I somehow wonder about the sort of mindset we Indians have developed over the years. We are not bothered by a house getting demolished in our neighbourhood because we don't know its owner. We choose to shut our doors to the world and spend careless evenings in our armchairs sipping our Scotch.
However, we cry foul when something similar happens in the outside world. Something that has global dimensions unlike the dead neighbourhood house. Though like that house, we have nothing to do with these events as well.
Why the double standards?
The past few weeks have been disastrous for some Indians living in Australia. They have been attacked over and over again. At least a dozen Indian students have been assaulted in the so-called “racist” attacks in that country and many have left Australia since.
The question is, “Does it change much in the life of around the 1.1 billion population of India?”
Australia is the most preferred destination for Indians (who can dream big and send their kids overseas to study), with over 9.7 million students opting to pursue their higher studies in Australia every year, followed by some 9.4 million who choose to go to the US (read it here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Special-Report/Our-worldwide-web-of-students/articleshow/4626017.cms).
To be sure, attacks on Indian students must be condemned. And they have been. Thousands-strong groups of Indian students have taken to the streets in Oz to protest against these attacks, claiming themselves to be the backbone of the Australian economy (go through: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/271088,indians-march-to-protest-racism-in-australia.html).
Protests have escalated in India as well. It reached a point where the Indian government as well as its Australian counterpart had to issue statements condemning the attacks (read: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Australian+assures+Indian+students+safety&artid=gdEK2mCBPjU=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SEO=RACISM,+AUSTRALIA&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=).
Even a public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed seeking the security of Indian students in Australia (go to: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lucknow/PIL-seeking-security-for-Indians-in-Australia/articleshow/4668916.cms).
That’s not all. Arguably the most celebrated actor in the Indian film industry, Amitabh Bachchan, declined an honorary doctorate degree from an Oz varsity to register his protest against the attacks (have a look: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hhC2Ycy4I9dhKjDvtFpqxlQ-WC9Q).
However, isn't this too much fuss over an issue which could have been solved easily?
No one is sure if all those attacks were actually racist. Many agree that this is not new for the large Indian community living overseas. Maybe it is a cost one has to pay in order to achieve something big in life.
And what are we complaining about? Indians should be the last to complain about ill-treatment for we ourselves are not far behind. How many cases of abuse do we read about everyday in the newspapers? And in how many of them, we find a foreigner as the soft target?
Federico Brasola, an Italian photographer, seeking entry in a Delhi pub, was beaten up and his hands were broken as he was not properly dressed. Now, that is a joke. In a country where at least thousands of people have nothing to wear, we are thrashing a foreigner who was sporting a basketball tee and a cargo!!!!!
The two bouncers involved in the case have been nabbed, a report said the other day. Good, I would say.
Every other day, some foreigner, in some part of the country is abused and worse, murdered. How humane is that? Here is another case I got to know about today (see it here: http://www.mypopkorn.com/news/two-arrested-in-foreigner-rape-case-in-himachal-pradesh.html). This is heinous.
Do you remember how in college when someone took admission from the north-east and by default got the name chinki? Remember, how lowly the chinki girl was described and how plans were made in the canteen of getting her laid as soon as possible. For she would not mind it and getting her laid would be easier. Or when someone from the south came and would become a matter of ridicule because of his accent. Haven't we all done that? How humane was that? Has this stopped? Well, from where I stay, I see this happening every day.
Remember, that Maratha Manoos cry by the loser? I think we all know who I am talking about. In the end, all that crap turned out to be just another political gimmick. The person, who broke hell loose over bhaiyyas from Bihar and UP for eating into the space of the Maratha Manoos, did not even have the balls to come out in the open when bombs were hurled by some suckers in his neighbourhood.
He chose to hide himself in his momma’s lap and lick his finger. This time as well, he is nowhere, it seems.
Remember Biharis being beaten up in Assam when they had gone there for their Railways exam? Remember the atrocities on Christians in Kandhamal in Orissa? The examples are endless.
While all the examples cited above were a result of the growing intolerance towards fellow beings, the last one was also motivated politically and on the grounds of religion.
Another thing that has gone unnoticed is the feeling of insecurity behind such incidents. I am pretty sure that out of the 10-odd attacks in Australia, some would have been just criminal and not racist. The intolerance has only aggravated in the backdrop of the lingering financial crisis in the world.
Though I am against any kind of violence against anyone and feel sad for these fellow Indians who have been attacked, I think there is too much hype being created about an issue that could have been easily solved by the Australian authorities.
Moreover, what has happened so far whenever we have cried foul? Has the infiltration from across the border stopped after passing so many legislations? Are the women safe in the capital going back alone at 11 in the night from office? Do we not think of laying a chinky chick every time we see one? Do we not make fun of a south Indian colleague or classmate?
Why are we crying so loud? It’s time to change the mindset towards the bigger issues of life rather than spending our energies on the mere beatings of some of the million students in some foreign land.
