IMAGE: AN INDIAN GIRL WITH HER HOMEWORK (ADRIAN POPE/ GETTY IMAGES) VIA the ABC RN Website

This series is a namaste and a salute to the enchanters, the chroniclers, and the conscience-keepers of 21st century India—its writers.

Roanna Gonsalves meets writers working in; English, Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali,  Konkani, and Malayalam, saying the unsayable, painting a picture of contemporary India. Warning: Some may find these political-literary encounters highly acerbic and often discombobulating.

1. On the tip of a billion tongues: Mumbai
2. On the tip of a billion tongues: Delhi
3. On the tip of a billion tongues: Kolkata
4. On the tip of a billion tongues: Goa

How a huge army of badly paid, badly housed, badly educated foreign students became Australia’s third biggest export industry. According to former Liberal MP Bruce Baird shonky private colleges set up to exploit overseas students are no more than ‘permanent residency factories’. The recently released Baird Review calls for a crackdown. But for many who’ve already experienced the reality of a teaching system that has morphed into one of the country’s dodgiest rackets it’s too late. In this illustrated essay Indian-Australian writer Roanna Gonsalves records her personal journey, beginning with the glossy promises of an Australian education expo in Mumbai.

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