When Sanjay and Neena Lad moved from Mumbai to Canberra 17 years ago, they would have struggled to imagine their child being elected to a school leadership position.
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However, the proud parents of two boys are now happy to call Canberra home and sing the praises of the city whenever they can.
This Saturday will mark the 15th anniversary of Harmony Day; a date that coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the age of their youngest son.
"It was very heart-warming to see my 15-year-old son, Anooj, elected to a leadership position at his school, Mary MacKillop College, as an Australian-born Indian," Mr Lad said.
"Kids may not be politically correct all the time but this shows that the system is working.
"I have never experienced any discrimination at work or anywhere else and neither have my sons."
Mr Lad said he was persuaded to move to Canberra by his brother, who was living in the capital and would regularly send him postcards.
"He told us that it was peaceful and beautiful and the photos proved that too," he said.
Mr Lad, an IT specialist who worked with ActewAGL for eight years before moving to the public service, said it was difficult to move to Canberra but things had become easier with time.
"Initially, we didn't feel like we belonged but slowly we started to get used to it and now it feels like home for us," he said.
'When we go back to India, we feel like coming back here again."
Mr Lad said there was no doubt that it would be easier for migrants to settle in Canberra now, than it was for him in 1998.
"There were not many people around back then and my wife didn't speak English fluently, so she underwent language training and wasn't working," he said.
"I got the job straight away so I was not at home much and she was bored and a little lonely, but now she works at the National Library and talks to hundreds of students each day."
Mr Lad said when he first moved to Canberra, there was a community of about 25 families from Mumbai, but this community had grown to about 70 families.
"The population has increased a lot since then so we see a lot of people from the subcontinent and other countries," he said. "When we came here, we hardly saw any other Indians."
Mr Lad is just one of 7.5 million people who have migrated to Australia since 1945 and come to form the basis of a multicultural society.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show 85 per cent of Australians agree that multiculturalism has been a positive force for the broader community.
