Jan 17, 2021Continuity over change: CDU chooses Armin Laschet as party leader to succeed German Chancellor Angela MerkelWith German Chancellor Angela Merkel set to retire in September this year, delegates of her party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) convened to vote Armin Laschet as their new federal chairman and possible presidential candidate on Saturday. The 59-year-old premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, won 521 votes to…Germany3 min readGermany3 min read
Jul 29, 2020Bylines @ SLYD NewsThis is just a list of stories I’ve done for SLYD so far, which I will keep updating every time I publish a story there. Even though I’m mostly responsible for churning out the “Today’s Big Stories” (or the Daily News Wrap, as we call it internally), what follows are…India1 min readIndia1 min read
Apr 18, 2020Tales from Tranquebar: Requiem for a Railroad(Author’s Note: A version of this piece originally appeared in the 2020 edition of ‘Covering Deprivation’. The story has been updated since then to account for recent developments. You can access the issue here.) In a song sequence from T. Rajender’s acclaimed 1980 romance Oru Thalai Raagam, the protagonist Raja…Tranquebar3 min readTranquebar3 min read
Apr 12, 2020Asalpha Abounds in Crime and Grime(Author’s Note: This piece was originally written in December 2019 and reflects the conditions witnessed back then during reporting.) Dressed in school uniform well after classes ended earlier that day, Yash Kamble (11) watches on as two of his friends…Mumbai6 min readMumbai6 min read
Apr 8, 2020Auroville: Longing sans BelongingThe Professor did not mince his words. In the quaint setting of Auroville Bakery, the 78-year-old Austrian looked me in the eye as he spoke. For someone who had spent “15 half-years” of his life here, he made it clear — he was not Aurovilian. “There is as much darkness…Auroville7 min readAuroville7 min read
Apr 3, 2020Interviewing Modi: When ANI played Devil’s Advocate better than Karan ThaparUntil 2017, nearly a decade after then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi walked out of his TV interview show Devil’s Advocate, Karan Thapar did not know where he had gone wrong. That interview made news for all the wrong reasons as far as Modi was concerned, for it only strengthened the…Narendra Modi2 min readNarendra Modi2 min read
Mar 12, 2020A Reporter’s Diary: Lost in TranslationThe entire event was in Tamil and I did not understand a word of it. For a rookie reporter in Chennai, a working knowledge of spoken Tamil is downright handy, if not necessary. However, my feeble attempts to learn the language eight months into my sojourn in this city have…3 min read3 min read
Mar 5, 2020A Reporter’s Diary: Quote UnquoteIn journalism school, we are taught that reporting is all about truth-telling and putting down to paper only what we see — facts are sacred, comment is free. …3 min read3 min read
May 21, 2019Dissent in the Age of DemagogueryThe Great Indian Tamasha is finally done and dusted. Over the past couple of months, we have been held hostage by news of the Indian general elections on all mediums, be it on television, print or on our smartphones. …India5 min readIndia5 min read
