Book Review: ‘NaCoHuS’ by Purushottam Agrawal is a dystopian fever dream

Published : Jul 27, 2023 11:00 IST - 7 MINS READ NaCoHuS is a dystopian fever dream. Through Suket, Shams, and Raghu—an Amar-Akbar-Anthony trio of friends, each with their own complicated relationship with faith and reason—Purushottam Agrawal paints a frightening picture of an India steeped in anti-intellectualism and political and religious extremism. Daring to question Agrawal seems genuinely perturbed by the current political landscape, and right-wing/majoritarian extremism is targeted aplenty, via the eyes of Suket, our primary lens into this world, and his two friends. The news keeps blaring, allowing Agrawal to construct the farce that TV news has become.” While resisting the urge to name names or spell things out too much, Agrawal alludes to real-life events throughout NaCoHuS, as we get references to historical tragedies from 1984—the gas leak and the violence—as well as 1992 and 2002. It was just that they could not manage to sustain such amounts of laughter due to simple lack of practice.” In this section of the novel, from Suket’s kidnapping to the meeting in the scary room with the chameleon, Agrawal’s fascinating use of formal storytelling devices shines as the story builds up to a crescendo.