Mumbai Mirror is one of the cruelest casualties of 2020. As a journalist, it was the paper that I looked forward to and dreaded the most because of the stories they broke (and in turn, the explanations I'd have to give my editor for missing the scoop).
Sharing some of my favourite Mirror features, that I hope will be preserved by the Times group for their seminal writing.
A haunting profile on Annapurna Devi. What mainstream paper covers Indian classical music and little known female legends? Mirror did both here. https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/others/sunday-read/the-music-of-silence/articleshow/66199979.cms
The curious case of the Ranthidevans, that couple who meticulously planned and executed their deaths in Goa https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story/weve-lived-a-full-life-now-we-choose-to-end-it/articleshow/16181573.cms
Countless zingers courtesy Dr Mahinder Watsa, Mirror's 'Sexpert'. My favourite response to a man who accidentally took an i-pill instead of his girlfriend - 'Next time please use a condom & make sure you don't swallow that too'. https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/opinion/ask-the-sexpert/articlelist/12439005.cms
The Charni road residents who wrote to the President, begging for permission...to die. https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story/a-day-with-couple-that-want-to-die/articleshow/62975414.cms
All of Santosh Andhale's writing on bariatric surgery in 2007-08, that started with this story on the Ghani family. As a rival healthcare reporter in the late noughties, these are the scoops I remember the most! https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/fat-free/articleshow/15814646.cms
Straight from their shock and awe civic reporting playbook (no one covers the BMC better), this break from 2010 on Antilia's monthly electricity bill of Rs 70L https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story/this-is-no-light-bill/articleshow/16075996.cms
From the same reporter, this story on how India's richest civic body was making the city's largest garbage dump a better place - with herbal perfume
https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/garbage-in-smell-out/articleshow/15736592.cms

Avirook Sen's reporting on Aarushi Talwar's death, a case that's still more questions than answers https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/aarushi-case
Here's hoping Mirror's legacy of quality reporting & writing carries on to their weekly edition. For now, here's to celebrating what was an institution.