Nilotpal Mrinal Age, Girlfriend, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Nilotpal Mrinal

• Nilotpal Mrinal is an Indian novelist, poet, socio-political activist, social media influencer, and folk singer. One of the most emerging voices of Hindi literature, Mrinal is well known for authoring the Hindi-language novels Dark Horse (2015), Aughad (2019), and Yaar Jadugar (2021).

• He spent his college days participating in various student movements.

• After the separation of Bihar and Jharkhand on 15 November 2000, Mrinal released his first audio cassette of the folk song “Jharkhand Dhasal Daldal Mein.”

• After completing his graduation in 2005, Mrinal moved to Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi, in 2008, to prepare for the Civil Services Examination. Thereafter, the UPSC aspirant repeatedly appeared in the examination in the following eight years, but he failed to clear the exam.

• In 2015, the introduction of CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) led to widespread protests in India as aspirants who attempted the exam in the Hindi language believed it gave an advantage to those with English, maths and science backgrounds. Nilotpal Mrinal headed an indefinite hunger strike, along with other aspirants affected by the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), demanding compensatory attempts, irrespective of age and attempts. After an eight-day long hunger strike, the protesters had to face the brutality of the police, who tried to curb the movement by arresting students including Nilotpal Mrinal.
  

  Nilotpal Mrinal being manhandled by the police during the CSAT Movement (2015)

• After his failed UPSC attempts, Mrinal wanted to pursue a profession which would value the political and social acumen that he had developed over the years preparing for the Civil Services Examination. Therefore, he decided to address political and social issues via his writings.

• After writing his first novel just in nine days, he tried to attract a publisher for it at the New Delhi World Book Fair (2014), but his novel was rejected by approximately 28 publishers. Later, Mrinal was approached by an anonymous man who was struggling to become a publisher and offered Mrinal to publish his book. Thereafter, the aspiring publisher obtained an ISBN and published Mrinal’s novel.

• Nilotpal Mrinal came into the limelight with his first novel, Dark Horse: Ek Ankahi Dastan (2015), for which he received the Sahitya Akademi Youth Award in 2016. The novel vividly portrays the struggles of aspiring candidates for the Civil Services Examination who moves out of their villages to Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi, to prepare for the exam.
  

  Nilotpal Mrinal receiving Sahitya Akademi Youth Award (2016)

• Once, Mrinal was awestruck when he saw a question about his book Dark Horse: Ek Ankahi Dastan (2015) asked in the Civil Services Examination which he was attempting. He talked about the irony of the event in an interview and said that witnessing his name on the question paper of the exam that he had been trying to clear for so many years was the greatest achievement for him.

• In his 2019 novel ‘Aughad,’ Mrinal shed light on the complexities of Indian rural life and its socio-political structure. In the novel, he addressed a wide range of topics like religious hypocrisy, politics, caste, conditions of rural women, untouchability, crime, and middle-class consciousness. In the novel, Mrinal delves deep into the topics through various rhetorics like how wearing glasses is considered to be a symbol of intellect, poor households where motorcycles hold more importance than toilets, the special treatment received by the only boy child of a poor household, etc.
  

  Aughad

• Immensely popular, both his novels Dark Horse and Aughad were included in the Dainik Jagran Best Seller list with Dark Horse ranked first and Aughad at the fourth position. ^[6]Dailyhunt

• In 2019, he penned and lent his voice to the narration of the audiobook ‘Jakh Baba’ for the Storytel app. The novel highlights the everyday complexities of the leisurely life of Indian villages and the small aspirations of the villagers.
  

  Jakh Baba

• In 2020, he penned and voiced the audiobook ‘Darling Democracy’ for the Audible app. The novel chronicles the events of a village named Bilaiya, where a reservation for Adivasis is declared on the seat ahead of the Panchayat elections in the village. Consequently, the former Sarpanch Rang Bahadur Singh tries to secure the longtime Rajput rule over the village by chasing the Adivasis who can probably contest the seat.
  

• Mrinal was fond of writing since childhood. In his matriculation days, he used to wake up at 4 o clock in the morning to pen poems. Later, when he was a UPSC aspirant in Mukherjee Nagar, he used to sing qawwalis and verses of various Hindi poets like Suryakant Tripathi (commonly known as Nirala) for his friends in his leisure time. So when ‘Dark Horse’ gained popularity among readers but failed to fulfil the financial aspect, Mrinal took to the stage to present his poetry as it was better in terms of income and enabled him to connect with people.

• A proficient poet, Nilotpal Mrinal has penned numerous poems including Duniya Esi Hua Karti Thi, Ab To Lagta Hai Desh Veerana, and Hum Hi To Kal Itihaas Likhenge.

• In 2017, he campaigned for the deletion of an offensive picture which insulted Biharis. After he successfully got the picture removed from the internet, he released the song ‘Haan Main Bihari hun’ via the YouTube channel Global Gumti, which went viral.

• Nilotpal Mrinal has voiced various folk songs including Chal Sadho Koi Desh (2019) and Jagmag Kare Ee Sansaar (2020).
  

  Chal Sadho Koi Desh

• His self-titled YouTube channel, which has over 92.6k followers, features his songs and poems.

• In 2019, Nilotpal Mrinal started ‘Gamcha Revolution’ on social media after he was denied entry into a restaurant named Q’BA in Connaught Place as he was carrying a gamchha (scarf) on his shoulder. The manager of the restaurant refused to let Mrinal citing that carrying gamchha in a fine dining restaurant was inappropriate. He talked about the same in an interview and said,
  

  I was just returning after participating in the Delhi government’s Purvanchal Mahotsva programme. As I was making my entry in the Q-Ba restaurant, the manager said, with a smile on his lips, that ‘you cannot enter this restaurant. This is looking bad and is not suitable to the place’s ambience.”

  After a long argument with the manager, Mrinal forcefully entered the restaurant and viewed the menu only to find a Bhojpuri dish named ‘Lahariya Samosa,’ in it, which fueled the argument. While narrating the event in an interview, he said,

  I told the server that your manager was blocking my entry as I was carrying a gamcha and here you are using a Bhojpuri word in your menu. Why could you not find a suitable English replacement word for this?”

  Thereafter, he shared the incident via a Facebook post, which outraged the people of Bihar as they saw it as an insult to their identity and traditional dress. The following day, AAP leader Dilip Pandey visited the same restaurant carrying a gamchha. Thereafter, Indian singer and Bigg Boss celebrity Deepak Thakur also shared pictures on his social media handles carrying a Gamcha to show his support and respect for Biharis. As a result, the manager apologised for his mistake and also made the hotel’s staff wear gamchha to show respect for the traditional dress of Bihar.

• He is also the recipient of Bihar Gaurav Samman.

• Ironically, the Hindi language novelist Mrinal scored 30 marks in his Hindi language exam when he was in 10th standard, the exact marks required by a student to pass the exam.

• Jai ho’ is his catchphrase