Recent attack on Indians in Australia certainly baffled the whole India and matter was blown so out of proportion that I was puffing answering calls about my well being. Media daily conducting interviews and writing articles about Australia being racist and busy collecting proof for it, seemed like madness India media is famous for. What happened in Sydney and Melbourne can not be justified by saying anything, it was a criminal act, whether was racial in nature or not is a debatable issue. Some of them might have racial content in it, but all of them, certainly not. Why every attack on Indians has to be racial in nature; it could simply be a case of wrong timing and wrong place. Neither a mugger waiting in dark has any intention to mug somebody with racial intent nor a group of drunk youth who just want to bash somebody because they are high. Indians might have been easy target because of their weak physique and humble nature; so would be any hooligan’s preferable choice. I will discuss the issue in later posts but first let us talk about our own backyard.
Why to bother about racial discrimination in India when we have variety of discrimination to pick up from. It hurts me when somebody says me that you can not work in Mumbai because you are Bihari. It hurts me when my mother asks me the caste of my friend, so that she can use separate cutlery kept for my dalit friends. It hurts most when I see old poor men told to sit on the floor in a general compartment (railway train) even when there is enough space for him on the birth. With everybody judging everybody it feels like living under a scanner and worst part is you can see hatred for yourself in their eye and you can do nothing about it. Rich in India treat poor as trash, higher caste despise lower caste, Assamese hate Hindi speaking, Biharis are not allowed to work in Maharashtra, every dark child has nick name Kallu, English speaking population snobs non English speaking; with lot more to list, who cares about racial discrimination. I do not have to give any example to you to visualize any of these situations, otherwise you have been blind enough to realize. Discriminate of any kind should be intolerable. We claim that attacks on Indians in Australia are racial in nature, but what about murder and rape of foreign tourists in India. I believe most of us will say they are not racial in nature; because we are brown and only whites are racial. What if these cases are no different then what happened in Melbourne and Sydney.
Issue of racism in Australia is not new. Ugly text messages, comments and postures relating to Aboriginals, Muslims, Jews, Indians and refugees are little common then other countries, so Australia is racist. But one has to understand that Australia is a relatively new country and started as penal colony. Its culture has never been so polite and sledging has always been integral part of Australian sports. With their huge physique they look daunting and solving matter with brutal force is in their nature. It is still in the process of building its reputation as multicultural society. Rules against racism are very strict but it will take time to change the mindset of whole country. By opening the door of immigration it is trying to build an image of multicultural society. Just like any other country Australia has some problem but I am happy that here people do not judge me for my caste, economic condition or my education status. I do not have to worry that people are judging me or at least they do not show it.
Why to bother about racial discrimination in India when we have variety of discrimination to pick up from. It hurts me when somebody says me that you can not work in Mumbai because you are Bihari. It hurts me when my mother asks me the caste of my friend, so that she can use separate cutlery kept for my dalit friends. It hurts most when I see old poor men told to sit on the floor in a general compartment (railway train) even when there is enough space for him on the birth. With everybody judging everybody it feels like living under a scanner and worst part is you can see hatred for yourself in their eye and you can do nothing about it. Rich in India treat poor as trash, higher caste despise lower caste, Assamese hate Hindi speaking, Biharis are not allowed to work in Maharashtra, every dark child has nick name Kallu, English speaking population snobs non English speaking; with lot more to list, who cares about racial discrimination. I do not have to give any example to you to visualize any of these situations, otherwise you have been blind enough to realize. Discriminate of any kind should be intolerable. We claim that attacks on Indians in Australia are racial in nature, but what about murder and rape of foreign tourists in India. I believe most of us will say they are not racial in nature; because we are brown and only whites are racial. What if these cases are no different then what happened in Melbourne and Sydney.
Issue of racism in Australia is not new. Ugly text messages, comments and postures relating to Aboriginals, Muslims, Jews, Indians and refugees are little common then other countries, so Australia is racist. But one has to understand that Australia is a relatively new country and started as penal colony. Its culture has never been so polite and sledging has always been integral part of Australian sports. With their huge physique they look daunting and solving matter with brutal force is in their nature. It is still in the process of building its reputation as multicultural society. Rules against racism are very strict but it will take time to change the mindset of whole country. By opening the door of immigration it is trying to build an image of multicultural society. Just like any other country Australia has some problem but I am happy that here people do not judge me for my caste, economic condition or my education status. I do not have to worry that people are judging me or at least they do not show it.
