India, Jan. 3 -- "So, where did you go for New Year's?" is a question usually asked by people who have just come back from an elaborate trip abroad. They just wait for you to finish your response, so that they can bamboozle you with every tiny detail of their trip to Vietnam. Mostly, how they booked a beach-facing villa at the price of a masala dosa. And how the fruits were so juicy. It's followed by a rant about India's lack of civic sense, clean air and high-quality agri-produce.

Usually, such answers are often prefixed with a "nothing much", as if the person is not impressed by their own prosperity, their own tourism. "This was a last-minute plan," pat comes a disclaimer, lest you judge. Their family has already sent cumulatively 77,0...