Water Days: A Novel

by Sundar Sarukkai

About the Book
THE DEATH OF A YOUNG WOMAN GALVANISES HER FAMILY AND NEIGHBOURHOOD INTO A FRENZY OF QUESTIONS AND UNLIKELY DISCOVERIES.
At the cusp of the millennium, in a fast-changing neighbourhood in Bangalore, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi form a buzzing background of muted conversations as speculation mounts about what really happened that night when a girl barely out of her teens died. Raghavendra, erstwhile security guard dreaming of setting up his own grocery store, finds himself unexpectedly in the middle of it all, tasked with the responsibility of finding out the truth by his wife Poornima.
And every morning, for the thirteen days that it takes for the soul to find liberation and the story its resolution, the women gather at the water taps before sunrise, collecting water and stories …

About the Author
Sundar Sarukkai’s (www.sundarsarukkai.in) lifelong search for the hidden languages of nature, humans and societies has led to books, articles, plays and novels. His previous novel Following a Prayer was chosen by The Telegraph and Mint in their year-end list of 2023.

Genres: Fiction

266 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 28, 2025

About the author

Sundar Sarukkai is currently a Professor of philosophy at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. He was the Founding-Director of the Manipal Centre for Philosophy & Humanities, Manipal University, India from 2010-2015. He is the author of the following books: Translating the World: Science and Language, Philosophy of Symmetry, Indian Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, What is Science? and The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory (co-authored with Gopal Guru). He is an Editorial Advisory Board member of the Leonardo Book Series on science and art, published by MIT Press and the Series Editor for Science and Technology Studies, Routledge.

Reviews

[Saniha Hegde · Rating 3 out of 5]

one extra star because it is set in B'luru and I really loved Poornima and Rajesh

[Akshay Oommen (HB Book Club) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Water Days by Sundar Sarukkai follows the story of a man named Raghavendra, living in Bangalore, India, in the late 1990s. He is persuaded by his friend Nagaraj to start a detective agency. Shortly after, a young woman named Archana is found dead in her father's house. From here, our protagonist is thrown into a web of events in which he finds himself at the center.

Raghavendra now begins to see the world as it really is — one drowned in injustice — and it is up to him to find a way to bring justice to Mathikere Extension, a place where justice is not easy to come by.

The book places a strong focus on its female characters — with Raghavendra’s wife, Poornima, taking up a significant share of the spotlight. She is left distraught by Archana’s death and vehemently seeks ways to find the perpetrators behind her tragic demise. However, being a woman, her only means to seek justice is by directing her husband to do the work — for she lived in a time and place where a woman pursuing anything outside the bounds of her kitchen or family was frowned upon.

Sundar also explores the length and breadth of some of Bangalore’s most pressing issues — from traffic congestion to water shortages, from its multilingual fabric to its diverse communities, from the lucrative alcohol industry to the corrupt side of the law. However, I did feel at one point that many of the city’s issues were introduced without any real satisfactory purpose or conclusion. This made the book’s themes and direction feel a little scattered at times. I’m also curious how someone who hasn’t experienced Bangalore would interpret this book.

Coming to the core theme of water — this is where the book fell a little flat for me. I’m always up for high art and deeply woven metaphors and analogies in my books, but the way the theme of water was used at the end to tie things together felt a bit confusing. Maybe it went over my head, but towards the end, the author’s attempt to use the Cauvery River as an analogy to create a revelatory moment instead came off as a little forced.

That said, I did enjoy other aspects of the book. The way the male characters — from Raghavendra to Shankar to Prasanna — were written felt spot on. Sundar deftly touches on the male need to find outlets to channel their masculinity and the satisfaction they derive from it. Utterly hilarious, yet true.

The author also seems to lean into the stereotypes of nearly every community in Bangalore — from Biharis who are portrayed as goons, to Malayalees who run bakeries, to the good people from Andhra Pradesh known for acquiring land and property.

In conclusion, I liked this book overall. While it felt like many Bangalore clichés were thrown in just for the sake of it — and while the overall theme and direction occasionally felt unclear — Water Days by Sundar Sarukkai, at the very least, does a good job of bringing a smile to your face.

[Kalpana Misra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I struggled with the writing style, which was ponderous. I wonder who his editor was because they did very little editing. All the stereotypes of the different kinds of people in Bengaluru prevents the reader from being fully invested in any of the characters. Perhaps the only person I felt anything for was Poornima and occasionally Raghavendra. The characters have no interiority to endear them to me. I also didn't think the women were so brow beaten that they couldn't protest the lack of a memorial ceremony for Archana or the marriage of her sister on the day that should have been for the memorial. it seems the author wanted to shock the reader into the realities of patriarchy, violence, entitlement, hardship with not one sweet hopeful thing to sustain one through it all.
This book has no redeeming features for me, sad to say.

[Shlok · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Water Days to be a challenging read. The story struggled with structure, and the pacing often felt uneven. With so many characters introduced, it became difficult to keep track of their individual arcs, and instead of adding depth, this crowded the narrative. At times, the plot felt unnecessarily stretched, which diluted the impact of the central theme. While the premise had potential, the execution left the story feeling disjointed and less engaging than it could have been.

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about changing life, and nature of Bangalore in 90s.

[Ayyorama · Rating 3 out of 5]

One star entirely only for Bangalore being an integral part of the story. There wasn’t much else to the story - it was a drag to read.

[Dhakshin Krishna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of bengaluru stereotypes that I could relate to. But I didn't like the plot of it, especially how it ends

[Shalaj Lawania · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What makes up the identity of the city?"

This book tries to explores it with all the restraints of a fiction novel. Points given for the intent and ideas more than the pace, plot or characters.

[Raidha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 / 5 stars

I liked the way the book was written, felt like our first or second thought, and not the most put-together thought

However, pacing was slow. If this was a synonym to the main character's arc of life, it was done well; otherwise, it got boring and me impatient a bit.