вЂњItвЂ™s ultimately the story of India and Indians.вЂќ вЂњIвЂ™d like to believe that there is a little bit of all us in the book,вЂќ she says. The mental toll of it all still haunted her вЂ“ she lost her father due to Covid, herself developed symptoms of long Covid and almost gave up thrice on writing the book. вЂњShe told me how at least 26/11 ended, but the pandemic just doesnвЂ™t seem to.вЂќД®ven while putting the book together, Dutt had crushing doubts about whether she could write it. This was a sentiment that Dutt would encounter in nearly every second person she met вЂ“ the infinite, endless loop that was the pandemic.

вЂњWhen I met her during the second wave, she told me that she found the Covid duty much tougher than that horrific night.вЂќ вЂњOn the night of 26/11 there was a nurse who had to confront Ajmal Kasab,вЂќ Dutt says. In DuttвЂ™s experience, it was an oversimplification that wasnвЂ™t rooted in reality. Many commentators across the board casually remarked during the onset of the pandemic about how it was another war to fight. The pandemic, she says, made her reflect on her own approach to storytelling IвЂ™d always looked at issues of poverty and social inequalities only theoretically, slotting them as too soft for primetime TV.вЂќ That was when I realised how out of sync IвЂ™d been. вЂњLeave drinking, the villagers couldnвЂ™t even bathe in it because they had developed scabs and rashes all over their skin. вЂњThe villageвЂ™s water was polluted with all the chemical industries around it,вЂќ she recounts. But just howВ deep did those faultlines run? In the chapter 'The Village with the Yellow Water', we see a cruel manifestation of a village that was just an hour away from the national capital.

That the pandemic lay bare the sheer extent of our social inequities is no secret. вЂњIвЂ™m not passing judgment about how other journalists failed but there are so many ways this journey made me confront my failings, how IвЂ™d lost touch with ordinary people.вЂќ In many ways, Dutt told us, the book is also about her rediscovery as a journalist. The book is an account of her time on the road, amid the migrant crisis of the first wave of Covid-19 in India, and through the two years that followedДЄs she writes in her latest book To Hell and Back: Humans of Covid (published by Juggernaut), apart from a few odd stringers and beat reporters, news television anchors much rather вЂњpreferred sitting in their air-conditioned studios and speaking to experts rather than having boots on the ground.вЂќ

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