Wheels within wheels: What Sundar Sarukkai's Water Days tells us about Bengaluru and who belongs

New Indian Express

01-07-2025

People of Water Days
The novel introduces a constellation of characters that reflect a city in flux: Raghavendra, a middle-aged security guard who becomes an unlikely detective; Poornima, his sharp, grounded wife; Rajesh, a Bihari student who avoids engaging with the city; Nagaraj, a scheming friend with political links; and Mari Muthu — later Mari Gowda — who reshapes his identity to fit in.
But at the centre is Raghavendra — no Poirot or Holmes, just a man navigating loneliness and survival. Sarukkai, a fan of Lee Child and John Le Carré, pairs his protagonist's modest dream of running a grocery store with a reluctant detective arc, using it to question the very idea of crime fiction in India. 'How do you write a detective story in a country where the family is always involved — in everything? In the West, detectives function independently. Here, you can't move without your family's input — your job, your marriage, even where you live.'
This social fabric becomes the case itself. Raghavendra's investigation is less about finding a culprit and more about navigating the city's tangled web — of class, language, fear, and fate — all while holding onto his quiet dream.
Water Days is Sarukkai's second novel, after Following a Prayer (2023), a more emotionally intense debut set in a remote village in the Western Ghats. That book dealt with rural silences and young girls' inner lives. Water Days, by contrast, is gntler — even lighter. 'With Following a Prayer, people told me they felt deeply moved, even angry,' he says. 'But now, I just want them to smile. And maybe, next time they walk Bengaluru's streets, they notice the small things — the sounds, the silences, the people — that make a city a city.'