Dehradun, Feb. 23 -- Charleville Hotel.

Arrived at the Mussoorie bus-stop, you're swamped by rental scooter folks wanting to show you "Ruskin Bond-ka-ghar, Victor Banerjee-ki-bari, Vishal Bhardwaj-ka-ghar! Aur Sachin Tendular-ki-kothi! Phir Lal Tibba aur Char Dukan aur Rokeby-mein-lunch!"

"It gets so bad that on holidays, we bolt our gates from the inside," Dhruv Puri. Rokeby's new Manager says, adding, "Just can't take in that many people."

There was a time, not too long ago, when the houses up here had their own special names, their own special identities.

"What's in a name?" you may ask.

Apparently, there's a lot or at least to the successive waves of immigrants who arrived from the hinterlands, to our towns in search of a job. To...