NEW DELHI, Feb. 27 -- Why this fright and fury? If India is as great as we broadcast from our rooftops, why be frightened by such a 'small fry' as BBC or the Hungarian-American businessman George Soros? Why are we paranoid about a news item that described an event that happened in India? Or, fuming against a man who said that he would like to see India as a democratic and liberal nation? Are such items meant to declare war on our India or defame our nation's name and glory?

Shakespeare the Bard's sonnet number 100 calls on the Muse to cast away its fury: 'Where art thou Muse....Spend'st thy fury on some worthless song, darkening thy power to lend base subject light?' Is the Muse of India so frightened and angry like a child fuming in fur...