Anicon of Australia’s

BY PREETI JABBAL

Forty-five years ago a young academic from India arrived in Australia to join the Monash University for his PhD. Before he left India people advised him he may need to learn German, so little was known about this county. The bright young man hailing from Wai in the Indian state of Maharashtra was offered a job as a tutor in Utah in the US, and at Monash University Australia. He chose the latter simply because they were prepared to pay his return

Thus began the migrant story of Jayant Bhalachandra Bapat, a retired academic and an authorised Hindu priest

“Australia has come a long way from just being a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding Anglo Saxon society,” said Mr. Bapat. He recollected his early days when he could not buy atta (Indian whole meal flour used to make chapattis) anywhere. In 1965 not many Indians migrated to Australia, a country still influenced by the ‘white intake’ policy. There were a small number of people from the Indian community in Melbourne and together they launched the first Indian organisation AISV (Australian Indian Society of Victoria).

“AISV served a very good function of linking Indians with Australians. In those days our community was united and there were hardly any regional divides. Today nearly half a century later things have changed. There are far more organisations and groups, however the community is fragmented. What’s missing in today’s society is the willingness to assimilate. On one hand we are a multicultural society, however at the same time we tend to live with ghetto mentality. I feel Indians here should make an extra effort to mix with the locals,” said Mr. Bapat.

BY USHA RAMANUJAM ARVIND