And I Say to Myself, What a Wonderful World!

One of my favourite things to do on Saturday and Sunday mornings is to tune into news from across the globe, in the respective languages of those countries (including our very own Hindi news by NDTV India :)

Call me someone who doesn't have a life - and honestly, I'd rather not to have a life on weekend mornings - but these news shows keep me more engaged than any other program on Australian television, with the exception of MC Aus of course.

The languages range from French to Italian to Greek to Portugese to Spanish to Dutch to Turkish to Arabic to Russian to Estonian to Bulgarian. I don't understand any of it, except French a little bit. But I like to have it playing in the background while I potter about the house. My favourite part comes after the new programs are over. It's called 'What a World' - they play western classical music and show random live shots of cities across the world. Both famous cities and obscure little towns. Cities steeped in history that have me dying to visit them, and places I may never get a chance to visit because they generally don't fall on a tourist's radar. I can watch the program for hours. Unfortunately, it lasts only ten minutes :(

It's amazing how much Aussie TV sucks otherwise. The reality shows are crap, and the soaps and sitcoms are years behind even Star World India!! Now that takes quite a bit of doing.
Oh, there IS another show I like though. It's a morning show called 'Sunrise' and is an amalgamation of all sorts of things - news, entertainment, sports, updates on financial markets, gossip, other general stuff and chit chat. It's a feel good show with plenty of jokes and laughter. And the chemistry between the presenters is palpable. Mel is this really feminine, emotional, caring woman and Kochi (pronounced kau-shi) is this goofy guy who cracks really silly but endearing jokes and is even funnier when he's trying to be serious and give financial advice! And Australia loves the two.

There are some things about Australians that baffle as well as intrigue me. For instance, I don't understand why they would let food inflation go out the roof but won't import fruits and vegetables from other countries. They are so paranoid about agricultural diseases coming into Australia that they'd rather bananas cost $14 a dozen (I'm sorry I can't get over the price of bananas in this country!) and the market be out of chillies and tomatoes, which to me is ridiculous.

I am yet to see another people who are as proud of everything grown and made within their country as Australians are. Every Australian brand, whether they are into food or clothing or furniture or telecom, emphasizes on it's 100% Australian heritage in all its communication. I used to wonder why this was the case and I think I may have finally understood their psychology.

Australia is so far away from everyone else and to be honest, the world never cared much about them either. Inspite of that, they have managed to develop to the same level as any other country in Europe or America. Their isolation from the rest of the world and limited population hasn't stopped them from being self-sufficient, and that may be the reason the Aussies are so proud of themselves.