Much Needed: Valuable Indian Voices In The World

From the Editor’s Desk

Melwyn Williams, Chief Editor, The WFY Magazine

When I sat down this morning to reflect on what this November issue should say to you, I felt the weight of time pressing harder than usual. Across continents, the world is in motion, and not always in ways that comfort those of us living far from home. Anti-migrant protests flare from Melbourne to London. Questions of identity and belonging swirl through public debate. And yet, the Indian diaspora continues to write its story, one of contradiction, resilience, hope, and reinvention.

This edition, more than any before it, aims to stand as both mirror and map: revealing where we are, and pointing toward where we might still go.

At the Crossroads of Change

Let me begin with what’s happening in real time. In Australia, under the banner “March for Australia,” anti-immigration rallies erupted across cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. While the stated grievances were about housing pressures, infrastructure, and “too many arrivals,” many of the protest materials explicitly singled out Indians, accusing them of displacing locals and undermining “traditional values.” (Indiatimes)

These protests were quickly condemned by Australian leaders, who emphasised that multiculturalism remains central to the national identity. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asked an opposition senator to apologise for inflammatory comments about Indian migration. (Reuters)

In the UK, more than a hundred thousand people marched under the slogan “Unite the Kingdom.” The protest, led by far-right groups, called for stricter migration control. While some framed it as a general immigration protest, many participants targeted Indian and South Asian communities, chanting slogans like “send them home.” (Deccan Chronicle)

These aren’t isolated events. Rather, they reflect a pattern that is alarming to many diaspora communities: when economic anxiety or social discontent surfaces, migrants become scapegoats. As Indian-origin leaders, families, professionals, students, artists, academics, we are suddenly asked to justify our place all over again.

In Australia, India’s government has responded proactively, stating that diaspora welfare remains a priority and raising community concerns with Canberra. (The Economic Times)

In parallel, voices within the Indian diaspora are raising their hands: demanding safety, respect, dignity, a seat at the table.

In the face of this, what stance should a diaspora magazine take? We must listen, document, connect, and support. We must tell stories that resist erasure , narratives that remind others why we belong, how we contribute, what we fear, and what we aspire to become.

In This Edition – A Summary

This month, The WFY Magazine celebrates the many voices, journeys, and challenges shaping the global Indian experience. This November’s WFY Magazine is stitched together from threads of identity, belonging, culture, and resistance.

Our Cover Story spotlights Zubeen, the beloved voice who transcends boundaries through music, reminding us that culture remains our most powerful bridge.

In World Politics, we dissect the OCI misnomer, unpacking how legal definitions of belonging continue to evolve for overseas Indians.

The Human Interests feature revisits the haunting case of Subu Vedam, an Indian-origin man lost within the American prison system, revealing the human cost of injustice abroad.

Across Health & Wellness, we explore every day revelations, from the science behind greying hair and the calm power of silence to the misuse of cough syrups and the mystery of terminal lucidity.

Our Lifestyle pages take a reflective turn, reimagining parenting, decoding the psychology of self-talk, and celebrating traits that define inner goodness.

From Art & Culture, we journey to Bengal’s soulful Baul singers, whose wandering songs continue to stir modern hearts.

The Featured Recipe, Sarson Da Saag Aur Makki Di Roti, brings the comforting essence of Punjab’s winter kitchens to diaspora tables everywhere.

In Economy & Business, we trace an Indian innovator’s remarkable triumph, a map that dared to challenge Google.

Our Finance & Legal pages guide NRIs through today’s volatile world, offering insight into smarter investments and sustainable wealth.

In Academics, we open doors to unconventional career paths and question whether tomorrow’s best opportunities lie in business or finance.

The Travel & Leisure feature introduces seven hidden, women-friendly Indian hill stations that redefine solitude, safety, and discovery.

Spirituality takes us inward with timeless Gita wisdom, reminding readers of the strength to stay steady when life feels unfair.

And in Sports, we spotlight Arjun Nimmala, a young Indian-origin talent reshaping baseball’s global field, a symbol of how far the diaspora dream now travels.

Each piece is a lens, revealing fragments of how diaspora lives are woven with local politics, cultures, identities, and survival.

The Diaspora Dilemma: Belonging Under Pressure

Why do these anti-immigrant protests sting especially hard for diaspora communities?

Because we live in the tension between two worlds. Home is both literal and metaphoric. We build lives, send remittances, raise children, and contribute to local economies. And yet, when a crowd shouts “send them home,” it erases decades of labour, roots, hope.

The numbers bear this tension out:

• The Indian diaspora is among the largest in the world, over 18 million people of Indian origin reside outside India.
• In Australia alone, Indian-born residents grew from 275,000 in 2011 to more than 845,800 by 2023, a three-fold increase in just over a decade. (Reuters)
• Indian migrants in the UK are over 1.5 million strong, contributing across healthcare, education, business, technology, law, and academia.

Yet growth attracts attention; success invites envy. As some locals struggle with housing, services, cost of living, the convenient narrative is that immigrants are to blame. That narrative gains traction when economic stress is high and political discourse is fragmented. The result: community fear, self-monitoring, withdrawal, and anxiety.

We cannot ignore that many Indian communities abroad are currently caught in a precarious moment. Students, especially, are vulnerable: reporting harassment on campuses, racial taunts in public spaces, or worse. Families worry about safety, status, and belonging. Professionals feel the need to prove loyalty again.

But protest is not the only response. We can also reclaim narrative. We can respond with clarity, rootedness, and grace.

What WFY Seeks to Do

This magazine, at its core, is a platform. It refuses to become polemic. We aim to:

1. Document: tell stories that might otherwise be ignored, the Subus, the migrants, the artists, the students.
2. Connect: build bridges between Indian origin communities, from Canada to Kenya to Australia to the UK, so we see ourselves in one another.
3. Inform: provide context, history, legal clarity, mental health insight, so knowledge empowers resistance.
4. Inspire: uplift voices and ideas that remind us that identity, even under strain, can be reaffirmed rather than lost.
5. Mobilise: we call on our diaspora readers, organisations, and supporters: share this magazine, support minority voices, mentor students abroad, link local chapters, back narratives rooted in dignity.

We are more than passive consumers. In this season, we must become communicators, connectors, and advocates.

A Word to Our Readers

If you are reading this in Canada, London, Melbourne, Singapore, Dubai, or Mumbai, know this: your experiences matter. Your fears, hopes, struggles are not anomalies; they are part of the ongoing story of our people seeking space. If you feel unsettled by recent protests, yes, your concerns are valid. If you feel wearied by having to re-explain your belonging, know that many share that fatigue.

But also know: you belong because of your presence, not despite it. Your contributions, in healthcare, education, tech, small businesses, art, community service, weave new national fabrics in every country you live. You are often doing more than you know. And those stories deserve light, acknowledgement, protection.

If you are able, share this magazine with someone who feels unheard. Join diaspora organisations, community centres, alumni groups, student bodies. Mentor someone. Raise your voice when safe, or amplify others. Because media, when it is linked to people, is a powerful network. When you support it, it supports others.

We are living through times when belonging is questioned more than ever. Narratives that once welcomed migrants now caution them. The Indian diaspora stands at a fragile threshold: acceptance that can be withdrawn, citizenship that can feel conditional, and safety that seems negotiable.

Yet, that fragile threshold is also a page waiting to be written. The stories we publish this November, of music, health, identity, art, geography, sport, are more than entertainment. They are claims of presence. They are bridges between emigrant and homeland, between local and global, between fear and dignity.

Let this edition of The WFY be your companion, your argument, your reminder: that you are here. That you matter. That resistance often begins with story. That life, even under strain, can still be shaped with intention.

I hope you find in these pages both solace and fuel. May they remind you of who you are, where you come from, and what you might yet become?

With gratitude, resolve, and hope,

Melwyn Williams
Chief Editor,

The WFY Magazine