India, July 8 -- Grief has a logic of its own. During the Trojan War, Troy's King Priam, lamenting his heroic son Hector's death at the hands of Greek hero Achilles, meets the latter - who is also in mourning for his friend Patroclus - during a temporary ceasefire between their armies. Both the Greeks and the Trojans decide to honour their fallen warriors through funerary games, taking a break from a war already in its 12th year. Priam and Achilles, though being on the opposite sides, recognise and acknowledge each other's grief, treat each other with honour, and, smartly, terminate that encounter before vengeance overpowers the shared sense of loss.

Cut to today, as Iran mourns its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, killed in Israel-US ...