The various themes which are examined in Atharva Pandit’s debut novel, Hurda

 [First published in BeStorified by BlogChatter]

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.

Author, Atharva Pandit was in high school when he first heard about this incident, and many years later kept wondering whether the case was ever solved, and whether the people involved at least knew for sure if it as an accident, a murder or a case of suicide. In Hurda, his debut novel, 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. While the story itself is built around the muder, there book explores several themes that dominate the socio-economic landscape particularly in rural India.

The central theme of the book is patriarchy and the gendered expectations that emerge as a result of patriarchy. While there were many theories about what might have transpired on that fateful day, in every version it was essentially a gendered crime. In every speculation, it is the three girls, especially the eldest, who are on trial. There is the subtle condemnation that the girls brought it on themselves by daring to exercise their agency to dress and act in the manner they want. The book looks at the many ways in which sexual harassment and sexual abuse is perpetrated and normalised, not just in the village but also in the urban workplaces. It also examines how patriarchy affects men who do not conform to social expectations, and of how they in turn perpetrate gendered violence on women.

The other major theme in the book is the formal and informal power structures that exist particularly in rural India, and the intersectionality of these structures. The scene where the local “leader” clashes with the police brings this to the fore. The policemen have, in the past, asserted their power over common people, yet when the same people come back to them with the backing of the local leader, the dynamics are very different. Within the police hierarchy, too, it is the ones who have the least power who assert themselves over others the most. Caste, and other formal social distinctions, form the basis of most interactions, and when caste and gender intersect, the interactions take on very complex forms. At the bottom of the heap is the woman who is also from an oppressed caste-
everyone takes advantage of her, but in the book, the author gives her the clarity to see her position and the voice with which to call out her oppressors.

The book is also examines 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. Very few books expose the many layers of hypocrisy that exists in society as powerfully as this one does.

Hurda examines the dynamics of rural India with an unflinching eye, and I would recommend the book for the clarity with which the various themes are presented.