What's Wrong With Indian Media ?

A new series of media slur and racist allegations on Australia have begun. It all started with recent killing of the Indian student from Newport. The place where I spent three of my four year stay in Australia. The place is mainly inhabited by druggies, refugees, and students. Such crimes are routine for that place. Unfortunately this time it was an Indian student who was the victim. To me it could be a robbery gone bad.

The Indian govt and media was disproportionately infuriated and the reaction was hysterical says Australia’s leading news website in its initial comments.

One of the world’s most influential media seems like bent upon tarnishing the reputation of once world’s most livable city. Indian government for that matter also supported its media unequivocally. Every Australian action was now reviewed from the view that Indian media gave to the world. The impact was so huge that they had to apologize for the slightest hint of racism that could be inferred from otherwise a fun campaign.(ref. KFC ad).The Victorian state police was not spared either. They were quoted as "Ku Klux Klans" in disguise. May be, that was the point it got a bit too much for the somewhat less strong Australian media to take in.

The dawn of the next day was the very much the day of retaliation from the other side. The Australian media allied with its government and the indirect support of its mother country's media (England). BBC broad casted a “sham marriage” video report featuring the contract marriage done for attaining citizenship. A trusted way practiced over decades by illegal immigrants to attain citizenship. Coincidentally, the video featured only Indian residents. The other faces were blurred.On the same day the website of leading Australian newspaper published an article counting the deaths and rape of the foreigners in India. It also went into the statistics of counting the dowry deaths and murders by state.

There is no denying of the fact that the murders and robberies against Indians in India when averaged daily were somewhat closer to Australia’s annual average for Indians. It is quite often that deaths in single digit in India are easily missed by its otherwise over expressive media. We all know how ostentatious they can be in pepping up news to increase their channel ratings.

I wondered if they have touched a new low in this regards?

The only thing that refuted was the fact that Indian government equally supported by issuing aggressive statements. Previously such edicts were so diplomatic that it even seemed to have missed the point. However, this time it was direct and threatening. There are crimes committed against Indian population in other parts of the world as well. The hype over deaths and assaults on Indian students in Australia somehow did not add up. All this mudslinging was doing more damage than any good.

Or, May be there was more to it.

May be there was a hidden objective that was beyond the security of its citizens overseas!! It all could be part of a big push. A deliberate, collaborative effort for a noble cause.A cause, which so far was just a subject of debates. A conscious effort that could really help the nation. Something that would help the Indian youth to wake up to a new reality. The new reality of blooming India. Awaken them in time to lead them to where the bright future really was. If this is what I think , it is ,then I am proud of them !!

You might be thinking, all this is written by someone who himself chose the opposite direction; What a hypocrite he is!! Well….if you could just hold your disgust until you read till the end of this blog; I might be able to put up my point.

Having worked lived and learned in multiple countries, I am able to build the profile of a professional that i aspired for. To sustain this growth, My career growth path takes me back to where I came from. Stating the obvious: The ever growing Indian economy is offering the career prospects of a lifetime. The new land of profits has money cascading through all parts of the world. India in the current time is the most fertile land for investment. There was a time when Americans had the most disposable income, now days it is the Indians. This is evident form the fact that 60% of Indians who buy cars, pay in cash (ref. HBR).

To sustain this growth curve India must tap into young population for support; else everything will be like a bubble. For the mass, this future is just a hope in comparison to the future that they see overseas. This new face of India is limited to the metros and the people in big cities.

Even if statistics and analysts come to confirm this trend, the bigger question was we are not sure when will this reach them?? Until, that time it is better to go overseas knowing; they can always return to make hay when the sun shines. However, if the rate of outflow is not contained, it is not going to be sooner anyways.

So what’s my point?

The whole argument is OK except for one flaw! And that is the future that they saw by going overseas. It was quite a big assumption made. It is not what you see is what you get always.

The lush green fields of the palatial campus in the high quality, high definition picture in the university brochure are actually not as greener as it looks. The shining long limousines featured in the school videos left a lot to imagine by the youth. The cunning agents often forget to mention that the green grass of the fields was actually cut by the aspiring international students like them who went in the previous batch. The shiny cars that they saw in the school videos were washed by the Indian students who came from the same village. It does not take long for one to realize the truth, in fact most realize this in the very first week. However, by that time it is too late. The money, their families borrowed or loaned from the banks is all gone in fees. They cannot get it back. It would be disgrace to the family if they returned empty handed. There are high hopes on them to salvage the family from miseries and build future for themselves and the siblings.

Hence, starts the vicious circle of hardships and slavery from the so called welcoming nation. Here every penny earned doing odd jobs is paid as fees to the university every six months. You are only left with wounded self respect and low morale. If for one day these greedy universities decide to buy back all the degrees, certificates and diplomas they conferred in lieu of returning the money that they took from the international students. I am very sure they will not miss any serial number of any document they issued.

Having said that, this in no way should be inferred that all those who go abroad in studying in these universities end up doing the odd jobs. The ones who do manage to get respectable jobs in some international companies, find themselves working with same race of people they left a few years back.

The only difference is that they paid one tenth of money and pain to reach, where you are today.

Very likely that your salary package could be two to three times more from them; and so would the tax, living expenses, education and insurance. It is quite possible that with his one third of package, he is saving more money in dollars that you would in a year. He does all that by living in his own home.

Yet some ignorants called it a third world.

The same third world where you came from.

The same third world where he is number one for his country.

The same third world where he belongs and is respected equally.

The same world where he know people understand that living with parents is not a bad thing.

Now if I top this up with the pride of working for your own country. I do not think it is actually a bad deal.

There were two cousins who once chose to go abroad for higher studies. Both were shocked and disappointed to see the reality of their respective dream worlds. One chose to bite the bullet and returned to his homeland and work harder for his future. Whilst the other one stayed to persevere till the end. Luckily both managed to pull together reasonable careers only to find each other in same city, same career profiles and similar remunerations. The only difference one of them paid a higher price.

This is a true story and you can tell which one of them is writing this.

Unfortunately this wisdom could not be experienced without going through the whole thing. It is not very easy impart this to others. Especially when you are sitting on the other side. It is quite an imperative to divert the direction of this bhed chal of going overseas and show them they could do the same in their own country. Sometimes you need to shout to make them listen!!

Intentionally or unintentionally I believe Indian media together with Indian government are doing a commendable job.

For that matter , there is absolutely nothing wrong with Indian media