Attacks on Indians in Australia - my two paise
Indians are outraged over attacks on Indian students in Australia. No doubt we need to condemn those attacks and pressurise Australian government to crack down on those responsible for such attacks, whether or not they are racist in nature.
In the entire episode I found two things to be quite funny as well as thought provoking. One was an article in Mint today - beyond the racist attacks by Ramesh Ramanathan
The author of this article argues that Indian students go to Australia for higher education because of appalling standard of higher education in India. Is he serious? Yes, if you leave out few reputed institutions, standard of higher education in India is really appalling (primary and secondary education do not fair any better too!). Still I do not think India's contribution to Australia's universities is primarily because of those students not finding good enough educational opportunities in India.
A large majority of students who go to Australia do so because its cool to study in Australia, and its easier to get admission in Australia, and coz its cheaper to study in Australia than in places like UK, US etc. I really doubt how many of those 97000 Indian students studying in Australia are there to acquire skills, as assumed by Ramesh Ramanathan.
I am in complete sync with Ramesh Ramanathan's views regarding the need to spruce up India's education infrastructure. And Kapil Sibal definitely has a chance to do so. But I find it funny that one needs the pretext of attacks on Indian students in Australia to do so! :)
The second thing I found funny in this entire episode is the eagerness and authority with which everyone in India is calling Australians racists. At times I really wonder if there is someone more racist than us, Indians. For us racism is part of our lives, our social set up. We do not just discriminate on the basis of race, we discriminate on the basis of caste, sex, religion, region, language and what not.
How easy is it for a Tamil guy to settle in say, UP as against Australia? Odds are that a Punjabi villager will find it easier to visit UK, Canada or Australia than Madurai. Its next to impossible for you to rent a house in Mumbai if you are a muslim, unless of course if you live in a muslim(!) building. All black guys in India are supposed to be drug dealers from Nigeria. Or just check the comments on any political article on rediff. That will tell you the level of bigotry prevalent in even the so-called educated sections of our society.
When you yourself have such a convoluted way of thought, when you yourself do not respect a human being just for being another human being, do you really have the right to call someone else racist?
Agreed, we Indians are racists, but how do u differntiate whts happening in Australia from rascism????
ReplyDeleteWhats happening in Australia may be racism, but if we are so sensitive to racism when we are victims, should we not then clean up our house too?
ReplyDeleteIndians grow up a lot when they live outside India for a short span of time. If the experiences are used to reflect within, what you are saying will make perfect sense to them!
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, colour of the eyes, skin, hair is another parameter to discriminate on.
- Ramesh
I totally agree with you that we should clean up our house first.In Maharashtra,Assam and recently in Karnatka also examinees from Bihar & UP were thrashed by people belonging to regional parties (self procalimed well wishers of native states who do such things only in the name of state).Leaders of such parties draw mileage out of this and it's a pity that people of Maharashtra,Assam and Karnatka vote them to assembly and parliament.They don't understand that these parties are dividing us only.I remember that once i was at a medicine shop in Bihar and TV was broadcasting news of terrorist attack in Taj,Trident in Mumbai.The chemist was very happy to see the news and saying **ck people of Maharashtra.That day i realized where all this will lead us to.We are divided among ourselves.Some favor regionalism illegally by attacking people from other states and some do it legally. All railway ministers are favoring their native state.And the central government would do better to stop this here first.Aussie or US govt are knowing what they have to do.
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