An attack on Indian students in Australia  – the latest in a string of such incidents- has left a 25 year old engineering student from Andhra Pradesh in critical condition in a Melbourne hospital.

Shravan Kumar, the 25-year-old student, is critical, said one of his close friends who had a narrow escape during that attack.

“Doctors are still unsure if Kumar will survive and if he does, he will lose his vision or memory”, Kumar’s friend, Srinivas Gandhi, said.(link)

The group of Indian students was attacked by a group of teenagers. In the course of the attack, the attackers reportedly made statements that the students should “Go back to India”. If that is not a racial attack, I don’t know what is!

The Australian authorities have been downplaying the racial angle to such attacks in the past. Yet, they are quick to react to any hint of racism- however imaginary – directed at one of their own.

The Australians have no compunction in taking enormous amounts of money from Indian students. Every daily in India has advertisements from various Australian Universities  holding seminars to attract Indian students to apply. Some fly – by night operations even use Indian students as ATM machines. The entire scenario is based on exploitation.

Yet the Australian government has moved abysmally slowly on addressing the very real issue of violence against Indian student. See this for example.

“Last time one of the taxi drivers was killed, the government promised us there will be taxi shields inside the cabs. We are treated like second-class citizens in Australia,” Sunny Singh of suburban Blackburn was quoted as saying by local media.

What will it take for the Australian authorities to wake up?

The Indian government has shown some reaction at least:

“I have been appalled by the attack on our students in Melbourne. Our consulate general in Melbourne has been in touch with the students affected and with the state police,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters.

“We will also impress upon the Australian authorities that such attacks should not be permitted and that it is their responsibility to ensure the well-being and security of our students in Australia,” he said.(link)

I join in the condemnation of the Australian governments pathetic inaction!

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As I feast on discounted Halloween candy from Walmart, one of our readers, Raja, points us to this story of Heidi Klum’s Halloween costume. [Rediff]

Klum’s Kali would make Mola Ram proud
img: via Rediff

Various media outlets have picked up on this story and are hinting on perhaps some tinge of a controversy. I’m actually surprised that people are surprised Heidi Klum would dress up in a costume that was related to India.

Of late, Heidi Klum and her hubby, “Kiss from a Rose” Seal have been on somewhat of a India kick. Earlier this year, the couple renewed their wedding vows in a Indian style wedding ceremony in Mexico. Check out HHC for more details on that.

Personally, I think Seal’s costume idea was more thoughtful. Seal dressed up as Angulimala, a serial killer who used to wear a garland of his victims’ fingers, who was converted from the dark side by Buddha. Heidi’s Kali ain’t half bad either and pretty thoughtful also, given the theme of Halloween.

What do our readers think?

Halloween – Desi ishtlye, what costume do you like from our uber shop? This post brought to you by our team of uber bloggers –

8. Rajan Zed – Don the saffron. Declare yourself de-facto leader of all Hindus. Recite Hindu shlokas in the White House, Senate, House of Commons, the Diet, the local mall, your neighbour’s backyard, etc. Watch crappy movies at length, looking out for perceived slights to Hinduism and organize protests. If crappy movie flops, attribute it to the wrath of gods.

7. Lou Dobbs -Blame global warming, Toyota Priuses, Sinking economy, Falling house prices, McCain losing, American Educations system, your chai latte being too cold and not being able to find parking on “illegal” immigrants. You can also chose to leave the illegal part out. Lou Dobbs, booooou dobbs!!

6. Indian Paparazzi – Try using your street smart skills in the worst way possible, pry open the private lives of celebrities, make their lives miserable and ape the paparazzi of the west, if you find a princess nearby, hound her without bothering about the consequences. No special costume needed. Or be ready to grab private moments of their lives, bending down, adjusting costumes, wardrobe malfunction, kissing a co-star, and make thousands while scaring them.

5. BCCI selectors – You can scare the sh*t out of the fab-4, stand outside their houses with signboard having the message ’selected’ on one side and ‘not selected’ on another. Watch the joy and gloom descend on their faces and their quarter billion regional fans, when you keep changing the facing signboard sign with every breath you take. Costume: Vengsarkar hat and the likes. You can have an additional victim from ICL players with always a ‘No’ staring at their faces.

4. Raj Thakre – In those trademark specs, and clothing that will resemble your uncle’s clothing closely, wear it and go to your nearest ‘North’ Indian neighbors and spout nonsense , try to scare them or get them beaten, run to the nearest theatre playing a Rajnikanth movie and demand back Rajnikanth from Tamil Nadu on account of Maratha pride. For costumes – try the wrong spelling of Thakre and find images and design your own. For your convenience try – Google Marathi.

3. Delhi’s blue line – Paint yourself a blue bus, and it’s a riot, literally! Watch people run helter skelter.

2. The religion-less terrorist – Wear a skull cap and stand in a crowded place or near a temple with a ’suspicious’ look on your face, or wear a sadhvi’s dress, go on a motorcycle to the nearest mosque and just stand. You could also try going to the nearest church, and wave your flaming torch, especially in Orissa, it might work (caution: Try it if you are an idiot). Freak away people!

1. Job Market – Boooooooo! The most fearful costume of this year, banking, financial services, and real-estate take the worst hit. For a costume, wear a black ghostly dress that may or may not cover your pretty face and put a ‘Job Market jinx’ signboard to it, scare away people around you for some solitude. Or wear a name tag from one of the companies that went under. If you want to be an elitist, you can shave your head and go as Neel Kashkari

One Halloween, a few summers ago, on an unusually balmy night, one decided to adopt the best spirit of Halloween that one could and dress up as a M.i.D (Man in Dhoti, if you are asking!) for the best Halloween street party in the world.

Sadly, no one understood! *sigh*

But surely a lot of you feel different, no? So, if you are desi and you had dressed up, either earlier today or in the past years, post your favorite Halloween photo in the comments (with faces blanked, if needed be). And theme obviously is desi. Post away folks!