One of the stranger things I noticed a couple of weeks ago — this was during those feverish days when a lot of our countrymen were busy applauding drone strikes, explaining how drone strikes worked, or writing LinkedIn posts about the importance of drone strikes — was a lack of enthusiasm from the outside world. Countries that would otherwise be vocal about how much they respected us were almost mute and abstained from offering strong words of support. There were cursory statements issued from the offices of some political leaders, but no solid signs of solidarity of the kind that usually crop up when something bad happens to another country.

I am aware that India is now such a powerful, developed nation that it doesn’t care for advice or help from anyone, but I couldn’t stop wondering if this was a good thing. Co-operation and mutual respect are critical for growth, after all, whether this is about relationships between people or nations. What I saw, during those days of dramatic monologues masquerading as news reports on television, was a worrying hint of apathy when it came to how the world now sees us.

This could be my imagination, of course, because it’s possible that there were protests on European streets and fundraisers for India raised in cities and towns I have never heard of, but none of these attracted enough attention. I didn’t see foreigners online expressing love and admiration for India or Indians, a sentiment that is increasingly reflected in the power of the Indian passport. It also made me wonder if our elected representatives have heard of ‘soft power’ and its importance.