I know we aren’t allowed to talk about the tragedy that has been unfolding in a certain part of the world for a long time now. I can’t bring myself to name the place because that would call my patriotism into question. After all, our government has made it quite clear that we are meant to choose a side, which prevents a lot of us from being honest about how we feel. This isn’t about the aggressor who cannot be named by the world’s biggest media houses, nor is it about the women, children and civilians losing their lives daily, because we can get to them only after we acknowledge the murders taking place closer to home. This is a column about positivity. It is about coping mechanisms and how we can all turn these dark times into a period of self-development, by making smart choices.

One of the things that works for me is finding ways of addressing specific atrocities by looking at positive alternatives. Consider starvation, for example, because that has been well-documented by one or two newspapers that aren’t morally compromised yet. I try not to think about the fact that food has not been allowed to enter a certain part of the world by a colonising force, and the way I resolve that dilemma is by reading reviews of restaurants that have opened recently. I find that it always takes my mind away from those depressing facts and pictures.

Walking through Bandra is a good distraction because there’s always a new restaurant or two but visiting the suburb is also a risk because so many of these eateries appear in what used to be someone’s home. It may or may not remind you of homes that are being stolen elsewhere, by people we can’t talk about because they may or may not be our country’s second-largest supplier of military equipment.