Offscript Weekly: The World Feels Heavier

She was India’s heartbreak. A young widow with the lifeless body of her husband of less than a week--a naval officer slain in the Pahalgam attack--cradled in her lap became a haunting image of grief. On social media, this deeply personal sorrow in the lush meadows of Pahalgam got ‘Ghiblified’ and became a weapon to ignite a firestorm of anger and pain across the country.

And then she spoke: words of peace and restraint, urging against allowing hate to consume us. In a matter of seconds, she was branded a traitor; her voice was drowned out. She was trolled, abused, and dehumanised. When did empathy become treason?

India is angry, and rightly so. But in that fury, we must pause. Across the border, Pakistani ministers are muttering about nuclear “deterrents”. Our own defence minister dropped a cryptic warning: “What you wish will happen.” The UNSC is also now seized of the rising cross-border tensions. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the world isn’t exactly calm. Houthi rebels claim to have launched a missile at Tel Aviv from Yemen. In East Asia, Japan and China are shadowboxing over airspace violations near disputed islands. Fighter jets, close calls, rising distrust.

Taiwan remains under pressure. Gaza continues to burn. The planet feels like a string of live wires. Do we really want to strike another match?

Let’s hold Pakistan accountable: with strategy, not spectacle. We are a nuclear power, and should not respond to reactionary soundbites. Russia’s war has shown how fast a “measured” strike can spiral into catastrophe. True strength isn’t rage on repeat. 

Meanwhile, absurdity wore a mitre this week.

With the end of the mourning period for Pope Francis and the Vatican prepping to name his successor, there came some theatrics from across the Atlantic. The US President Donald Trump posted a doctored image of himself dressed as the Pope: with a white robe, golden crucifix, a halo of smugness. And then, the White House shared it. Meme? Messiah complex? Who knows anymore. What’s clear is that Trump is turning politics into personal theatre, and exporting it!

Australia knows this dance. Right-wing leaders there once flirted with their own MAGA-style slogan: “Make Australia Great Again.”

But voters didn’t buy it. Anthony Albanese’s victory was a quiet but firm pushback against that noise. Just a few days earlier, in Canada, Mark Carney emerged as a voice of post-populist calm, signalling a centrist ethos. But Romania has taken a sharp turn the other way, with a rising Trump-aligned populist gaining ground. The world’s political compass is spinning, and Trump insists on being the North Star of chaos.

From surreal politics to contested history...

A woman claiming to be a descendant of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar filed a petition to reclaim Delhi’s Red Fort, 164 years after it was seized following the 1857 war of independence. The Supreme Court wasn’t amused. “Why stop at Red Fort?

Why not Fatehpur Sikri too?” the judges quipped. Her plea was tossed out, but it leaves us wondering: who owns history? 

In a different arena, Australian cricket legend Greg Chappell shared a sobering truth: brilliance needs protection. He was pointing to India’s teen sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who’s taken the IPL by storm with his raw talent. But talent alone isn’t enough, Chappell warned. Young prodigies need more than just good coaching and gym time; they need help building psychological resilience too, says the veteran, pointing to the divergent journeys of super-talented teen sensations Tendulkar and Kambli when it came to handling the weight of early success.

It’s not just cricket or any other sport. It’s about acting, activism, entrepreneurship… any space that throws the young into the public eye. We cheer when they rise, but turn away when they struggle. The week that went by highlighted the slow decline of Djokovic, Dhoni and Sindhu across sports. Mental resilience matters as much as physical strength. Indeed, psychologists and mentors should be around just as much as the batting coaches.

Because the spotlight dazzles, but it also burns. And protecting promise is just as heroic as discovering it.

From war rooms to cricket grounds, from doctored popes to discarded legacies, this week has reminded us that the real battle, always, is for the human heart. Let's not lose it in the noise.

Ranjana Chauhan