T HE YEAR IN

Trends and trendsetters n Sydney s Ind an o n ty th s year

BY RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA

It s een a crac er of a year. The tal ing points in the community have been more like ‘shouting’ points, coming from a hole range of issues that im acted us directly and indirectly. Politics has been at the top of this list, es ecially as e e had elections oth at the state and federal levels, and also in our country of origin. ur rise outcomes at each only served to heighten the intensity of the discussions.

Many significant events in our home country ha e also affected us dee ly here in ustralia ul ama hinandan a ne loo ashmir handrayaan safety for our omen some strongly enough to ring us out in the streets in rotest. nd that itself became a point of discussion: ho should the dias ora sho dissent

India-Oz

The ush to ards ndia from the mainstream ent u a notch this year articularly in go ernment efforts (the Prime Minister is set to travel to India ne t month) and in the uni ersities rushing to offer scholarshi s to ndian students.

usiness effort on the other hand continued to sho characteristic reticence even though Peter Varghese’s report on a proposed strategy for Australia to engage economically ith ndia continues to e in o ed regularly. (The re ort is ins iring a similar document from the Indian side its author nil adh a currently touring ustralia.) f re orts are true that Barry O’Farrell is to be the next High Commissioner to India, it remains to be seen ho the usiness relationshi ill change, given his previous roles as NSW’s Special Trade Envoy to India and on the ustralia ndia ouncil.

Community achievers

In Australia Day and Queen’s Birthday Honours this year, a record number of members of our community, eighteen in total sa themsel es decorated. hile the honourees ere mostly from the traditional fields of medicine, academics, scientific research and community service, a elcome addition this year as a personality from the performing arts in the mainstream: the Pune-born Cyrus Meherom i musicologist and record e ecuti e. and ictoria oth sa ndian origin representatives enter Parliament (Gurmesh ingh and aushaliya aghela res ecti ely).

As year-end approaches and various industry sectors announce their annual a ards of e cellence ne s is currently coming through of more achievers in the IT, sciences, health, sustainability and usiness sectors.

The Mela scene

The Mela fatigue from last year continued this year. The large scale nde endence ay fairs ere a dam s ui yet again ho efully forcing a rethink at our organisations (more so in the light of a much more successful smaller affair y the ). nd if e lamented that nde endence ay no goes on for a fortnight i ali traditionally a fi e day affair ut not in contem orary times ent on for nearly a month this year, the last event taking place on 16 Nov, t enty days after the festi al itself on ct. The indu ouncil of ustralia as the major proliferator here, presenting to the community literally a festival of festivals at various locations, even though its flagship e ent mo ed to a less glamorous enue. The stage e ents at these day long affairs attract fe er and fe er eo le lea ing one Indian Link report to conclude that the audience members for the cultural events are often families of those performing, ho lea e immediately after and that the o cial segments ha e more eo le on stage than off it. s it correct then to claim that the community is the real inner at these multi le fairs s fresh a roach to i ali a street fair in arris ar as a re eat success this year, and is our pick for Event of the Year (see box). n terms of im act lac to n ouncil s i ali ights com etition also made its mar . dding to the ela scene this year ere t o s ecial e ents. andhi t as o ser ed ith some fer our here strangely ith more community in ol ement than ac home in ndia. ur risingly the made no special commemoration, even though it has been marking the Gandhi dates 2 Oct and an for many years no . The e ent at Parramatta, at the location of the Gandhi statue in Jubilee Park, created much interest ith its multi thronged homage including an e hi ition a lay and a mo ie screening. Organised by a successful collaboration et een ocal ouncil local usiness and community stakeholders, it attracted a large cro d for a ednesday night. uru ana t ent off ust as ell.

The Divine Steps Festival, organised as a multifaith devotional music event, paid tribute to the founder of the Sikh faith also ith art langar and se a including a fundraising bike ride from Canberra to ydney. The acti e in ol ement of the