One April, thirty-year-old Aniruddhan goes to the police station with a complaint: a woman named Mudritha has disappeared. He has, however, never met her; only interacted with her on the phone and by email while organizing, at her request, a tour to Odisha for herself and nine others - all women. After preliminary inquiries, though, the case is likely to be closed for want of progress. But Vanitha, the policewoman in charge, continues the investigation secretly. What begins as a search for Mudritha soon reveals more about the other women, a diverse group, who want to slip away, travel and touch the world beyond the mundane confines of their existence.
Jissa Jose's Mudritha explores women's lives: their desires, ambitions, love, anger, and attempts to resist and rise above the encroachment over their bodies and souls. Set in contemporary Kerala, the novel is a compelling portrait of women and the sojourns they make to find themselves - its every surge, every swell enlivened in this English translation by Jayasree Kalathil.
