Does American Individualism Kill? - The Case of Akul Dhawan

The map shows the short distance Akul had to walk to get home safely on January 19.

“Why do you want to study in America?” I asked my over-educated, alcohol-dependent Tamil acquaintance as we sat on the stoop of my apartment building in downtown Madurai in 1998. We’ll call him Selvaraj.

Selvaraj had educated himself into a corner in urban India without …