Women are always for others to find,” states the narrator, a policewoman called Vanitha. If they aren’t where they are supposed to be, a missing person’s case is reported in the police station. The woman who leaves of her own will is caught and brought to the courts, which then declare a judgment giving her free will. “What a joke!” This sentiment is where Jissa Jose’s Kerala Sahitya Akademi shortlisted novel, Mudritha (Harper Perennial), translated from the Malayalam into English by Jayasree Kalathil, begins. A former tour guide-turned-tutor, 30-year-old Aniruddhan, visits the police station to report one such case. A woman named Mudritha has disappeared. He has neither met her, nor has an interest in following-up on the progress of the case. When he was overwhelmed by immense insecurity in his life, she had entered his life, contacting him about a 10-day trip to Odisha with nine other women, and, through her email exchanges, understood him. He believes he owes her this much.