New Delhi, July 12 -- "Alright?" An ordinary question, asked in perfectly ordinary circumstances. But I hesitated. Years of travelling through Britain have taught me to hear those two words differently. In a London pub, a Welsh bookshop, on a Cornish coastal path or in a tiny Scottish cafe, "alright?" rarely means what it seems to. Most of the time, it isn't really a question at all.

My education began in a London pub. One evening I pushed through the doors of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, the Fleet Street pub rebuilt after the Great Fire of London. The place buzzed with office workers, tourists and people who looked as though they'd been sitting in the same corner for years.

The barman looked up: "Alright?" I replied: "Yes, thank you. How a...