We Indians are very emotional people, hysterical too, we love to make a song and dance about everything. We have our own unique way of showing our emotions – happiness (when India wins a cricket match we start dancing on the streets), anger (we love burning effigies, it’s our favorite) wrong doing (slowly but eventually we stand up against wrong). The world looks at us with strange eyes, if we amuse them, we also fascinate them and at times they also feel threatened by us. Why you ask? Over the years we have grown and changed as a country and a society, at times we have embarrassed ourselves, but we do take pride in our achievements and have often surprised the rest of the world with our performance. India today is a confident, demanding and an important presence, it’s hard to ignore us. Recently, US President Barack Obama asked the Americans to buckle up fast (education, science et. al.), as he feels that Americans have settled to mediocrity and that the Indians and Chinese are coming down at them fast and hard.

Take the recent attacks on Indian students in Australia, are they just hate crimes or is it Xenophobia. There is a reported group on Facebook that is asking immigrants to leave Australia, the group says that Australia is full and urges immigrants to either learn the language or enjoy their right to leave and has also managed to attract nearly 64,500 members. This growing disarray is rapid and despicable, but there are always two sides of a coin. While there must be a growing Xenophobia in certain very small sections of Australia, the larger Australian society still prides in its diversity. I for one truly believe in the multi culturism of Australia, I have seen it with my own eyes for the past six years in Melbourne. I honestly believe that with time this crisis will gain momentum and die its natural death. But Indian students also have two choices in front of them ‘acceptance’ or ‘assimilation’. If they only want to be accepted in their pursuit of political correctness (rightly so) they have a challenging road ahead. But if they choose to assimilate they will be embraced with warmth which may not be personal but may just be poignant. But remember we live in a grey world, black and white no longer exists. Make a choice that is pragmatic, assimilate and acceptance will follow.

Now to all those people who accuse Indians of being hypocritical and practicing racism against their own kind. Well, I won’t deny that, that does happen. But I will say this, as a country and as a society, we do stand up against our own people for our own people. Today we have a first Dalit woman as the speaker of the Indian Parliament, this is not only historic but also symbolic. Today the Indian political party BJP has lost in a landslide victory to Congress, not because they do not have good state administrators. But because Indians have grave misgivings for Gujarat and will not elect a political party that will perpetuate Xenophobia and atrocities against minorities. If some Indians are racists, more and more Indians will stand up against these racists.

Lastly I do want to leave on an inspiring note, I read an article in the Hindustan Times about how a ten year old girl on her crutches went and identified Kasab the prime accused in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. Remember, this is the ten year old victim (Kasab shot at her leg) who went and identified the cold blooded brutal terrorist. She was quiet, unafraid but confident. That to me is the true Indian emotion, this alone gives me courage, hope and optimism in a world that has been stifled by Xenophobia. Forgive me, but I am shamelessly filled with joy when I see a group of Indian students in groups at soft target areas for hate crimes (and taking turns) to protect their fellow country mates. Controversial – maybe, Inspiring – heartfelt! Cheers to that!