Rahul Jethi of the Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation (IADF) failed to keep his interview date for this piece.
Turns out, at the allocated time, he had already retired for the night, even though it was not exactly late in the evening.
He spoke the next morning, in the midst of a school drop off.
Apparently, a week after the mega community reception at the Qudos Bank Arena for PM Narendra Modi, it was the first night he had got to bed before 2 am in weeks.
“It feels surreal actually,” he revealed. “I didn’t realise how mammoth a task this was going to be. But it’s great looking back at the last two months. Feels good about the bringing community together.”
Some 300 organisations from across the country contributed in one way or another for the ‘Australia welcomes Modi’ event, with some 30 volunteers making up the core team.
The experience from being part of the 2014 organising committee when Mr Modi visited last, would have come in handy, we put to him.
“Yes it did, although there were a couple of key aspects in which the logistics were different,” he offered. “Firstly, we had 14,000 people attend last time, and had used only part of the arena then. This time we wanted to open it up fully to accommodate a larger audience. To do so, we had to redo the stage. A prefabricated rotating stage was organised for the centre, for the main event after the cultural program. It presented a special challenge to organise.”
Secondly, Rahul Jethi said, the attending dignitaries from the Australian side, the Prime Minister included, added to the agenda.
“In 2014 we had the NSW Premier Mike Baird attending, but he only stayed briefly. This time round, we were surprised at the number of ministers and MPs who expressed an interest to attend. There were strict protocols to follow and that added to our responsibilities for the day. On top of that, for many the confirmation came very late in the piece, as Parliament was sitting and special permissions had to be sought from the Speaker. Let me just say, we were expecting less attendance from our leaders, and so seating arrangements had to be changed at the last minute.”
Also to be taken care of, were submissions from 120 cultural organisations to perform in the lead up to the main event.
“Not wanting to disappoint anyone, we came up the idea of inside and outside events to accommodate all.”
Did those attending know PM Modi would be speaking in Hindi?
“Yes we did inform them that there would be a direct translation from two appointed translators, played on the hearing loop in the arena. We also advised them to bring ear pods.”
And so, between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Chris Minns, who forgot to bring theirs?
Jethi laughed as he said, “Yes I’ve seen that pic go viral!”
About crowd numbers, while seating capacity at the Qudos Bank Arena is 21,000, there were some empty seats spotted, especially in the upper arena. And yet there were many who were seeking tickets until the last day.
“I do feel bad for those that missed out,” Jethi expressed, clarifying, “But it was a totally free event, supported by businesses. One always expects a 5% dropout rate, for whatever reason. Unless a ticket is returned, another one cannot be reissued. And in any case, we had the event streamed outside, and actually found that some people enjoyed that more, with food etc.”
Financially as well, Jethi revealed, as a not-for-profit IADF was overwhelmed with people’s generosity with many making small donations to help organise the event. “We are still working through final numbers but expect that the event will cost around $1.3 million. We are keen to be transparent and will share audited numbers on our website and through your media,” Rahul Jethi said.
And what was his own top moment from the entire experience?
“My personal highlight after weeks of hard work in planning the ‘Australia welcomes Modi’ event, was when PM Modi stopped where I was positioned. He smiled at me, acknowledged my namaste, and said ‘Dhanyavad’ (thank you).”
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