Do Australians hate Indians?

New York, NY, United States, June 04 — Many Australians say it takes two to tango. The Aussies believe that the carping in the Indian media is exaggerated and counterproductive. Australians react to the 80,000 (what they call) “smelly” Indians on campuses with “dot busting.”

Indian students are ubiquitous on Australian campuses, but they have not assimilated into the Australian way of life. On many occasions, they have violated their visa status and have started to permeate the landscape around the campuses in search of menial jobs. No less than 80,000 students on a few dozen campuses makes them highly visible.

In a slowing economy, there is a growing tide of anti-Indian feeling among the Aussies. Many Australians feel that complaints by Indian students are exaggerated and hide the real truth, which usually stems from domestic disputes, lewd behaviour, drunkenness or theft of property. The Australian police do not accept the Indian claim that racism is involved. Some of the female Indian “students” have been caught as prostitutes, and there is the general perception that many of the Indian students sell drugs in Australia. Some Australians have accused the Indians of using black magic for seduction purposes. Australian students also accuse Indians of cheating on exams and whispering answers in Hindi and other languages not understood by Australians.

A portion of the Australian population feels that they are being overwhelmed by India. Many Aussies accuse Indians of forcing their Indian culture onto campuses by celebrating their hundreds of festivals and cooking their foods in inappropriate places like hallways and TV lounges.

Sydney's beaches are full of the drunk Indian students ogling and harassing the women. The Australians also accuse Indians of gender bias and mistreating female instructors. One of the “attacked” Indian males was soliciting sex for money. Being gay in India is frowned upon. Many gay Indian students visit the seedy parts of town seeking gay activity. Not knowing the Australian culture, sometimes they end up in the wrong part of town and end up in trouble.

Many Indian students do not own cars, so they walk on streets in the wee hours of the morning, something totally alien to Australian culture. They are sometimes mistaken for drug dealers or thieves. Many Australians are armed. There have been cases when the Indians tried to steal property and were caught up in vigilante justice.

The complaints against Indians stem from the living habits of the students. Hard up for cash, most of them cram together in small apartments where subletting from one student to another is the norm. Unlike most other Asian students, Indian students live in off-campus dilapidated apartments. One major source of complaint is the cooking habits of the Indians. The use of “hing” is unique to Indians. Not only does “hing” smell up the entire apartment complex, but when mixed with various other spices, the smell permanently camps out in the furniture and clothing.

Australia has about 400,000 foreign students. Malaysians, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis either live in the dorms or in apartments. Unlike the Indians, most of them also enjoy Australian foods. They do not face similar complaints. In a recent poll, most Australians had a negative view of the students from India whom they found obnoxious and very aggressive.

This sort of diplomatic aggressiveness will boomerang. Already there are signs that Australians are tired of the carping. Privately, Aussies are seething at the attitude of many Indian students. Being "in the wrong place at the wrong time," with Australia being the wrong place, is often used as a euphemism for “Indian, go home.”

Australians complain that the Indians never take baths and smell of sweat and spices, leaving their aroma everywhere indoors. Unlike other Asians, many Indians are very fond of loitering in front of their apartment complexes with loud music, blaring the latest out of Bollywood. Another unique feature which puts them at odds with the Australians is the fact that most of the Indian students, living away from family restrictions, are very fond of drinking. Australians think this invites trouble for them.

"Dot buster" was a term invented in New Jersey in the '80s. It has now become a derisive term used for Indians in Australia. In England, all Indians became “Pakis”, and in the USA they were call “elephant jocks” as well as “Smelly Niggers.” One dot buster said, “Nothing worse than a smelly drunk Indian trying to entice Australian women."

The Indians do not have much of a choice than to study overseas. Apart from a few institutions, most Indian universities are overcrowded and do not offer either the instructional facilities or the curriculum needed in the modern world. Many religious institutions in India have opened science and technology institutes, but the main thrust of their education remains Ram Raj.