calm in sydney

Hi guys,sorry for the delay in posts but I was waiting to comment on something concrete regarding the attacks on students in Sydney and Melbourne.Unfortunately,it seems that China has hijacked that issue and the media and government seem more content in being answerable to them.Very enraging and demeaning but true.Now why is that? By that, I meant,why is China being given more importance.
Now,as a student in New York I did fairly well in F.I.T,which for the uninitiated stands for Fashion Institute of Technology and is considered the Harvard of Fashion when I studied there during 1994-1996.My only competition were Israeli and Chinese students who took more credit per semester than any of us.Credits were the points allocated for a certain subject and an average student would take up to 16 credits which could equate to 4-5 subject depending on how much credit each subject held.It was tough competition from Israeli kids as they were smart,hardworking and intelligent.The Chinese kids were smart,hardworking and intelligent.I was over smart,hardly working and assumed an air of superiority.How did I manage to stay above? Well, a little bit of work was required and in subjects where the exams were essay types,I scored hands down as my English was good.The Chinese kids had a major problem there.This is one of the biggest legacies the Brits left us.....the English language.I read somewhere that 40million Indians(In India and worldwide),speak English as a first language and have better written and comprehension skills in the language.So much so that Indian teachers are being imported in hordes to England to teach English to the English.Now,isn't that ironical?Even when India was a colony,the Brits sent Indian teachers to some of many other colonies like West Indies,Fiji etc. to teach the locals English.

Coming back to the Chinese,right from my New York days I had understood that China enjoyed an MFN status with the US and despite arming themselves,they got away with it.I think many forget or don't even know that China along with the U.S,Russia,UK and France is the fifth member of the UN permanent security council members.Isn't that amazing? One Asian country among all these anglophiles,considering Russia also as a White nation.Maybe White Caucasians would be more appropriate.Even during the pre-colonisation days,unlike us Indians who welcomed Europeans with wide arms to help sove our infighting's,the Chinese always fought off invasions.I remember seeing this programme on SBS channel on how the Chinese captured the first French arrivals and put them in a cart,paraded them and beat them with poles.China also was an ally in the second world war.So as is usual from ancient days,after the battle's won,the spoils are split.So did the allies,and today the power equation that we see are the results from the spoils that were split.China also got away with being a communist regime and has emerged so powerful.In one of the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies, they refer to Chinese Air force as the biggest Air force in the world.Their Army is also a force to reckon with I believe.China has flooded the markets over the last decade or more with Chinese cheap goods and people are dependent on it as recession has been on and off world over.

India figures nowhere in the top agenda's of countries like USA and even Australia.Its very natural why.There's been no love lost between China and India over many issues like border and water disputes and the most touchy one being Tibet and harbouring Dalai Lama over which a deadly war was also fought in the 60's in which the Indian army took a good beating.India was a country coming out of 200years of colonialism and its army was new and weak.China had superiority in man power and weapons.The terrain where the battle was fought was again alien to the Indian soldiers who didn't stand a chance.When a country which is a permanent security council is the aggressor,the media coverage is not much but if a country like India helps Bangladesh to break away from Pakistan there's a lot of media outcry.Since China has an old axe to grind with India,Australia which needs China to buy their minerals and keep that boom going won't supply India with Uranium.I was shocked to read that China has been supplying arms to Pakistan which in turn gave it to militants who use it to spread terror in India.Isn't it obvious as to who put a spoke in the wheel of India's many attempts to get US approval on various issues like Nuclear and defence developments.

I was watching this Nicholas cage movie in which he was an arm dealer and at the end of the movie there was a caption saying that the five security council members of the UN are the five biggest arms suppliers in the world.Isn't that ironical?

As a student in New York,one of my social sciences Professor's remarked that India has everything going for it,but unless it has strong lobbying in the US at the senate levels,India's status would remain weak.Fifteen years have passed and the status still remains the same.

We need a leader who not only can provide stability and peace but also be an International leader.Rajiv Gandhi was the only one who could hold his own amongst leaders of other nations,but he was not allowed to live.

India's image abroad is poor and Indian's in India and abroad have to change attitudes so that people sit up and take notice.We are a great nation that has survived for 2500 years and more and we need to be respected and remembered.And others will only do so if we are proud of our heritage and our culture.If we ourselves deride our own culture and people,why will others respect us.All of us at some point are guilty of that to fit in with the "Saheb".That should stop and we must fight for our rights peacefully.We are from the land of Gandhi,violence was never our way.Gandhi threw out the Brits without throwing a single punch.Lets remember that great man and learn from him.Jai Ho!

First day of winter in Sydney and two fears

Yeah,yeah,yeah! It's officially the first day of winter in Sydney and that means pulling out more warm clothing and also getting the heater's started.How I completely hate winter.As a boy in Delhi I used to wait all year for winter to come, as it meant wearing colorful clothing and parties,Christmas and New Year holidays and above all, food and lots of food.Somehow food always tasted better and tastier during winter, I don't know why but it just did.That was 25 years back.Now I just loathe the season.

It's a Monday morning and I can't help feeling angry and scared.I'm angry at all the people who are responsible for desecrating this beautiful world God had created,the ones who spread hatred,the ones who wage wars and the ones who knowingly or unknowingly contribute to outbreaks and epidemics.Has it ever occurred to you that the decisions and policies of a few power wielding people often affect the lives of six or more billion people inhabiting this planet?A handful few hold the future of billions in their hands and those billions seem helpless, absolutely helpless to do anything about it! That's on a broader spectrum,but coming back to the real reason of my fear and anger is more to do with issues at home.Yes that is Sydney, as home is where the heart is, goes the saying.But why feel angry and scared at home?Good question, but the anger is not so simple.
One reason is the swine flu that's spreading hanging over our heads like the Damocles sword and it looks like the government and health department are their wits end.Second is the cowardly attacks on helpless Indian students in Sydney and Melbourne.

Now from what I've been reading the swine flu seems to be more of a hype created by the electronic media and is not as bad as they've made it out to be.It seems that they need more circulations and some pharmacy companies need vaccine sales.Apparently in the U.S.A, during the 70's when the tamiflu scare was on, people who took the vaccine had serious after effects.I periodically get a newsletter from a smart doctor called Dr.Mercola and he had said that swine flu is a weak virus and there's not much credence in all the scare associated.There are a basic few things to watch out for like avoiding hospitals, increasing intake of Vit. D,eating garlic,washing hands with warm soap and water periodically and keeping away from people who look sick.
I was shocked to read that these flu vaccines have Mercury in it to preserve it or something.Toxic levels of mercury I believe.I know for a fact that flu vaccines don't guarantee you not getting a flu.So I'm not going near a flu vaccine again.The authorities in Sydney deboarded a cruise liner full of people,some of them suspected to have swine flu,and put them on cabs and sent them to a hotel.How intelligent! They have absolutely no clue what to do and the cases are increasing in Victoria and Queensland where schools have been shut down.NSW also had increased numbers by today.Australia seems to have got it from neighbouring NZ.God help us to help ourselves from this epidemic.

The second thing that's bothering me is the violent attacks on Indian students.I would say racism is a part of these attacks.Racism stems from ignorance and resentment.Predominantly, education is not a way of life here unlike in our country.It has taken a back seat.We were fortunate because we had father's earning and mothers looking after our needs,so we could have a stable family and stay in school.It's unfortunate that in Australia,just like America and Europe,family life has slowly disintegrated.Broken families are rife and children coming from such distressed backgrounds are prone to violence and resort to it as a release mechanism.I have seen a lot of this in the 90's when I was a student there, where in a class of 25 students,I would be the only one who's' parent's had lived under one roof for more than 20 years.The rest all came from broken homes and single parents.They were all kids with issue's and needed constant counselling.I felt bad for them.The Indian students who have been targeted are victims of attacks by these gangs who resent them.They resent them for a lot of reasons.The Indian student has a loving family who loves him enough to send him to an alien country for education and support him.They resent him because he has part time job somewhere and will soon after completing an education find a permanent job somewhere.They resent him as he has an Indian community in Australia and friends with whom he shares joys and sorrows.They resent him as he's happy and will do well in this country and is welcome here.They resent him as he has his own faith and religion.They resent him as nothing they do will deter him from his path of determination.

It is a shame,but on the brighter side,all these attacks have caused a stir and brought attention to the complete and utter lack of initiative by the Australian Government.The Indian students contribute almost $2billion dollars annually to the Australian economy.That's hell lot of money they bring in and they deserve basic human rights like being safe.These students are the future of this country and not their perpetrator's.Justice should prevail and the guilty be punished.Our trains are not even safe during the day,so I can imagine how it is during unearthly hours when these poor souls work.It's high time the government got their act together and stop treating the Indian student community as second class citizens.If they bring $2 billion dollars,they definitely deserve better treatment.

The Indian student comes from the land of Gandhi who freed India from 200 years of colonial rule without firing a shot.The Indian student too will persevere and not be shaken by a few cowardly acts of violence.God bless these kids.The whole of India is backing you guys,hang in there!! Jai ho!!