Posts tagged India

Diwali Downunder

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney (India Abroad Newspaper, USA): October, the festive month in the Hindu calendar, heralds the flowering of jacarandas and ripening of mangoes in Australia. Most of the earlier Indian migrants, who came after the `White Australia’ policy ended in 1971, celebrated Deepavali with few friends at home, a game of cards and sparklers thrown in, and going to one of the temples.

Things changed in 2000, the year of Sydney Olympics, when a Deepavali fair was organised by the Hindu Council of Australia, attracting 10,000 people. Today, as people of Indian origin cross the 200,000 mark, Deepavali is being added to the annual cultural calendar with celebrations galore.

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More and more Aussies soaking up ‘Incredible India’ experience

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.09.2007 (IANS): While Australia is becoming a favoured destination for Indians asking “Where the bloody hell are you?”, Aussies are going in steadily large numbers for the “Incredible India” experience. With only 50,000 Aussies travelling to India in 2003, the number shot up to 106,000 in 2006 and this year has seen an increase of about 18 percent.

“We are hoping to see 130,000 Aussies visiting India by the end of this year,” says the regional director of the Indian Tourism Office in Sydney, Shanker Dhar. “We are hoping to see 130,000 Aussies visiting India by the end of this year,” says the regional director of the Indian Tourism Office in Sydney, Shanker Dhar.

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Charting over 100 years of Indian migration to New Zealand

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 10.12.2007 (IANS): Did you know an Anglo-Indian from Goa, Edward Peters, was the first to discover gold in the Otago region of New Zealand that led to the gold rush of the 1860s?

Such nuggets of information can be found in the book “Indian Settlers: The History of a New Zealand South Asian Community” published by Otago University Press.

From low-wage work to high-profile jobs, from facing discrimination to integrating with the mainstream, the book traces the journey of Indian migrants in New Zealand.

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