yoUR SAy

#SWEDENGATE

You liked our story on reactions to a now-viral Reddit post, in which a person recalled being asked to wait in his Swedish friend's room while his friend ate dinner with his family downstairs. Since then, social media users have been weighing in on this ‘strange’ dinner guest etiquette.

Amina Louragli wrote: Haha, happened to us in Norway too. This was absolutely normal in my childhood. I was told to WAIT IN THE BEDROOM while my friend was eating dinner. I was sitting there dreaming about the fish ball thing dinner (fiskeboller), weirdest thing to dream about. But this was totally normal, and no one raised an eyebrow. On the other side, my Moroccan mum would not let people leave our house without forcing them to eat.

SJ wrote: One time, I was going to sleep over at a friend’s house. They told me to go home and eat, then come back.

Isabelle wrote: I am Swedish, born and raised and I have never heard of this behaviour before. My parents always feed every one of my friends when they come over to our house and I was always offered food when I was at my friends’. Same with my siblings and their friends.

Insta_globetrotter wrote: Its true. I’m half Indian and half Swedish. When someone came to my house we always offered food etc but when I went to Swedish houses, you had to wait in their rooms or they sent you home because they were going to eat. Johanna Andersen wrote: You have to go long back in history to understand some behaviours and this seems to linger from the time (not so long ago) when Sweden was very poor. Also, it's strongly in the culture that everybody is equal. If I give your child food, it could mean that I think that you can't take care of your child, not it’s so polite and it could be (interpreted) that you now owe me one. I do not agree that Swedish culture is a selfish one. Swedes really want to help others and be polite (like standing in line, talk with a quiet voice, not littering, taking it easy in traffic and following the rules, and so on). I grew up in the ‘80s. Every kid I knew was waiting when your friends had dinner, no one thought it was strange. I don't do this now with my child’s friends, behaviours change with time.

Where In Oz

This time around, we asked you to identify the ‘spiritual home of racing’ in Australia.

Ossian wrote: In my experience, it is a thing more or less, but not as dramatic as this Twitter-explosion is making it to be. I’ve been through it a couple of times, but I’ve never seen it as rude. If you wanted food at a friend’s house, this should be decided before. If he/she doesn’t know you want to join for dinner before that, that’s on you. In short, dinner at a friend’s house is not something to take for granted, but the majority of the times you’ll be invited.

Aritta wrote: There are many rural areas in my country living through poverty. But mind you, even if they are poor and live in small houses, the moment a guest visits their house, (people) serve them something to drink or eat as hospitality. Sometimes even if they are strangers, but here you are talking about your KIDS’ FRIENDS! That’s the weirdest thing I have heard so far.

Mithila Ahmed wrote: I see a lot of folks talking about not having “enough money”. Tell it to the immigrant families living in Sweden. We literally struggled yet no one would ever leave (our home) hungry.

Shirin Shaw wrote: Same in our Indian culture. No matter how poor, if we would not be able to fill the stomach of a person, we would at least offer them something if they drop in at mealtime.

Hila Madsen wrote: This happened to me as a child, and I still think about it 25 years later. Probably my first encounter with anxiety!

Where In India

This glass bridge is the first of its kind in India. 100 feet above the ground, it offers a 360-degree view of the tropical rainforest over which it stands. Where in India can you find it?

1938.

Thus it has been said that if you create lovely scenes and spread art and music all around the atmosphere, hostility and friction will fall away like crumbled lime-chalk powder. In its place, love will flow everywhere, soft and sweet.

Geetanjali Shree / Daisy Rockwell in the Booker Prize winning Tomb of Sand

If you want to understand the power of translation read Daisy Rockwell’s translation of Ret Samadhi. A good translation is like a revolution; It sets free and opens up a language, a culture, a set of people to the world. That’s exactly what Tomb of Sand did.

Shah Alam Khan, Indian Express columnist

Politics Through The Eyes Of A Cricket Tragic

With the 2022 election seemingly too close to call, PAWAN LUTHRA imagined two possible outcomes... through the lens of cricket.

LP Ayer wrote: Both teams' performance was average with a lot of negative bowling and defensive batting. Not a single four or six hit throughout the four innings. To add to the boredom, there was continuous background music "There is a hole in the bucket...." Annoyed by the monotony of it, a few streakers, calling themselves Independents, invaded the pitch when Team Scomo was batting. These well-heeled independents were well and truly naked as they didn't cover themselves with any policy and even if they had, they were not visible. The spectators in the corporate boxes and member stands were more interested in leering at these streakers coming from their own neighbourhood. The yahoos in Stand 13 were more concerned about the price of beer going up with every over due to inflation. Thankfully, the umpires from AEC took the bails off at the scheduled close of time.

Caption Contest

We asked, what’s got SRK frowning here?

Vandana Mathur won a movie ticket for her answer: Damn! I wish I had it in me to make a movie Dimaag se, instead of Dil se!

Rachna Gupta wrote: Is that Aryan with the NCB again?

Eldee D’Lima wrote: Free ticket ke chakar may, mujhe yahan chirya ghar may three-piece suit may khada kar diya

Shravan Nagesh wrote: Mera lighter kaun le gaya?

Ankita Bhatia wrote: Should have worn a lungi, this suit is tight. Bloody stylists! Nisha C wrote: Y’all should be so honoured… I showered, shaved, put a comb through my hair, wore some decent clothes, decided NOT to look like a hobo, just to come up here in front of you.

Tashu Sharma wrote: Sher Khan

Shania Raj wrote: Ek 'tha' Baadshah

Neetasha Sharma wrote: I am the true face of the cheetah behind me.

Anu Singh wrote: I certainly look better without that beard and ponytail

Rishi Singh wrote: Don ko pakadna mushkil nahi mumkin bhee hai !

Raj Saneja wrote: What!! Itna suit, boot aur makeup ke baad bhi koi actress mere saath romantic movie karne keliye taiyar nahin hai. Lagta hai ab daddy ka role karna hi padega.

Capturing Voter Sentiment

Through a national survey with over 1,000 responses, we looked into the Indian-Australian community’s thoughts on various issues ahead of the 2022 Federal elections.

Heidi H wrote: An interesting article to read for anyone trying to understand South Asian Australians’ most concerned election issues, which I believe share many commonalities among other ethnic communities.

Shanta Viswanathan wrote: You have some good questions there. Will be interesting to see the summary of the responses.

Jessica Bhatia wrote: Good survey questions. Got me thinking.

Khushaal Vyas wrote: Great initiative with capturing these insights, so good to see.

It takes a village to build up a speller 14yo American student Harini Logan, thanking her family after winning the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee

IS AUNTYJI RACIST?

When a reader suggested that our resident agony aunt might be racist, our Auntyji simply had to clap back.

Arch Suba wrote: I just wanted to say Shaabaash, Auntyji! I mean, the things he said to support his irrational behaviour is totally up there in the pagal zone. I thought you showed him too much mercy in your response. I totally understand the need to educate some people on their twisted mentality that has been passed down from generations. It is also important to remind them that racism is structural, and hence a white person can never experience racism from people of colour because they are not in the position to oppress, hierarchically. It can be so frustrating when they play the 'reverse racism' card (as he did on you), when all you tried to do is speak the glaring truth, on behalf of all victims. Total respect for you!

Auntyji replied: Arre meri rasgulli, meri Anarkali! Teremouh me ghee shakkar. Jug jugjiyo!

We expect that while the RBA will raise the cash rate to 1.5 - 2% by year end, the peak will come at around 2 - 2.5% by mid next year. A new borrower in NSW, where average new loans are around $800,000, would see monthly payments jump by more than $1,000 if the cash rate rose to 2.5% (expected May – July 2023) compared to what they were paying back in March 22.

Economist Dr Shane Oliver on home loan trajectory predictions after the latest RBA interest rate increases

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