The phrase “May you live in interesting times” sounds like a blessing, but in its native Chinese, it is actually a lament. Living in peaceful, “uninteresting” times is a blessing compared to the “interesting times” filled with turbulence, war, and other mayhem.
The last few years have indeed been “interesting times.” We had COVID, the Russia-Ukraine war, the economic turbulence that has been piled on with the Israel-Hamas war of 2023, and forgotten by people elsewhere in the world — civil wars in Congo, Sudan, Mali, and Ethiopia.
We in India should be thankful that we have not been directly touched by any of them, though the recent incidents of drone attacks on ships off India have become a matter of concern. But whether it is the Ukraine-Russia or Israel-Hamas wars, it has compelled us to walk a difficult tightrope.