SAY IT AGAIN

from 2017-09 Sydney

Contact a phone or internet provider

An Evening With Dr Shashi Tharoor

Indian Link hosted former diplomat, writer and politician Dr Shashi Tharoor for a private dinner with a select gathering. They couldn’t stop gushing about the dynamic guest

Shashi Tharoor tweeted: My third event of the day in Sydney. Enjoyable dialogue

Monika Barthwal Datta tweeted: Great evening listening 2& engaging with the brilliant @ShashiTharoor over dinner hosted by @indian_link

Yadu Singh tweeted: At an interesting, informative and enlightening evening with @ShashiTharoor, organized by @indian_link at Manjit’s, The Wharf, Sydney.

Charu Menon tweeted: Fan girl moment!! Thank you @ShashiTharoor for a riveting evening. Eloquent as ever. Come back to Sydney soon. #sydney #IndianLInk #sigh

Fida Saxena tweeted: Dear sir you are one of the most eloquent speakers in present times

Community Outrage Over Sbs Map

Indian-Australians expressed anger over depiction of the entire Jammu and Kashmir state as disputed territory Karthi Keyan wrote: It is funny that SBS doesn’t show Tibet as being disputed or occupied.

Eventricks Flash Mob At Circular Quay

Our Facebook post on the Bollywood-inspired celebrations of India’s 70th Independence Day was well-liked Kerren Lumsden wrote: Would love to be able to dance like this....

From The Archives

An Indian Link advertiser SARAH GILLIS dug out an old copy of the newspaper and refreshed some memories

“Live and Work in Australia with Sarah’s help!” This advertising supplement from Indian Link newspaper way back in 2000 celebrated me opening the doors to my own business!

And my doors are still open today. Come and have a chat.

#ThrowbackThursday #Throwback #25Years #SilverYear #tbt

This is the man the British want us to hail as an apostle of freedom and democracy, when he has as much blood on his hands as some of the worst genocidal dictators of the 20th century Shashi Tharoor on Winston Churchill ABC TV’s Q&A

The excuse that apologists (of British empire) like to make is, it’s not our fault, you just missed the bus for the industrial revolution. Well, we missed the bus because you threw us under its wheels Shashi Tharoor on ABC TV’s Q&A

Running Into Aishwarya On The Street

Raj Gondaliya was at the right place at the right time when he and his wife met Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Raj shares his experience

We all know Aishwarya as an actress, but I can add that she is a humble and warm person as well. As she was about to go for an interview with Rajeev Masand, my wife and I asked her for a photo with her and I can’t believe how considerate she was. She didn’t want us to wait till her interview nished so she asked us to come forward to pose for a photo before it. We had an opportunity to have a quick chat with her, and it was a pleasure talking to her. She’s been in the industry for long but is still grounded. It was also good to see Aaradhya with her during ag hoisting ceremony. She is a hands-on mother, balancing her work life and personal life well. I think it’s inspiring how she has maintained a digni ed status as a daughter, daughter-in-law, wife, mother and above all - a woman.

What Women Want

The lm ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ gets applause for its frank portrayal of female sexuality

Aparna Ananthuni wrote: “Let’s at least have sex?”

This is one of my favourite moments from Lipstick Under My Burkha, this year’s most ‘controversial’ Indian lm.

Leela, a young beautician who is being forced into an arranged marriage, has snuck over to her moody boyfriend’s house in the middle of the night, where he is sleeping with some young boy relatives. They go into the bathroom to have sex, argue, and the boyfriend, Arshad (played by Vikrant Massey), makes to leave in the middle. That’s when Leela asks her question, panting and unsatis ed.

Arshad’s answer encapsulates, in all its ugliness, just what Indian women face when it comes to expressing sexual desire.

“Is that all you want? Sex?” He spits. He then yells that he’ll bring the two sleeping boys in if that’s what she’s after. In one moment, he’s made her lust, her urge, her natural sex drive, into something perverted, unnatural. Why has Lipstick been called ‘controversial?’

Because it tells us that Indian women want to have sex.

It’s nothing more, and nothing less.

It shouldn’t be revolutionary, and it certainly shouldn’t be revelatory, but that’s exactly what it has become. Indian women want to have sex, and that is too shocking a fact not to stir up a ruckus.

It may have been banned for being too “lady-oriented”, but the fact is, what that really translates to is, “no male gaze”. Forsooth!

Because Lipstick tells us, rightly, that sexual repression and freedom from patriarchy go hand-in-hand. Four women, of an assortment of ages and lifestyles, is each shown playing out her own relationship with sexuality and oppression. The youngest, Rehana (Plabita Borthakur), is a college student who breaks free of the burkha forced on her by her parents, and has her rst brush with love, lust and heartbreak. Leela the beautician (Aahana Kumra) is caught between obedience to her single-parent mother, her fun and sexually satisfying relationship with Arshad, and the nagging sense that she shouldn’t have to choose between having fun and being poor and disrespectable. Shireen (Konkona Sen Sharma) is a secret door-to-door sales superstar, but has to grimly endure nightly rape from her emotionless, lazy pig of a husband. And nally, Usha (Ratna Pathak), called ‘Buaji’ by everyone in town, known as an upright ‘elderly’ widow who runs her family business with a rm hand, begins to have secret and highly pleasurable phone sex with her hot young swimming instructor, with devastating consequences.

I suspect those who nd the lm underwhelming simply don’t understand what the fuss is about. But that’s exactly the point.

Bad Experience With Ar Rahman Show Tickets

A reader, DHAMAYANTHI SIVA, wrote in, saying she was ‘scammed’ by a ticketing website

I wish to alert all fans of AR Rahman who are thinking of buying tickets to his concert about something of a scam that is currently operating. A few days ago, I found a website called Viagogo to book the tickets. I chose the middle row to get a good view of the stage and the website advertised these tickets at $222 each. We paid a total of $1,151. But yesterday, I received the tickets (via email) which had a face value of $132 each. Further, the seats that were allocated were quite far from the stage. So I will have to bring sets of binoculars to see AR Rahman on stage!

I got in touch with Viagogo straight away. Their response was that they will not be providing a refund or exchange. They did offer a re-sale using their website. But there was no mention of method of resale or price. Surely this is not the idea of organising a concert.

Australia is one of my fav holiday destinations. I’m fascinated by its warm and welcoming people, spectacular nature, unique wildlife, world-class food Parineeti Chopra, on being appointed ‘Friend of Australia’

To be an Indian feminist woman, even one living in the diaspora, and to watch Lipstick, is to feel like a breath has been released. One that has been held for a very, very long time.

Women want sex. Good, consensual, pleasurable sex. And they want it because it feels good.

+ JOIN THE