Last night I wisely skipped the presidential debate to watch Raj Kapoor's 1955 Bollywood classic Shri 420, whose opening song, "Mera Juta Hai Japani," has been running through my head off and on for a good decade. The song, like the film, is a fable of modernity, urbanization and globalization: what do we make of a world where everything around us comes from somewhere else? What's lost, what's gained, and what can we hold onto?