Water Days: Listening to the city by Sundar Sarukkai

About the talk

Sundar Sarukkai will speak about his recently published novel Water Days which is a contemplative exploration of his home city Bengaluru tracing how everyday life takes shape and how the city transforms quietly over time.

He delves into themes of migration shifting social dynamics patriarchy language and linguistic tensions power and the question of belonging in Bengaluru’s vibrant melting pot. Water Days goes beyond the story of a city to reflect on the idea of belonging in a rapidly changing world. Sarukkai observes Bengaluru with empathy not nostalgia and invites readers to listen to its pulse as he does.

Some reviews of Water Days

Somak Ghoshal The Mint: Water Days is as much a call to reckon with the transformation of a city as an object lesson in empathy observation and community living. As urban India becomes divisive unlivable and intensely self-serving it is chroniclers like Sarukkai who continue to do the work that no policy maker or political leader is doing - inspiring us with feelings to make us more concerned and caring citizens.

Bindu Menon The Tribune: Water Days is not just a novel about a city; it is a novel about what it means to belong when everything around you is changing. Sarukkai does not romanticise Bangalore but he listens carefully to it and implores you to do so as well.

The talk will be followed by a Q&A with the author moderated by Shalini Srinivasan faculty Azim Premi University.

Hosted by IHA in collaboration with Azim Premji University

About the speaker

Sundar Sarukkai

Sundar Sarukkai is the Founder-Director of the Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities and has held the positions of Professor of Philosophy at the National Institute of Advanced Studies and Visiting Faculty at the Centre for Society and Policy Indian Institute of Science. He is also the Founder of Barefoot Philosophers an initiative to take philosophy to children and the public.

Sarukkai has authored the following books: Translating the World: Science and Language Philosophy of Symmetry; Indian Philosophy and Philosophy of Science What is Science? JRD Tata and the Ethics of Philanthropy Philosophy for Children The Social Life of Democracy. He has co-authored two books with Gopal Guru: The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory and Experience and Caste and the Everyday Social. Two of his books – Following a Prayer (2023) and Water Days (2025) have received critical acclaim. His forthcoming book is an introduction to philosophical thinking titled Being Human Becoming Philosophical.

For more details visit: www.sundarsarukkai.in

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