Imagine sitting alone in your car and having a stranger approach you, tapping on the window to get your attention for the sole purpose of insulting you.
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This was the experience on Wednesday of Shyamla Eswaran, an Australian-born woman of Indian descent who was on her way to Orange to teach children about the importance of cultural diversity.
No stranger to racism, Ms Eswaran says she was sitting in her car in Hope Street, Bathurst when three young adults told her to “go back to where you came from”.
Despite her shock at being accosted on the street at midday, Ms Eswaran says she got out of the car to confront the group, appealing to the female for solidarity.
“She told me to f*** off and eat a f****** curry,” said Eswaran said.
Ms Eswaran said she had suffered similar taunts as a child growing up in Sydney and now uses her workshops to combat ignorance in young children and teenagers.
She was in Bathurst this week to teach a hip hop origins workshop at Bathurst High and while in Orange she gave children at Yarrawong Children’s Centre and Trinity Preschool an introduction to Indian culture, music and language.
“I grew up in Sydney and was called ‘cockroach’ by all the other kids from the time I entered school,” she said.
Ms Eswaran said she found racism to be most rife in coastal towns.
“I have to admit that I had a preconception of smaller cities and country towns but I’m usually met with warmth and hospitality,” she said.
But not everyone has had to deal with this type of racism in the Central West.
Rita Narawan is a mother of four and owns an Indian grocery store with her husband Sam Narawan.
She said when the couple moved to Orange in 2002 there was no Indian community, yet she has always felt welcome in the city.
“When we first came to Orange there was one other couple and us, but we didn’t feel any racism,” she said.
Mrs Narawan’s children attend Orange Public School and Orange High School, where she said they are very happy.
“My husband is a teacher and the student’s love him, every day my children are surprised when his students are waving to him in the street.”
Ms Eswaran said she’s speaking up about her experience of racism in the hope that no child had to go through what she did growing up.
“Being Australian doesn’t mean leaving your culture at the door,” Ms Eswaran said.
“People of colour don’t want to be tolerated – we want to be celebrated.”