Cultural exchange

NEW DELHI -- In the northern city of Chandigarh, a father mourned the death of his only son, a U.S. soldier who was the first Indian to die in combat in Iraq.

All of India mourned along with the United States over the death of Indian-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla in the Columbia space shuttle disaster last year.

Indians today are linked to the United States in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. The two cultures are learning to interact more closely, particularly in the war on terrorism.

India sided with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and only recently turned from socialist-style central economic planning. New Delhi found common ground with Washington on ending the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, though most Indians oppose the invasion of Iraq.

This fall, U.S. and Indian warships took part in anti-terrorism exercises off the southwest coast of India, and commandos from both armies trained together in the Indian Himalayas. Most recently, President Bush pledged increased dialogue with India on missile defense and high-tech trade.

But the ties run far deeper than economic and military connections.

Quick communication

In Maler Kotla, 90 miles from New Delhi, townspeople anxiously awaited the results of an election in a state few have heard of, in a country most have never visited. One of the state's favorite sons, Bobby Jindal, was locked in a November race for Louisiana governor, which he lost by 4 percentage points.

Had the election occurred 10 years ago, India's lone television channel, state-run Doordarshan, would have included a brief statement in its daily news program, wedged between broadcasts of old Bollywood movies and reruns of "I Love Lucy."

Today, news leapt quickly from mobile phone to mobile phone. Dismayed relatives logged on to Web sites. People sat at local teahouses, gazes fixed on televised images beamed straight from Baton Rouge.

The influx of high-paying jobs in this nation of 1 billion people has spurred the growth of a new Indian middle class. The cosmopolitan group is estimated at 300 million and the National Council of Applied Economic Research says it is growing by nearly 12 percent each year.

"They're pretty much aware of what's going on in the U.S.," said Anil Rajpal, of the New Delhi marketing firm KSA Technopak.

Maharaja Macs

The Internet and satellite television, through which Indians can watch HBO, CNN and ESPN, have also opened new windows on the West.

The United States influences "the way we speak, the way we act, the way we dress, how we eat and what we eat," Rajpal said.

After initial rough patches, U.S. retailers have now penetrated mainstream Indian society. Foods at McDonalds restaurants, which offer Maharaja Macs and McCurry meals, "are no longer seen as American products, but as Indian products," he said.

Despite the opportunities sweeping their country, plenty of young Indians still long for the United States.

U.S. Army Sgt. Uday Singh was one of them. He moved to the Chicago suburbs at 18 to live with relatives.

Singh was determined to attend an American university and become a businessman. He was to become a U.S. citizen this month. He died Dec. 1 as his unit patrolled near the Iraqi town of Habbaniyah.

Singh's ashes are to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

"He made the U.S. Army and the people of the United States proud," Singh's father, P.M. Singh, told reporters. "I'm sure he has made all Indians proud, as proud as I am, a father who has lost a son."