Let the world win - The OZ problem.

Our external affairs minister perhaps almost got to the root of the Ind-Aus problem when he asked a serious question the other day.'Why do our students go to Australia for frivolous courses like facial/hairstyling ? They can be done here in India a lot better.'

I am in Australia on work at a time when both Countries & countrymen are seriously looking at each other & trading a barrage of comments everyday, often through a haplessly TRP crazy Indian media.I had a very lively discussion on this issue with some of my permanent Australian resident friends who got here about 6 years back as students & then settled for good in OZ land.

Coming back to the facial/hairstyling thing,the big idea is this. No one who comes here for a facial/hairstyling course comes do learn the tricks of this trade. He comes with a bigger motive - Settling down in Australia. A liberal PR path that most of the western nations lack makes OZ a big attraction for Indians. And once one person of the family makes his way here, a lot more follow. So where does the problem lie ? The problem lies in what I call the 'law of increasing numbers'. When the number of people engaged in a particular activity shoots over the roof,quality of ppl doing it automatically comes down. It happened with Indian IT,it's happening with OZ migration. My friend remembers the few Indian classmates he used to have when he joined college here. They were smart & classy.They knew the big idea 'When in Rome,do as the Romans do'. The crowd that comes in today doesn't even know where Rome is.

I have not traveled to Melbourne yet, but that's the place most of the incidents occurring are being reported from. And the victims are more students than working Indians.One of my friends frequently travels to Melbourne & he told me that he was amazed at the sheer number of Indians in Melbourne, a figure that's increasing every day. And he was amazed at the way most of them behave in public places - 'Paaji,tussi kaise ho !!!!!! ' goes a guy in full pitch at a public park. He tells me that when he had come in, he doesn't even remember speaking to anyone in the first 4-5 months,anxious to learn the new culture & their ways before committing anything stupid.

Australia is a far liberal nation than India,even America for that matter. And to see problems in Australia with the same prism as we see problems in India is not correct. And perhaps it's this liberalism & openness to various cultures which leads to such a PR regime here. I do agree that any country encouraging migration should also think about ways to integrate them into the mainstream culture. Australia does this in a pretty nice way,the ongoing Sydney festival in which A R Rahman too is staging a concert is a testimony to this. But then there are limits to what a Country/Govt can do, especially in a bad economy. Historically crimes have always increased during a recession. Indian media would do a lot good if it also projected incidents like this & this when airing news.

It's a fact that crimes rates are high in cities these days & it's important that people irrespective of nationalities take care & precaution.If we ensure in most Indian cities that girls & kids who are easy targets of violence are not alone at night on the road,we have to do a bit of the same for ourselves when abroad.I agree that India is a developing nation, but then we shouldn't expect the western world to be picture perfect to the last pixel.
At the same time, while trying to assimilate into the melting pot in a foreign land , it's important that we adjust ourselves to their culture, their way of dressing & quite figuratively,start speaking their language in whatever we do. If hatred can grow in Marathis seeing lot of Indians working & flourishing in Mumbai, the same rules might apply for a section of ppl in alien lands. Remember, we as Indians have to aid & contribute to the growth & flourishment of other cultures, not make them change to our own.

I always wondered while I was in India, why the older Ind residents in Aus never came out in support of the students who were demonstrating. I asked my friends this question & had to agree with his response to some extent. All that is going around is becoming hugely detrimental to the Indian community here. Except for the students, almost everyone would suffer. My friend's marriage is a big question now cos no Dad wants to send his daughter to Sydney,Melbourne.The fact notwithstanding that both cities have consistently ranked in Economist mag's top 10 cities in the world. Even the married ones are not happy. Things are not the same when they call back home,everyone's worried though not much has changed for them in day to day life. Less people coming to Australia from India would mean bad business for Indians who run Indian restaurants/groceries & other India centric businesses abroad.

To conclude, we all (Indian media included)have to understand that in the new century, if someone has to win, it's the World.And I mean the world together.Not India, not Australia, not America,not China. India needs to give the world it's rich learnings in understanding life & the world needs to give India the methodologies it invented to take life to the next level. Let's collectively sit,identify & solve problems that are cropping up in this age of globalisation & migration across continents.

Let the world win !