance his duty as an IAS officer and his passion for writing. His first novel ultimately got published amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
“My first novel called, Vidrohi Sanyasi (The Rebel Monk in English), beautifully depicts the life and work of Adi Shankaracharya. To write the book, I researched for over a decade and visited every single place where Shankaracharya went. After numerous interviews and discussions, I was finally able to pen down my words and publish them,” shared Mr. Sharma.
His novel was such a huge success that it was awarded the Valley of Words Literary Award 2021 in the Non-Fictional category. It is still enlisted in the bestsellers list of Amazon, and, today, it is available to readers in three different languages – Hindi, Marathi, and its English version, The Rebel Monk. It is also under translation for Bangla, Odia, and Gujarati languages.
After the huge success of his first book, Mr. Sharma penned another novel on the life and legends of Shri Parshuram, by the name, Adbhud Sanyasi. His second book was also a huge success, and is available in Hindi and Marathi languages for readers and its English translation will be released soon, as well.
UPCOMING BOOKS
The officer is currently working on two more novels, which he is planning to publish soon. His Samrato ka Samrat – Sahastra Bahu is almost on the table and we might get to see its release soon.
Apart from this, he has also completed his research on two freedom fighters, whose stories he wishes to pen down for his tenth and eleventh novels. One of them is Rani Avantibai Lodhi, the Indian Rajput queen-ruler of Ramgarh in Madhya Pradesh and a freedom fighter who was an opponent of the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The book will be called Ramgarh ki Veerangana.
His other novel will be based on the tribal warriors of the 1857 Revolt – Raja Shankar Shah and his son Kunwar Raghunath Shah. They were the last of Rani Durgawati’s lineage, the queen who fought the Mughal army of Akbar over 51 times during her reign and sacrificed her life on the battlefield in 1564. The day of her martyrdom is still commemorated as ‘Balidan Diwas’.
“Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Raghunath were gunned down publicly by the Britishers for their revolution. I want to bring their story to the world and, thus, I am penning down their struggles in my novel called Swaha.”
Mr. Sharma is both a successful administrator and an eminent writer, and, hence, his writings are enriched by his deep study and wide experiences, both on and off the field.
