Word: unni
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...second day as a student at the University of Wollongong, Ajay Unni came face to face with an ugly edge of Australian society. Newly arrived from his native India, Unni was chatting with a friend at the local train station when a stranger came up to them and snarled, "Why don't you f___ing speak English?" Seven years later, Unni recalls the moment with some bemusement. "The funny thing was that we were actually speaking English, with a few words of Hindi here and there...
...with Australian youth of Middle Eastern appearance at a well-known beach in Sydney's south. The country is also grappling with an upsurge of ultra-nationalism among some younger Australians. The issue facing South Asian students is far larger than a few isolated - and possibly opportunistic - attacks, says Unni, the Sydney coordinator of the Federation of Indian Students of Australia. The far bigger problem, he says, is the long-term systemic neglect of the welfare of foreign students in Australia, with too many students being treated as cash cows by indifferent government authorities and unscrupulous private-college operators...
...everything from the quality of the education, to lack of student services, to dingy student accommodation, to not being paid the correct hourly rate," Unni says. Pawan Luthra, chief executive of the local Indian community newspaper, Indian Link, agrees. "If even 0.1% of the $15 billion or so earned by Australia from the sector had been invested in safeguards and [better conditions], this situation would not have occurred ... Coal and iron are commodities, but these are human beings, with feelings and emotions. They need to be protected...
...Unni says framing the attacks in a purely racial context masks the fact that, on the whole, Indian students have found Australia a safe country to study and work in, though he adds many Australians have yet to adapt to the reality that the formerly white nation has become a diverse, multicultural society. Luthra believes the Indian media went overboard in emphasizing the racial motivation of the assaults, and as a result, "Australia has picked up a tag as a racist country in India." That perception has further damaged a relationship already strained by the fallout over the Mohamed Haneef...
...freshmen eagerly awaiting their residential fates—said that personal deliveries will be more effective for welcoming them into the upperclassmen Houses. “I think this will get blocking groups excited about the news as soon as they find out,” Upasana Unni ’11 said. Sasha F. Klein ’11 said that he thinks his blocking group will receive the information without much emotion, no matter what the result. But he added that other blocking groups with “emotions excessively wrapped up in the process” might...