A stand-up comic was made to apologise for a joke that offended India's thin-skinned trolls. This wasn't surprising because we have long given up on civilised discourse. What came as a shock nonetheless was the hate towards that woman that arrived in the aftermath and overwhelmed Twitter timelines and Instagram stories for days. Thousands of us watched, in horror, as young men casually reduced the women of India to commodities, discussing their violation the way some people discuss produce at a grocery store.

I stopped watching after a few seconds because I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that these videos were real. They were not filmed candidly, but uploaded by the makers themselves, to platforms that guaranteed they would be disseminated far and wide, without fear of consequence. I don't know if all the men were arrested and don't hold out hope for that happening, but couldn't quite understand how we had arrived at a place in our country's history where something like this could be broadcast with impunity.