Indian-Origin Diplomats In New Delhi: Australia Was A Trendsetter

Earlier this month, Harinder Sidhu presented her credentials to President Pranab Mukherjee as Australia's High Commissioner to India. She thus joins two other western Heads of Mission of Indian origin in New Delhi - Ambassador Richard R. Verma of the United States and High Commissioner Nadir Patel of Canada.

It was not always like this. A western power being represented in India in any capacity by a non-Anglo Saxon/Celtic was unthinkable just 20 odd years ago -- until the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs broke the mold by appointing me, India born, as Australia's Deputy High Commissioner to New Delhi. The mosaic of reactions both at home and in India to this path-breaking move gives some idea of the prevailing social climate then.

Reservations about my appointment were discernible enough in the corridors of foreign policy-related establishments in Canberra. But political correctness kept them muted. Though New Delhi was nowhere near as sought after as Washington or London, the post-1991 reformist India was beginning to bud in official consciousness as a posting to make a mark in.

My selection did not exactly endear me to other contenders. There was restrained amusement too at the Department's naivety in assuming that sending a 'native' to his original habitat would somehow improve bilateral diplomatic relations with a 'difficult' country.

Overall, my selection was perceived at best as presenting a new visage of Australian diplomacy on the Asian stage and, at worst, as the Foreign Secretary currying favour with the ruling Labor Government, which was unequivocally committed to multiculturalism in public service.

On my part, I was just plain worried. It is one thing to have served in Beijing, Moscow and Hanoi among others, but quite another to be the first ethnic in the halls of western diplomacy in Delhi. After all, in the broader geo-political context, I had to work closely with other western missions there.

And then there were the unknowns of working in the Indian environment. I sought counsel from both local and foreign observers of the local scene. The unanimous advice was to reject the appointment. Reason? Given the petitionary mores of Delhi's political, bureaucratic and business elite in a still closed economy, I would be inundated with demands for "assistance" with visas, foreign alcohol and other objects of desire, invitations to dinners and events. Why? Because I would be seen as one of them and expected to behave the Indian way -- and all that it implied.

Still, reassured of support at the highest levels, off I went.

On the ground at the Australian High Commission, it was par for the course in working with Australian colleagues (apart from an Australian spouse who kept introducing me to Indians, well-meaningly but disconcertingly, as "believe it or not, this is our DHC"). The notable difference from serving in other Australian missions was the reaction of the local (Indian) staff, long used to taking orders from Caucasians. I learnt later of their anxieties at being saddled with an Indian-style babu, but these dissipated within weeks.

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