Atanu Dey on India’s Development

A Place where Indians Thrive

Hi all from JP’s place.

No sooner do I arrive in Edison, NJ that the NY Times calls it a place where Indians (now New Jerseyans) thrive. [Hat tip: Maria]

Oak Tree Road [in Edison, NJ], which runs through this sprawling town of 100,000 people and into neighboring Woodbridge Township, may be America’s liveliest Little India, with 400 Indian businesses that attract Indian immigrants from across the region. But the impact is more than just commercial. Indians make up from 20 to 25 percent of the population, and they have spearheaded the transformation of Edison — an overwhelmingly blue-collar and middle-class white community a generation ago — into a town with a decidedly Asian flavor.

Edison is next door to New Brunswick where my old alma mater Rutgers is located. On Saturday afternoon I drove briefly through Rutgers. Those were the days my friend, we thought would never end . . .

The weather is cold and rainy.

So that’s the story. I am alive though not totally well. I got a bad stomach ailment and was laid up most of Sunday and today. I hope to get well enough to travel to Chicago tomorrow. More later.

April 29, 2008 - Posted by | Places, Travelling Places

2 Comments

  1. In more than one ways Edison looks a part of India and not the US. Unless a police vehicle is visible, traffic rules are followed more in breach — very un-US like, but very Indian. Honking is common, so is littering.

    It sometimes makes me wonder if we Indians are born with some kind of reverse Midas genes. Even if we are given gold on a platter, we turn it into dust by our mere touch.

    Comment by lurker | April 29, 2008

  2. Lurker as dear Atanu had said in one of his posts “you can take a man out of a country but not a country out of a man”,actually what u said is what my friend had said years back when he had gone to mauritius.

    Comment by pankaj | April 30, 2008


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