New Delhi, April 7 -- A truly enlightened being, the Bhagavad Gita informs us, is one who treats friend and foe alike. By this measure at least, US President Donald Trump might be the very definition of a liberated soul.

Trump's carpet-bombing assault on the global trade order has wreaked havoc on the US' allies and competitors in equal measure. No place, and no one, is safe anymore.

Financial markets the world over have been slammed by a Category 5 hurricane. And the term 'Black Monday' is ricocheting across social media, bringing back ghastly memories of the fateful day of 19 October 1987, when the Dow Jones index plummeted by more than 22% in a single session.

India, too, could not escape the contagion. Benchmark indices Nifty 50 an...