Hurda

by Atharva Pandit

Valentine's Day 2013
Murwani, a village in Maharashtra

Three sisters-Anisha, Sanchita and Priyanka-disappear from school that afternoon. No one knows where they went or why, but everyone remembers they were up to no good. Six years later, a journalist from Mumbai returns to the scene of the crime and tries to piece together what exactly happened that fateful day.

Hurda is that story told through the voices of the many whose lives intersected with those of the three sisters. Based on a real-life incident, this novel takes a surgical knife to contemporary India and sets up for display its pervasive and deep misogyny. Savagely hilarious and deeply disturbing, a whodunit as well as an examination of what the lives of women are worth, Hurda marks the arrival of a bold new voice from South Asia.

Genres: India, Fiction

326 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2023

Reviews

[Chitranshu Chitale]

Everything they have said about me in this book is a lie.

[Prakriti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in a small town in Uttar Pradesh. The lives of young girls were always the primary gossip material. What did they wear, where did they go, with whom, the way they laughed, spoke, and existed—everything was discussed and dissected. Hurda took me back to my childhood and to my hometown again.

This is a story that you are way too aware of. You have seen it unfold a million times in the news, and it's unfortunate that it has stopped shaking you. However, the book makes sure you come out of your slumber and pay attention to it again. It forces you to pay attention to yourself and the way you have been conditioned to think about women.

Hurda brilliantly captures the faultlines of gender, religion, and caste in India. It also reminds you how banal evil is and how the worst things are done by regular people around us who are just 'trying to do their job'.

I loved the book. It's hard to stop reading once you have started it. If you are wary (like me) of being triggered, don't be. While the book speaks about an uncomfortable reality, the writer is not trying to give you unnecessary graphic details or sensationalise anything at all.

[David - marigold_bookshelf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hurda was my 4th read from the 2024 JCB Prize Longlist. The story centres around the endeavors of journalist Chitranshu, investigating the deaths of three school girls in a rural Indian village on Valentine’s Day 2013. The novel is divided between the initial disappearance of the girls in February 2013, when Chitranshu was a young reporter, and 2016 when he returns to the village to investigate the unresolved deaths.

It was an accessible, engrossing, easy read from the start. The narrative switches from one witness or suspect to another throughout the book. Although a work of fiction, the story is based on the real unsolved case of the rape and murder of three girls in the Bhandara district of Maharashtra. The author is a journalist himself and became drawn to the case. It reminded me very much of The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing by Sonia Faleiro, a non-fiction book about the deaths of three sisters in a small village in Uttar Pradesh in 2014.

The problem with building a novel around a real crime is that the writer has his hands tied from the beginning with regard to the outcome, which in this particular case is an unsatisfactory one. As a local journalist suggests to Chittranshu towards the end of the novel:

“…this is not going to end well for you. The good thing is that it ended merely with nothing in your hand. Did you get your murderer? Did you get closure for your fucking book? …I don’t understand why you wanted to pursue that case. What did you come up with anyway? A diary full of notes and thirty-three pages of a book that doesn’t go anywhere”.

As much as I enjoyed the ride, I am afraid that I would have to agree with him.

[Mahesh K · Rating 3 out of 5]

If done properly, no other narrative medium matches the capacity of whodunnits to reflect the morality, political reality, caste, gender, and even the state of technology of a society (which may explain why theorists like Julia Kristeva wrote detective novels). It unveils the human potential to become the monsters they fear or to attain the magnanimity they never thought possible. It marks the sensitive spots of the body politic that trigger rage when poked properly. *Hurda* has its epic moments, sending chills down your spine. However, in its attempt to be politically aware, the novel ends up resembling any other Netflix series set in rural India. The characters (barring a few) exist to embody a political stance, much like in a Jeo Baby film, while subplots serve to make statements (Megha Majumder's _A Burning_ tried this formula and won Sahithya Academy Yuva puraskar). Despite this, the deeply disturbing moments in the novel show that Atharva Pandit is a promising new voice to watch

[Vinay Keerthi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended this.

It is a harrowing read.
3 girls disappear from their village and well, what follows is part investigation, part casteism and the rest is all misogyny.

God is it impactful.

It _is_ reflective of Indian society in the villages though. And it is a very, very good read.

[Vivek Tejuja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books based on true crime unsettle me, as they should. The purpose is that after all. To make you look at society close enough, to not shy away from the evil we harbour, to perhaps not pretend that it cannot impact or touch us. Books such as these aren’t easy to read but we cannot shy away from them and for good reason

Hurda by Atharva Pandit does just that. It makes you look at an act of crime that has taken place in a fictional village – three girls of a same family have disappeared, and no one seems to know what has happened – up, close, and personal. The sisters go missing on Valentine’s Day, and it’s still a mystery what happened to them – to Anisha, Sanchita, and Priyanka. A Mumbai based journalist is sent six years after to uncover this crime -to find out what happened, and the book is structured through the perspectives of various people who were either involved in the events of the day or were a witness in some way or the other.

The book is about murder of course – a crime, but at the heart of it, the read is about gendered expectations and patriarchy – deep rooted in the Indian psyche. It is about the girl in the “green top” that continuously becomes a symbol of defiance, of everything that Anisha shouldn’t have done, the reason of events that unfurled, and how it all assimilated.

The Rashomon style of writing adopted by Pandit works brilliantly in favour of Hurda. He manages to say what he wants to through the perspective of so many, and yet all of it seems to merge into one big idea, opinion, or thought towards the end. Atharva Pandit gets a grip on the crime that took place, and how he wants to highlight that in his book. It is fiction, yes, and yet when fiction is steeped in fact, you just cannot look away, which is the intent.

As a queer male reader, I was angry, to the verge of tears at most places, tried being empathetic but there was always a cloud of “I do not know. I haven’t faced half of what women go through in my country. I can only begin to imagine and that also I cannot” always hovering above me as I made my way through Hurda.

I urge everyone to read Hurda to understand the politics of gender, of race, class, of our rural terrain and structures – of what it is to be female in this country, to change your lens – your point of view, to not be inclusive just for the sake of it but to really mean it in the small things every single day. Hurda makes you uncomfortable and rightly so. It is about time!

[Deepak Kashyap · Rating 3 out of 5]

twin peaks, thirteen reasons why, kohrra, delhi crime, the talwars
at the end, it all becomes an act of finding vincent and letting vincent go(gh) in his van
my many artifacts, the list goes on

1. all fiction, including crime fiction, essentially boils down to good storytelling. some stories are told good because they evoke a sense of nostalgia or a sort of simplicity, harry potter, for example. one pure evil, one innocent kid. black and white. more mature, profound, shaking storytelling is where everybody is complicit. everybody is driven by some or the other motive, which shouldn't make sense to you, but they do. game of thrones. mahabharat. what have you. everything is gray. everybody is evil. everybody is good. there is yin in yang and yang in yin.

2. people go missing. people are missed. that builds the lack. that is the lacanian objet petit a. what does one do when one is not around? how long does one latch on to their memories? in how far would a retelling or a reconstruction reincarnate those who aren't among us? storytelling is an act of survival, of memories, of people, and it is futile because it does not call them back to life, it is fruitful because life comes back to you in speaking their names. perhaps.

"readable book," "traditional whodunnit," "recommended" [pg. 314, not me, not me]

"noor"/12.12.2024

[Suhas Cadambi · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is a good story, Chitranshu wondered, and what is an authentic story? And does a good story have to be necessarily authentic? And would an authentic story necessarily be a good story?

How one feels about this book is likely a function of how one feels about the above. Even if a city boy like me isn’t exactly qualified to comment on its authenticity, Hurda, in its portrayal of rural life and ways of thinking, certainly rings true in a way many novels which venture into the hinterlands don’t. As for the story – even if it may be presented as a whodunnit, solving the crime is secondary to shining a light on the society and system which allowed it to happen. Impressively pulled off, but not completely satisfying.

Much like Annie Zaidi’s Prelude to a Riot, the book is commendable in sensitising us to something we may only glance at in the odd news report before moving on; in this case, what attitudes might drive or enable violence towards women, and what must really happen in a murder investigation in rural India. And like that book, it still feels closer to the middle of the pack when it comes to Indian fiction. 3.5 stars.

[PJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book enraged me and I loved that! The first half of this book reminded me of the movie Peepli Live, just way darker and sinister. The ruckus created by politicians and media in the aftermath of the incident was too hard to read. The language, though broken and casual, highlighted the wretchedness within each person's character. It was impeccable how much I hated all of the characters. What did this book not cover? There was Toxic masculinity, corruption, casteism, class divide, islamophobia and police brutality. This book is a perfect reflection of our society. The apathy with which can continue to live our lives if children were to just disappear and be murdered.

There are several characters in this book who are deeply flawed and a reflection of our very regressive society. An innocent CHILD was murdered but wretched men say "a girl in a sexy green top was murdered". Truly! the constant sexualisation of children, young girls and women is unbearable to live in. But I still find the worst character to be of the journalist.

He is an educated man who wants to make something of himself. This is where his good qualities end! He is stuck in this new world where the women have a say over their partner. He wants to make this world simple. In short, go backwards to a world where only men had a say and didn't have to work upon themselves. That is why he rejoices the rural landscape. He can have sex with a Dalit woman without consequences, even though there are consequences! He can just ignore them because Dalit women are the most marginalised community in India. He can father a child by duping her, raping her and go back to his cushy life. And here in lies the irony of the educated men. They hate women who have escaped that old-age realm to have the same cushy life. He is constantly pitting women against women in his head. Urban woman vs Rural woman. New era woman vs Old era woman. Who has bigger problems or is a fake feminist or is bolder or more caring!

People need to read this book!

[Livre_monde · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unable to give more than 2 stars for:

1. Inserting Slang in every second sentence like those Netflix series which make our ears hurt by hearing the foul language. After about 100 pages it became unbearable to read this book mainly because of the forced foul language in every sentence.

2. Repeated narrative, as the author chose to present every scene from the POV of many different witnesses who spoke more or less the same thing with slight variance. An attempt to just fill pages and waste readers time.

While the story is based on an unfortunate true incident, the author just messed it up completely through his Bollywood styled narration, maybe in a hope of seeing it on the silver screen someday.

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hurda is based on a real life incident where three sisters from a village in Maharashtra went missing on Valentine’s Day, and were later found dead. As always happens in cases of this nature, the case attracted immediate attention- politicians and journalists converged on the place. There was intense speculation for a few weeks, and then the case was forgotten. The Author read about this case when he was still in high school, and many years later kept wondering whether the case was ever solved, or not, and whether people at least knew for sure if it as an accident, a murder or a case of suicide.
Hurda is work of fiction where a Mumbai based journalist who had been set to the village to cover the crime returns after six years to solve the mystery, because the believes that the three sisters deserve closure. Though the story is held together by a narrator, it is told through the perspective of various people who were either involved in the events on that fateful day, or were a witness. Each person has their own perspective, and is impossible to determine whether there is even an absolute truth- when each person sees it from their perspective, who is to tell which version is the truth. Maybe the truth is a composite of all the stories, even if the stories appear to contradict each other.
While the story is build around the murder, the central theme of the book is patriarchy and gendered expectations. No matter which version you choose, it is a gendered crime, and the book skilfully brings out the gender inequities that are present in society. It describes how women are judged and how their agency is curtailed. The book speaks of the many ways in which sexual harassment and abuses is perpetrated and normalised, not just in the village but also in the urban newsroom. The book also examines how patriarchy also affects men who do not conform to social expectations, and of how they in turn perpetrate gendered violence on women.
The book is also about hypocrisy- the hypocrisy of urban folk who somehow believe they are superior to rural folk, the hypocrisy of people who sit on moral judgements on others while ignoring the injustices they themselves are perpetrating on others, the hypocrisy of families that will go to any length to protect their secrets, the hypocrisy of people who deny caste and gender inequity while benefiting from it themselves.
The book starts with a description of the girl in a bright green top, and as the book progresses, almost everybody mentions the green top, most of them using it to cast aspersions on the intent of the girl. The green top clearly gave the girl joy, but it also raises many questions- how could she afford the top, why did she continue wearing the top when she new people didn’t approve of it, by wearing the green top had she brought things upon herself? Clearly the green top is more than just a garment.
There is abundance of Marathi words in the book, including “hurda” or tender jowar, and no glossary is provided. However, it is easy to figure out the words from the context, and it adds to the atmosphere of the book. There is also an interesting side conversation on how the Marathi you speak gives away you caste and locational position!
The book is told from the perspective of multiple people, and the author has been able to capture the essence of each of those people very skillfully. It is not something you notice when you are reading the book, but when you get back to you, you realise that each of them has their own "voice".
I literally read the book in two sittings because it was too compelling to put down. But the book stayed with me for a couple of days after I read the last page. I kept going back to the book, and finding little clues that I had ignored while reading the first time! I cannot call the book a murder mystery, because *spoiler alert* there is no clear conclusion. Yet, it is the perfect crime novel, because when you put all the versions together, you arrive at something that makes sense to you.
The book might be triggering to many, because it deals with reality, and reality is not pretty. But that is precisely why it is important to read books like these.

[Aashna Godha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is a true gem in the mystery genre. Published in 1926, this novel is often hailed as one of Christie's finest works. It's set in a charming English village and revolves around the murder of Roger Ackroyd, a wealthy man whose death shocks the community.

What sets this book apart is its clever use of narrative. Dr. James Sheppard, the town's physician, narrates the story, and his perspective keeps readers hooked. The real magic happens with the book's twist ending-it's one of those revelations that completely upends your expectations and makes you rethink everything you've read up to that point.
I highly recommend this to anyone who loves murder mysteries and thrillers

[Joseph Chacko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three children - sisters go missing and there's an investigation. But to call it a thriller or murder mystery feels inhumane and insulting to the victims. It's as real as it gets. The novel is not your typical true crime. It goes a lot further.
The author's bare-bones approach to the incident and its reportage, without any embellishments of language feels appropriate for the disgrace that ensued.
Chitranshu, the journalist and his interview transcripts are the conduits through which all the other characters make an appearance.
His "journalist observations" make it very clear that the bucolic village bred and the cosmopolitan are both, at core the same atavistic individual who violates, kills, and moves on.

[Radhika Agrawal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinely loved Hurda. I finished it two days ago and I’ve been thinking about it all along. The way the author portrayed Chitranshu’s complex character was pure genius. And the language through the book!!!! It made the world feel so real. I’ve lived in Mumbai for a few years so it truly took me back to Maharashtra. The amount of research and hard work the author must have put into the book is unthinkable.

[Utkarsh Ujjwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A smooth and eye-opening read. It leaves you with plenty of questions that you’ll find yourself reflecting on long after finishing. The characters are introduced and woven beautifully as the story progresses, and the attention to the finer details of each one’s personality is genuinely impressive. A very good read, overall!

[Jagruti · Rating 3 out of 5]

promising attempt, unsatisfactory execution, and I agree with the other reviewers about the Netflix show vibe. I appreciate what the author was trying to do here but I don't think it had the impact he may have wanted it to.

[Meghana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lacks some follow-through to a strong beginning, but overall interesting and thought-provoking.

[Aishwarya S · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging and remarkable debut that exposes the apathy and power tussles in the rural hinterlands against the backdrop of the deaths of three young girls.

[Rahul Giri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved how author has portrayed the deep misogyny, differences in caste systems and systematic institutional failure that overshadows the actual crime and allows it to go unsolved in such small villages.