Oh Australia - Ah India!!!!

In indianfirst@ yahoogroups. com, "navendu_mahodaya" wrote:

Oh Australia - Ah India!!!!
Until a few years ago, if you asked
Australians about their ancestry, they would smile it away. Instead they
would say some thing amounting to "Those were other days!" and avoid a
clear answer. Many of them had a good reason to forget their family tree
and that is quite understandable. It all began in 1788 AD when a ship
captained by Arthur Philip arrived in Australia to start a settlement in
New south Wales.** That fateful ship carried 717 English convicts, 6
cows and 29 sheep. Those convicts were the people found unfit to remain
with other civilians in England. There were all kinds of criminals,
including murderers, in that group. Thus began a success story that has
a few comparisons in the recent history of mankind. From a settlement of
extradited criminals to an ultramodern throbbing country it has been a
transformation of which there is no comparison any where in the world.
The quality of civil life has been an envy of every other developed
country. And for the same reason it has become a 'Dream Destination'. If
it will remain that way will depend of the Australians. A gag tells me
this development could not have been complete without a dash of 'racism'
that is seen elsewhere in the developed world. Unless some one tries to
spoil it, how people would notice a good thing going. Jokes apart,
the turmoil in Australia that concerns Indians could not have emerged in
last few years alone. Some twenty five years ago, in Bombay, I met an
Engineer who had just returned after spending a decade in Australia.
When asked why he chose to return from such a dream destination he
responded, "It is a very nice place. People are extremely cordial. Yet
somewhere deep down they don't accept us. They think we are trying to
get away from unpleasant situations back home and it bothers them". In
any civil society you have many issues some dormant, some simmering,
some overheated, some exploding. Wherever the society decides to engage
its attention, those issues then begin to move and create their own
impact. It is reported that in past some forces in Australia have
resorted to pursuing divisive policies and that may have fueled the
'racial' sentiment in the Australia. Can we, the Indians, learn any
thing from this? I think we (Indians) must recognize and accept that
unless we make India a 'Dream Destination' and an open society for all
its members, Indians would continue to face unpleasantness around the
world. How an Indian treats another Indian decided how the rest of the
world treats Indians around the world. How to make India a 'Dream
Destination' is the task remaining to be addressed. You might know that
people go to such places with a view to settle down. They keep their
money in the local banks. They invest their money in immovable
properties, the works. When people come visiting they should be
exclaiming 'Ah India!' quietly with in themselves. And that would be
some progress. I invite your views / ideas about it. navendu **
(BTW- It was around the same time, English had taken measures to
throttle the flourishing textile trade of India. India was reported to
be one of the greatest countries by many Englishmen including Lord
Macaulay.Many of us have read his famous report to the British
Parliament.)