Not long after I turned 20, I found myself working as a journalist for a national newspaper. My work usually involved covering the arts, but I was once assigned a story about the rise of chain snatching gangs on the Western Railway. It meant speaking to senior members of the railway police, and I remember hesitating before walking into their headquarters one rainy evening. Dealing with the police is never easy at the best of times, let alone when one has to confront them about why crimes are not being effectively dealt with. As a young man, I remember being terrified, but I did it anyway because that is what the job demanded.

That personal sense of dread has long gone away, now that I am no longer on the field and have nothing to do with the crime beat, but that feeling still comes to mind whenever I read about what reporters across India continue to do. They are the ones at the forefront of every calamity, riot, and crime, taking risks none of us wants to, and bringing back reports with life-altering consequences.