“I realized HURDA cannot be one person’s story”—An interview with Atharva Pandit
Debut novelist Atharva Pandit discusses why he chose to render the true-crime story as fiction in Hurda, the polyphonic nature of the narrative, and his uninhibited portrayal of the investigation and the actors involved in the case. By Saurabh Sharma
Short story by Debi Mukherjee: “Unlike the little girls I see outside temples, draped in their pano bhaju’s stringing garlands of Marigolds, I dare not play with the flowers in our garden. Papa cautions me against the rows of Mogras, Shoe-flowers, Frangipanis and a multitude of others. He says that I must not be lured by a flower’s fragrance.”