Australian Diaries 6 - Melbourne Stay - Part 2

21 June 2015: My personal journey in Australia ended and it was time to return back to Qatar. I have encountered many events, analysed the place, people, situations and the services in general what Australia had to offer. Whilst there may be many more intricate details available or to be explored in the future, I have written and shared my thoughts below based on my stay of nearly one month in Australia.

 

Government Services:

Our first trip mandated that we register and enroll ourselves in various government services. Contrary to my experiences of visiting government offices in India and the Middle East, Australian experience was “EXTREMELY POSITIVE”. Everybody listens to you, treats you with dignity, accords respect and most importantly gives a sense of belonging. At first, most of the government offices we visited were paperless. Ipads were the norms for personnel working in the reception area. They carefully enter the purpose of visit, enquire the details and request you to be seated for the name to be called up. Then, a courteous government official coming out of the chair, calls up your name and greets you with respect. Subsequently, we are escorted to his seated area and ensured that all requirements are completed. What drew me was the fact that these officials went out of their way to help, assist and ensure there were no hassles in domain areas not related to them as well. We could have easily been directed to another department, but then as we lay seated, the official went up to altogether a different department, enquired the status and was worried that we were not onboard the medical system despite being 3 days since submitting applications. The official finally had a sigh of relief when he was told that the centre in which we registered for medicare was very busy and had a lag of applications that were supposed to be entered on the system. A week later, we were up there on the system. I could have easily cribbed and complained about the slow system, but this is a testament of the fact that human touch in customer service overcomes any minor negativity. Lack of adequate staff is visible and, therefore, everyone is encouraged to enroll online for the services that are offered online. An interesting notice board on all government offices is - “Aggressive behaviour is not tolerated”.  Wow!!! Good for me atleast J else I would have been lost amidst aggressive humans.

 

Banking Services:

By now, we got to know courtesy and politeness are key in dealing with people in Australia. Please, sorry and thank you are very common words used, for very basic and simple things. The process was easy too, as I had opened my bank account from overseas. All I had to do was activate my account and grab my debit cards. The debit cards experience seemed creepy. Not going further, considering the security aspect for banking in India and especially the Middle East, I guess Banking security in Australia needs a lot of improvement.  So, my personal rating for this service is – NEUTRAL. Unlike in other countries, banking is a very costly element in Australia. Account holders get charged (monthly) for maintaining accounts in Banks (apart from one bank which doesn’t charge the account holders). There are no free transactions for with drawls from ATM. Every transaction is charged. Interest rates are very low for savings accounts. I was wondering if this is the reason for the ‘no saving’ culture J

 

Shopping Malls:

Shopping Malls in Australia is an interesting subject of my Australia visit. As a Middle East resident, I am used to shopping malls being open till 1am (late night!). However, Shopping malls in Australia are shut down by 5.30pm in the evenings. I was surprised to note that the malls are open for only two days till late night, that too, the late night being 9pm (on Thursdays & Fridays only). The reason I have been told by some Australian Residents is that it is part of the Health & Safety Culture (read – Crime Prevention). Oh, gosh! It took me a week to took me out of this shock. Whilst I still cannot come out of this weird mall culture, I guess I will have to leave with it.

 

Entertainment:

As an avid cricket fan (former), I have heard that Australia is known for Beer. Rather, Australians are known for their love of Beer, BBQ and the Beaches. Summer times in general are known to have beaches crammed with people sunbathing, surfing, swimming and many more! We were there in winter and obviously the beaches were empty. I guess not the right place to be when temperature hovers in the range of 0-12 deg Celsius during the day. The little penguins though were a sight to watch.

Well, all that is left for the entertainment is the scenic natures beauty, pubs and the clubs. I am wondering if there is anything else for entertainment except for seeing, eating and drinking. A paradise for the tourist and avid nature followers, I must admit.

 

Society:

Australian society in general encourages people to be ‘Independent’. Nobody bothers about what you do, as long as you don’t come in others way. They are helpful when you seek help though. The numerous helps we received when we were lost in our navigation to the desired destination was an example.

For those, especially from India, who are often used to hearing that beggars exist only in India. Well, be aware that they do exists in Australia too. Again, they are classified in different terminologies. If I am not wrong, they are called as ‘Buskers’ in Australia. I have witnessed talented buskers with impeccable  acting skills, street dances, musical abilities – drums, guitar, saxophone, key boards etc performing in an effort to seek money into the hats they place in front of them. I guess the singers on the trains or the street performers in India are equally talented. The only difference lies in the way people behave. The request for money is not assertive or forceful in Australia.

The homeless exists too, often accompanied by the trusted dogs. Many of them have their names and reasons for begging written on cardboards and placed in front of them. These guys do not perform or even open their mouth. All they do is show the cardboard expecting a few coins in their hats. I did notice though few gentlemen offering them food and exchanging words with these homeless people.

The other jobs:

The lure of the dollar often encompasses the human feelings and strives to strengthen necessity of earning to sustain a living. Australia, in general, does not alter the respect to human kind irrespective of the nature of job you perform. BE it laundy or the cleaning jobs or the waiter jobs in pubs, clubs or hotels, you are respected in the society for being human. This in the basic reason for people to take up these jobs irrespective of the education background possessed.

Competition is intense, irrespective of the nature of jobs. Voluntary jobs are equally fierce, as these serve as a stepping tool to gain local experience for the often job hunting immigrants who are skilled but lack local Australian experience.

 

Conclusion:

The first personal opinion is that it is not AUSTRALIA. It is just Australia, another country in a different hemisphere on this planet Earth. From an Indian perspective, Australia offers a diverse range of options just like India. The cleanliness and the orderliness apart, the only difference between touring Australia and India would be the Kangaroos. I guess India has Royal Bengal Tigers in lieu of the Kangaroos. Jokes apart, Australia has varied versions of flora and fauna, true to its regional existence in the southern hemisphere.

One major factor noticeable in Australia has been the existence of “Human Values”. I guess most of the world has seen human values being diminished. But for some reason, Australia still possesses in my personal opinion a very high respect for human values.

The value of dollar is very high in Australia. Every dollar is highly valued. I guess this is related to the fact that dollar is actually drying up in the hands of people, with not enough jobs and of course not being paid enough. The cost of living is noticeably high, but the salaries are strikingly low. This makes me feel scared though!

Finally, what did I achieve out of my Australia trip? Well, I seem to love India the more I explore the world (Incredible, isn’t it!) Second, I have begun to love Qatar for what it has to offer (Yep!). Third, I did decide though, irrespective of all my observations and opinions, the ten thousand dollar bill spent immigrating to Australia can only be recovered by accomplishing the ultimate objective of Australian Citizenship (Hurray!!!)

So……well; the Australian journey continues!

 

 

 

Australian Diaries 5: Melbourne Stay - Part 1

18 June 2015 - It has been 20 days in Australia. These 20 days has given me an altogether different insight of Australia. I am pretty sure that if not for this on the ground visit, my illusion of Australia would have been contrary to the reality that exists in this part of the world.

Let me take you through the journey I have had since landing on 29 May 2015. Whilst my previous post detailed my observation on the landing day, this post blazes through my eyes, brain and heart.

30 May 2015 : Our landing was on a Friday, so the weekend (Sat & Sun) was planned as the time to search for our accomodation for the remaing duration of our stay in Australia. Strolling around in Melbourne without local mobile phone and cellular data was difficult for someone new here. So our first stop - Local mobile phone service providers. We discussed options with our hosts, had a rough idea of the route and the proceeded to our journey. As always, we were lost. Fortunately, we found two Indian guys walking on our way. Understanding our enquiry, they lead us through the desired destination. Exchanging of info revealed that they were from Bangalore. Namma kannada overtook all emotions. We also accepted their advise and knowing were less than 14 hours in Melbourne, they personally took us to the Railway station, made us purchase local public transport cards for easier movement in Melbourne. They also showed us the service provider after some suggestions. There you go now, we were at it all alone again. But this time in the right direction and at our destination quickly.

We chose, Telstra, as our service provider. Telstra is similar to BSNL in India. Uncertainity in our final destination made us pick this option. Easy number portability at the back of our minds, we chose our respective plans. So, finally secured our local phone numbers. It seemed as though we would have our tasks easy after securing our local phone numbers. Actually, it did in reality.

We chose to go back, register on local classifieds, use our local phone number and identify spaces for rent. All done, a couple of hours later, we were their at one of the spaces for inspection. One shot, One view and our accomodation for the remaining duration of my stay was accomplished. I guess, target well achieved. I bet nobody else would have even dared to think of taking up a search in an unkown country with unknown people at this quick pace. Not even 24 hours since we landed in Melbourne, we closed a deal.

In the midst of all the above, our stomachs were scramblling with emptiness. A visit to an indian restaurant was mandated by brain and heart. A $25 bill for 2 thali's seemed a good deal. But all we had on the plate was half naan each, a small cup of rice (read so called Biryani) and 2 curries. Well, this was not what we wanted. Our stomachs remained empty and we were on a seach for some vegetarian respite. Ever wondered who the saviour was? Well, it was SUB-WAY. I first tasted subway in Doha. Good that I did in Doha, else we would still be searching for our vegetarian option in the streets of Melbourne.

31 May 2015: Our planned targets achieved, we had the almigty to thank. Thats when we decided to visit "Hare Krishna Temple" (ISKCON). This also gave us an opportunity to move in Trains, Trams and walk around the city. Heading to South Melbourne, crossing through the downtown (CBD area) gave us an insight into what Melbourne offered. I must admit, for a tourist, the weather, place, people would have been heavenly. As a job seeker, this did not matter much. Probably the enthusiasm and zeal would only be reflected once we accomplish the objective of securing jobs for ourselves, however small it may be.

ISKCON had australian priests. A small but beautiful place in a posh locality. Most of them would not know it exists, barring Indians. They provide free food. We did have it along with the many Indians who gathered in the temple vicinity. A noteable observation was we also saw many local homeless families / people queing up for this free Indian food. Our thoughts wandered on seeing this plight. But I guess this is something that we did not expect.

All done, in the cold afternoon, we headed to South Melbourne beach. The winds surpassed our walking pace, making us go back and get into the tram service to the downtown. In downtown area,, we visited National Gallery of Victoria (Museum). A stroll outside on the road, we saw roadside hawkers and buskers. India seemed reflected here, just that here it is orderly and sensible with no shouting. The Arts precinct, GPO, Yarra river and the buildings made a good view. A mall on the south bank of the river gave us an opportunity for window shopping. Across the river, crossing the railway station, we had an insight into the interior spaces of downtown.

A recce of our destinations, based on the planned tasks, was also executed. We surely did make use of technology. GPS was our best friend, guiding through the streets. The locals were very kind and helpful. Making sure we understood their directions correctly. On the way, we found one more vegetarian option. The middle east famous "Falafel"   was our companion to satisfy our hunfer. The falafel rolls, french fries, subway sandwiches made sure we were alive and kicking in Melbourne.

It was an interesting two days. The week may have ended, but a new start in our life was already made. No matter the place, all kinds of people exist everywhere. These two days made us love INDIA more and more, for as the saying goes, there is no place like INDIA. Infact I can strongly say, now, there isn't a better place than INDIA.

Australian Diaries - 4: Landing in Melbourne

29 May 2015 - 21:00 hrs - Landing at Melboune Airport, I had a huge breath and sigh of relief. Our long journey of non stop flight for 13 hours came to an end. Vegan options on the flight were limited. But then, who cares about the details of the food, when the excitement and nervousness of leading a life in an unknown country surpasses all other emotions.

The landing was the smoothest I ever encountered in my entire life. The immigration was polite and nobody had any questions pertaining to our visit. As a planner, I envisaged many questions to prop up during the immigration. But we hardly had anyone asking us questions. The stamping was done and the immigration officer chanted "Welcome to Australia". Well, that sounded cool. A smile on both of our faces was evident to each other. Australia would be our next home. I am unsure if its forever, but am sure it will be for the next 5 years - until the time we have an Australian passport.

As an outsider perspective, I thought I will only view English advertisements in Australian. But I guess, such is the chinese influx and domination, that we found welcome boards and other advertisements in Chinese (Mandarin). Deep inside my heart, I felt we are not dominating this part of the world, as we do in middle east.

We found people of varied nationalities in Australia. Immigrants seem to be very welcome. I guess evryone except the aborigines (australian natives) are immigrants in one way or the other. But we had one feeling deep inside. Our skin colours and the way way we look, differentiated us inside. We were the odd men out. The slang (or lingo) was different. Our english was superior but the way we spoke sounded inferior. But then, we are sure, going down the time, we would be more australianised than the australians.

The above thoughts dispersed the moment we had our school friend - Sudarshan, visible to us. Comfort factor kicked in. Pleasantries exchanged and we were off in his car to our pre-booked accomodation. A 30-40 minute ride on near empty roads was a complete contrast to the high density roads back home or even the middle east. We were told many shops and restaurants don't work after 5pm or on weekends. All this in the name of work-life balance to all individuals. Wow, what a contrast to the part of world I come from. Certainly sounded interesting.

All along the road, Australia reminded me of India. The two main differences between India and Australia are - Cleanliness and Orderliness. The paintings or the writings on the walls are a commom sight in both countries. Australia calls this as 'Graffitti' and I wonder what India calls these as. I am sure if the 'Swatch Bharat Campaign' by PM Modi is a success, India and Australia will be alike in the way we see and feel the country.

The first day's thoughts hover around. I guess more to follow, observe and write. Until then, Australian dreams seem to undergo transition from the cold vibes; just like the bloody cold winter we are encountering in Melbourne.