India, March 12 -- If the algorithms serve you well, then the reels, videos and news of the recent demolition drive in the Dalmandi area of Varanasi might have reached you already. But like all algorithms, it might have also disappeared by now with newer "trends" or tragedies. Like our fickle attention span, the news cycle also moves on. But it takes generations to build a roof on our heads, and the loss of it tends to stay on much longer in the lives of those affected.

The Dalmandi demolition is a result of the attempt to widen the road, which will connect Chowk to Dalmandi. In the form of protest, an owner of a building in Dalmandi set his property on fire when the authorities came to demolish it. These extreme steps are an expression ...