Punjabis in Australia

There are thousands of Punjabis in Australia, from Perth to Sydney, Renmark to Cairns and even Darwin. Punjabis live and breed in the country where the English first came to drop off their ‘unwanted’ criminals- the convicts. Nowadays we (Punjabi citizens of Australia) look at students from India and think ‘Why?? Why are they here dressed in that fobbish way?? Why are they all together in one massive group?? Why do they need to stare at me?? Haven’t they seen a Punjabi girl before??’ and so on.

But do these same people think that once we ourselves came into this land of opportunity looking for a chance to earn our share of dollars?? That our parents and forefathers struggled with times and racism issues to make a better home for us in a foreign land away from their own support network? If they had not come, we would have come as that FOB (fresh of the boat) we detest or married someone who had a good ILETs score so we could have dollars instead of rupees. This doesn’t come to our minds. We only think of ourselves these days, and not of anything other than our own friends, family and interests.

However, seeing a fellow Punjabi on the street in a land full of people from all backgrounds and walks of life makes us somewhat connect with each other. Even if we are fully white inside...deep down there is a sense of connection. Maybe we look at them and think ‘oh ho...I hope that Aunty doesn’t know Mum, otherwise she will find out I have a gori girlfriend’ or play games such as ‘Bingo’ (where we go out in our normal day-today lives and spot the Desis) or look at the student at the payphone and think ‘must be calling India...phonecards are heaps cheaper than direct.’ We all recognise one another...maybe for a split second, or maybe for a full ten minutes we see them and think, ‘eh apna hai’ (they are one of us).

There is so much that one can discuss and talk about regarding Punjabis in Australia, from the first Punjabi (from District Jalandhar, he did not settle in Australia but returned home after a period of time) to the Annual Sikh Games held during the Easter holidays to the developments of Punjabi music over the years and how Australian Punjabis have influenced the industry, just to name a few. All of this and more cannot not possibly be outlined in one piece of article...so stay tuned and find out more about saade apne ‘talia de vich (our own in Australia)