Ascertaining the bigger picture

A powerful production that reveals the sometimes shocking plight of Indian students in the quest to make their future in Australia

BY TIM BLIGHT

Racist or not racist? That is the question posed by Yet to Ascertain the Nature of the Crime, a production by Melbourne Workers Theatre. Directed by Gorkem Acaroglu, the theatre performance is part documentary and part theatre, and scrutinizes the complex experience of Indians, particularly Indian students, in Australia.

In the wake of the 2008 – 2010 controversy surrounding allegedly racially-motivated attacks on Indians living in Australia, the performance does not shy away from asking big questions. Based entirely on transcripts from interviews with Australians and Indians, it seems noone seems to fully comprehend all aspects of the debate. No-one, that is, except the cast and crew themselves, who skillfully combine humour, tragedy, emotion and honesty to present this unflinching look at Indians in Australia. While it is not always easy to watch – this reporter squirmed a couple of times while listening to the often disturbing stories – it is certainly engaging.

Actors Andreas Litras, Georgina Naidu and Greg Ulfan skillfully quote numerous interviews, which are repeated verbatim. Frequently the actors don headsets, listening to the actual interview while simultaneously speaking the script – no easy task, and a true testament to their talents. Occasionally the audience is exposed to recordings from the interviews and even video footage, which makes it all the more real. The name is based on a cartoon which appeared in a Delhi newspaper soon after the tragic death of Nitin Garg in January of this year. The controversial sketch depicts a member of the Victorian police dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit uttering the statement. Much was made of the cartoon at the time, however it reflects the mood of a period when social tensions between India and Australia reached the diplomatic level.

Perhaps the most explosive of all is anonymous voices discussing the education scheme in Australia. For one of the first times in a public forum, it is explicitly revealed that shifting visa laws in the early 2000s transferred the responsibility of immigration to the realm of tertiary education institutions. The opinion, which one assumes is of someone involved in the education industry, explains how the revised Australian visa system allowed schools to become ‘visa factories’ with little regard for the welfare of the largely Indian student body. Students were experiencing the exhilarating highs and depressing lows of life abroad, education agents had a seemingly endless supply of revenue and the immigration department was making a mint from the visa fees.

All this comes crashing down when the experiences of Pami, Sravan and Karan are related. These particular characters (who aren’t characters at all, but actual victims of crime), humbly talk of the degradation and violence they were subject to in Australia, and go on to discuss their reasons for staying. The strength of these students was as inspiring as their forgiveness was unsettling – particularly Pami was able to distinguish between the actions of a few and Australian society as a whole. “No worries!” he sighs. One ponders whether they would be capable of such fortitude and rationality after such a horrific ordeal. Actor Andreas Litras personally interviewed some of the students. He said that they were at first hesitant to convey their stories for fear of further inflaming racial tensions, because they weren’t convinced that the attacks were racially motivated. Fellow actor Georgina Naidu, who recites much of Pami’s interview, said that until very recently she struggled with the emotion of the script. “To hear his voice and to speak the words, I could feel myself welling up inside,” she said.

Between comical references to Norway (“the whitest country in the world!”) and hysterical, if shameful, reminders of the White Australia era, two teenage white supremacists vocalize their concerns for Australia’s future. While many may consider their voices extreme, they raise important questions over the often isolating life of a teenager in suburban Australia. Whether ‘these Indians are taking our jobs’ is another debate entirely, but the link is clearly drawn between young Anglo-Australians short of opportunities and resentment towards “fresh-off-the-boat Indians” who seem to be employed in hospitality and the taxi service.

Hapless desi students, new to Australia, often employed by less than scrupulous business owners are also subject to discrimination from within their community. From the Punjabi who labels Bengalis ‘arrogant’ and the Bengali who calls Punjabis ‘gaudy’, it is clear that racism exists in India as well. Indian hatred is reserved for Pakistanis although, as one actor quotes, he can’t really explain why. Even some Indians who have been in Australia for several decades seem to look down on the ‘new arrivals’, a common occurrence in multi-generational immigrant communities. Students work and pay tax, however they are not always taken seriously by society or the police.

Neither here nor there, students are alone and confused. As a taxi driver puts it, “I don’t know whom to trust. Back in India, a businessman in a suit is respectable, but here, even they can be drunk and rude.”

Speaking after the premiere performance on November 24, students Sam, Abdul and Odras of the Northland Youth Centre said they were impressed by the professional delivery of the material. “It was handled in a very good manner,” reported Sam, originally from Sri Lanka, who has been living in Australia for less than a year. Co-writer Roanna Gonsalves said that despite being of Indian background herself, even she was surprised to hear some of the interviews. “It’s so interesting to hear the ideas and opinions from all sides,” she said. The show does not offer solutions to the issues, but rather allows audience members to conclude their own after sharply bringing into focus important issues facing contemporary Australia and those who migrate here.

Yet to Ascertain the Nature of the Crime showed at Artshouse, North Melbourne Town Hall from November 24 - 28. There are plans to take the show to Sydney, and it has been selected to appear at Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda Festival next February.