Diary of a reporter from a Maoist hideout

After a week of uncertainty around the hostage crisis at Odisha's Daringbadi township, the NDTV crew gets instructions to head for the Maoist camp to meet the two Italian hostages. It was a back-breaking trek through difficult terrain and hills and valleys, steep slopes and rocky mountains. The first night the team spent in a village and the next in a forest hamlet.

The makeshift camp had no semblance of a hardcore Maoist hideout. Maoists generally move their location every second day. Though this camp was operating for a longer time since the two hostages couldn't have trekked further. The Maoists finally agreed to release one of the hostages and handed him over to the media team of NDTV's Sampad Mahapatra, Kishalay Bhattacharjee and cameraperson Biswajit Das, BBC radio. A local channel OTV was also accompanying NDTV.

Caught unaware by the terrain and the possible distance it would take us to reach our destination, NDTV's Kishalay Bhattacharjee wondering whether it was a good idea to undertake the trek.

First lap of our journey with NDTV's Sampad Mahapatra, cameraperson Biswajit Das and Kishalay Bhattacharjee along with BBC Radio and the crew from Orissa TV, a local TV network led by two guides sent by the Maoists.

The last lap of the journey and perhaps the most difficult was a downhill trek through rocky mountain high.

A Maoist commando who refuses to be photographed carrying the camera of the Italian tourist abducted by the Maoist. The camera however, did not have any 'objectionable' pictures as alleged by the Maoists for taking the Italian tourists hostage.

A lady commando hides her face to avoid identification. She is one of the personal bodyguards of the Maoist chief comrade Sunil.

Maoist cadres before serving lunch to the media team in the makeshift camp where drinking water is the most valuable commodity.

A Maoist cadre who led the media team in the final leg of the journey, quickly covers his face because no one there is supposed to reveal their identity.

NDTV's Kishalay Bhattacharjee with the Maoist Chief Sabyasachi Panda or comrade Sunil discussing the hostage crisis.

Among other things, the Maoist chief also talked about problems within the CPI Maoists party, his own likes and dislikes and his plan of writing a book.

Sabyasachi explains the difficulties of serving food to the Italian tourists who insist on bread and fruits.

A lady Maoist cadre, taking a power nap while the commander is being interviewed by the media.

NDTV's Kishalay Bhattacharjee with the Maoist guide without whom the team could have never reached its destination. This young boy literally handheld some of the injured team members, served them food and made sure that every one reached safely.

NDTV crew's engineer Sudhir Yadav was worried sick when the rest of the crew didn't return for two days.

A group of local residents appealing to the Maoists to release the two foreign nationals.

Some say that the protests were staged by the Maoists themselves, some said by the government. The Maoists said due to appeal from the people they decided to release one of the hostages