Gauri Lankesh Who?

I did not know Gauri Lankesh. But I do know journalists like her have long been dead. Her death is just a sombre reminder. I never read anything Gauri Lankesh edited. But I do know she ran an ad-free tabloid that she tried to keep afloat till her last breath. 

She did not hesitate to do her job. She did not succumb to the power-wielding and power-hungry despite threats to her life. Whether she started out being responsible, dutiful, and progressive, or journalism appealed to her conscience to always stand by truth, injustice, and discrimination; Gauri Lankesh was a person we normally refer to as a rare breed.

She is not rare because she was special or did extraordinary things. She is rare because she did what her profession expected her to do. If that had dangerous implications, so be it. Her job was simple: Report the facts, Write the truth, Expose the wrongs. Simple, but not easy.

She was not as ‘mainstream’ as some of today’s power-friendly journalists are. But then she was content running a small paper with independence and without interference. She was happy serving her readers with her words rather than hashtags. She would not have traded all that for a few faceless followers, fake trophies, and a #SelfieWithModi.

Yes, she was all that. And that’s why nobody knew her and nobody cared. 

Today, when she has been murdered in cold blood, her identity has been reduced to a trending hashtag, a primetime squabble, and a virtual buffet for everybody to feast on.

Today, they sing her praises, they protest in her name, and write about what magical impact she had on them when they got in touch with her or worked with her a long time ago. They also call her names, question her motives and morals, and even try to justify her murder. 

Today, they predict the death of democracy. For six days, they 'press' on.

Then one day, they do what they do best. Move on. New headlines, new trends with fingers crossed for higher TRPs. 

Over their liberal single malts and sacred cow’s milk, they carry on. Because the show must go on.