1anme 1a oves

The Indian students' crisis lies all but forgotten by the very people that started it all

Just over five years ago, the lndian media mrned its b lowcorch on A u stralia and in one broad brush, painted the country as racist and unsafe for Indians. With little research o r analysis, the attacks on Indian students were loudly den ounced as rac ist and headline after headline screamed that the re was a jihad agafost lndians in Australi a Tirnt most of the racist claims were unfou nded and the prob lems random was soon clear, b u t the media had moved on and Australia was another story of tbe past.

Now six years down the track, the Incl.iao m edia descended on Australia to report not only o n the G20, but al so the great Modi mega event w hich now seems set to follow the new Indian Prime Minister wheneve r he goes overseas. If there are over a 100 TV channels in Incl.ia, it seems more than half were in Australia tr yi ng to find tl1at special story about Australia and Australians that could make good coverage.

Fortunately, tl1e time difference was such tl1at the scories filmed in Australia at midday could be televised live duri ng the next mornfog's peak viewing hours

Whi.le some TV channels sent ooJy one crew, tl1e anchor and the camera man, a number sent two crews, one each for their Hindi and English platforms.

A nd so, for four days running, vi ewers in India saw tlie front of tl1e J\Jl phones Arena, with TV reporters pointing excitedly to the posters behind tl1em of Kary Perry who was slated to perform tl1ere only days after PM Modi spo ke at the venu e.

The TV-wallahs were busy scouting fo r ideas to fill in tlieit time - and no doubt to justify to their bosses in India that their trip was money well spent. Thi s of course al.lowed a number of lndian Australians to get their 15 minute s of fame on Indian television. While the Modi event organisers had run up a number o f activities for them, such as a visit to Sanskri t schools or a walk down Little India in Harris Park, the visi tors down tmder wanted their own sro.ries.

One c rew spent a few hours on tbe harbour o n tl1e Sydney

Showboat filming tlie breathtaking cabaret show by the Moulin Rouge girls in their full dance costumes and feath er headgear. Weaving these shots through interviews of guests on what they e11.-pected from the Modi visit, would have made for great visuals no doubt, but we wonder what the staunch Hindu allies of the BJP thought of this.

Another crew got a group of local Indians togeth er w ho recited poems about tl1e Indian Prime Minister.

Another spent a day filming at the local racl.io studio with talkback about tl1e PM Mocl.i visit.

And even as restaurants witl1 a Mocl.i Aavour me nu were visi ted, the Australian ga rbage collection system (with different b ins for refuse, recydable bottles and paper) were explained to viewers in India as a supp lement to l'v[odi's swatch bhamt campaign. In fact, by hook or crook, the Mocl.i- /ication of Indian Aus tralians, or of the Australian li festyle, was grabbing prime time in India.

Not a single TV crew t h ough, decided to relook at the stude n ts ' issue with a fresh perspective: why did you not hunt down Saurabh Sharma, the Melbourne youth who was brutally attacked on a train, and whose CCTV footage you aired all -day lo n g on a loop, creating the d ipl omatic impasse between the two countries tlrnt h as take n years to rebuild? If you had, you woul d have found out tl1at be is happ y and healthy, and travelled b y the same train at t h e same time of night each n ight, long after the in cident, and that a compassi onate A u stralian dentist actua11y paid all of his medical costs Now would that not have been a sto ry?

And while all of tliis was on, expe r ts we re paraded on split screens in India as they spoke about mumal oppormnities between t he two countries. While tlie concept was good, it was painful to watch so -called experts who had little idea about ground realities. According to one 'expert', ther e are over 700,000 Indians in Australia curren tl y, and numbers will be up to 1,000,000 in three or four years. Sure, inflate tl1e initi al number b y 40 per cent and be out by over 10 years in your analysis, as long as the facts do not get in the way of a good story! (Post tlie ev ent, one 'expert' even claimed that Narendra Modi had staged t he entire AUphones Arena event himself by fl ying planeloads of people &om India to Australia.)

TI1e anchors on India's many news channels threw to their reporters in Australia frequently, but too often mouthed tlie words "lndo- An1ericao relationship", perhaps by sheer fo rce of habit, instead of "Indo-Australian " , and neatly all of them referred to the Australian PM as Ton y 'Abort'. Let's just hope tliis does not trans late inro actio n as far as the renewed relationship between tlie two countries is concerned!

Meanwhile, for Indian viewets tl1emselves, tl1e news segm ents were sometimes sketchy, and man y people actually believe that the "Modi Express" is a regular train ch at now runs between :Melbourne and Sydney, inaugura ted to coincide witl1 Mod.i's visit.

As for the local lncl.ia nAustralians, eve ryone claimed repeatedly that they were 'excited' about the PM's visit, b u t failed to say why or to elaborate any fi:trther.

But on 'J'v[odi magic Monday', the TV-wa!Jahs did their job well, taking up posi tions around Allphones Arena as hordes of Indian Australians found their way to the stadium Local media al so joined in with four channel s - 7, 9, 10 and ABC - also hav ing tlleir teams at the venue. \Xfitl1 p lenty of co lour and with the clashing of the garba sticks and me drums and the exuberance of the people, there were some fantastic filming optio n s J\nd as the crowds moved into tl1e arena, the TV crews followed and a lot of Australia beamed its way into the living rooms o f Incl.ia. Friends and families seeing their loved o n es froiu down under on the ir TV screens were busy cal.ling up or Whats -appi ng.

The media filled its role to inform a n d entertain and tl1e ches t beating about racism and student v io lence were a thing of the past.

The Modi Express was a train journey with a twist

' BY ,, __ i PREETI JABBAL

Ddhi hoJ'a A hmedahfld, Nm1mdra lvlodi Zilldflbad chanted the people ab oa rd the famous 'Mod i Express' as it trundled towards Sydney to afford a rous ing welcome to Indian Prime l'viinister Narendra Modi.

D ecorated w ith garla nds and festoons, draped in Ind ian colours, the Modi Express transported 220 passengers to Sydney to witness a histo ric ad dress by the Indian Prime l\{iniscer at the Allpho n es Arena.

Much bas been said and w r itten about the train that was flagged off, amidst great ceremony by Victorian Multicul tural Nlinister Matthew Guy, from l\1elbourne's

So u thern Cross Station

Io an attempt co capture the mood and excitement, we spoke co some passengers about their experien ce on the Modi Express.

Dharmenclra Patel from Ah m edabad was one of the supporters on board the train.

"The crowd was exultant from the moment we left Melbomne No one woul d have slept for more than a coup le of hours as we danced and sang through the entire trip,' Patel said

"There were arrangements for dhol and ocher m u s ical instrw11ents and an enormous amount of ta len t to keep th e entertainment going," he continued. "I am a big fa n of Prime Mi nister Modi and so were a lot of other people chat I met on the journey. Our common respect for him created the foundation for new friendships as we exchanged contact5 and made promises to keep in cou ch."

According to Patel, who is the

M anaging Director of Auss izz Group, the Modi Express added g reat weight to d,e welcome that the Indian Australian community wished to offer to the Indian Prime Minister Aloke Kumar from Mumbai Spices provided the catering for the trip. "It was in honom for us co be i nvolved in any way wit h this experience of a life time," Kumar said "We w ished co pay tribute to the Pri me :Minister by offering food of h is choice Vegetarian food was provided including vadt1 }flil, vegetable hi1ya11i, paneer /Jl{Jkhani, salad and g11/,1bj11t11tm For breakfast we had Kha111at1 Dhokla We a lso got special p ackaging c reated for me Modi Express." Kumar continued, "\'(/e were so proud to be on that train. It was wonderful to see so many people come together for the san1e cause.n

The train's journey was a symbolic tribute to PM l\fodi's humble beginnings as a tea vendor at a railway statio n , Kumar said

It also reflected on the Indian diaspora's love for me Prime M inister.

_Molina Aschana, Principal Solicitor at d1e V ictorian Governmenr's Solic itor's Officer agreed. "It was an interesting experience and it was good to be pare of the euphoria and connect with l.ike minded peop le," sh e said ' 'The journey reminded me of d1e train trips in India that involved food, famil y, friends and lots of fun I particularly enjoyed t he discussions we had on India and its fumre as well as the singing and dan cing all the way," Asd1ana con tinued. "\'v'hilst there was no official welcome party for us when we arrived in Sydney we received a lot of media atcention and it was good to be involved wi d1 something so big " Sharing her experience of the expedition, Monica Raizada from Ramon Consulting and Financial Services said, " It was a very well organ ized event b y the Overseas Fr ien d s o f BJP Australia (OFBJP) w ith positive energ y all round in suppo r t of a good leader."

According to Raizada, the trip was like be ing part of an Indian weddiug procession (bamat) with endless good food and non- stop enrertainment

"\Xlhile the trip was lots of fun there was also a sense of community interest, with t.a.lks on how the commu nity can make a difference uuder an inspiring leader," Raizada continued. "Ptime Minister Modi has made a clifference with his new government and clean up campaigns offering great hope to India. He has also been instrumental in creating a better relationship with Australia and od1er parts of the world I t was a delight to be pare of his welcome co Australia." For unbelievable low