2 out of 3 women sexually harassed in New Delhi, India

Delhi Government's Department of Women and Child Development conducted a study that concluded that

two in every three women in the Indian capital have faced some form of sexual harassment in the last year in crowded and secluded places.

The report says the most common forms of harassment are

1. verbal (passing lewd comments), 
2. visual (staring and leering) and 
3. physical (touching or groping or leaning over).

Women of all classes have to put up with harassment in their daily lives, but students between 15 and 19 years old and employed women are specially vulnerable.  Poor infrastructure - including absent street lights, unusable pavements and a lack of public toilets - is one of the main reasons behind the lack of women's safety, the report says.

Guindians of Edison, New Jersey

Joel Stein, author of My Private India  writes,

...when I was a kid, a few engineers and doctors from Gujarat moved to Edison because of its proximity to AT&T, good schools and reasonably priced, if slightly deteriorating, post–WW II housing. For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor...

Unlike previous waves of immigrants, who couldn't fly home or Skype with relatives, Edison's first Indian generation didn't quickly assimilate (and give their kids Western names). But if you look at the current Facebook photos of students at my old high school, J.P. Stevens, which would be very creepy of you, you'll see that, while the population seems at least half Indian, a lot of them look like the Italian Guidos I grew up with in the 1980s: gold chains, gelled hair, unbuttoned shirts. In fact, they are called Guindians. Their assimilation is so wonderfully American that if the Statue of Liberty could shed a tear, she would. Because of the amount of cologne they wear.

The Last of the Iyers

Age: 6 Months
All these mamas and maamis have come here...
For a grand welcome of their new born fellow Iyer...
And my parents will feed food to me with a ring...
And give me a name long enough for you to sing...
(Krishnamoorthy Venkataraghava Krishna Doraiswamy, but will simply call me Dorai!)

Age: 10 years
Topping my class is an inborn talent I possess
(We are an exception)
Teachers & relatives, whom I never fail to impress
Daily dosage of idli, dosai, sambar, rice and curd
Who on earth do you think will not turn into a nerd (hehe)

Age: 22 Yrs
(Just after graduation... preferably Electronics Engineering)
Yipeee Yipeee Yipeee... I completed my BE in IIT...
Also got a call from Infy...Ya right...Narayana Murthy...( Proud fellow...Southie ! )
Up & Away to Bangalore by the next morning flight...
And then someday to USA ...Yay Yay Yay...Onsite...
(You are right... rhyming no?!)

Age: 26 Years
(Single status in USA)
It has been four long years since I have come here...
And not a single girl who is ready to come near...
Here in United States I thought I'd get laid...
Down came crashing, the dreams that I'd made...

Age: 30 Years
(8 yrs Onsite, somewhere in USA)
I miss my sambhar rice and the tasty thair saadam (curd rice)
Will speak to amma to find me a homely madam...
Will leave for Thirunelveli on a 30 day leave...
And come back with a maami right up my sleeve...

Age: 45 Years
(Still onsite, we think)
I have two kids, but there is a gripping fear...
Both of them have no signs of being an Iyer...
Krishnaswamy & Sreemahalakshmi I named them fondly...
But Chris & Sally I call them if I want them to even reply...

Age: 60 Years
(retire hogaya baap)
I am back to Thirunelveli with my ever faithful wife...
But my kids stayed there and think I don't have a life...
Tirupati, Guruvayoor, Shabarimala all we've been to...
Sun TV is our faithful friend which we always turn to...

Age: 75 years
(Now everything seems impossible)
Ayyayyo, what happened to all my dreams?
They have all simply turned into screams.
Children have already married and divorced thrice,
Playing with our grandchildren would've been nice.
Left with us are only aches and pains,
Life is full of only losses, with no gains.
Are we going to be the last of the brilliant Iyer generation?
To our children, tradition and culture are only a botheration!