Mukul Sharma, science writer, polymath, storyteller, passes away at 69

Columnist, storyteller and science writer, the polymath Mukul Sharma, passed away on 1 March 2019 in New Delhi. The former editor of Science Today, he was popular for his column Mindsport, that appeared first in The Illustrated Weekly and later in The Sunday Times. It ran for 25 years and had garnered quite the cult following before he brought it to a close in 2007 and moved on to other stories that he would go on write. [caption id=“attachment_6177361” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Mukul Sharma was popular for his column Mindsport that ran for 25 years. Image via Twitter@churumuri[/caption] Filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj bought three stories from Sharma, one of which went on to become the 2013 horror film Ek Thi Daayan featuring his daughter Konkona Sen Sharma. The story for the actor’s 2016 directorial debut, A Death in the Gunj also came from her father and was based on an incident that happened as he said at a planchette table with his friends while on a visit to  McCluskieganj. An engineer and science aficionado, he had made his acting debut as the young photographer Rahul in his first wife Aparna Sen’s 1984 film Paroma, which revolved around the eponymous 40-year-old who falls in love with this young man. [caption id=“attachment_2999048” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Konkona Sen Sharma’s directorial debut, A Death in the Gunj was based on a story by her father Mukul Sharma.[/caption] The son of an army man, he passed through six schools across the country, however, his interest in science developed largely after he had quit his studies. He frequently wrote for several journals and newspapers throughout his life even as he continued to write for the screen. Sharma is survived by his wife Binita and his daughters Kamalini and Konkona.