India, May 16 -- I recently watched a video of a woman in New Zealand stopping at an unmanned vegetable stall along a quiet national highway. She picked what she needed, placed her money in a box, and drove away. No shopkeeper. No CCTV. Just trust.

At the end of the video, she mentioned something that caught my attention - she said a similar culture of honesty exists in India too, in a small state in the Northeast. That state was Mizoram.

Aizawl, a city that surprised me

During 2015-16, I had a chance to visit Mizoram. I flew into Lengpui Airport from Kolkata, after a long day that had started early morning in Delhi. Tired from the journey, I went straight to my hotel in Aizawl.

Being from the Northeast myself, I knew the sun sets ear...