New Delhi, May 10 -- When we were planning the 2025 Fiction Special in January, we picked the theme 'War and Peace' for writers, contemplating the physical and metaphorical wars that had been raging around us in the year gone by and hoping for a better year ahead. Five months in, it has, unfortunately, turned out to have been prescient, every story in that issue seeming like a portent of what has come to pass in the last week. Considering the week we've had, it may seem tone deaf that we continue to write about sports and fashion, or recommend shows, films and restaurants. But it is in continuing with routines, like reading Lounge, that we keep a sense of hope alive and take joy in others' accomplishments. And that sense of joy is what co...