Zeeshan Ahmed

Talks business & tech for a living. Interested in a variety of other topics - data, emerging tech, social welfare, economics, health, travel, art/culture, etc.

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

“An ideological project to demonise an entire community.”

This is, in many ways, what Under a Saffron Sky is about. Thank you, @ashutosh83B sir, for reading and understanding the book so deeply. 🙏

[Zeeshan Ahmed @zazeeshan0]

@IsmatAraa Nice photo! Good read

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

A rather surreal day. Under a Saffron Sky, published by Penguin Viking, is officially out today. Over six years of reporting, and following one question through hundreds of conversations, countless journeys across India.

Today, that reporting becomes a book, and, more importantly, becomes something readers can argue with, question, disagree with, and hopefully, carry with them.

https://t.co/wu5r7NmI9J

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

Six years ago, I began following a rumour about love, religion and conspiracy. It took me into villages where couples disappeared overnight. Into police stations where parents filed kidnapping complaints. Into courtrooms, flats, madrassas, vigilante offices, homes that had fallen silent, and lives permanently altered by suspicion.

I wanted to understand how the idea of “love jihad” travelled--from a rumour, to a conspiracy theory, to something capable of shaping actual lives. How myths originate, and are used.

That journey has become my first book.

Under a Saffron Sky is published by Penguin Viking.

It has taken years, hundreds of interviews, and countless miles across India.

And now, finally, it’s yours.

I can't wait for you to read it.

Available on Amazon.

https://t.co/pHg1QgXoQF

[Zeeshan Ahmed @zazeeshan0]

Rekhte ke tum hi ustaad nahi ho Ghalib
Kehte hain agle zamaane me koi mir bhi tha
Koi badr bhi ayega ghalib o mir me judne

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

Bashir Badr once heard his own couplet read back to him. He turned to his son and asked: "Bada achcha sher hai. Kisne likha?" What a beautiful verse. Who wrote it? This is the story of Urdu's most beloved poet, and his long goodbye. https://t.co/A2O5eDo6kS

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

Bashir Badr once heard his own couplet read back to him. He turned to his son and asked: "Bada achcha sher hai. Kisne likha?" What a beautiful verse. Who wrote it? This is the story of Urdu's most beloved poet, and his long goodbye. https://t.co/A2O5eDo6kS

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

Go on,
Read something today!

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

As West Asia burns, four-decades-old war wounds reopen in an Indian Family: Nearly 40 years ago, an Iranian woman died tragically over the Strait of Hormuz, leaving behind a shattered family in India. Her husband, legendary Urdu poet, AMU's Waheed Akhtar, was never the same again. As tensions rise again in West Asia, her family in Aligarh finds itself reliving the trauma all over again. Read my story in TOI on how wars outlive generations.

https://t.co/qFnL2dZlfe

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

A fact worth noting as PM Modi visits Norway today, as a journalist who comes from a country which ranks 157 out of 180 in terms of press freedom 🔊:

Norway ranks 1st in the world in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index.
It secured the top position for the 10th consecutive year.

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

Malls in Delhi have AC blasting at 18°C. The street vendor outside, selling water bottles, sits in 45°C. While some of us in Delhi 'discover' the heatwave when it grows 'unbearable', many are forced to live its consequences. Wild idea, but why can't we have outdoor air conditioning and cooling systems in public areas like Dubai, Qatar have? Delhi is NOT fit for human inhabitation, not anymore.

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

This video from Saudi is deeply disturbing.

Distressing accounts continue to emerge from the ground during Haj. In this video, Indian pilgrims can be heard pleading for help, saying their family members have been missing for hours. When asked about the smartwatch mandated for pilgrims, introduced precisely to prevent such situations, they said it has failed them when they needed it most. “The battery doesn’t last. Tracking isn’t working,” the pilgrims say in the video, their voices carrying panic and helplessness. When asked about the thousands charged from pilgrims for these smartwatches, one pilgrim breaks down in anger and disappointment, alleging that Haj Committee pilgrims were wrongly made to pay for a device that ultimately did not help them. “Agli baar Hajiyon ko na thaga jaye,” he says. “May Haj pilgrims not be deceived again.”

@RijijuOffice @MOMAIndia @hcoi_official

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

As tensions rise in Iran & India avoids outright alignment, Tehran’s message to New Delhi: “True friends are known in hard times...”

“And our Indian friends have shown their true friendship.”

Read my full interview with Iran's Ambassador to India, Dr Mohammad Fathali, in TOI.

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

“I have to live like this for the rest of my life.”
Shaheen Malik survived an acid attack in her 20s.
Now she's in her 40s. Her life moved away from what’s called “normal”—marriage, home, stability. Her petition will reshape justice for acid attack survivors, with the Supreme Court questioning why attackers’ assets can’t be auctioned to compensate victims, but no verdict can undo lifelong scars, she told TOI.
My report. https://t.co/YHHKaoKeB9

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

Indian Muslims Have Learned to Hide Our Identities. We Shouldn’t Have to.

My piece in @TIME.

https://t.co/tjwnKMqKVx

[Zeeshan Ahmed @zazeeshan0]

@IsmatAraa Tiger terror in Terai

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

A Hindu teacher urging Hindu students to physically harm their Muslim peers – is this really a surprise anymore? Personally, I'm not shocked. Having reported on anti-Muslim hate crimes over the years, incidents like this unfortunately lack shock value for me. They are just a byproduct of India's current political climate. At times, it does feel like we're chronicling our own downfall.

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

Trapta Tyagi is not a fringe element. She is not a demon. She is not even a monster for inciting her Hindu students to target their Muslim counterparts in class. She is an everyday, average right winger who is determined to bring to life PM Modi's idea of a "New India." She personifies the everyday face of Hindutva extremism, normalizing and perpetuating a dangerous ideology in schools, one class at a time.

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

JUST IN: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI)'s membership has been suspended indefinitely by the United World Wrestling (UWW). Its elections were delayed because of protests by female wrestlers over charges of sexual harassment by BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

[Zeeshan Ahmed @zazeeshan0]

Asking the right questions…

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

I asked Haryana's Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala whether Haryana government is protecting Bajrang Dal's Monu Manesar. 👇👇

Read my interview with @Dchautala over the issue of communal violence in Nuh, the govt's responsibility, threats to boycott Muslims, Bajrang Dal's Monu Manesar & more:

https://t.co/quy7h5WieT

[Ismat Ara @IsmatAraa]

India is going to host the G20 summit this year, and the prime minister has said that women's voices and leadership are essential for growth. But how can these voices be heard when Dalit girls are raped in broad daylight, female journalists face the worst forms of trolling, and Muslim women are sold on the internet?

The G20 summit is an opportunity for India to show the world that it is committed to gender equality. But how can India make this commitment credible when it continues to fail its women?