Gap uses Child labour in India

See here.

International clothing company Gap has called an emergency meeting with suppliers in India, following the discovery that some of its clothes have been made using child labour.

If you didn't know what GAP is, it is a major clothing store chain in the US. This is nothing new in India and on a very small discovery in the great labour scene of India. GAP clothing is also going to destroy all the stock made by these factories who employ kids. Just giving it back to those kids would've made their day or month or year depending on the quality of the cloth as these kids probably work for kapda (Clothes, trio of roti, kapda aur makaan or Bread, Cloth and Shelter that so many Indians work day-in and day-out for).

Crime in Melbourne

Where do you live? Footscray? Oh my god, is it safe?

This is quite a normal question I keep getting asked by new comers to Melbourne. And to tell them that the suburb I live in is very safe only for them not to get convinced about it makes me feel a bit upset.

Ok, there are a few suburbs in Melbourne that were once not very safe and by safe I mean if we can walk from the station to our home getting off the last train without fear of anyone disturbing us. Out of my 4.5 years in Melbourne, I have lived more than half the time in Footscray and never have I been disturbed or even afraid of anyone stopping me to ask for some change, a smoke(cigarette) or even threatened.

I have been to Sydney twice and spent a total of 8 days there, in this time I have seen more street fights in Sydney than in 4.5 years of living in Melbourne. May be I was just at the wrong places or may be that's just the way Sydney is.

In fact most of Melbourne is very safe not just for guys walking back home but even my girl friends are not afraid of getting back home late at night. This post is actually wasted on something that is non-existent and I like it that way.

Monkey kills senior official in New Delhi

See here. As inconsequential as news this really sounds, the reason I am blogging about it is because I read it in an Australian news site.

A WILD monkey that attacked the deputy mayor of New Delhi has been blamed for his death.

This, when news about Hyderabad blasts went largely unreported here in Australia. I guess the giggles factor counts. There is nothing funny in 35 people dying due to a terrorist attack.

Indian spectators taunt Andrew Symonds....

... or may be not. This message is for the omniscient media who have pitched notions such as 'Cows on the main streets in India', 'Turbaned Indians praying in front of Taj Mahal when aliens attack', 'Kangaroos on the main streets in Australia' and my personal favourite, 'Brides not meeting grooms before their wedding in India', please back the f*** off and report the facts as your supposed to!

Andrew Symonds was not subject to racist taunts, he was teased with monkey noises and ape like acts by individuals who probably belong to the jungle. Where does racism come into the picture? Unless monkeys are another race living amongst us.

For the record, us Indians do have a lot of respect for cricket and cricketers, we just get into the heat of the moment and start throwing things and making noises if team India is losing. When millions of us actually water at the mouth at the thought of India trouncing Pakistan in any form of the game, you can see that the audience at the stadium actually do congratulate even Pakistani cricketers for their achievements on the field. Still not convinced? then may be this should convince you. Seriously though, even Australian cricketers will know the passion Indian fans have for cricket.

What must have prompted the antics of a monkey must've been the appearance of Andrew Symonds with his braided hair and copious amounts of zinc that he applies on his face. I am sure that the average Indian would not know how to racially taunt someone like how 'Kaffir' would be the word to taunt a South African black player.

I congratulate team Australia for winning the series and am a proud Australian (one of my two countries) as we have won another series. As my friend Akhil did blog about this, I would say: "Andrew, get a haircut". Sad for India as they have lost another series.

Update: See here, Andrew Symonds never complained, it was the media who blew it out of proportion.

What's been happening

Actually nothing more than the normal course of events, except for Spring is here and the spirits are high. Them spirits were in fact low, so the posts weren't in at all. But now back to business and hopefully a good run of regular posts till I take a big break.

I am now an Australian citizen, so may be I should change the blog title to something like "The larrikin from Green Land". With the rules on immigration in Australia changing faster than Linux updates, I have had a good option of living here only for 24 months as a permanent resident before being eligible for citizenship. For now people have to wait for four years or so.

The citizenship test was also smooth and was undertaken by an Indian-Australian. May be it was just to drive home the fact that Australia is actually made up of lots of Immigrants, the swearing in ceremony was held by another Indian-Australian lady.

They don't let you smile in Passport photos any more. I don't think any terrorist would be smiling either when getting a passport done. The ones who actually submit straight-faced pictures should be promptly arrested.

I am now also in the process of getting Overseas Citizenship of India also known as OCI. The time of getting this processed according to the website is 6 weeks, but when I called in and asked it is more like 4 months. So, for now I am going to get a tourist visa to go to my country. "UNWARRANTED PHONE & WRITTEN ENQUIRIES MAY DELAY THE PROCESS." - This is just a notice on the visa information page, they probably have a basket at their office labelled "Delay these", once someone makes an enquiry.

More updates from this Golden Land soon.