REMEMBERING CHANDRIKA MAGO

The senior Mint editor and head of the Lounge desk passed away on Wednesday. The Lounge team remembers our beloved colleague

- 

A few months back she messaged, "Pls make me laugh, having a difficult week". I joked, "Why on a Thursday?" We put the Lounge issue to bed on Thursday, and it can get chaotic at times. She replied, "Flurry of tests not showing great results. Thursday is the best day to laugh-hysterically if need be." I could imagine her rolling her eyes and chuckling to herself. A close friend of hers mentioned that she would get annoyed if they dropped in on Thursday: "Don't you know it's my production day?" As if keeping that in mind, she decided to make her exit on Wednesday morning-ironically, she hated early mornings. The night before she had been listening to Dev Anand songs-hope you went with a song in your heart. You will be deeply missed. And sorry, you don't get to ask the question this time: What's the story? -Nipa Charagi

Asly, dry sense of humour, a deep love for journalism and the work we did every day, and a true empathy for young journalists defined Chandrika. Despite her illness, she had always said she wanted to work "to the end", and she did. Alternately berating and praising us, she brought depth, rigour, style and colour to our copies, and it would be fair to say that many of the awards Lounge won should have her name on them too. I joined the team in the midst of the pandemic; she was already unwell, and her humour and poise were an inspiration. Her knowledge was vastshe had worked as a reporter, covering various ministries and beats, under multiple editors in different newsrooms, and had wide-ranging interests. She drew from all this to form her opinions, to give advice only when it was sought-that was always on point yet never didactic. And she would roll her eyes and sigh at the grammar as well as the excess of emotion on this page. -Shalini Umachandran