We live in a post truth era. Narratives are being rewritten and old ones erased from memory right in front of us. When climate change is evident as India goes through one of the worst heat wave periods in the past century, there are many who dismiss the evident reality as hype. When mosques are being summarily dug up in the form of exploratory archaeology based on flimsy claims, panelists on loyal TV channels appeal to majoritarian sentiment and the need to undo past ‘wrongs’. And when data – cold, hard, self explanatory in nature – reveals what we know all along, that India is sliding in all kind of social indicators and heading towards an uncertain future, the data itself is questioned without basis.

So, we live in a time where the lines between truth and reality, myth and fact are being made to collapse at top speed. In such a moment, honest journalism and research is the need of the hour. Press freedom is at an all time low, unsurprisingly. Aura’s June 2022 issue binds together all these narratives through expert views from different fields in an attempt to tell the truth.

Our cover story on the environmental crisis points towards the crisis of modernity we are encountering everyday. From a loss of moral values to the degradation of the earth we inhabit, overpowering ideologies like modernity are encapsulated by the behemoth that is the modern nation-state. Yet, in this crisis of modernity, all is not lost.

In a letter to her daughter, author Maya Angelou said, on the occassion of her graduation:

“Look beyond your tasseled caps
And you will see injustice.
At the end of your fingertips
You will find cruelties,
Irrational hate, bedrock sorrow
And terrifying loneliness.
There is your work.”

There is work to be done and words to be spoken out. Here is our work – speaking truth to power in every possible sphere of life. It is with that hope that Aura’s sixteenth issue is in front of you.