Digging deep Down Under ;)!

Every morning I log on to news sites and the news is about some Indian getting beaten in Melbourne, Australia. 'Times of India' screams out that it was racist and 'The Age- australia' screams out that motive is not racist. Gives me the great feeling of being at the center of a war field.

                All the news are pretty much the same, some Indian student is beaten up at insane hours. But this one is different – “Australian Team will not be allowed to play in Maharashtra”- Times of India.

"We will not allow kangaroo cricketers to play in Mumbai and Maharashtra, till the attacks are stopped on Indians,” he announced in Saamna -- Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece.

                So Mr Sr.T read the news one day in the morning and then felt patriotically offended that his fellow countrymen- importantly mostly North Indian(Whom I think he is trying to befriend by this move to gain some ground against Mr Jr T)- are being thrashed mercilessly in foreign land.

Thank god he does not take the whole newspaper to his heart – else the headlines will start reading like :

 “Shootout on US college campus hurts indian – we will not export software to US from Maharashtra”

“Indian student commits suicide after being ragged in Indian college -  Indian team will not play in Maharashtra”

“Indian Woman raped in Mumbai – we will not allow MEN in Maharashtra”

There is one interesting thing though – there are almost as many Sri Lankans and Pakistanis as Indians in Melbourne – not very often that we are getting the news about Sri Lankan or Pakistani attacked in Oz. Wondering how the attackers differentiate ;).

Am not ruling out the possibility of the attacks being racist and truly appreciate the fact that the media is so concerned – but it worries me why we are not equally angry about whats happening inside. Imagine the number of murders, stabbings, rapes, domestic violence etc. is happening in India just as you read this. Forget India – just imagine Mumbai – no one even knows and its not a big deal to call of cricket matches. May be because the TRP has relatively been squeezed out of them.

Ahead is some serious stuff. Give up if you are just reading for fun. But if you want to know my take on what is happening- read on :

I don’t deny the fact that the attacks may be racist. Nobody knows. But it is a fact that even local crimes are happening against local aussie and other people as well. I know that because it gets covered in the local newspapers here. Its just like every big city having its problems with crime. Its only fault is that it has been accommodating to immigrants, who I think, have much more than outnumbered the locals, and are obviously going to be part of everything that goes on including the crime. Media is not doing too well as I guess the criminals now have an incentive to attack Indians- they know they will be in news.

                Actually racism is more of a social issue rather than a crime- so it is even harder for the government to deal with it. How can you change the perspective of a person ? It is one of those things that only God(If you believe or call truth or whatever) can fix out while balancing out your karmas. Well I don’t know how much of the truth I personally know, what I can tell you is just what I experience :

I stay In Melbourne. My housemates are aussies and one of the sweetest people I know. My housemate left her pets(whom she considers her children ;)) with me for 15 days when she was on vacation. I hang out at the beach with friends who are aussie, Chinese and French. I attend parties, chat at coffee bars, work out at swim at recreation center, spend time in local library, and attend business and social meetups with various groups that have around 5% Indians. Everyone including the lady at the grocery store to people whom I cross on road to my diving instructor to people whom I talk business with greet me with a smile and ‘hey how you doing today’. I have seen almost the whole of Melbourne and around. And in all this – I have not once come across an incident where I have been looked down upon because of the color of my skin. May be I’ve gotten lucky.

But hey – the TRP rating is in the ‘breaking news’ – not in rational solutions or deciphering  of the truth !