[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]“Ramchandra keh gaye Siya se, aisa Kaljug aayega…” the old Bhajan began playing on my mother’s Alexa just as the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared on television, stepping out of a black SUV in a navy-blue suit in New Delhi's scorching heat with the expression diplomats reserve for countries they urgently need but cannot fully predict.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]The TV was muted then. The Bhajan was not.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]“He.... Ramchandra keh gaye Siya se…”
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Rubio adjusted his jacket. Cameras flashed. As I pressed the volume button on the TV remote, ballsy Indian anchors began speaking in three parallel pitches at once — one declaring a historic strategic partnership, another warning about China, a third already debating whether India was finally becoming America’s most important ally.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]And somewhere behind the noise, the old Bhajan started sounding less devotional and more like background music for the century.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]“Hans chugega daana dunka… kauwa moti khayega…” (The swan will peck at grain. The crow will eat pearls.)
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]America spent thirty years building the global order. China quietly built the supply chain underneath it.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Washington wrote speeches about freedom of navigation. Beijing bought ports. Washington sanctioned countries. Beijing financed highways through them. America became the world’s military headquarters. China became the warehouse.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]And India became that one country both sides keep inviting to dinner while secretly checking if it has already eaten elsewhere.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Rubio arrived in Delhi carrying the modern diplomatic thali: semiconductor cooperation, Indo-Pacific stability, trusted supply chains, maritime partnerships, democratic values, AI collaboration — and hidden beneath all the polished language, the real sentence nobody says directly anymore:
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Please help us handle China.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]South Block welcomed him warmly. Smiles. Handshakes. Carefully choreographed optics. Somewhere inside air-conditioned meeting rooms, phrases like “shared strategic interests” floated gently across polished tables.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]And somewhere else, probably on another government screen entirely, Indian officials were still tracking discounted Russian crude shipments entering Indian ports.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]“Kadam kadam par karenge dono apni apni manmaani…”
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]At every step, everyone pursuing their own agenda.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]The genius of the Bhajan is that it never sounds angry. It sounds amused. Like Raja Ramchandra Ji saw all this coming and decided the only sensible response was mild disappointment.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Because what exactly is the India-US relationship now?
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]It is not friendship in the old-fashioned sense. Friends do not threaten tariffs during election years and plan silent coups. Friends do not ask you to reduce Russian oil purchases while simultaneously needing you to reduce dependence on China.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]This is something else. Can we call it strategic dating?
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]America keeps saying “shared democratic values.” India keeps saying “strategic autonomy.” Both nod politely while meaning entirely different things.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]The Americans want India close enough to balance China.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]India wants America useful enough to balance everyone.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]“He Ji Re…”
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]On television, the cameras followed Rubio’s convoy moving through Delhi. The headlines screamed words like ALLIANCE, PIVOTAL MOMENT, NEW ERA.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]And yet Delhi itself looked completely relaxed about the whole thing. That to me was the fun part.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Because India has slowly become very good at this game.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Buy Russian oil. Join the QUAD. Attend BRICS. Sign defence deals with Washington. Negotiate with Tehran. Wink at Moscow. Shake hands with Europe. Call it “multi-alignment” and refuse to elaborate further.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]The Americans still occasionally behave like India is a future ally whenever it suits. Delhi behaves like a civilisation that has seen the Portuguese, the British, the Soviets and now the Americans all arrive carrying world-order theories with excellent branding.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Then, inevitably, the conversation drifted toward Donald Trump. Because modern geopolitics now comes with the Trump package included, whether anyone likes it or not.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]If Rubio represents institutional America, Trump represents what happens when the institution itself opens Twitter at 2 a.m. and decides honesty is more entertaining than diplomacy.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Previous US Presidents performed empire with moral seriousness (at least they put up a show). Trump looked at NATO, Ukraine, climate agreements, trade alliances and basically asked the question every superpower eventually asks after too many wars and too much debt: “What exactly are we getting out of this?”
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]And suddenly the entire global order developed trust issues.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Under Trump, alliances is more like a subscription service. Europe panicked like a long-term customer hearing rumours the company might shut down. China stayed quiet and kept manufacturing. India watched calmly, like a veteran stock trader during market volatility.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Because Delhi understands something Washington still struggles with: Predictable countries become dependencies. Unpredictable countries become necessary.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]“Raja aur praja dono mein hogi nis din khinchaataani…” (There will be endless pulling and tugging, said the wise Ramchandra ji).
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Not just between rulers and people. Between allies. Between markets. Between values and interests. Between speeches and shipping routes, especially shipping routes.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]In the Trump era, modern morality and geopolitics now changes depending on oil prices. Russian crude is unacceptable until inflation rises. Chinese technology is dangerous until quarterly profits depend on it. Gulf monarchies become strategic partners every time sovereign wealth money enters the room and democracy takes a backseat. For the journalist in Norway, India's press freedom is an issue until PM Modi commits energy allinace.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]The world no longer runs on ideology. It runs on exemptions.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]“He Ji Re… He Ji Re... ”
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]And through all this, China barely speaks. That is what makes Beijing unnerving. America holds press conferences. China builds factories.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]While Washington debates democracy and alliances, Beijing quietly manufactures batteries, solar panels, telecom equipment, EV components and half the things required for modern civilisation to function before breakfast.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]America controls the oceans. China controls what is inside the containers crossing them. India, meanwhile, controls the uncertainty. And uncertainty has become the most expensive commodity in geopolitics.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]By evening, Rubio’s meetings were done. Another joint statement emerged filled with phrases like “deepening cooperation,” “trusted partnership,” and “shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Television studios celebrated another diplomatic victory. Experts began drawing arrows on digital maps.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Outside, Delhi traffic continued moving exactly as it always does — aggressively, mysteriously, somehow functional despite all available evidence.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]The Bhajan was still playing softly inside my mind.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]“Dharam bhi hoga, karam bhi hoga, parantu sharam nahi hogi…” (There will be morality and righteousness. But no shame. It quitely exited geopolitics.)
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]Somewhere over the Arabian Sea, oil tankers continued sailing toward India. Somewhere in Beijing, another factory line started production. Somewhere in America, Trump was probably explaining global trade using golf metaphors.
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]And somewhere, Raja Ramchandra ji was perhaps looking down at all this noise, all these summits, all these strategic partnerships, countries smiling at each other while calculating leverage beneath the table — and softly telling Siya:
[color=hsl(0,0%,0%)]"Aisa Kalyug aayega..." (I warned you about the Kalyuga). |
