The News Minute reporter Saradha U died in Chennai, a few days after she tested positive for dengue and typhoid. She was 22.
Saradha who joined TNM in February 2021, critiqued Tamil cinema in many of her stories, taking on the misrepresentation of mental health issues, shaming of women for their choice of clothes, sexism, among other issues.
“My colleague @saradha_u is no more. A lovely and calm person, a vibrant writer, soft spoken, and someone with a great sense of humour. This was a pic of herself that Saradha really liked. She was just 22. I will miss her, we will all miss her,” tweeted TNM chief editor Dhanya Rajendran.
Many journalists including Nidhi Razdan, Aditya Menon and Meena Kotwal took to Twitter to mourn the young scribe’s death.
“She was the youngest member of our bureau. Always cheerful and full of life. For every situation she would have a film scene reference and all our conversations turned out to be such fun. She was curious, talented, opinionated and had a flair for writing,” said TNM senior news editor Shabbir Ahmed.
He went on to say: “She left office on Wednesday saying she is feeling uneasy. She later msgd saying she had 105 fever. On Thursday, she informed me that she tested +ve for Dengue & typhoid. She informed me that she would work from home from Monday and also told me that she would get well soon. It’s hard to believe and process that she is no more. “
