India's US dream intact despite shooting

AMERICA CALLING: Students are divided over whether they will give up their American dream after the Virginia shootout.

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Mumbai: Twenty-one-year-old Vineeta Wagh is already excited as this August, she's heading to the Duke University in North Carolina for a Masters in Engineering.

But when news broke about the campus shootings in Virginia, which is next door to her destination, it put a check on her family's feelings.

Says her brother Abhijeet Wagh, "I was apprehensive. I told my sister, what will you do there, it's not safe."

But Vineeta says that something like the shooting incident at Virginia Tech University can happen anywhere at any time.

Her point of view won out in the debate that followed.

Says her mother Anita Wagh, "I don't think we can be scared everytime we do something. You can't do anything if you're at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Over 80,000 Indian students go to the US every year to study, more than any other nationality. A major topic of discussion at GRE coaching classes has been the Virginia killings.

But students are divided over whether they will think twice before leaving for the US.

Says one student Hridaynath Mane, "I would definitely think twice. These shootings are just too terrible."

Another US aspirant, Kapil Hora, says, "Every college is supposed to provide campus security. But if that itself is not there, I would definitely think twice about going."

The shootings may be making some students rethink their plans, but it'll take a lot more than this campus carnage, for most to let go of their American dream.