The Nobel season has begun. On Monday, the medicine prize opened the 2025 awards with scientists Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi honoured for their discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance.
The prizes for physics, chemistry, literature and economics will follow soon. And then comes the big one still to be announced – the Nobel Peace Prize. That’s where things get interesting.
Sir, just grant the Peace Prize, please
In the Telugu film Jathi Rathnalu, there is a courtroom scene that perfectly captures our times. Faria Abdullah, playing the freshly minted lawyer Chitti, stands before the judge, holding her degree, and pleads: ‘Sir, just grant bail to my clients, please.’ No arguments. No facts. Just confidence.
Now imagine this scene in Oslo, inside the Nobel Committee’s chambers. Enter Donald Trump, the man who has changed not just American politics but also the meaning of peace. Behind him, his loyal campaigner Asif Munir walks in, holding a nomination file thicker than Trump’s autobiography, and says: ‘Sir, just grant him Peace Prize, please.’
After all, who has done more for peace than Trump – at least according to Trump? He says he prevented wars, calmed nuclear threats, and even helped India and Pakistan cool down after the Pahalgam massacre. Details? Classified. Ha ha!
In Trump’s world, peace is not silence – it is just noise loud enough to hide the sound of gunfire. His X posts (tweets) have launched fewer missiles than most presidents’ policies, which, by his logic, makes him the ultimate peacemaker.
The art of peaceful noise
Trump now points to the Gaza ceasefire as his latest proof of greatness. He says that without him, peace would be impossible, because ‘nobody understands peace like I do’. One can almost hear his future acceptance speech: ‘Many people are saying, nobody has ever seen a Peace Prize like this one – the best Peace Prize, believe me.’
And if Oslo doesn’t call soon, he might create new chances for peace – by starting fresh conflicts and then stopping them. The idea is simple: no war, no award. Some fires must be lit just so you can be seen putting them out. But if they reject him, he will call it a ‘witch hunt by the Norwegians.’
Perhaps the Nobel Committee should take a lesson from our Chitti: skip the details and reward persistence. For showing that if you keep asking loudly enough, the world might mistake audacity for achievement.
How noble indeed to chase peace the way Trump chases applause. If only every courtroom, and every committee, had a Chitti to plead: ‘Sir, just grant prize, please’.
