"Everyone who brings his dog here considers his dog as a child," he said.
While caste continues to be a factor in things as varied as marriages and real estate disputes in many parts of India, the outsourcing industry here considers itself a modern meritocracy that has left such old-fashioned prejudices behind.
Fascinated by spontaneous acts of violence, Fassbinder here considers the fate of those left behind, in particular Küsters's widow, Emma Brigitte Miraa), whose modest existence is overturned by the catastrophe.
Sam Thompson, a 22-year-old environmental studies major at the University of Montana here, considers himself "fiscally conservative" but opposes cuts to Medicare; he expects to need health coverage when he grows old.
Mr. Chávez, however, said relations with the United States were going "through a difficult moment" because of suggestions that American officials were involved in what the government here considers a coup.
Kleybanova, ranked 27th in the world and also seeded 27 here, considers grass to be her best and favourite surface, although it was on clay, in last year's Madrid Open, that (in their only other previous meeting) she beat Williams in three sets.
