Aussies, Bollywood, Racism etc
Posted by JoJun 12
These are scary times for the Indian students in Australia. The fear of being beaten up, or the vehicles being torched etc still prevails and its all in the name of race. The racist attacks against Indian students in Australia have sparked widespread protests in India and abroad. The most noted protest came from the old showman of the so-called Bollywood who refused to accept an award given to him by the Aussies. And the Bollywood joined in this protest against racism.
Yes, against racism. Now before I go further, wouldn’t you agree that Racism, Casteism and Prejudice are cousins? If yes, let us rewind the news a little bit. There we see the Bollywood star of the yesteryears, Rajesh Khanna, publicly mouthing against South Indians.
I had a hearty laugh when she said that when a person retires he or she gets lifetime achievement award. I disagree. Probably she doesn’t know the word (in) English, she’s probably from south (India).
So Mr. Khanna believes that the south Indians do not understand English. Now either I can go ahead and point out at more than a thousand examples of known or not-publicly-known individuals from South India, or ignore his ignorance. And I prefer the latter. What I cannot ignore however, is this kind of prejudice that prevails among us, the people of the same country. But the old Mr. Khanna can be excused since the south Indians themselves have such prejudices against each other.
Coming back to our protest against racism, we Indians seem to have easily forgotten our Desi version of it – Casteism. And as much as we like to deny it, some reminders keep popping up from time to time. Like this, for example. The 11 year old Dalit servant boy who was made to sit and eat under the table, while his masters enjoy their meals on the dining table. The image of a dog comes to my mind, that sits under the table of his master. We even have a popular name for this set of people now – The slum dogs. And talking of slum dogs, this is about how you would treat the people who belongs to the lowest step of the caste and economical ladder.
Oh, and what was the occassion that Khanna ji made his remarks against South Indians? IIFA – The so-called International Indian Film Awards. about which I had written about in my blog on various occassions (Not in Our Name and Indian Awards, Given Abroad) and of which our old angry young man, who refused to accept the Aussie award in protest against racism, is a leading ambassador.
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7 comments
Comment by Sabu on June 12, 2009 at 11:12 am
So true…it is so much of hypocrisy..Not long ago in India a political party was bashing up people from their own country openly – at least in Australia they were beating foreigners and doing it covertly (not that it is right). By that logic Indians should first introspect before calling others racist.
Comment by jana on June 13, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I love the last line of Sabu’s comment.
When a country where hatred spurs mass riots in minutes, and people who as a society practice racial(how about the north/east/south divide) and social discrimination, try to paint Australia in black, I have to wonder. Is this not the same country whose rulers, since Brits left, themselve openly practice all forms of racial, social and cultural divisions and discriminations? How much aid donor is coming from countries like Australia to NGOs around the world? How much money does Tripathi temple make in a year? How much attrocities on the streets does the average non-racist, non-violence loving Indian turn around and question?
Assuming that a larger percentage of the Indians in foreign shores are those fortunate to have been born in the better-off, financially or socially, side of Indian society, it just goes to show that what you ignore and practice, can hurt when you yourself are the victim. It’s slightly disturbing, to see the current media attention to Australia. I can only laugh at the hypocrisy.
Comment by Manoj on June 15, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hi Jo,
Have been reading your blog for quite some time. Feel that it is good and you cover a wide range of topics. Keep up the good work. Regarding the australian episode, i feel it is unnecessarily higlighed by senseless media houses .When a country is going through recession ( ex australia) and when unemployment looms high,there will be tension/unrest in the country and the immigrants ( ex indians ) are the most vulnerable group.This i believe has happened over centuries and will continue to happen.Lets not get worked up over this and continue to maintain good relations with them, else the same thing can happen in countries such as UK, US etc where there are large Indian population.
Comment by zedler on June 15, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Jo,
As people pointed out earlier, this is hypocrisy. In our country itselft there is wide shift between northies and southies. I always felt that northies have a bitter prejudice against southies. Basically they dont like southies. There is a huge rift. Take the case of Filmfare award ceremonies. During the past i have spcefically noted the way the bollywood people applauds these southy stars.
If i am correct mammoty has pointed out the same during one interview. The talks about patriotism, brotherhood, bhai bahan happens only during the war other wise there is always a prejudice.
I beleive people deserved it is Australia. They have asked for it. Many of my aussie friends now working there have the same opinion.
Comment by Jo on June 17, 2009 at 12:02 am
All
Thank you so much for sharing your views here on the subject.
Comment by alwaysindian on June 17, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Its a very thought provoking article. Indians have that habit of doing much ado about nothing.. Also as far as Mr. Khanna is concerned.. he surely has half knowledge about things.. and half knowledge about anything is dangerous..
Comment by Raj on July 13, 2009 at 9:26 am
“And the Bollywood joined in this protest against racism.”
Oh really? Is that why they are hiring white English girls and paying them nearly $2,000 a month while there are equally talented Indian actors and half the country is living in poverty?
http://www.bollyspice.com/view.php/3002-new-wave-of-fair-skinned-british-actresses-in-bollywood.html
..and the stars of Slumdog Millionaires continue to live in slums?