YOUR SAY

Guilty

Balesh Dhankhar was handed down a guilty verdict for deceiving, drugging, raping and filming five women.

Dr Yadu Singh, spokesperson of the Federation of Indian Associations of NSW, wrote: What Balesh Dhankhar did was grossly and morally wrong. I strongly condemn him. I am glad that the court has found him guilty of sexual assaults of 5 women. He should be jailed for a long time for these heinous crimes. The image and reputation of the Indian community in Australia has been tarnished by these demonic activities of Mr Dhankhar. He was the leader of several Indian community organisations in Sydney and was the founding president of OFBJP Australia, which is affiliated with the BJP. To my knowledge, the Indian community in Australia is happy that the court has convicted him and is going to sentence him to hopefully a long-term jail punishment.

Sue Advani, President SEVA International Inc, wrote: The Australian Indian community is deeply shocked by this incident. While no community or culture is immune to such a wanton and disgraceful crime, it is a very disturbing and uncomfortable feeling. What is sad is that the victims kept their ordeal hidden due to the culture of shame leaving the perpetrator to continue to abuse others. As a community we should raise awareness and educate and encourage our girls so that should they ever find themselves victimised they do not hide behind the stigma of shame and come forward and report the crime and seek help straight away. Sexual violence against women is a heinous crime, I hope the perpetrator is given the harshest sentence to send a message that such criminals will be found and prosecuted, and victims will get justice.

Dr Sunil Vyas, President of the United Indian Associations Inc, wrote: Balesh Dhankhar carried out vile acts without any remorse or concern for his victims - who include his wife and children too - all of whose lives will have been permanently damaged. Such criminal acts can be found across all strata of society, races and ethnicities. Disturbingly many comments across various media have been focusing on his Indian origin. Dhankhar's acts should be condemned and he will face the consequences through the Australian justice system. However tarnishing a whole community by the reprehensible acts of one criminal is uncalled for.

Aneeta Menon wrote: In the bin!

BOOKS QUIZ: OPENING LINES

We asked you, of which Indian novel is this the opening line: “Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said only in English.”

Is it: Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, or VS Naipaul’s A Bend in the River?

Readers Pallavi Barat Janapareddy, Aruna D’ugu and Dancing With Swati got the right answer: Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger.

FINTAN MAGEE’S MUMBAI MURALS

PRUTHA CHAKRABORTY spoke with Australian artist Fintan Magee, who painted two giant murals on four adjacent Dadar buildings, a statement on the dignity of hard work and the beauty of craftmanship.

Pradip Chandel wrote: Great job.

Jyothsna Rao PhD wrote: Wow! Michelle Wade, have you seen this?

Michelle Wade replied: I have – last time I was in Mumbai, I was made aware.

Parikshit Gandotra wrote: Colour blindness in painters? Hadn’t heard about that before. You learn something new every day!

Suman Dhaliwal wrote: This piece was like an introduction to Fintan

Magee’s works for me. Imagine my surprise, when only days after reading this, I heard on the news about Magee’s latest work, Lost Figures, a mural at Darlington in Sydney. Lost Figures is two large murals on adjacent buildings, depicting Dawes and Patyegarang. William Dawes, an English Lieutenant and astronomer from the First Fleet, befriended 15-year-old Aboriginal Patyegarang in 1790-91, and learnt the local Gadigal language from her, recording their conversations. It’s a bit of Australian history I would not have known if Prutha’s article had not piqued my interest about Fintan Magee’s work.

Priyanka Bhosle wrote: I see this every day on my office commute here in Mumbai. Didn't know the details, though.

Compassion In The Face Of Racism

You liked our post about 11-yearold Newcastle child Brock, who had a kind word for his bus driver Sanjay after another passenger showered racist abuse.

Mel Smith wrote: Thank you for sharing and all the kind words, Brock is my son and he has made his family so very proud.

Poompa Arasu wrote: What a lovely gesture. Let’s applaud this little hero.

Clarion Pereira wrote: The building blocks of the future! Wish (this attitude) transcends across this land, so that there is mutual respect and tolerance towards all fellow Australians no matter where they come from.

Shantha Viswanathan wrote: Yes I am tearing up, especially seeing a child so emphathetic. Who said children need to learn from adults, it is the other way around many a time.

Wrong Answers Only

We asked, what’s SRK eating here? Thank you for your tongue-in-cheek replies.

Gunjan Mathur wrote: Mehnat ka fal

Deepak Vincent wrote: Baingan ka parantha

Tashu Sharma wrote: Bhaav kha raha hai

Akhil Jhingran wrote: Bheja

Shravan M Nagesh wrote: Gutka

Vandana Mathur wrote: Goli!

Rakesh Yadav wrote: Paan

Chitra Iyer wrote: Swallowing his pride?

Anil Malhotra wrote: Tinda

Jillian Abery wrote: Witchettygrubs

Lily Gabriel Rodrigues wrote:

Paan banaras wala

Mahesh wrote: Beeda?

AN AUSTRALIAN HONOUR FOR INDIA’S RATAN TATA

Indian industrialist and philanthropist Ratan Naval Tata was conferred an honorary Order of Australia (AO) this year

Pritam Singh Aulakh wrote: Thank you Australia for recognising excellence in my home country.

Kabiram Sahoo wrote: You deserve it, sir. The nation is proud of you. Laxman Joshi wrote: I salute Mr Ratan Tata. He is our real “Ratna”. Balachandran Pg wrote: Great gesture. Most deserving personality to receive it.

Indu Acharya Prasai wrote: Congratulations to Ratan Tata for the award (AO) which is so rightly deserved. His selfless life filled with charity and devotion to others less fortunate and accomplishments in many fields are both praiseworthy, and to be rightly emulated by others. Wish there were many more Ratan Tatas around.

Amal Tapadar wrote: He deserves all the awards of the world and a Bharat Ratna too.

Raxa Patel Saha wrote: Indian Government, confer Ratan Tata with Bharat Ratna soon.

Prabhat Mathur wrote: Ratan Tata is a great industrialist and philanthropist and deserves all the awards of the world. Strongly feel he should be conferred with Bharat Ratna in his lifetime.

Velayudha Panicker wrote: What an honour for a traditional industrialist from TataSteel and aviation days.

Ashok Pradhan wrote: It’s high time the Indian Government gave him the Bharat Ratna.

Lalit Kothari wrote: Deserved. Proud of India.

Amita Iyer wrote: Well deserved honour for Ratan Tata.

Attar Singh Rathi wrote: Excellent. We are so proud of Ratan Tata Ji.

GsLaddi wrote: The entire country is proud of Ratan Tata. Congratulations Sir, you deserved it.

Salil Kumar Sanyal wrote: Feeling very proud!

Badora Giri wrote: So wonderful, because he truly deserves it.

Alamma Alex wrote: Congratulations. Praying for your good health and cheer.

Gangala Reddy wrote: We are proud of our Ratan Tata.

Amit Dasgupta AM wrote: Some of the other Indian citizens who have been appointed to this honorary award are Soli Sorabjee, Sachin Tendulkar, Amit Dasgupta. There are other persons of Indian origin who have been appointed to the Order; last year, Zubin Mehta was a recipient.

Caption Contest

What’s the chitchat between Virat Kohli told Gautam Gambhir?

MAli's wins a free movie ticket for his caption: Hum bhi hain josh mein, Baatein kar hosh mein.

Prarthana Das wrote: Bhai nahi hai tu?

Deepak Vincent wrote: Why so "Gambhir", I ask seriously?

Ambika Girglani wrote: Mein Khiladhi Tu Anari

Sreejeeta Biswas wrote: Lag ja gale phirye hasin rat ho na ho…

Sangita Banerjee wrote: Hallabol

Kumbh karan wrote: Abhi na jaao chhod kar ke dil abhi bhara nahi

Raghu Rules wrote: Delhi thing, never mind.

Where In Oz

This is largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere. Where in Oz?

Where In India

Where in India will you find this memorial structure?

The answer is National War Memorial, New Delhi Readers Rachna Gupta, Rajeev Ramakar Tiwari, Bhanu Kothari and Monika Walia got it right.