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DELAWARE, U.S.A., February 28, 2004: When 18-year-old Nikhil Neelkantan of Newark got his driver’s license, the first place he drove was the Hindu Temple in Hockessin for reflection and prayer, begins this article. Since then, he has gone to the temple every week, surprising his father, Neel, who emigrated from India 35 years ago. “When we grew up in India, the first thing you did when you got something was you go and pray,” said Neel Neelkantan, who said he didn’t expect his son to do the same in the United States. Nikhil Neelkantan is one of thousands of young Indian-Americans in Delaware trying to balance the customs of their South Asian homeland with the vastly different modern culture of America. While many young Indian-Americans were once quick to shed time-honored traditions of India for American ways, more are now increasingly achieving a balance between their two worlds, in large part because of the recent explosion of Indian pop culture in America. The British film “Bend It Like Beckham,” which showcased an Indian family’s struggle between tradition and acceptance, scored big with American audiences. And Indian movies such as “Laagan” and “Monsoon Wedding” have been hits in the U.S. Artists such as Jaz-Z and Missy Elliott have combined their hip-hop styles with Indian beats to make Top 40 music that is striking a chord. Suddenly, being Indian is “hip,” teens and experts said.



S. Mitra Kalita, author of “Suburban Sahibs,” a book examining the impact of Indian immigration on New Jersey, said the desire of young Indian-Americans to connect with their Indian culture has a lot to do with Indian influences in American pop culture. “It’s not a coincidence that being Indian is suddenly en vogue,” Kalita said. Indian-Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the country, increasing from 800,000 in 1990 to roughly 1.9 million today.

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