No butter chicken please, we’re Australians: the subtle art of racism
“Fun fact for Indians thinking to migrate to Australia in the future: Australian passport is very powerful. It allows you to travel to almost every other country without having to apply for a visa, except Australia. If you are an Australian Indian in India, you cannot enter Australia. It will be a criminal offence. You will end up in jail if you do so.”
Disclaimer: If this offends you, I have nothing to say. A liberal democratic state cannot abandon it’s citizens or criminalize people from entering their own country.
You ain’t Australian enough if you are brown
You ain’t Australian enough if you don’t frown
To be an Australian you must forget your family back home
If you cannot do that then go back where you came from
Let’s save Australia from those who chose to go to covid hell
Nothing justifies your travel whether its sick parents or funeral
You chose to be an Australian so abide by our ethos
We are fearful of the virus, understand our pathos
In particular the one that originated in the sub-continent
Ah, there is no problem with American and British mutant
Some Australians are more Australians than others
The Americans are friends and Britishers brothers
A lockdown because someone went for a wedding, seriously?
“Who allowed him to go?”, said the Australian media furiously
It did not matter that this exemption was justified back then
’cause what mattered was where he went and the context was Indian.
We reserve our fury and anger for only a certain kind of folks
The ones who beat us in cricket, those curry munching blokes
So, we weren’t angry when Zampa and Richardson sneaked in
How can the media be furious of their own kith and kin?
As India goes through loss of lives and immense pain
We sneer at the them and look at them in disdain
Let’s put the blame on them and forget its pandemic
After all, its their problem, their making and endemic
Ah, lets ignore the good stuffs and focus on what we like to see
Lion, Slumdog Millionaire, The White Tiger and more poverty
Lets report about the dire situation in the sub-continent
Overcrowded roads, burning pyres, squalid slums and lament
Don’t complain of the ban as it is government’s duty of care
To safeguard its people, don’t mistake them for being unfair
The country has every right to protect its own gentry
The ones who are more Australians and are still in the country
Don’t say we must allow Australian Indians in
Because we have the hotel system of quarantine
Lets not overwhelm the system thats serving its purpose
The Indian virus strain is making us utterly nervous
Know that your country might be a potential strategic ally
But for friendship to flourish you must bid virus a goodbye
“A friend in need is a friend indeed” is all rubbish
In the times as these only the Australians must flourish
For that we must close our borders and isolate
And take our time and vaccinate at a slow rate
Let the men drink beer, play footy and women get manicured
And revere our beloved leaders for keeping us secured
Compassion? Excuse me! what?
Compassion should not be the character of a nation. Because that would mean, before asking their government to shut down borders for its own citizens, they should be asking their fellow Australians, “Hey, hope your family back home in India is safe!”
On my first day in Australia in 2010, someone shouted at me, “stupid Indian”. You must be thinking I might have done something stupid. Yes, I was a stupid enough to walk to a supermarket on my first day in the country. Who does that? Within my first week I was told “Go back where you came from”. In my stint in Strathfield Sydney, someone scraped fresh concrete on the apartment driveway to write, “fuck off Indians”. The apartment was coincidentally full of Indians. I have also heard many unpleasant things being said to immigrants on Sydney transports. Despite these stray incidents I decided to stay here because most of the Aussies were friendly and welcoming. Live and let live seemed to be the mantra of life here.
I believe that most immigrants brush aside stray incidents of racism for the better standard of life that this country provides. They also ignore racism because they are aware of their own imperfections. But is Australia a perfect country? I now have an answer to this question.
That “someone” I mentioned before was right. I am a stupid.
PS: Australia is a signatory to international human rights convention and duty bound to bring back its citizens
