Text of the Open Letter:

“Open Letter from ALIFA to dear Gauri Lankesh, marking 7 years of her cowardly killing: 

Long Live the Eternal Feminist, Anti-Fascist Fire and Flower Gauri!

Gauri, dear sister, dear comrade!

‘It has been seven years. We still remember the day, the night! September 5, 2017 – in fact the very moments – when the ‘news’ hit us. Gauri Lankesh shot in cold blood. Details poured in. Number of bullets. At your residence. By two men. We reeled with shock under immeasurable grief, loss and helplessness. Abandoning so many unfinished conversations, you left a void in all our hearts, the shape and size of a star!

‘Soon the city, the state, people from across the country joined in this mourning of the many, many Gauris we knew, admired, debated with, and loved. Loved dearly, fiercely. Not just the strong feminist, the fearless anti-fascist journalist, the inspirational mentor, the bold publisher and the fearless activist. But also, the vibrant, witty, unconventional, strong yet vulnerable woman you were.

‘We write today to not remember that one dreadful moment of your death, but celebrate the vital life force you were and continue to be – inspiring all who knew and those who did not, to continue resisting those lifeless forces that took you away from us. We write also to condemn the release of eight of the accused just a day before the seventh anniversary of your murder – indicative of a State machinery that is becoming increasingly communalised and callous at worst, and inept at best while legitimising impunity and injustice at the highest levels.

‘We were relieved when the law-and-order system actually did its job, investigating and arresting 17 people including the two assassins, Parashuram Waghmore, 26, a former member of the Sri Rama Sena in Bijapur, and Ganesh Miskin, 27, a right-wing activist from Hubbali. The trial too began in July 2022. All were linked to extremist Hindutva groups who created a syndicate to carry out killings and attacks on its critics – primarily in Karnataka and Maharashtra, between 2013 and 2018. This included the equally remarkable and inspiring Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi who lived and died defending the faith of freedom, justice and rationality.

‘The members of this organisation targeted persons who they identified to be inimical to their belief and ideology. The members strictly followed the guidelines and principles mentioned in Kshatra Dharma Sadhana, a book published by Sanatan Sanstha,” the SIT said after it filed a chargesheet against the accused in the case on 23rd November, 2018.

‘Many of your friends, family and comrades went and sat in the Courts on the days of the trial to look at the accused in their faces and show them that your spirit of defiance still lived – fearless and free. They sat there to show up how shallow the convictions of your killers were. And how frivolous their desperate attempts to prove the ‘kshatra’ or ‘masculinity’ of their fight by killing a spirited woman like you. With the last of the veils dropped, exposing the murderous monstrosity that drove your killers, it has only been made clear how low they can stoop. Their project of Hindutva fascism, the framing of you, Gauri Lankesh, as a ‘Durjan’, turned around in their faces, in the cheapest slapstick way. You would agree – the joke is on them!

‘We could see you too sitting in the trial, lighting up your cigarette and laughing out at their cowardice! For don’t forget we loved you also for your happy irreverence. We delighted in learning from you that political humour was always more nuanced than a simple struggle between repression and resistance. Like Serge said, “Repression can only live off fear and only intimidates the weak. It exasperates the best and tempers the resolution of the strongest!”

‘And you were anything but weak. You remained strong in life and after life. For what has lived on despite their attempts to kill you is your indomitable courage. Despite the threats, the imminent possibility of death, the continual attempts to silence you and everything you represented, you knew where you stood and always had the courage to stand your ground. You continued to create spaces for asking ‘uncomfortable, irreverent’ questions and holding that space courageously for all of us. 

‘You used to say, “I will do what I can and I will say what I should. These intolerant voices find strength in our silence.” You did just that. There was no silencing you then and even now.  

‘Like Anais Nin said, “One’s highest mission in life can only be to try and be at peace with one’s self.” Can’t be truer than of you! The complete sincerity with which for decades you fought the forces of gendered, caste and communal discrimination, much like Basavanna the founder of the faith you were born into. Like you said when fighting even those forces within the community who were failing him, “Basavanna not only protested these (Vedic texts, caste and gender discrimination), he offered an alternative that is an anti-thesis of sanatana dharma.” The conviction with which you spoke truth to power and damn the consequences! 

‘The camaraderie that your forged – across different movements, be it that of the Adivasis, Aambedkarities or Transgender, Queer Assertions; within the progressive circles that you felt was getting fragmented; with younger activists, students hounded by the right-wing regime and who you joyously embraced as your children. Your unflinching solidarity with persecuted Muslims and minorities of all hues. The pain and passion with which you stood for Rohith Vemula, another star! The courage with which you made the transition from English to Kannada media, taking on the powerful legacy of a legend like your father and becoming a legend yourself! We loved the Lankesh Patrike. 

‘We loved the Gauri Lankesh Patrike and we loved the relentless and thousand ways in which you spoke out for a just, fair and compassionate society. 

‘Salute Gauri to the organic, authentic and genuine intellectual and activist that you were.

‘In commemorating your death and in condemning the release on bail of the eight accused, a move meant to embolden criminals of the worst kind, we reiterate the need to recast ‘the murder of Gauri Lankesh’ as a hate crime against humanity. We reiterate our resolve to defend Democracy, Pluralism, Egalitarianism. We reiterate our resolve to defend Free Speech and Reason. We reiterate the need for questioning the state’s complicity and the judiciary’s failure in upholding our basic civil liberties and democratic rights as citizens. But more than anything else, we reiterate our collective determination to not be silenced.

‘Like Angela Davis said, “One has to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world and one has to do it all the time.” You did and we shall too, for it was always a collective battle and always will be. And in this battle, we wish for ourselves not only your courage and political commitment, but also your lightness of being and your radical humanity that radiated through all those relationships big and small that you forged in and beyond your time, ensuring that you will never go away.  

‘As the inimitable Basavanna said, “things standing shall fall, but the moving ever shall stay”. You move through the millions fighting for justice. You live on. In our hearts, In our hopes. Long Live Gauri! The Fire and Flower!’ 

In profound solidarity, salutes and deep love,

All India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA – NAPM)

Related:

Gauri Lankesh assassination: 6 years down, no closure for family and friends, justice elusive

Gauri, a film on journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh wins international award: Montreal 2023

Gauri Lankesh Assassination: Accused denied bail by Aurangabad HC

Remembering Gauri Lankesh, Renewing A Pledge

Five years since we lost Gauri Lankesh

The post Murder of Gauri Lankesh a hate crime against humanity, condemn release on bail of 8 accused: ALIFA Open letter appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Proceedings in the trail surrounding the assassination of journalist Gauri Lankesh resumed this week before a special Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA) court. As many as four witnesses deposed before the court this week.

Gauri Lankesh, a fearless journalist known for speaking truth to power and calling out right-wing extremists, was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar on September 5, 2017. Readers would recall that, when hearings began on July 4, Special Judge CM Joshi had set some ground-rules according to which hearings will take place every second week of the month for five days.

This week, a neighbour (names of witnesses withheld as per directions of the court) of Lankesh testified that he was cooking at home when he heard the gunshots. Times of India quoted excerpts from his testimony: “I ran to the front door and opened it. When I was near the gate, I saw two men riding away on a black Passion Pro motorbike in Subhash Park direction. The rider and the pillion were wearing full-face helmets.” The neighbour also identified the bike used by the assailants that had been seized by the police.

He told the court that when he and his roommate rushed outside the bike borne assassins fled, but that’s when a cable operator arrived. This is the same cable operator who had deposed before the court last week and said that he had been called to rectify the cable in Lankesh’s home, but found her dead outside her door instead.

Another witness told the court that he had met key accused KT Naveen Kumar (A-17) at a park in Vijayanagar, and that two of the accused – Naveen Kumar and Sujith Kumar – had discussed a plan to murder the journalist, reported Hindustan Times.

Other witnesses to depose before the court included a woman staffer from a lab in Shantinagar and two policemen. The lab technician told the court that the police had given them CCTV footage on a DVR on September 6, and the lab downloaded the visuals and returned the DVR the same day.

Another witness to depose before the court was Head constable Shivaswamy H, who reportedly told the court that it was “police inspector Shiva Reddy took a written statement from Kavita Lankesh at the spot” and then gave it to him. He then handed it to sub inspector Laxman who drafted the First Information Report (FIR).

The accused were produced from Bengaluru, Yerawada and Mumbai prisons through video conferencing.

Brief background of the case

Journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh was snatched away from friends, family and her fellow journalists when the fearless journalist was gunned down outside her home on September 5, 2017. Since then, 17 people have been arrested in connection with the case, and one accused is still missing.

The said incident came under the jurisdiction of Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station of Bangalore City and on the same day an FIR was registered under Sections 302, 120(B), 114, 118, 109, 201, 203, 204, 35 of I.P.C. and Sections 25(1), 25(1B), 27(1) of the Indian Arms Act, 1959 and Sessions 3(1)(i), 3(2), 3(3) and 3(4) of the COCA Act, 2000 (Order No.C.R.M./01/158/BC/2017-18 dated 06-09-2017 of the D.G. and I.G.P.) as Crime No. 221/2017. Gauri Lankesh’s sister, Kavitha Lankesh is the first informant in the case.

The Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) began probing the case. Two chargesheets were filed in the case. The primary chargesheet was filed against KT Naveen Kumar, a 37-year-old member of the Hindu Yuva Sena on May 30, 2018. On November 23, 2018 the supplementary chargesheet running into 9,235 pages was filed. 18 people have reportedly been named in the chargesheet. These include shooter Parashuram Waghmare, masterminds Amol Kale, Sujith Kumar alias Praveen and Amit Digwekar. It was in this chargesheet that the Sanatan Sanstha was mentioned for the first time.

The chargesheet also mentions 26 other people who were on a hit list of sorts. These are eminent journalists, educationists and intellectuals who are perceived to be anti-Hindu by the Sanatan Sanstha. These include Siddharth Varadrajan (Editor, The Wire), journalist Antara Dev Sen, JNU professor Chaman Lal, Punjabi playwright Atamjit Singh among others.

According to the Karnataka SIT, the plot to kill Lankesh was hatched a year before the assassination. Amol Kale, a former Hindu Janjagruti Samiti convener, allegedly hired killer Parshuram Waghmare. Waghamare was allegedly a member of the Sri Ram Sene. Kale took him to an isolated spot in Khanapur, Belgaum to practice using an air pistol. Waghmare allegedly did a recce of Lankesh’s house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in July 2017. On September 5, he and another back-up gunman Ganesh Miskin arrived outside Lankesh’s house on a black motorcycle. Waghmare fired four times at Lankesh and the duo fled the scene.

However, the group responsible came together in 2010-11 suggesting that this was a wider conspiracy planned over a longer period aiming to eliminate more rationalists, journalists and activists. In a press release the SIT had said, “The investigation so far has revealed that all the 18 accused are active members of an organised crime syndicate. This syndicate was formed in 2010-11, under the leadership of Virendra Tawade alias Bade Bhaisaab. One former editor of ‘Sanatan Prabhat’ provided financial support to this syndicate. The members of this organisation targeted people who they identified to be inimical to their belief and ideology. The members strictly followed the guidelines and principles mentioned in ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’, a book published by Sanatan Sanstha.” The statement further added, “In August 2016, in a meeting of the syndicate, the main members identified Ms. Lankesh as a “durjan” as told in the ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’, based on her speeches and writings. They jointly hatched a conspiracy to murder her.”

The arrests

On March 2, 2018, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating Lankesh’s assassination made its first arrest, apprehending right-wing activist K. T. Naveen Kumar, of Maddur, who in 2015 founded the Hindu Yuva Sene. Kumar who reportedly confessed to Lankesh’s murder had previously been arrested in February 2018 in relation to a case involving illegal arms.

On May 30, 2018, when the SIT filed a 650-page chargesheet in the Lankesh murder case, KT Naveen Kumar was named in it. Kumar allegedly obtained the bullets that were used to kill Gauri Lankesh, and that he allegedly supplied logistical support to her killers and directed them to her residence and office in Bengaluru. It alleges that the bullets were from an ammunition store called Bangalore Armoury, and that Kumar purchased them around eight years ago. Syed Shabeer, who works at City Gun House in Kalasipalya, claimed to the SIT that he sold Kumar 18 bullets for Rs. 3,000 about eight years ago.

The SIT, in the chargesheet, stated, “The accused were angry with her for speaking against Hindu dharma, Gods of Hindu dharma and insulting Hindu dharma”. Kumar’s wife, Roopa C. N., gave the SIT a statement, which indicated that Kumar was associated with the Sanatan Dharma Sanstha, largely in 2017.

In late May 2018, the SIT arrested four more people with ties to right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha for a January 2018 conspiracy to kill K. S. Bhagwan. The four individuals also had ties to Sanatan Sanstha’s sister outfit, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), and were also connected to Kumar, in 2017 had attended multiple HJS meetings. The four individuals are named Amol Kale alias Bhaisab, an HJS activist from Maharashtra, Amit Degwekar alias Pradeep, a Sanatan Sanstha activist from Goa, Manohar Edave of Karnataka, and Sujeet Kumar alias Praveen, an activist with Sanatan Sanstha and the HJS from Mangalore.

On June 11, 2018 the sixth accused in the case, Parashuram Waghmare, 26, was arrested. On Thursday, June 14, police reportedly interrogated Waghmare and the previously arrested Amol Kale. Waghmare had allegedly claimed that Kale instructed him to carry out the killing, and gave him a country-made pistol.

Sharad Kalaskar was arrested on August 10, 2018 by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) after a tip off from the Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) which was probing the Gauri Lankesh murder case. The ATS claims that Kalaskar was also one of the two gunmen who shot and killed Narendra Dabholkar in August 2013. According to the ATS, the weapon used to kill Gauri Lankesh and other rationalists was also procured and manufactured by Kalaskar.

A note on how to make bombs was also recovered from him. Kalaskar was arrested along with Vaibhav Raut and Sudhanwa Gondhalekar from the Nallasopara home of Raut who is the convener of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti. 20 crude bombs and two gelatin sheets were recovered during this raid. Meanwhile, Gondhalekar is a member of Shiv Shivapratishthan Hindustan, an organisation run by none other than Shambhaji Bhide, one of the two main accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence.

In July 2019, Uma Devi, wife of slain rationalist MM Kalburgi identified the gunman who shot her husband. Earlier the SIT had arrested Praveen Chatur, a Belgavi resident who had allegedly ferried this gunman in the Kalburgi murder. While police had initially suspected Amit Baddi, a friend of Ganesh Miskin, of being the biker, sketches prepared by police artists did not match eye witness descriptions. When the SIT probed the matter again, interrogation of Amol Kale pointed them towards Chatur. Chatur was also wanted in a petrol bomb attack on a theater screening Padmavat in Belgavi in January. He has now turned state’s witness in the Gauri Lankesh case. In his statement he has reportedly admitted to attending training camps in Jalna and Mangaluru.

Rishikesh Dewarkar was the last one to be arrested in the case so far. Dewarkar who also went by the alias Rajesh was arrested from Katras town in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand in January 2020. He had been on the run ever since the assassination and had been laying low, working at a petrol pump in Katras for several months under an assumed identity.

CJP assists Kavita Lankesh

In June 2021, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) assisted Gauri Lankesh’s sister Kavita move a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court against an order by the Karnataka High Court dropping charges under Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA) against accused Mohan Nayak, who is is a close associate of Amol Kale and Rajesh Bangera, two men who are key accused in planning and committing the assassination of Gauri Lankesh. 

Nayak had approached the Karnataka high court for bail on grounds of the ruling dropping the KCOCA charges against him. He had contended that on April 2, 2021, the court had quashed the FIR in relation to offence under KCOCA and therefore he could not be charged for the offence under KCOCA. For this reason, he argued that the chargesheet against him should have been filed before expiry of 90 days from the date of his arrest and remand to judicial custody. Admittedly there was no chargesheet and hence he contended that he should be entitled to statutory bail under Section 167(2) of Cr.PC. 

But on July 13, the High Court’s Single-judge Bench of Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar ruled that Nayak cannot seek bail on the grounds that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a chargesheet against him, only on November 23, 2018, more than 90 days following his arrest on July 19, 2018, since the bail application was moved only after the chargesheet was filed.

Lankesh’s SLP, filed with CJP’s assistance, details the nature and extent of Mohan’s involvement saying that investigations had found that he had been “actively involved in providing shelter to the killers prior to and after committing the offence and has participated in a series of conspiracies, abetting, planning, providing logistics.”

The SLP further reiterated what the investigation agency has revealed, that they have collected sufficient evidence “to connect him with the case and establish his intimate nexus with the mastermind behind the entire event i.e., Accused No.1 Amol Kale and master arms trainer Accused No. 8 Rajesh D. Bangera who are part and parcel of an “organised crime syndicate” from its inception.”

On September 21, the matter was heard by a bench comprising Justices A.M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and C.T. Ravikumar. In October 2021, the SC restored KCOCA charges against Mohan Nayak.

Proceedings at previous hearings

As SabrangIndia had reported previously, Gauri Lankesh’s sister Kavita Lankesh, who is a filmmaker and poet, made her statement before the court when the hearings began on July 4, and said that just days before her murder, Gauri Lankesh had seen some men “loitering suspiciously” near her home in Bengaluru. She also said that it was she who discovered Gauri’s bullet ridden body in a pool of blood.

But the counsel for the defence wanted to spin an entirely different narrative. During her cross examination, Kavita was asked about family feuds instead. She was also asked about Gauri’s alleged “Naxalite connections”. At one point the defence counsel also mentioned Gauri Lankesh’s connections to the activists who have been dubbed the “tukde-tukde gang”, namely Jignesh Mewani and Kanhaiya Kumar. But this line of questioning was shot down by the court.

In July, the court also examined other witnesses including a cable operator who had been called to rectify the cable in Lankesh’s home, but found her dead outside her door instead. Another eye-witness, a mason whose wife was employed as a security guard in the building opposite Lankesh’s residence was also examined. He told the court, he heard gun shots when he came back home from work that day, and rushed to the spot, reported The New Indian Express. 

When the hearing ended on July 8, the counsel for the accused told the court that they had not been given footage from CCTV cameras outside Lankesh’s residence yet. It was this footage that had helped the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to identify and apprehend the shooters. On Monday, July 18, the Special Public Prosecutor handed over the footage from two CCTV cameras outside slain journalist Gauri Lankesh’s house to the legal team of the accused. 

Related:

Gauri Lankesh case: Hearings to resume before KCOCA Court today

Gauri Lankesh case: CCTV footage shared with counsel for the accused

Gauri Lankesh case: Why is the Defence harping on alleged “Naxalite connections”, family fued?

Gauri Lankesh case: SC restores KCOCA charges against Mohan Nayak

Gauri Lankesh case: SC reserves order on plea to keep KCOCA charges against accused

Gauri Lankesh case: SC to decide on keeping KCOCA charges against accused

Gauri Lankesh case: CJP assists sister Kavitha move SC

‘Meticulous’ investigation yet little headway in Gauri Lankesh murder case

The post Gauri Lankesh case: Neighbour identifies bike used by shooters appeared first on SabrangIndia.

One evening, my grandmother and I heard that my aunt had collapsed. We were alone at home. My grandmother drove me to my aunt’s house, scared and crying all the way, because she was afraid of what could have happened. When we reached my aunt’s house we were shocked to learn that my aunt had been shot dead. My mother was already there, crying and heartbroken. I broke down too. I cried like never before, because the pain was something I had not ever experienced, or even imagined. And what had happened was so shocking that it was almost unbelievable. Till today, I still feel like she is here, and that she has really not gone away forever.

They say time heals, but a year has passed but I feel the pain as if it was yesterday. Maybe I am not crying anymore like I was back then, but the void inside me still feels just as deep as it did that day. Initially, I felt very angry towards the killers. I wanted to hurt them the way they hurt her. I wanted them to experience the pain we felt. I still do. But the bitter truth is that my aunt will not come back even if they suffer. I realise “An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind”. All we can do is wait for the pain to subside, get justice and the murderers to get punished legally.

There has never been a day that has passed by, that I haven’t thought of her. When I remember the love she had for me I miss her terribly. My aunt did not have children of her own, but she called me her daughter, just as I called her “Avva” which is another word for ‘mother’ in Kannada. She was almost like a second mother to me. They say sometimes that one never realises the true value of someone, unless you have lost them. I did not realise how much I really loved her until I lost her. I had never imagined a world without her.

When I was little I would go to her house over the weekends. She would tell me bedtime stories of her own various versions of Cinderella. In my aunt’s version, Cinderella was a strong and independent girl. Cinderella would be a working woman and every time my aunt would change her profession; if sometimes Cinderella was a chef, another time she was a writer! And most of all Cinderella was no meek girl who would wait for her prince! Each time the story would have a slightly different setting or challenges she faced. I would just love listening to these stories. As I got older she would tell me stories of Jim Corbett, Kenneth Anderson and even gave me books by Poorna Chandra Tejaswi etc. She was a voracious reader. Apparently even when my aunt was a young girl, her siblings would go out and play, but my aunt would be happy immersed in the world of books!

My aunt adored me so much that she never introduced me to her friends as her niece, but introduced me to them as her daughter. She would regale her friends with anecdotes about me, even when she was extremely busy. She would tell me I should always speak for myself and be a strong woman. She would always keep me updated on all the current events and would even take me to listen speeches, or make me watch talks by young student activists such as Kanhaiya Kumar or Shehla Rashid. She always said that the youth should be aware, as they are the ones who can bring about a change.

On her birthday a few years back, she presented herself with a tattoo on her arm of a peacock feather symbolizing my grandfather’s newspaper logo and my name under it. Every weekend she would come home and spend time with my mother and me. My aunt loved non vegetarian food, but she hardly ever cooked. So whenever she came home, my mother would cook chicken for both of us. Both of them would share funny stories of their past, their experiences and memories, and we would spend the afternoon laughing.

Being secular and equal was very important to my aunt which was also ingrained in us. Our family would celebrate Ganesha festival in my uncle’s house, Christmas in our house and Ramadan in my aunt’s house. She would tell me and my cousins’ stories and the significance of the festivals. To her, it was important to understand and empathize with all religions and communities. Needless to say she fought for women’s rights, women empowerment, Dalits, Muslims, Trans genders and many other minorities. She was a strong, ethical journalist and a fierce activist who consistently fought for the downtrodden and addresses issues concerning them. She tried to persuade naxalites to give up their guns and arms and have peaceful negotiations with the Government about their problems.

She worked very hard, day and night, almost never took a break. After her death is when I realised who she really was and how much she has done for people from various strata of society. For me she was simply “Avva” who loved me to bits, but I realised she was “Akka” “Amma” a friend, a colleague to thousands of people, and a mentor to many youngsters. I knew what she did, I knew what she loved and I knew especially what she hated, but I did not know how many lives she had influenced, the young and the old, the weak and the have-nots. The day of her funeral, we expected some people, but were amazed to witness thousands of people from different sections of society turn up. There were women, students, Trans genders, Muslims, politicians, theatre personalities, the film fraternity and more. There were protests in every nook and corner of Karnataka, across India and even across the world. People held candlelight protests near the Indian gate. Journalists protested in every city. Even after a year protests for justice and safety for journalists who speak truth to power continue in places nearby and far such as France, New York, Germany, and Malta. There was even a pillar honouring her inaugurated in a town called Bayeux, France by the Reporters without Borders Association.

The only factor that lessens the pain of losing her is how proud of her I am. And how the killers did not silence her, but instead made her voice louder by showing solidarity towards her and what she stood for across the word.

Before I lost her, I never knew how it felt to lose someone. Although I constantly feared that I would lose someone I love deeply, I never thought it would be the end of everything, and I assumed things would go back to normal, but unfortunately it is both. Some things came to an abrupt end, some things in life moved on as though nothing had happened at all.

When I think back, I wish I had spent more time with her. I wish I had told her more often how truly I loved her. I wish I had told her how proud I was of her and the work she did. I wish I had understood what she stood for, better. I wish I had known she was not merely my aunt, but she was much more and that I told her that I respected her immensely. I also know regardless of whether I expressed all this to her or not, she knew how much I loved her, and I know how much she loved me. And if I could tell her something now, I would say thank you, for spending thirteen years with me and being my role model. I cannot believe she won’t be there to share so many things with me now, but I know in spirit she will always be with me. I also know that in the short span of her life, she did so much that she will live in my heart and many other’s for a long time. A very long time.
 

*All pictures courtesy Kavitha and Esha Lankesh
 

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