NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev and Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles convened in the national capital for 'Manobal', a landmark event celebrating the flourishing partnership between the Australian High Commission and KHUSHII — an acronym for Kinship for Humanitarian Social and Holistic Intervention in India.
The gathering, as reported by Open, brought into sharp focus the deepening people-to-people connections between the two nations while shining a light on the far-reaching social initiatives of the KHUSHII Foundation, the non-governmental organisation that Kapil Dev established over two decades ago.
Kapil Dev on India-Australia Relations
Speaking at the event, the 1983 World Cup-winning captain was generous and warm in his praise of the bilateral relationship, lauding both governments for their sustained efforts to deepen cooperation at every level.
"About the relationship between Australia and India, the governments are working very hard. For what Australia is doing for the Indian community there, I'd like to say thanks on behalf of them. What a wonderful job Indian people are doing, and they are looking after our people.
I'm so grateful that people are getting together and trying to help KHUSHII. It's an organisation where we look after each other and look after underprivileged kids. If we can try to engage with each other, it will be very nice," Kapil Dev told reporters.
His remarks, as Open noted, went beyond the realm of diplomacy to capture something more human — the role that communities, charitable organisations and individual compassion play in building durable international friendships.
In acknowledging Australia's care for the Indian diaspora, Kapil Dev framed the bilateral relationship not merely as a transaction between governments, but as a bond between peoples.
What is the KHUSHII Foundation?
KHUSHII was established by Kapil Dev in 2003 with a clear and ambitious vision: to provide quality education and holistic learning opportunities to young Indians, especially those from underprivileged and marginalised backgrounds.
Over the more than two decades since its founding, the organisation has quietly but consistently worked to support children's education and overall development through a range of targeted social initiatives.
The Manobal event, Open reported, served as a timely reminder of just how much ground the foundation has covered since its inception — and how critical partnerships with entities such as the Australian High Commission have been in amplifying its reach and impact.
Richard Marles Praises KHUSHII's Work
For Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, the visit to the KHUSHII Foundation was clearly a moving one. He did not hold back in expressing his admiration for the work being carried out on the ground.
"It is an honour to be here with Kapil Dev at the KHUSHII foundation to see the incredible work they have been doing. The relationship between India and Australia is at a high watermark at every level. We have never been more strategically aligned. It is a privilege for me to be here," Marles said while speaking to reporters.
The Deputy Prime Minister's words, as covered by Open, carried a dual significance. On one level, they were a sincere tribute to the grassroots impact of the KHUSHII Foundation.
On another, they served as a pointed diplomatic statement — one that positioned civil society partnerships as an indispensable complement to formal government-to-government engagement. In describing the bilateral relationship as being at a "high watermark," Marles offered perhaps the clearest articulation yet of where India-Australia ties stand today.
The State of India-Australia Relations
Both Kapil Dev and Richard Marles used the Manobal platform to underline, in their respective ways, the remarkable trajectory of the India-Australia relationship in recent years.
Open reported that their remarks, taken together, painted a picture of two nations that have moved well beyond the transactional and into something more genuinely strategic and emotionally invested.
Where Kapil Dev chose to express gratitude for Australia's embrace of the Indian community abroad, Marles anchored his assessment in the language of alignment — strategic, economic and cultural.
The two perspectives, though different in register, pointed toward the same conclusion: that the relationship between India and Australia has arrived at a point of unusual depth and mutual confidence.
Initiatives such as Manobal are increasingly seen as the connective tissue of this relationship — spaces where the formal architecture of diplomacy gives way to something more organic, more community-rooted and, ultimately, more lasting.
The Larger Picture
What the Manobal event made evident, as Open observed, is that the most enduring partnerships between nations are rarely built in summit halls alone.
They are built in classrooms, in community centres, and in the quiet, unglamorous work of organisations like KHUSHII, which show up every day for children who have very little else to rely upon.
Through the foundation, Kapil Dev — long celebrated as one of India's greatest cricketers — has carved out an equally meaningful second chapter as an advocate for the country's most vulnerable young people.
And through his presence at Manobal, Richard Marles sent a clear signal that Australia recognises and values not just India's strategic weight, but its social conscience too.
The key takeaway from the event, in the words of Open's coverage, is this: diplomatic partnerships that extend into education, community welfare and social development are not peripheral to foreign policy — they are, increasingly, at its very heart.
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