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The word ‘hero’ is overused but it’s truly fitting for John Lewis

Posted on by Moni Basu
I love driving by this mural that is not too far from my home in Atlanta.

When is the last time I cried over the death of a public figure or a politician? I can’t remember, really. Perhaps it was when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. I was young then and mourned the woman I had idolized in childhood. Beyond politics, she served as a role model for Indian girls of my generation.

Last night, I cried when I heard the news that John Lewis had lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. I grieved the death of a tireless fighter for freedom and justice. Continue readingThe word ‘hero’ is overused but it’s truly fitting for John Lewis

Ferguson

Posted on by Moni Basu

I did not cover the story in August when a black teenager was killed by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Nor did I have any idea that I would be thick in the middle of things one day. But here I am, amid a deep freeze in Missouri, waiting with everyone else for a grand …

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Rena

Posted on by Moni Basu

Hasan Zeya used to boast about how he was still practicing medicine into his early 80s. But at 84, he no longer is happy about his age. His daughter, Rena, passed away last week, days shy of her 52nd birthday. “She did a bad thing. She cut ahead of me in the queue,” he tells …

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WAR & Fashion

Posted on by Moni Basu

Carnage: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria. Catwalk: Armani, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent. War is ugly. Fashion is beautiful. War projects the worst of humanity. Fashion displays sartorial splendor in its highest. War is fraught with danger, even for journalists and especially for photographers who must get up close to their subjects to frame an image. Fashion is …

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A New Year's salute to amazing people not on any lists

Posted on by Moni Basu

Today, we bid goodbye to 2012 and usher in a new year. It’s a time of cheer and remembrance. We like lists. So we have the top 10s of everything from movies to gadgets to events. And there are lists of admirable people. Barack Obama was Time’s Man of the Year. Malala  Yousafzai topped other …

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A future star

Posted on by Moni Basu

This summer, another crop of interns spent time with us at CNN, working in various departments from the CNN Wire to Headline News. Chelsea Bailey was one of them. Young, bright, smart, personable, curious. Chelsea has all the qualities to make a great journalist. Most of all, I appreciated her eagerness to learn and her …

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New hope for a son of Libya

Posted on by Moni Basu

This is Bashir Al Megaryaf. He’s holding a poster demanding the release of his father, imprisoned in a Libyan jail for two decades. Bashir was only 1 when his father was detained. He has not seen him since. But he has new hope in his heart that the two may be together again as the …

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Protests in Haiti

Posted on by Moni Basu

I have been covering the post-election fallout in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where people tell me they are fed up with a government that has failed to deliver. This year alone, Haiti has endured a massive earthquake, a hurricane and a cholera outbreak. They say they can’t take that their will not be respected now. They say …

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