NEW DELHI, Feb. 24 -- Wow! Haven't we as a nation mastered the art of pretending normalcy?

You know, that art of putting on a straight face and saying, "Everything's fine!" Even when our world is going up in flames?

It's like we are in a small boat in the middle of a storm, and as huge ships throw lifelines to us, we shout back that all is well.

The first lifeline was thrown by a developed nation saying we ranked somewhere far behind on the Hunger Index, and we shouted back, "We are okay!"

The next two lifelines thrown said we were losing our freedom of speech, and there was religious persecution in the country, but we threw them back, saying, "We don't need your lines, everything is normal. There's no water in our boat!"

And our pre...