As a journalist in a conflict zone I was used to covering deaths. But then a young insurgent who had laid down his weapons and become a friend was killed
I first met Korsa Joga in March 2013 – a chance encounter in the intelligence department of the Chhattisgarh police in Raipur, central India. He was a former insurgent who had recently been trapped and been asked to surrender, alongside his lover, Varalakshmi, a former government teacher. Both were Adivasis, the indigenous people of India, and native to Bastar, a massive wilderness that remains the battleground between the Indian state and the ultra-left Maoist guerrilla fighters known as Naxalites.
We had quickly formed a bond that was deeper than the usual ones journalists strike up with the people they meet on assignments. His decision to abandon the revolution and his AK-47 to be with the woman he loved, and his escape from the jungle to the cities of southern India to begin a family life with her, fascinated me. After his short stint with the police he became a police informer in Bijapur, southern Bastar, and I would meet him during my visits, calling him to ask about his new job and the threats he faced.
