There has been quite a lot of talk about ‘Racism in Australia’ in the recent past. Being an Indian and having lived and worked in Australia for well over an year, I thought it might be worthwhile to pen down my views on the topic to give people an un-sensationalized picture. I will also write a few things about what we as Indians can do to avoid becoming victims of the same.
At the outset, I do admit that racism is prevalent in Australia to an extent. In my experience I have seen that the acceptance for Indians is on the lower side specially in elderly folks. Many of them still view India as a third world country. Thanks to movies like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which have successfully strengthened this feeling. So the very idea of living side-by-side with people from a place full of chronic poverty, hunger, disease and filth is just not comfortable. This feeling of disgust is further fortified when they see Indians competing with them in every sphere of life, especially the job market. Some people from Northern India might be able to relate this feeling of disgust; they might have experienced it when they see bhaiyas from Bihar coming to their state and flourish well. So, in my opinion its basically this feeling of disgust that comes out as attacks.
Now having said that racism is prevalent to an extent, I do not mean that it has marred every aspect of the society . I had some very good and rewarding experiences while working here. My boss at work is an Australian and he has always treated me and other Indians at par with the local Australians in the team. We have always been given a fair share of all the opportunities and rewards. He highly values our contribution and admires the fact that we all are living far away from our families to work on the project. He as well as our other Australian colleagues, have always tried that we never feel out of place. So the onus is on us Indians to reciprocate the same respect and love, and blend in the local culture. And admittedly we have failed to do so in more than occasions. I will give some examples of this:
1. Many of my Indian colleagues didn’t have a hair cut for well over 10 months. You might be laughing but its true. The simple reason being AUD 20 (average cost of a regular hair-cut) translates to ~ Rs. 800. And who in India will pay such kind of money for a haircut. One of our guys went a little over board and in an attempt to hide his over grown hair, he started oiling them with Amla oil. And trust me the smell of that was unbearable even though I have used the same oil many times.
2. We never think it to be our duty to clean up our table after having lunch. I am talking about doing so in office lunch room where we bring our own food from home. That’s because we always have cleaners in India who do their job promptly as soon as we finish our lunch. And now there are no cleaners, not just in Australia, nowhere in the west. And people here clean their own mess. But we as Indians just don’t get this idea.
3. We have this terrible habit of over-working, spending over-hours at work. While in some case this might be necessary and helpful, we end up building wrong expectations in the long run. People start expecting us to work long hours and on weekends.
4. We also have a habit of switching to our native language as soon as we start talking to someone from our region, ignoring anyone else’s presence who can’t understand it. I have noticed my fellow Indians doing so in lifts and many meetings. Sometimes it is also viewed as if you want to pass a secret message, which of course is not good. I am not against talking in ones native language. In fact, I love to talk in Punjabi (my native language), but not at the cost of disrespect to others.
As I said, I did have some experience of racism at my workplace. It was not right in the face but there was a certain air of dislike for Indians. Fortunately, I was able to handle it well. It took me a while to convince people that Indians can be sophisticated too, that we are a right mix of style and substance, that our presence here is for a mutual benefit and not a threat to their existence, and that India is not just the land of Taj Mahal, curries and cricket. There is more to India. It’s a whole new world, brimming with enthusiasm and energy. And we represent the same.
