India Today covers on the pains and pleasures of the Luckies

Once in a while death becomes a matter of more than personal grief to the bereaved family. It becomes a metaphor of the social disruption arising out of change and modernity. It happened with the Jessica Lall murder in 1999 and the Nitish Katara killing earlier this year. It is not that events of this kind have never happened before. But in a media-driven environment, private distress is often catapulted into the public arena.

While these cases may hardly affect the mightier matters of state, they certainly reflect the brazenness with which powerful people feel they can use clout to subvert law and justice.

The Natasha Singh case is both different and similar. Despite the growing consensus that she may have taken her own life, unexplained questions remain about her death. But there is more to this story than its mysterious end: it is about love, marriage, divorce, violence and the lifestyle enjoyed by the urban, young and well-heeled India. In our cover story of July 2, 2001, we called these children of globalisation, cable TV and guilt-free consumerism the Luckies. What is now clear is that their lifestyle has produced its share of pressures and unhappiness.

The Singh case is a reflection of the downside of the Luckies. Special Correspondent Sayantan Chakravarty, Principal Correspondent Anshul Avijit and Reporter Shuchi Sinha along with Aaj Tak's Leher Kala have put together this week's cover story. Avijit, who met her socially on and off, says, "She was always cheerful but who knew what lay behind that persona?"

As a chronicler of modern India, we have always tried to identify trends in society and trace the tensions that lie beneath. In urban India, the cocktail of wealth, power and privilege, we continue to discover, is a lethal one.

(Aroon Purie)