Steely charm is this thing feminist friends or colleagues do, where they call you up and say, “Listen, I know you are terribly busy.” You mournfully concur ki yes, very. They make some cursory sympathetic sounds. You can no more believe these than you can a Bengali mom who says, “Ok baba, don’t eat if you are not hungry.” Then they say, “Accha anyway”, yaniki ignore your moaning and somehow you find yourself embroiled in their endeavours, complaining bhi, loving it bhi.

So I found myself helping to organise and moderate a panel at the Network of Women in Media in India’s annual meet.  NWMI is a voluntary collective of women journalists and the gathering is supported through personal contributions, relentless work and well, steely charm. Journalists from metropolises to remotes, many who report against incredible adversity, gathered together.