Goa, March 22 -- In India, we've got a habit that's as endearing as it is absurd: we love to adopt 'sons' and 'daughters' who've made it big abroad, draping them in tricolour pride like they've just stepped out of a Bollywood blockbuster. The latest star in our sky is astronaut Sunita Williams, who recently splashed down after a record-breaking jaunt in space. Butch Wilmore spent the same amount of time up there but Indians couldn't care less.

Right from the Prime Minister and President to anybody with an X or Y account greeted and tweeted about it and her ancestral village in Gujarat lit up with poojas like it was hosting a cosmic homecoming. "Our girl!" they proclaimed, as if they had personally strapped her into the rocket.

Let's hit...