From H S Rao London, Jun 30 (PTI) A UK-based leading Hindi litterateur, Dr Gautam Sachdev has died here of heart failure, his family has said. The 73-year-old who died yesterday is survived by wife Manju Sachdev, sons Rahul and Anshul and daughter Divya. Besides being a noted Hindi poet, Sachdev was also a story writer, essayist and broadcaster. Born in Barberton, Punjab (now in Pakistan) in undivided India on June 8, 1939, Sachdev along with his family migrated to India during the partition. He started his career with teaching in Hindi at the University of Delhi. His Ph.D thesis on narrative and diction of famous Indian author Premchand is treated as a seminal work of Hindi literature. He joined BBC Hindi Service in the early 1980s. Sachdev is well known for his poetry collection - Suraj Ki Pankhudiyan (2011), Triveni (2009), Boond Boond Akash (2006), Ek Aur Atmasamarpan (2000) and Adhar Ka Pul (1996). His story collections Sadhe Saat Darzan Pinjare (2005), Ataka Hua Pani (2009) have been highly acclaimed. He has also written prose and poetry on Partition of India. Some of his writings are based on problems faced by South Asians settled in the UK. Sachdev was also a regular columnist with Dainik Jagran, a well known Indian newspaper in Hindi language. A painter and amateur singer, Sachdev had great interest in Indian cinema and was the Vice-Chair of the London-based South Asian Cinema Foundation. "He was a friend, philosopher and guide to me. I always turned to him for advice, both on intellectual and personal issues. He was one of the tallest Hindi writers in this country," said Lalit Mohan Joshi, Director/Editor of South Asian Cinema Foundation.
