2021, the year of LEARNING. As a reporter, I travelled across Uttar Pradesh's villages & cities, police stations, hospitals, crematorium & burial grounds, rivers, fields & ghats. Reports revolved around Covid-19, farm distress, education, gender, politics & growing communalism: 1. This story explores the vigilante network used by organisations such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) & Bajrang Dal to keep a check on cases of "love-jihad." One VHP member told me that Hindu girls are "too emotional" & hence can be easily influenced. m.thewire.in/article/commun…

Meeran Haider

When Covid-19 hit, the Anti-CAA protests had to be abruptly stopped. It was a hard decision. A distressing call. But the protesters knew it was important to shield themselves from an unknown danger like Covid-19, especially the elderly women sitting in the dharna. At the Jamia site, I was witness to how Meeran Haider managed to convince protesters to protect their health first. A good quality for an emerging leader to have, I thought.

Two things: Was what Sharjeel said on Rohit Sardana factually incorrect? No. Was Sharjeel's timing right? It's a matter of opinion. I believe it wasn't; others may disagree. But even if I disagree with @SharjeelUsmani's timing, I completely understand where he is coming from. There is no disagreement about it. I have personally been a victim of religious bias, discrimination, and even faced life threats because of being a Muslim. No sane person can defend Sardana's (what passed as) journalism.

A glimpse of the Dalit experience in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit girl was brutally gang-raped by upper caste men: 1. A Dalit child (parents in pic), accidentally touched the food item of a Thakur child while playing. A group of about thirty Thakur men gathered outside their house, with sticks. They believed that their food had been polluted by the touch of a lower caste.

Spent my birthday in a fascinating small village in Himachal, Malana. You might have heard about it for its Malana cream (considered one of the best hashish in the world), but there is much more to this village than its hash produce.

Interesting facts: 1. The Malani believe that they are the superior, Aryan race: descendents to Alexander. People will refuse to let you touch any houses or temples & also, physical contact is not allowed. If you buy something from them, you will have to keep the money on the ground.

Talking about Freedom of speech: In the year 1950, a weekly journal Cross Roads's circulation was banned by the state of Madras under the Madras Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1949 because it had published views critical or the Congress government. The owner of the publication, Romesh Thapar, went to the SC because he believed that his fundamental right under Article 19, of freedom of speech and expression had been threatened. The state of Madras argued that the journal compromised the "security of the state."

What does one very small, seemingly insignificant but nice, encouraging comment mean? Sometimes it means finding a ray of hope after scrolling through a hundred abuses hurled at one. Sometimes it means a tiny little smile on the face after a full day of work. Sometimes it means the end to the self-doubts in one's mind. Sometimes, it even saves you from your worst thoughts.

When the violent mob started demanding Shahid Tantray's ID, one of the reporters who was harassed yesterday, Prabhjit Singh deliberately started calling him "Sagar", a Hindu name to secure him. Reminds me of the time I had to call myself Isha, while reporting during Delhi riots. I was followed by a group of men, questioned repeatedly, told I looked like "somebody from JNU." However, I was lucky enough to have a narrow escape from Maujpur without having to show my ID. Can only imagine what would have happened had I been forced to show my ID, like Tantray.