Dancing Dollars!!!!

It’s been quite some time since I have landed in Melbourne. Things have been good and bad for me since the time I have been staying here. This city is full of colours and has a different outlook towards life. People work diligently on weekdays and enjoy their life n space on weekends. Australia is famous for mainly two things, beer and sports. In Australia, consumption of beer is more than that of water. Similarly the love for sports is more than that for studies. I doubt if Australia has given birth to any intellects. But yes, I have heard and seen innumerable sportsmen originating from the Aussie land. The city is very well organized and holds place for everyone be it Australians themselves or people of other nationalities. Yes, Australia is the home for numerous people of different nationalities. Some of them have now permanently settled while others are trying their best to get settled in Australia. When I say “trying their best” here, I simply refer to the efforts that are required to get a permanent residency in this country. The norms/criteria to get a PR are made more tough each year by the government of Australia. But then, this has not demotivated applicants from trying their luck. The department of immigration still receives thousands of application for Permanent residency every day.  I was surprised when I was informed by a clerk in the immigration department that the majority of people applying for permanent residency in Australia are from India. This ignited in me a curiosity to analyse the reason for such a trend. Going ahead, I will prefer addressing Indians willing to settle in Australia as Desi Aussies. I believe that the word ‘Indian’ suits well to people staying back home in India. And to the best of my opinion, I cannot compare the people back home with the ones I am going to discuss.

Indians living in Australia can be broadly classified into two categories.

1)      Those who came here to study and later settled here.

2)      Those who are here from Indian IT companies and trying hard to get a PR.

I would prefer discussing about both the categories one by one. Let me take up the first category of Desi Aussies. They are the ones who started migrating into Australia from mid 90’s. Mainly they landed here on study visa since that is the easiest way to step into this country. Under the Australian education system, the universities here offer a variety of courses. To be honest, most of them are similar to what Delhi University offers to its students. Well, the placements here are depressing for international students. Reason being, the companies coming for placements asks for a PR. Now considering the difference in currency, there is a hefty loan amount that has to be repaid by our Desi Aussies. In order to repay the hefty loans, they take up part time jobs and work day and night. Most of them work in retail stores or cleaning department of different organizations. At places which are posh and big, you’ll find them cleaning the toilets. I saw this scenario in a casino named “Crown”. Crown is one of the places I visited within a few days of my arrival in Melbourne. Those were the days when I used to feel happy to see Indians around. So before entering the mammoth casino I was expecting to see a lot of Indians working there as waiters, bar tenders etc. However, after entering the building, to my surprise, I did not find a single Indian on the floor. It was a bit surprising for me. I got the answer to my question later when I entered the washroom there. The cleaning staff of the largest casino in the southern hemisphere is comprised majorly of Indians. They looked at me and then turned their heads with a weird look on their face as if a ‘Harijan’ had entered into the kitchen of ‘Brahmins’.

The last line of the previous paragraph reminds me of a very peculiar quality of Desi Aussies and that is the ability to smartly ignore their fellow citizens. I don’t know about any other country, but in Australia, a stranger walking on the road will certainly acknowledge your presence with a smile. But our very own Desi Aussies believe in ignoring you no matter how hard you try to acknowledge their presence. I am still not clear what make them do this. Do they actually fear being recognized by a fellow Indian or else do they want to convey a message that please don’t look at me like this as I am not an Indian. Truly speaking, hats off to our Desi Aussies.

I made a short trip back home in February on the occasion of my sister’s wedding. I met a Desi Aussie from Punjab at the Tullamarine International Airport in Melbourne. With her behaviour I could make out that she was not used to Air travel. But then I wondered how she managed to reach Melbourne if she was not used to travelling by air. After chit chatting with her for some time I came to know that the last time she travelled by air was some five years ago which was from Delhi to Melbourne. This was her first trip back home after five years. She mentioned honestly that earlier she didn’t have money to go back home. Now that she has been earning for quite some time, she decided to visit her parents in India. I asked about her qualifications and nature of job. The answer was short and simple. She was a graduate in environmental science from some medium grade university in Melbourne and was a contract cleaner at the AFP (Australian Federal police). I liked the fact that she was bold enough to explain her profile. She told me that there are a lot of students who quote fake job profiles in front of their family members. I can understand how an Indian may feel explaining to his/her people who emphasize so much on obtaining white-collar jobs, that he/she has been cleaning toilets or wiping floors for all these years. Later, I realised that she sounded a bit hesitant in talking to the airhostess and flight stewards. This could have been due to lack of confidence. I wondered how she managed to live in a developed nation for all these years. Our conversation further revealed another quality of Desi Aussies. The girl told me that she has been staying together with her boyfriend, her sister and her sister’s husband. It took two minutes for me to understand the web of lie that may have spun around this reply. But then my senses provoked me to realize the fact that Desi Aussies are now ok with live in relationships. They do not feel hesitant in trying the “key features” of a foreign culture. Unfortunately they don’t believe in acquiring the other features of the same culture that can surely help them grow as a person. Later I asked her if she would prefer going back to India. The reply was instant and genuine and I need not type it here because I know the reader is smart enough to understand it.

One Friday, after playing cricket for a couple of hours I returned home late in the evening. To my surprise I saw an Indian sitting in the lawn gossiping with my landlady. I was quite curious to know who the gentleman was. My landlady introduced him to me. I made myself comfortable on a seat opposite to him. The conversation started. He asked me how comfortable I was in Melbourne. I replied back saying that it was just another city for me. He asked me about my job profile and my family. I asked him about his native place in India. He told me that he was from Kolkata and came to Melbourne four years back. I asked him if he was planning to settle in Melbourne. His reply was “Dude, I have a PR here”. This made me realize that the person sitting next to me is a Desi Aussie and not an Indian. I asked him about his job profile. Though he tried his best to portray his profile as the best in the country, I was smart enough to conclude that his job was to simply install software on the client’s computer. He then started blabbering about his cousins and relatives who were settled abroad in different parts of the globe. In between I learnt that his parents were staying all alone in Kolkata after their children decided to settle abroad.

Another interesting story goes along like this. A school friend of mine came to Australia a few years ago. He has been staying here since almost four years now. Some time back he visited his family in India and to my surprise was unable to adjust to the environment. That very environment in which he was born and brought up. This was the environment in which he had spent 24 years of his life. As far as I remember, he returned back to Australia quickly. I called him up some time back to know how he was doing. I thought of meeting him once after so many years. The phone conversation that we had that day changed my opinion of meeting him. In the whole conversation he was advising me to get settled in Australia permanently. He even advised me to get married to an Australian girl so that the process of acquiring Australian citizenship gets easier for me. I thanked him for all the concern and wished him luck. After a few days I saw his marriage photographs on FaceBook. The girl, as expected, was an Australian citizen and her father had a transport business. It was truly a healthy and wealthy family. To be honest, the weight of the girl must have been thrice that of my friend’s. It was clearly visible that this marriage had a purpose to serve. How it will continue is something even I cannot predict. However one thing I am clear about is that according to Australian law for marriages (specially in the case mentioned above), if an individual is found guilty of cheating another individual through means of marriage then the accused individual gets screwed for the rest of his/her life. I just pray that he stays loyal to his beloved wife throughout his life.

It seems I have discussed a lot about the first category of Desis staying here in Australia. This must have given a fair idea about the level of thinking of an individual settled here. Let me now switch over to the second category. People belonging to this category are closer to me and hence this gave me a better opportunity to explore the depth of their thoughts.

The IT industry has flourished a lot in the past few years in India. The credit mainly goes to all the organizations abroad that outsource most of their work to Indian IT companies. There are a few valid reasons for outsourcing. Firstly, the cost incurred on these companies from outsourcing is always less. Indians are flexible enough to work during the day and night. Lastly, though I am not 100% convinced with this point, India produces better software consultants than any other country. I guess India produces a higher number of software engineers than any other country. I am glad that this sector has provided employment to a lot many people in India. As per my personal observation, the USP of IT industry is the “Onsite’ opportunity that it gives to its employees. To make it more clear, Onsite is a term used to indicate workplace at the client/customer’s office. An onsite can be domestic (in case of domestic clients) i.e. within India and can be abroad (in case of international clients). As a matter of fact, my stay in Melbourne falls under an Onsite opportunity that was offered to me last year. Every individual working in this industry dreams about going abroad to earn big money in a short span of time. The length of duration at onsite is never fixed and varies with the requirement and offcourse with the mood of the client.

I have a team of around thirty five people from my company working here in the client’s office. By God’s grace, all of them except a couple are married and living a happy life. When I met my team for the first time, I had a different perspective towards each one of them. However, after spending few days together I realized that they are a completely different set of people. I have worked in different parts of India. I have been to Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi (NCR) and Mumbai. I have always enjoyed my stay in each city. But in Melbourne I found things different. People were more concerned about the exchange rate of Australian dollar. In spite of staying in Australia for more than a year everyone had a desire to grab as much money as possible. However, to do so, they compromised on the basic needs and a few desires. They always tried to suppress their desires so as to save money. To some extent I agree with the approach they followed. After all, money is an essential requirement in life. However saving money by cutting down basic facilities always results in misery. I have seen people, especially the singles, hogging on bread and butter during lunch. I am sure they must be consuming the same in dinner as well. According to them food is not good here. The ones belonging to the fraternity of non bachelors  get their lunch packed by their dear wives. It is good to get food from home but occasionally when your wife fails to cook something in the morning, a person should be flexible enough to go out and eat. But unfortunately my fellow team mates believe in hogging over other people’s lunch boxes or else they believe is getting bread omelette from home as it takes less time to prepare. The best part of the story is that all of them go together to the office kitchen area for lunch. It is actually worth appreciating as this proves unity among desi Aussies. It is good to see all the chairs occupied by our very own Desi Aussies. The next best thing to view is the way they share their food. A few enthusiasts don’t hesitate in literally jumping over other people’s lunch box. The scene looks funny and embarrassing at the same moment.

I remember a small incident that happened in my office few days back. The Desi Aussies went to the kitchen area for lunch as usual. There was pin drop silence in the main work area since all the desis were busy in the kitchen area. Call it my rudeness or selfishness but I prefer eating my lunch alone or with a single person only. Most of the times I go down to a restaurant for lunch as the idea of surviving on bread and butter does not fascinate me much. After the grand lunch all the Desi Aussies came back to their seats. I could make out that one of them wore an expression of disgust on his face. I didn’t bother and kept myself focused on work. The next moment there was a loud noisy altercation between the person with the disgusted look and another Desi Aussie. My focus automatically shifted from my work to the quarrel between the two people. In a few minutes I realized that the guy with the disgusted look on his face was arguing with another guy for eating his one complete chapatti. The whole scene was a source of entertainment for the client who was giggling on this unethical behaviour of my colleagues. I tried to suppress the conversation but the two people were simply out of their senses. I simply preferred to walk out of that area. I wondered how could routine sharing of food turn into such a big heated argument. I thank God that the other guy did not go to the extent of offering the other person a slice of bread in replacement of his chapatti. That would have deteriorated the situation.

Parents are always happy when they see their children happy and satisfied. They do whatever they can to keep their children happy. I started believing in these lines more when I landed here and saw a few little things happening around. I noticed a general trend here which was that the Desi Aussies prefer to have their babies born here. The credit goes to the Australian government. According to the law in Australia, a baby born here can claim his/her citizenship when he/she turns 18. So a little bit of hard work overseas can award a kid with a citizenship of Australia. I guess it is much easier in US where a child born in any part of US is granted a US citizenship instantaneously. Anyway, for Desi Aussies, a wait for 18 years is not that much considering the benefits in later stages. Moreover, another important aspect of having a baby in Australia is that the government grants an aid of AUD 5000 to the baby’s parents. This money is granted if the parents are not earning well and in a country like Australia it is rarest or rare cases when a person doesn’t earn well. But our sweet Desi Indians prefer filing an application for this amount. For them anything in dollars is fine, be it one dollar or five thousand dollars. To make their case look more genuine, they maintain a very low account balance in their respective banks.

My colleague was blessed with a baby girl some time back. I felt happy for him and congratulated him for the big news. After a few days, I saw him showing a piece of paper to everyone on the floor. I got really curious to see the content of that paper. I though the guy got promoted or got a salary hike. To my surprise the sheet of paper was the birth certificate of his newly born baby. I thought he was so happy because after all it was the birth certificate of his first child. But then he himself told me the reason for his excitement. The reason was that he considered this as an achievement that his daughter was born here in Australia. Actually he was showing the watermark of Australian map on the birth certificate to the people around. He was happy that after turning 18, his daughter would become eligible to claim her Australian citizenship. There was another reality associated with this story. The same guy called his mother to Australia. The reason was obvious. His mother was called here to take care of his new born baby and his wife. So the sole purpose of calling his mother to Australia was to have a nurse who could take care of his wife n daughter. I just thought what difference has he maintained between his mother and a nurse. He did not take his mother to any place in and around Melbourne. He just took her to a couple of local places around. Most of them were free to access. Later I came to know that another colleague did the same thing i.e. called his mother when his wife was expecting and later sent her back home. These incidents made me realize that parental love is truly unconditional. They are always there whenever their children need them. Mothers, who have not travelled by air throughout their lives agrees to fly miles across the ocean to take care of her children. She knows the kind of difficulties that she may have to face, yet, the thought that her children needs her help gives her enough courage to take this challenge. On the other hand, children fail to understand the magnitude of help they receive from their parents. Fathers......They are never invited because according to their children they would be of no use. They’ll just add to the count of members and expense.

The craze of dollar has completely occupied the mind of Desi Aussies. They believe in pocketing each and every dollar coming their way. A good example lies in the fact that most of them have not visited their home in India since years. This is so because it takes a lot of money and time to go back and visit their parents. However, if the tickets are sponsored, time can be managed. People settled here consider India as a gutter. They think that we’ll never develop as a nation. They have innumerable reasons for not staying in India. However, each one of them believes in investing in India be it in property or in shares. Indian market has always fascinated them when it comes to investment. They still look out for the dollar exchange rate on internet. They still pray whole heartedly for a stronger dollar against the Indian Rupee.

What is it that has made them like this? Is it that they have over understood the importance of money or is it that they have over understood the importance of relationships? Why is it that only Indians were beaten up in Australia few years back? The population of Australia consist of people from different nationalities. Then why is it that only Indians were beaten up among all other students? There must have been an underlying truth beneath this which was apparently hidden from the rest of the world. When a person is given more freedom than he/she actually deserves then it either results in a remarkable utilization of that independence or else in a big disaster like the one I have stated above. I have been a citizen of India by birth and standing at any position I can blindly say that we are not like them. We are a group of happy and smiling faces who know how to respect others. We are a group of lively people who know the meaning of relationships. If my belief is true then I believe no one has the right to portray a false image of Indians abroad. It is alright that we do not have the cleanest of roads available. It is alright that we still have problems with basic facilities like power and water. It is alright that caste system still exists in our system. But these are our problems and I believe we are fighting well with it. The face of our nation is changing with every passing year. We have the best of resources and brains available and we’ll be there where others think we’ll never reach because we have not learnt to run away from our own problems. We have not learnt to go and hide on other people’s land when our own nation needs us.