November seems like a very long time ago. The student protest at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), against the hike in hostel fees, had not yet taken root. Neither had the nationwide demonstrations—some more violent than others—following the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which then, was only a bill. The police were still friends. And the lathi, though brutal, was used with restraint and reason.

That month as undisturbed as it seemed, saw author-columnist Aatish Taseer being severed from his roots, when the Government of India revoked his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MEA) had said that Taseer had, in his Person of Indian Origin application, concealed that his late, estranged father was of Pakistani origin. It's a claim that the journalist contested later, in his second piece for Time magazine, six months after his controversial cover story, where he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as "India's divider in chief".