For four days, Pratham Mahato had been glued to his mobile phone, watching news updates on the India-Pakistan conflict while making and serving tea at his makeshift shop in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

On May 7, the day India had launched strikes on alleged terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Mahato was exultant. “The government has done the right thing,” he told Scroll. “The attacks should continue until the terrorists are completely destroyed and cannot do this again.”

Thousands of miles from the border, Mahato, 46, was unfazed by the prospect of war. “We might suffer a little but in return Pakistan will be obliterated,” he said. “After Operation Sindoor, I am awaiting Operation Mangalsutra,” he added, referring to the offensive’s code name which paid homage to the women who had watched terrorists gun down their husbands in Pahalgam, Kashmir.

The Indian government said the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack had prompted it to launch a “non-escalatory” offensive.

On May 10, after four days of conflict which saw both countries send drones and missiles into each other’s territories, India and Pakistan agreed to stop the fire.

The news left Mahato disappointed. “The government did not do the right thing by agreeing to the ceasefire,” he told Scroll on Sunday. “They should have bombed...