September was a bad month for England, and I was appalled to note that there was no similar effect in India. The passing of Queen Elizabeth prompted thousands of English citizens to stop focusing on shockingly high energy bills and stand in a queue to pay their respects, and I wondered why there was no equivalent outpouring of grief in our country. I expected at least a week of mourning to process the grief of losing a monarch who had been a fixture in our lives for decades. Yes, she may not have had anything to do with India on paper, but can we really deny how important she was?

Critics may point out that she was not a particularly nice person and didn’t deserve much attention. They may talk about how distanced she was from the common people, how she wasn’t a particularly attentive mother, how she did nothing to protect her daughters-in-law, or how she was complicit in crimes committed by Britain across numerous colonies and territories.