Blog: In Ukraine, A Town In Hell, Landmines In Kindergarten Grounds
Vishnu Som | Monday April 25, 2022In the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, north of Kyiv, all that remained of an entire apartment block was a stuffed bear, the carcass of a kitten at its feet. Next to it, a broken cell phone and a small umbrella.
Blog: What It Took To Cross Over Into Ukraine Amid An Unreal War
Vishnu Som | Thursday March 03, 2022It's a fairly desperate situation now across Ukraine. After trying for several weeks, I was finally able to cross over into the war-hit country today.
On Board Air India Flight That Never Made It To Ukraine
Vishnu Som | Thursday February 24, 2022Ukraine-Russia crisis: It's not often that any airline flies a 256-seat jetliner commercially with just eight passengers on board. But this is different.
Blog: 48 Hours Of Rain In Uttarakhand, No Electricity Or Phone Signal
Vishnu Som | Tuesday October 19, 2021It began gently -- a light, misty rain on Monday morning, not at all uncommon in these parts. But this one looked endless and turned more intense by the hour.
Blog: Killer Waves, Nuclear Plant Cooking Off - Covering The Japan Tsunami
Vishnu Som | Wednesday March 10, 2021The word tsunami had entered the lexicon of journalists in newsrooms around the world after the December 2004 Indian Ocean tragedy, and on 11 March 2011, when news broke of tsunami waves striking the coast of east Japan, there was a sense that this had the potential of becoming a major crisis.
Blog: How An India-US-Australia-Japan Naval 'Alliance' Would Fight Together
Vishnu Som | Tuesday October 20, 2020India's decision to extend an invitation to the Australian Navy to be a part of this year's Malabar Naval exercises isn't just about making a strong diplomatic statement to Beijing.
Blog: New Army Chief Stresses Constitution In Major Speech
Vishnu Som | Sunday January 12, 2020When General Manoj Mukund Naravane, India's new Chief, spoke yesterday to the men and women that he commands, he wasn't just advising them. He was passing an order.
Blog: When Pakistani Forces Fired Missile At IAF Helicopter I Was On
Vishnu Som | Wednesday August 14, 2019Pakistani forces had fired a shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile at our helicopter, possibly a US-made Stinger or Swedish RBS-70, widely considered some of the most potent weapons of its class in the world.
Blog: Modi's Right. Standing Up To China Militarily Won't Work For India
Vishnu Som | Monday April 30, 2018If the next set of Google Earth images were to show fresh Chinese construction in the disputed Doklam plateau, there would be likely be front page headlines on "China renews construction in Doklam despite Modi-Xi talks in Wuhan.'
Blog: Why The Army's Arjun Tank May Be Its Best Bet Yet
Vishnu Som | Monday January 08, 2018For years, cherry-picked data on the Arjun tank's faults seemed to highlight a series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles - the tank was too heavy, it wasn't reliable and it couldn't fire an anti-tank missile. This is all true, but was this reason enough to stifle the growth of the indigenously built tank?
Blog: I Co-Anchored A Show On China State-Run TV. How They Handled Doklam
Vishnu Som | Saturday September 02, 2017It had never happened before - an Indian and a Chinese anchor sitting next to each other - one bound by protocol and state control, and the other bound essentially by the belief that asking questions, any question, was my democratic birth right.
Blog: A Bleeding Driver In Noida. Cop Didn't Help. This Man Did.
Vishnu Som | Friday March 18, 2016It was a strange coincidence - just an hour after anchoring a show on road safety in our country, I was out on a shoot, chatting with my cameraperson Ashok Mahale, when he nonchalantly told me something really special - something I thought I would share.
Opinion: The Importance of Fighter Jet Landing on Yamuna Expressway
Vishnu Som | Thursday May 21, 2015The Indian Air Force today briefly landed a Mirage 2000 fighter-bomber on the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh to validate the capability of the jet to land on civilian roads in the event of an emergency.
Blog: #GoHomeIndianMedia: a Reporter Covering Nepal Weighs In
Vishnu Som | Tuesday May 05, 2015In nearly two decades of covering extreme conflict and natural disasters, I have often asked myself whether it's right to be asking questions to people who have been badly affected - orphans, widows, people who have lost their near and dear ones.
Blog: The Siachen Story, Then And Now
Vishnu Som | Friday April 17, 2015More than 15 years ago, when I reported from the snout of the Siachen glacier for the first time, the Indian Army's Siachen base camp was nothing more than a military outpost in the most unimaginably desolate surrounding.
