These days Indians are travelling all over the world more than ever, either as professionals or for studies and then continue to work there. Half of my friends on facebook/orkut (social networking sites) are overseas. I, myself have travelled to 3 continents in my five years of career - London, Melbourne and now in Washington DC.
When I pick up Indian magazines every weekend I read about attacks on Indians in foreign land. It is very disheartening to read about the incidents and unfortunate that Indians are finding themselves in the news for wrong reasons. My friend asked me to blog about my experience in Melbourne. Lately majority of the attacks are happening in the land of Oz. so here is my take.
There could be several reasons why such attacks may be happening.
Job insecurity: Well this happens in India as well. People in Maharashtra protesting about migration of people from other states. Look at our own bengaluru. It is so cosmopolitan that one need not know Kannada to find his/her way around. Even the chaiwaala can converse in hindi/English. Infact there is a good chance he may be from another state.
Media: for all the unwanted hype. NRN once rightly pointed the way Indian media works. Any bad news makes the front page and constructive news is mentioned in a snippet at a corner. Even the Australian delegates pointed the same. Indian media is filled with many round the clock news channels. Bad quality video footage of attacks on Indians flash on the screen countless times a day. Remember the way H1N1 news created paranoia. Even I was worried when in India for a month at that time. Later constructive ads started appearing and the panic died down even though H1N1 still continued its death toll.
Australia is very outgoing country. Aussies are passionate and proud about their country. One of the least populated places on earth. If I were to make a point on their behalf, they would be quite taken aback with all the migration of other nationalities. But one question bothers me. Why are Indians being targeted? They are not even on the top of immigration ladder. Maybe aussies are afraid to test Asians martial arts skills or maybe the fact that India outperforms Australia in cricket.
Random attacks happen every night in Melbourne. If Indian media were not to hype about such attacks maybe the attacks will continue to remain random, instead of developing a pattern of bashing Indians alone. Many Indians who complain about these attacks also choose to be citizens of the same country. So why create a hoopla. No place is heaven in this age.
What should be done about the whole issue? Well my opinion is that there is no single/straightforward answer. Australian police has to get more vigilant, Indians should try and avoid being at the wrong place at even good times, and Indian media learn not to make a big fuss of it. Foreign nationals are raped and abused in India as well. No one complains about that or goes to their support. Things won't sort out in a jiffy. It will take its time. Let us learn to live harmoniously till there is oneness in reality. Peace :)
Showing posts with label Melbourne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melbourne. Show all posts
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Friday, December 28, 2007
MCG - Boxing Day Test match
Christmas celebration was just over and Boxing day lurked round the corner. me and my friends had booked tickets for the first day of the first test match between india and australia. Andrew symonds was exposed to some bad (surprisingly named racists) remarks and taunts by the indian crowd and equally supportive australian fans were expected to return the taunts with interest. so i was excited about the match even though i would rate myself really poor fan of the game, specially being from india where it is a religion and sachin is the god.
Melbourne cricket ground home of Melbourne cricket club is world famous. many memorable matches other than cricket have been played on the very same ground. the Austraian Football League finals is also played here. it is REALLY a huge ground and also holds the record for the maximum number of light towers (six) on any sporting avenue.
we got up early (by weekend standards) and after having the same quick breakfast of corn flakes headed out to the stadium. it is at a walkable distance from our apartment and the weather didnt appear bad either for a good walk. No sooner than we crossed the yarra river we could see australian fans pouring in at the stadium with their flag on their backs. we had thought of buying indian flags at the merchandise shop in the stadium but the patriotic australians (poor marketing skills) had nothing remotely indian at that shop.
The stadium can be seen amidst the skyscrapers of melbourne and looks really magnificient even from a mile away. no sooner did we enter the stadium we could see handful of players from both teams practising at the nets. i saw Dravid for the first time in real life practising his famous straight drive.
we knew it would be crowded and so walked in to know where we were to seat. the stadium looked even more wonderful inside than from outside. with lucious green grass trimmed perfectly it looked welcoming to the eyes. but today a battle was about to be fought and it would be gladiators in there who will be fighting for their country and fame if not for life. it was empty when we took our seats but later aussie families covered us from all sides. though i would have liked to be seated with indian fans i had no complaints whatsoever when the aussie girls were so beautiful in the front row.
the coin was tossed and australia won it, deciding to bat first. we were a little disappointed even though we get to see all indian players at once if india fielded. But indian bowlers are not as good as the the indian batting line up and it was saddening that we will not be getting to see the maestro strike boundaries of brett lee's bowling.
the first half was boring and the sun scorching in all its fury. my jeans was burning and it was hotter in the ground than the weather department had predicted. we could not sit any longer and the sadder part is that niky had booked our seats in the dry area (damnit). so we had to walk out to grab a beer and discussed india's poor bowling attack and the hot sun burning us.
till lunch we had got ourselves burnt under the sun and the indian team was not having any luck on the field as well. i was even wondering to walk back home to watch it in the comforts of home. but what happened post lunch made the day fruitful than we wanted. india struck with the first wicket and then the mighty australians were humbled by anil kumble's bowling attack. even the shade fell on our heads and we started enjoying the match. indian players gave us plenty of opportunities to cheer and scream at the top of our voices and it felt so good doing this in a foreign land.
the australian supporters had their own way of entertainment. they would start mexican waves even though it was banned and the commentators kept warning that initiators will be thrown out of the field. in addition to that big plastic balls were tossed around and the security guys had a tough time grabbing them from the spectators. i also got a chance to punch one of the many balls tossed around. some of them even made it to the ground. if this was not enough two drunk australian fans ran madly on the ground. the first one didnt make it too far but the second one bisected through the pitch and was later overpowered by the police. the penalty for that short life of fame and madness is 6000 dollars.
once indians got six wickets we thought it was worth the effort of coming to the stadium and getting burnt in the sun. but indian bowlers kept getting more wickets and we got more hungrier. at the end of day inidan team had got 9 wickets.
as we walked back we again got to see dravid practising (man he works hard) with robing singh bowling in the nets. all of us stopped to see this at an even closer view. the australian supporters also were there and they were sledging even worse than the australian team players. Dravid kept smiling and kept practising. when we decided to leave i shouted all the best dravid and walked back. Santy mentioned i should have told that in my native language as dravid and i were from the same indian state, Karnataka. i thought that was a good idea but just hoped that dravid performs well the next day to shatter the words of australian supporters.
we had quick showers at the apartment and then left for the boxing day shopping spree hoping to buy any remaining stocks. the eventful day had come to a close and i only wished indian team lived to the expectations of their fans.
Melbourne cricket ground home of Melbourne cricket club is world famous. many memorable matches other than cricket have been played on the very same ground. the Austraian Football League finals is also played here. it is REALLY a huge ground and also holds the record for the maximum number of light towers (six) on any sporting avenue.
we got up early (by weekend standards) and after having the same quick breakfast of corn flakes headed out to the stadium. it is at a walkable distance from our apartment and the weather didnt appear bad either for a good walk. No sooner than we crossed the yarra river we could see australian fans pouring in at the stadium with their flag on their backs. we had thought of buying indian flags at the merchandise shop in the stadium but the patriotic australians (poor marketing skills) had nothing remotely indian at that shop.
The stadium can be seen amidst the skyscrapers of melbourne and looks really magnificient even from a mile away. no sooner did we enter the stadium we could see handful of players from both teams practising at the nets. i saw Dravid for the first time in real life practising his famous straight drive.
we knew it would be crowded and so walked in to know where we were to seat. the stadium looked even more wonderful inside than from outside. with lucious green grass trimmed perfectly it looked welcoming to the eyes. but today a battle was about to be fought and it would be gladiators in there who will be fighting for their country and fame if not for life. it was empty when we took our seats but later aussie families covered us from all sides. though i would have liked to be seated with indian fans i had no complaints whatsoever when the aussie girls were so beautiful in the front row.
the coin was tossed and australia won it, deciding to bat first. we were a little disappointed even though we get to see all indian players at once if india fielded. But indian bowlers are not as good as the the indian batting line up and it was saddening that we will not be getting to see the maestro strike boundaries of brett lee's bowling.
the first half was boring and the sun scorching in all its fury. my jeans was burning and it was hotter in the ground than the weather department had predicted. we could not sit any longer and the sadder part is that niky had booked our seats in the dry area (damnit). so we had to walk out to grab a beer and discussed india's poor bowling attack and the hot sun burning us.
till lunch we had got ourselves burnt under the sun and the indian team was not having any luck on the field as well. i was even wondering to walk back home to watch it in the comforts of home. but what happened post lunch made the day fruitful than we wanted. india struck with the first wicket and then the mighty australians were humbled by anil kumble's bowling attack. even the shade fell on our heads and we started enjoying the match. indian players gave us plenty of opportunities to cheer and scream at the top of our voices and it felt so good doing this in a foreign land.
the australian supporters had their own way of entertainment. they would start mexican waves even though it was banned and the commentators kept warning that initiators will be thrown out of the field. in addition to that big plastic balls were tossed around and the security guys had a tough time grabbing them from the spectators. i also got a chance to punch one of the many balls tossed around. some of them even made it to the ground. if this was not enough two drunk australian fans ran madly on the ground. the first one didnt make it too far but the second one bisected through the pitch and was later overpowered by the police. the penalty for that short life of fame and madness is 6000 dollars.
once indians got six wickets we thought it was worth the effort of coming to the stadium and getting burnt in the sun. but indian bowlers kept getting more wickets and we got more hungrier. at the end of day inidan team had got 9 wickets.
as we walked back we again got to see dravid practising (man he works hard) with robing singh bowling in the nets. all of us stopped to see this at an even closer view. the australian supporters also were there and they were sledging even worse than the australian team players. Dravid kept smiling and kept practising. when we decided to leave i shouted all the best dravid and walked back. Santy mentioned i should have told that in my native language as dravid and i were from the same indian state, Karnataka. i thought that was a good idea but just hoped that dravid performs well the next day to shatter the words of australian supporters.
we had quick showers at the apartment and then left for the boxing day shopping spree hoping to buy any remaining stocks. the eventful day had come to a close and i only wished indian team lived to the expectations of their fans.
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| MCGBoxingD |
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Great Ocean Road
weekend number 11 and still i had not seen the most beautiful place in the state of victoria or maybe even in the whole of australia. so it was high time that i must be visiting this place. the wait was for the right initiation.
my friend venkat was returning back to india after his long stay at melbourne and somehow he had missed visiting this place.. that is until now.. so we grabbed on this chance..
the gang was made up of venkat,santy and myself from 3J; ramjee (sunil), srini and praveen from 6W and sandeep. sandeep had been there before and knew the right places to pitstop. he was also a great driver and enjoyed it. so we booked a toyota tarago which would be tested by sandeep's driving skills and our messing around.
the gang: (from top) venkat,santy,srini,sandy,ramjee,me
we had charged up our camera batteries formatted the memory cards and updated our ipods for the 3.5 hour journey from melbourne to the apostles.
even though i was the only one from karnataka in the gang (the others were from Andhra) time in the vehicle was not really boring. we managed to crack jokes on each other.. feed fruits, snacks and coke to our ever growing bellies and listen to favourite songs on ipod. so it was not long before sandy stopped at the first place. we were really amazed by the scene beholding us. mild waves, virgin beach and surprisingly no one else on the beach other than a few surfers. after a few shots for matrimony sites ;) we started playing the favourite winter sport of australia the australian footy. we tried a few kicks and catches at the weird shaped ball and managed to kick it into the ocean a couple of times as well.. but it always managed to come back to us like a favourite dog.. wish girls were like that as well in life ;).
first stop
next stop was the devil's elbow. its along the road and a very picturesque scenes of the waves dying silently along the road side. we took some snaps and hopped in again for our journey ahead.
devil's elbow
our next stop was the port campbell national park. 12 (well actually 5 now) apostles is its famous attraction. the best part was the helicopter ride. for 80 AUD for 10 mins you can hitch a ride with a pilot and get the spell bouding views of the apostles. the pilot even explains some of the features of the apostles but who will be willing to listen when there is such a beauty in front of your eyes. it was nature at its best and really amazing. i was so happy to be seeing this in my lifetime and kept saying to myself i am gonna get my parents here as well..
the helicopter ride
12 apostles
After that we moved on to Loch Ard Gorge. oh... what a place that was.. not just because of what it is now.. but even because of the history. a ship by name loch ard crashed at this very spot and around 50 people aboard were killed. only two survivors were washed away into this gorge and found shelter over there. it is a great example of nature at work. it is like natures workshop or laboratory where every strike of wave is leaving its mark on the gorge. i was truly amazed by its beauty and spent some time over there.
Loch ard gorge
the virgin beach
all in all one amazing trip i will cherish forever in my life for more than one reason.
below is the clip of a beautiful song shot at the apostles. its from the movie "dil hi dil mein".
if your appetite is still not quenched then go ahead and view this album..
Great Ocean Road
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