Published in 1998, Hamara Shahar Us Baras is Geetanjali Shree’s second novel, exploring communalism in India, particularly the rising animosity between Hindus and Muslims. It examines how politicians and Hindutva nationalists construct narratives that, once amplified by the media, solidify into accepted truths. Initially, university intellectuals resist these narratives but eventually begin to accept and propagate them.

Shree’s experimental form makes the novel both challenging and powerful. Divided into short, fragmented sections—some just a word long—it initially feels disjointed but gradually forms a cohesive depiction of communal tensions in India. Though written in the late 1990s, its themes remain deeply relevant. The novel is filled with sounds—the reverberations of speeches, lectures, slogans, and conversations in various public and private spaces—through which we hear the unfolding events..

Daisy Rockwell’s English translation, Our City That Year, was published in India in 2024 and will be released by HarperVia in the US in April 2025.