I read somewhere that, “Whenever a king sees that his people are about to revolt against him, he starts fighting with other kingdoms.”

Now… I don’t know if that’s entirely true. Sounds like philosophers doing what they do best, romanticizing the obvious. Maybe kings just enjoy a bit of war like we enjoy IPL. And the people? Please. They revolt over the pettiest things, a little starvation here, a dash of unemployment there, the odd famine, a few preventable deaths. So dramatic…ugh!

Because not everything we see is true, right? And not everything we don’t see is wrong either. I mean, we see poverty. Is that true?? NOOO. That’s just a vibe, like the famous saying goes, “If you are homeless, just get a house. duh!!!” Poverty and homelessness are states of mind. Have you tried curing inflation with a “Jai Hind” and a government scheme that expired in 2017?

We see rising prices of onions, tomatoes, petrol, rent, and life in general, but clearly that’s not inflation, that’s just the economy testing our emotional intelligence. We see unemployment, but that’s not real those people are just taking a long “sabbatical.” Upskilling. Hustling. Living their main character moment. And we see war on multiple fronts but that’s not geo-political tension. That’s just elite level team-building between nations…

Damn! man, the WAR… The entire country was under the threat of war. Explosions inside and outside the border, terrorist alerts in metros, news anchors sweating bullets on live TV and shouting in morse code or some weird language which only they could understand (seriously, why do they shout?) , and yet, there we were… still logging into Teams, stuck in traffic, updating timesheets, and pretending mails starting with “Hope you’re doing well” weren’t the most ironic thing to type while sirens wailed outside. Trust me, nobody who has ever received a mail starting with “Hope you’re doing well” ever done well before or after that mail.

People were terrified. Me? I was just hoping the missile would fall after EOD, because I had one last client mail to send.You see, if I die, fine. But if I don’t reply to this thread, my US-based multinational employer might lose client trust, and that, in corporate terms, is a tragedy deeper than my cremation costs.So yeah… dear terrorists, dear global conflict: just give me 15 more minutes. Let me attach the file. After that, do whatever.

I’ve lived, I’ve billed.

And let me be clear, no, I wasn’t scared. Neither were my friends, my peers, or anyone around me. Not because we’re brave. Not because we’ve accepted death. But because, honestly, what else is left to destroy? We’re a generation raised on recession, anxiety, broken dreams, and LinkedIn posts that say “Follow your passion” while we fill Excel sheets for other people’s empires. How much more damage can a bomb do than the everyday quiet collapse we already live in?

A terrorist attack might end us. But our dreams have been dying slowly, deadline by deadline, EMI by EMI, one “let’s connect after lunch” at a time. So no, I wasn’t terrified. Just tired. And frankly, a siren in the sky is still less triggering than the one on my alarm clock or, even worse, that eerie ringtone of “Microsoft Teams.”

And then there’s nationalism. Ah yes, the glue holding all this chaos together. The weirdest thing about nationalism is that the poor die defending the borders, while the rich cross them for vacation, investment, or just for fun.

And yet, somehow, it’s the latter who are labeled patriots decked out in tricolor on Instagram, while the former are told, “You’re just doing your duty. You will be appreciated only when you lay down your life.”

Apparently, nationalism is not measured by who bleeds for the country but by who screams the loudest on prime-time TV or waves the flag the hardest on Instagram. Turns out, loving your country is more about decibels than deeds.

But hey, hypocrisy is our national sport, we just play it wearing different jerseys. Damn it IPL…

But really, let’s not exaggerate. Everything’s fine.

Kids are graduating with master’s degrees and driving for Zomato while billionaires are hoarding land, dodging taxes, and busy bending laws over chai with ministers, like it’s a subscription plan.

And the rest of us? We post one carousel on caste inequality, add a quote in italics, and act like Ambedkar personally DMed us to say, “Well done, comrade. Jai Bhim,” then go back to laughing at casteist jokes in the group chat like nothing happened.

Women can’t walk home without texting three people, sharing live location, pretending to talk to someone, and carrying pepper spray like it’s lipstick, because safety here isn’t a right, it’s a DIY project. But sure, tell us again how “India is a safe country if you behave properly.”

And if you’re wondering why the middle class is constantly out of breath, it’s because we’re trying to run this country while also calculating how to afford eggs and rent and googling, “How to make money with no skills?”

Meanwhile, crimes are up, but don’t worry, reels are trending.

Political accountability is missing, but hey, your Netflix login works.

The planet’s on fire, but hey, every IPL dot ball comes with the promise of a tree that may or may not exist outside PowerPoint.

And if you’re wondering how I’m personally doing amidst all this, the only thing I can now easily relate to are blenders.

Because even I scream while I’m doing my job.

We’re all hypocrites here. We’re all nationalists until it’s inconvenient

We chant “Mera Bharat Mahan” but won’t think twice before littering on the road or bribing someone to skip a queue. We get teary-eyed at army tributes and stand frozen during the national anthem like it’s a Marvel post-credit scene… but ask yourself… what have you actually done for this country?

Sounds too philosophical? Okay, fair. Let’s bring it closer to home.

What good have you even done for yourself lately?

Other than mindlessly scrolling through reels and calling it “me time” for the tenth time today??

Did you use that overpriced degree for anything beyond LinkedIn humblebrags? Did you even try to chase that dream before burying it under memes and Swiggy discounts? That passion you once swore by, it’s now decaying like a government file waiting for clearance.

And guess what? That decay isn’t just personal, it’s national. Because a country full of people who’ve given up on themselves and their passion is easier to control. Because a nation isn’t built by screaming “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, it’s built by citizens who stop being passive participants in both their lives and their democracy. If you can’t stand up for yourself, how can you stand for a nation? Nationalism isn’t in standing still for 52 seconds, it’s in choosing to move when no one else will..

A silent citizen is every king’s dream. And right now, we’re all making the king sleep real well…

So no, I didn’t believe that quote at first. I thought it was too cynical.

I thought maybe, just maybe, I was overreacting. That the unrest I felt is just a mid-20s crisis and not, you know, the slow crumbling of modern civilization disguised with a fancy GDP graph.

But now? Now I see billionaires waging algorithm wars, countries throwing missiles like Diwali crackers, and leaders with more PR teams than policy ideas. And I look around at the rest of us scrolling, broke, burnt out, and trying to figure out if we should buy onions or just chew air today.

And I realize…

I guess they were right

Whenever a king sees that his people are about to revolt against him, he starts fighting with other countries.