Tuesday, June 9, 2009

RACISM AT THE PEAK

For the last few days I keep reading about the attacks on Indian students and feel very sad.We always think that law and order situation is not very good in our country, but here is a developed country and the people there are being targeted so openly..acid being thrown on the face..and they are not able to stop it..17 attacks in a month..what it says...is their govt. incompetent or the intentions are not honest? Then why they come to India to have seminars and conferences and invite students to study there? And the worst part is that few indians settled there in a cushy life are not supporting the truth, and trying to blame the students for the attack, just because they dont want to antagonise their white neighbors. or put their careers in jeopardy.very sad indeed. And what I found really mean on part of some indians is that in such a situation they are bringing out their personal frustrations out by saying......Some hindus are like that they dont include Indian Muslims and Christians in their Indian community gatherings and all in Australia and all that.....this is like trivialising a tragedy. and then there are some who are comparing these racist crimes with the crime of rape of foreigners and loot in India.....Rape is a worst crime and perpetrators must get stringent punishment, but they are crimes and not committed with a hatred or wanting them to leave the country. The motive of a crime is very important..in Australia they are target ting particular people and want them to go back....But in the first place Indians are not there illegally, their govt gave them visa and Indians have spent their hard earned money, so the govt owes it to them to give them security or refund their money. I just hope that either their govt and people learn a lesson or people boycott Australian goods and Australia completely.

Lately I have been quite sluggish in posting and lot of posts have become due..like a few tags and then whatever I saw in Seattle:). Just the other day I saw the movie..PECK IN THE CHEEK..its a Tamil, Sinhalese movie, the cast was so impressive, so it was imperative to see it.and was I disappointed? No way..its a fabulous movie in the mould of other Mani Ratnam Movies. Madhavan is mind blowing..he is looking fabulous and acted also so well and all the other assorted people and things all so well synchronised.
The story is like this....Shyama( nandita Das) gets married to Dileepa(Chakravorty) in Srilanka.Dileepa belongs to LTTE. Due to the running war Shyama is sent to India with her father, she delivers a baby in Rameshwaram and leaves her here in Red cross and goes back to her husband. Here a young engineer and a writer Madhvan..I forgot his name....wants to adopt her and gets married to Indra(Simran). They bring her up as their own and later on have 2 sons also. when she is 9, they tell her the truth, she is shattered and wants to see her mother who abandoned her..ultimately they go to that strife torn country..and how she meets her and little nuances are so touching...director has treated this story with such a sensitivity that it is just marvellous. One can realise only after watching it. I saw one other movie AMU also on a similar plot, and it was so childish and pathetic.
A lovely movie worth a watch !!!
Then I saw 8X10 TASVEER....couldnt even believe it is from Nagesh Kunnoor, he seems to have lost the touch completely....the movie is woth a watch only because of the beautiful locales of Canada and Akshay kumar..rest everybody is looking funny and out of place be it Sharmila tagore or Aayesha Takia or anybody else. I really felt sad to see my favourite GIRISH KARNAD wasted in a miniscule role with nothing to do.
Next I saw BARAH AANA....can you believe it, my daughte ris such a fan of Vijay raaj's comedy that she brought it just for that...but here he and Naseeruddin shah both are wasted, a low grad movie with nothing to recommend.
Saw a few other movies also..English ones which are called chick flicks here:)like DOUBLECROSS..was ok.

20 comments:

Jiggy said...

Completely completely agree with what you have written about the racist attacks in Australia.
Also, you raise a very important point that we should also see the motive of the attack, which in this case is to force the Indians residing in Australia to go back.
Trust me, the colour of the skin STILL matters a lot in the western world, despite what people say.

Renu said...

REBEL: Yes that I have seen many times, but now these attacks are crossing the limits of tolerance..its time we took a stand.
we cant have a global world with low threshold of adjustments or tolerance or patience whatever you call it.

Anonymous said...

Tasveer was watchable only because of the locations and Akshy...??? some one is drooling here... !! lol..... :D

Amrita said...

well Renu i think this post gives an interesting perspective on the whole issue
http://the-rhythm-of-me.blogspot.com/2009/05/black-brown-and-white.html
do read it if u get the time

Reflections said...

Even I've seen tht Madhavan movie...a really nice that is....saw it long back but still can remember tht child's face:-).

Abt the racism incident...I happened to catch a part of the video where people were protesting. I thot a section of the crowd[youth esp] were behaving really stupidly which I thought was not the way to show solidarity with the victim.

So are u going anywhere else or going to be with ur daughter till the end of ur travel????
Enjoy Renu....enjoy;-D!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

and i read in that facebook forum that aussie students are saying no to indian immigrants

:(

Renu said...

Hitchwriter: I think Akshya has outgrown that age where someone could drool over him:)...hehe..

Amrita: I went to that blog and have left a comment also because I dont agree to that perspective at all....For me hurting soemone physically and mentally is a crime and nothing justifies that.

Reflections: Nancy..I am going to Sandiego this weekend and then to Canada next week:)

I have always like Madhavan from his Ghar Jamai days and now I love him..he looks such a gentleman ( sach bataon ek aur reason ha sab kehte hain ki mera beta bilkul uske jaisa lagta ha:)

sindhu said...

hey, Renu, I was going to write about this too...and must watch the Peck in the cheek one...

Balvinder Balli said...

I think while we should protest very strongly agaist such racial attacks carried out on the Indians in Australia, we should also take stringent action against the people carrying out attacks on the migrants from other states within our own country.

Renu said...

Balvindersingh: long time since I saw a comment from you:)

Why do we always connect two things? like somewhere an Indian is being cheated we always ask dont we have such incidents in India?..just becuase we have not such a good law and order situation, should we tolerate everything everywhere?

yes we must take stringent action when migrants are attacked here, but why combine it here? Why cant we condemn those attacks just because they are crimes being comitted on innocent Indians

Sandhya said...

So many versions are being said about the racist attacks in Australia. Some say that the students who were attacked were crossing slum-like areas alone and were carrying money. They count money in front of others and so they are targeted for their money. But I too feel that why this sudden spurt of attacks? So many youngsters have gone there to study, these past years and nothing happened. Recession or just jealousy? We Indians give lot of importance for education and then get good jobs. They don't do that, so do not get good jobs. But frustration should not be shown like this. And even now their universities are inviting desperately, our students - for improving their economy! They charge hefty sums. But now people are thinking twice about sending their wards to study there. The students who have already completed one or two years of studies, will have problem. Their govt. should do something to prevent this, alongwith our govt. Otherwise our govt. should take action - like barring them from conducting the admission mela, for catching new students, here. By the time we wake up, don't know how many Indians are going to be attacked over there. I wonder why students from China, Korea and other countries are left alone, from these attacks?

The Madhavan movie is a very old tamil movie 'kannaththil muththamittaal' - Manirathnam was the director. Madhavan is a versatile actor and Simran also did very well. The songs were good. The story was by my favorite writer, Sujatha! The storyline was very strong.

Don't know about the other movies.

Nice to read your post after a break, Renu. I too seem to be busy for the past few days. And miss reading some good posts, which I don't like to do.

Renu said...

Chriz; yeah I keep reading so many things..of course the indians living there and not affected are trying to say that it is being hyped, but still i dont like what i read.

Sandhya: there cant be any justification for vitriolic attacks.. are the australians dont enjoy their wealth? so why shouldnt Indians? its their hard money, nobody can grudge them that.These are very lame excuses..like they are showing off their gadzets or money..are they living in a civilised society or some jungle raaj?

What are you busy with?

Iam enjoying my time here , par saath me ghar aane ka wt bhi kar rahi hoon:)

Sandhya said...

I checked yesterday and couldn't find my comment. Sometimes my PC is so slow that after I click 'post comment' it takes a long time. Sometimes I get up and go away and when I come back totally forget about it and close the tabs!

My niece came with her 1year 9months old daughter who is talkative. She was here for some days. Had to go out with her for shopping. Time flies.

I am happy to know that you are enjoying your stay with your children. Enjoy as much as you can. Yes, I can understand that you want to come back to your den, where we are our own. But you may not be able to go there often. Please convey my love to your daughter, Renu.

Unknown said...

I know racism is prevalent everywhere,even in developed countries...sad but true!!

Mana said...

Racism is everywhere including India. Natives of other countries are also losing their jobs cos of Indians. In UK, students are made to sign that they would leave after the completion of their graduation.

Vivek said...

I agree with your post and yes, no way the attacks are justified but before blaming the Aussies...shouldn't we look at ourselves first? I believe we are the worst racists in the world (sorry if I am ruffling some feathers here)...north Indian v/s South Indian, NE people called chinkis everywhere, Raj Thakeray's attacks on north Indians etc etc etc...I can go on and on and on, believe me....even I have faced it in my own country ( I was refused a house by the existing bachelors just because I was not a North Indian..the fact that I have stayed in Mumbai for 10 years and can speak wonderful Hindi doesn't fulfill their Hindi speaking criteria...their problem was I was a Tamilian)...I was in the US for 2 years and frankly felt a lot better there...

Renu said...

Vivek: you are not ruffling any feathers here:)..I am a north Indian but I firmly stand by truth......I wrote a post about Raj thackerey also, he is a worst racist, as in our own country we cant and shouldnt have any boundaries.....strictly against anything like ghetto mentality that i faced a little everywhere be in Bengal, or south, but I ignore it thinking that they are not really educated( they have degrees but not real education)..but violent attacks anywhere be condemned without bringing our own tussles on the same plateform. otherwise it dilutes the effect.

Renu said...

Sandhya: sorry to reply so late:(

Now my return is very near, and yes we want to have the best of both world, want to be near children also and want to be at our home also:)

SARA: Welcome Sara here and I am sorry to reply so late ..Racism is very ugly and shows that we take only degrees but have no real education.

Manasa: I beg to differ..nobody looses the job because of any particula country..but they loose the jab because somebody better qualified is doinfg the same for less money.

Sig said...

As an Indian who has lived in Australia all her life and in Melbourne - i gotta say it's a pretty skewed opinion you have there.

There are so many factors to this issue that it can't be just seen in 'black and white' (no pun intended).

I agree that a lot of attacks have been on Indian students, but then again the number of violent attacks on PEOPLE in general in Melbourne has risen significantly.

The Indian media here (ie. local newspapers) and the Indian media in India have a very biased reaction to what has been happening. I've written about this issue on my own blog (http://siggysparkle.blogspot.com/2009/06/too-many-freaks-not-enough-circuses.html) already.

All I can say is that I don't look any different to any of the students that were attacked - yet I have never felt unsafe because of my race.

Renu said...

Silvara: Welcome here Silara !

I have never been to Australia, so I know only what is written in news papers, but my friend's daughter is settled there and she told me that racism is quite prevalent there.

For me this is onbe crime I cant condone ever..its the govt. responsibilities to look after their security..attacks are still happening..I dont want to know the reasons..becuase no matter what this is vandalism of worst kind..if they have any problem with Indians and their behaviour, they can always complain to their authorities, but attacking the people is not the symbol of a civilised society.
Anybody living in any country has to conform to the laws of the land, and in case of violating, they will be punished..law and order machinery is there for this...citizens cant take law in their hand..

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