Over the last week or so any discerning Indian would have been upset by two pieces of news from overseas.
# 1. An Indian stowaway on an AI flight from Saudi Arabia.
# 2. An Indian student stabbed to death in Australia.
Both incidents are tragic ( and not new ), the first because the young man who fled Saudi Arabia as a stowaway on an aircraft, has a harrowing tale of maltreatment bordering on slavery and the second of a civilized country seeming to shield uncivilized behavior.
A few years ago while making port at Port Rashid, Dubai, I got into an interesting conversation with the harbor pilot, a Jordanian Arab. Jordan is home, to Petra, an amazing archaeological site of antiquity, and one of the wonders of the world.While expressing my admiration for the site, I was stopped short, when the Pilot asked me how I could have afforded the visit coming from a poor country like India...........here I was an educated, cultured Indian, holding a position of eminence ( or so I thought )and I was brought down to earth, rather abruptly by this query. I was aghast and speechless!
A few days later I ran into a South African, working for a ship repairs firm, on board my ship. He had a sad story of his own and said that we Indians had double standards because we accused South Africa of Apartheid while tolerating harassment in the Arab states. I agreed that he had a point, but was helpless since it was Government policy.
Stereotyping and racial profiling are issues that we associate with the uneducated, but that is farthest from the truth, as my above story would indicate. For most Arab's, Indian's are poor, wretched folk, who can be kicked around. ( the pilot called India a disaster area) Unfortunately our Government chooses to look the other way, which is a tragedy.
As for the Australian's, the less said the better. What started out as a penal colony for the Brit's has turned into a mineral rich nation..........with the local Aborigines, marginalized and poor.
As far as I'm concerned, the common denominator is that both countries are mineral rich & crass.A lack of culture I would say contributes to their looking at the rest of the world through a narrow key hole of prejudice.
Unfortunately the farce will continue to continue till, we continue to support these economies with cheap labor from our shores.
However coming back a full circle, do not miss out on Petra, if you have an opportunity to visit the place...............and I wish our MoS, for External Affairs would tweet a little more on these issues!
