I recommend a simple exercise for anyone who loudly proclaims how much Indians respect women. A lot of people do this routinely, running their own private 'Incredible India' campaigns for visitors from foreign lands, in much the same way that we have conned millions of foreigners into assuming we are a peace-loving nation of vegetarians. To these dubious ambassadors, I suggest the following: Follow a female Indian journalist on Twitter. The newspaper, magazine or TV channel she works for is irrelevant, so focus on gender alone.

Take a day or two to evaluate the kind of messages this journalist you follow receives, especially if she makes the mistake of airing an opinion. You will learn that, in India's version of 2019, women must be seen, not heard on social media. First, there will be men who respond to anything these women say with inane counter arguments, because mansplaining is a national pastime and facts are unimportant. Sooner or later, the arguments will give way to insults, abuse and insinuations. A significant number of these journalists will be referred to as prostitutes, while those too old to be considered worthy of that profession will be attacked for their looks, education, religious beliefs or private lives.