India, April 14 -- We are into the second day of the so-called truce in the Middle East, touted as victory by all who lobbed bombs into the other man's territory with impunity and disregard for more than a month. On Wednesday - Trump's "big day for world peace" - hundreds were slaughtered and wounded in Lebanon, and just before I started writing this column, I heard three explosions behind me, echoing from interceptions in some part of the city.

Two nights ago, when the world was pushed to the brink, with no clue about what the morning would bring, when alarm clocks were set to the deadline in these parts and people sprang up to read the breaking news, one could at once hear a collective sigh of relief from every window across the globe....