India, June 1 -- Twenty-six years ago, I returned from my first trip to the United States and the United Kingdom with one clear observation. The moment Indians crossed immigration, I told friends, they transformed. Queued neatly. Spoke softly. Binned their litter. They became, briefly, the model citizens they never quite managed to be at home. It was remarkable. It was also, I suspect, temporary.

The latest to go viral is a group of Indian tourists performing an impromptu garba circle on a Vietnam airport tarmac, right beside a parked VietJet Air aircraft, clapping and moving to traditional rhythms while ground crew and airport workers moved around them.

This is the India that has arrived on the global stage - economically, militarily, ...