CHENNAI, India — Melbourne was the nicest city during my visit to Australia a couple of years ago. The people were very friendly, smiled often — even at strangers like me — and made me feel comfortable. Since then, Melbourne and the state of Victoria seem to have turned ugly — at least for Indians, and more particularly, Indian students.
Out of the 95,000-odd Indian students in Australia, Victoria alone accommodates 45,000. And it is this region that has seen, over the past few months, horrible attacks on Indian students.
The question is, if these attacks have been motivated by race, why have Indian students been targeted? No clear answer emerges, but there are clues.
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