8 minute read
Successful stories of IndoAustralians
Neville Roach AO with previous Consul General to Sydney Vanlal Vawna garlanding Gandhi’s bust at NSW university
there, of the one and lonely Indian restaurant in those early days, of IndoAustralian cultural Society, of recession of the nineteen nineties and scarcity of jobs, or how the cane cutters used sign language to communicate while cutting cane seven days a week, as they made life-long friends with their employers who acted as their guardians even.
Stories of Bains and Johal family are quite inspiring and depict an era of Australia hundred years ago, then stories of some who came under the Colombo Study Plan in the 1950s who contributed through their academic skills such as of Dr. Sidhu, a scientist whose work centred on Sea Food processing, Prevention of Milk Oxidation, Lowering cholesterol absorption and much more. Banana farmers, teachers, doctors, scientists, lawyers, managers, IT professionals, businessmen, property developers and other varied professions, they all make up an inspiring yet a formidable bunch. Neville Roach, AO who helped in his hey days on formatting multicultural policy for the government of those days which, of course, has helped Australia into a successful multicultural and a harmonised society living peacefully with people from over 130 nations who made Australia their home. Indians surely have played a big part, are a growing population with close to sixty gurdwaras and 75 temples. They top the skilled migration list of people arriving in Australia with Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and Tamil languages also growing in number along with them.
Stories are interspersed with pages devoted to the vibrant Indian society made up of artists, well known people, cultural groups, sports personalities, Indian consular services with a table on bilateral trade between India and Australia and much more.
The fifty of Walia’s successful stories are a window to many more hundreds and thousands who struggled in the community who came here in the last
Community with NSW Premier Ms.Gladys Berejiklian
125 years as Australia is still a desired country of many an Indians who wish to make this place their second home. For all those who plan to come this book is a good guide of what to expect if and when they arrive here.
There are typos here and there with some accounts and choice of people which seems a bit preferential but then as Walia puts it, “I did contact many and worked on it for a year, obviously deadline had to be set somewhere.” Also there are some who have been given six pages of their account while others got just one page.
Publisher:
Harmohan Singh Walia, 0402 842 375
Printer:
Guangzhou Co-Dream Printing PP: 180
About the Writer:
Neena Badhwar is the editor of The Indian Down Under newspaper who has been publishing the print paper since 1987 and now running website: www.indiandownunder.com.au Neena is also a writer and a poet who has written many short plays for the Sydney Short+Sweet Theater festival
Reuniting 10,000 Indian Families Stuck in Australia
Those days were very hard when Indian people were stuck in Australia, unable to return home due to pandemic forced the borders to be closed. Then Gaura Travel came and for rescuing people and flew around 10,000 people families back in India. On February 5th,2021 Ashwini Sonthalia and his brother Abhishek of Gaura Travel streamed into the room at ‘Mint O Mustard of Dockland’ in Melbourne memorialized a feat that wouldn’t have been possible a few months ago.
There were many passengers who got trapped due to pandemic but Gaura Travel brothers helped to save them and lift them back to India safely. The brothers narrated a heart touching story of a few among the 10,000 people left in Australia due to pandemic. Gaura Travel started chartered flights to Delhi and other parts of India following the Vande Bharat Mission(VBM), which the Indian government launched to help people who were stuck across the world including Australia. Akash Vijay Rajput, a student who had completed his five year studies. He was booked to fly to Mumbai in economy class, but Gaura Travel gave him a free upgrade into business class. Statiscally, 18,000 flew out from Melbourne, 15000 by chartered flights and 3,000 under VBM with Air India flying and Gaura Travel accounted for 10,000 people. Amazing job said by Mr Kumar and chairman Mr Arun Sharma also cherished their efforts commending Ashwini and Abhishek for “human face”, they imparted to their business when it was most required. You should be proud of them, he said, addressing their mother, Mrs Renu Sonthaliawho was also present, to be greeted by the round of great applause. Abhishek recalled about those days and remembered how he and his team had become the barrier of the families. He said about attending all the needs of the travellers, from carrying their bags to fulfilling their every basic needs.
Speaking at the get-together, the Consul General Of India in Melbourne, Mr Raj Kumar remembered about the days when Gaura Travel started their chartered flights to Delhi and other parts of India. Abhishek said that the idea of starting chartered flights came from Dr. Jagvinder Singh Virk, who had operated the first chartered flight from Sydney in April. He also remembered the beautiful thought said by Mr Kumar that ‘You will get many opportunities to earn money, but this is the time where you can earn blessings’ and for the brothers that was inspiration enough to go ahead and they just did exactly the same. It was not about flying, it was all about reuniting the families. So, what next, someone asked of Ashwini. Surprisingly the reply was,”25000″. What more would you expect from someone who always thinks ahead. Flight of faith, shall we say? Said by Ashwini.
Special Charter Flights from India to Australia–“Connecting you back with the land down under”
Gaura Travel is Introducing Special Charter Flights from India to Australia
Want to travel back to Australia from India? Don’t worry Guara Travel has taken the responsibility to bring you back to the land. In the hard times, when there were no commercial flights operating from Australia to India, Guara Travel took the initiative to take you to India to your loved ones. They left no stone unturned to reunite 10,000 families during the pandemic.
After the successful reunion, Guara Travel has been approached by numerous people stuck in India, wanting to return to Australia, to begin flight operations from India to Australia. And that is why the company came
up with charter flights from India to Australia. If you are also one of those people, who want to travel back to the country, make sure to book a seat at the earliest, as they have limited seats only.
Gaura Travel has also been acknowledged by the High Commission of Australia In India. The High Commission has also updated about their Charter Flights Operations on their social media handles.
Victoria’s oldest Hindu temple, Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple is undergoing a historic transformation, making it the largest granite Hindu temple in the Southern Hemisphere, Opened on 25 January 2021.
Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple, home to Hinduism’s most-loved deity Lord Ganesha, has been designed by Australian temple architect (Stapathy) Purushothaman Jayaraman (Puru). Puru drew inspiration from the UNESCOlisted Chola temples and sourced the granite from a single quarry in Tamil Nadu, India. South Indian Hindu temples are reconsecrated once every 13 years and this granite transformation has been successfully completed despite the global pandemic.
The main shrine for Lord Ganesha alone is built from 17 layers of granite, all carved by hand. The roof of the Moolasthanam (the shrine where the main deity resides) is constructed in a conical shape which amplifies the sound of the chanting so that it can be heard around the temple. The roof is capped off by a 6 tonne dome made from a single stone, similar to the UNESCO-listed Brihadeeswarar Temple in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu. Hand carved Ganeshas, elephants, peacocks, lions and lotuses adorn the walls, corners and panels of each shrine.
Granite is a stone that has all the five elements of nature - air, earth, water, fire and space - in optimal proportions. Hindus have always constructed temples using this stone. This age defying stone, which is strong and scratch proof, is believed to absorb the divine vibrations and the daily chanting in a temple. The temple is designed to precise mathematical calculations on paper to ensure that when each stone is laid, it is done in such a way that the weight transfer takes place to the sides of the structure. The drawings and designs were sent to the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai and the calculations were verified and validated by UNESCO-approved civil engineers. They were then rechecked by qualified Australian civil engineers and appropriately certified.
A combination of traditional and modern sculpting tools was used to carve every stone. The figurine is initially drawn on paper, then transferred onto the stone by way of markings. The stone is hollowed out using sculpting tools such as a chisel and hammer as well as modern stone cutting and grinding machines. Depending on the sculptors’ imagination, intricacy and complexity of each design as well as the desired outcome, this process can take from a few days to months. At the end, exceptionally fine cement and water are used to hold all the pieces together which make the final form look continuous and flawless.
In India, where the carving and sculpting was done, the project spanned three locations and involved more than 1,200 granite stones weighing from 200kg to 6 tonnes. Close to 100 artisans were involved in the work in India.
