India, April 29 -- By Dr. R. Balasubramaniam

Let me tell you something brutally honest - because that's my thing and also my curse - being authentic in today's world is like showing up to a masquerade ball with your actual face. Everyone else is gliding around with their glittering masks, smiling sweetly while mentally calculating how much social capital they can extract from the person they're talking to. Meanwhile, I am over here, raw and unfiltered, looking like I forgot the assignment.

You would think honesty would be refreshing. You'd be wrong. Turns out, "just be yourself" is one of those Instagram quotes people post between duck-faced selfies and fake humility captions. Because the minute you do exactly that - say what you think,...