YOURSAY.

IS THIS TATTOO OFFENSIVE?

Melbourne lawstudent

Matthew Gordon says he was harassed by BJP nationalists while in Bangalore who found his tattoo offended their religious sentiments.

AneetaMenon wrote: It does not offend me. However, unlawful violent extremist behaviour does.

KalaRaghunath wrote: It is offensive.I do not support the abuse that this man said he had to go through, but nothing justifies his choice of having a tattoo of a goddess on his leg.

India is known as a place where people go for religious purposes. Every country has its do's and don'ts,just follow those. Freedom of expression is not freedom to offend. Last time, it was Goddess Lakshmi on a bikini, and now it's this. It's not the tattoo that's offensive, it is the part of the body where it is.

MayurKapoor wrote: He has written an apology letter for his mistake. Why do you think it's right or wrong? He made a mistake, he accepted it. A man was sent back to his country regarding his Buddha tattoo in Sri Lanka too. Google it.

ManjunathAradhya wrote: Wherever we go we respect the law and people's sentiments. We cannot do as we like on foreign soil. If he had done the same thing in Islamic countries, hurting their sentiments, things would have been different. Our country is a free India, anybody can do anything. Our"prestitutes" protect these people.

RadhaArora wrote: No! Because he doesn't belong to the Hindu religion anyway. Be kind, forgive and give mercy. I'm sure we all wouldlike to live in peace.

PrabhatKumar wrote: Yes it is

GaganSingh wrote: Stupidity offends me, religion is one of them lndu PrlyaNlvarthl wrote: I agree with you, KalaRaghunath

Diwali Days

Afterposting ourMelbourne issue online, with a story abouthow different families celebrate Diwali, we received this missive.

Every day is a Diwali day in our household or, to put it more honestly,Diwali is like any other day of the year. If it is a working day my wife goes to work at her surgery and I used to do the same until I retired. Now, being a stayat-home man-friday, I attend to normal chores and whatever errands my wife orders as she runs towards the door for work. Invariably I forget at least one of the dozen tasks she assigns me and, as if fate has ordained, she will without fail ask about that one I haven't done as she steps into the house returning from work.

My standard answer is 'I had one hundred and one things to do.' No fireworks, but mild rebuke is in order. It will be no different this Diwali either.

My son and daughter, having been born and brought up here, had limited exposure to Indian festivities because of our work situations when they were young.There weren't many Indian families for them to mix with kids of their age. Maybe now, as grandparents, we need to make amends and help our grandkids know something about Diwali and some other major festivalsthatshine a light on our culture.

I am very happy - and a bit jealous too - to see many of the Indian families of the younger generation now celebrate not only Diwali but many other regionalfestivals as well. Good luck to them!

LPAyer, Thorngate SA

HAPPY 21ST TO US!

Indian Link marks another milestone occasion continuing ourpassion to seek out the Indian storyinAustralia

DhanyaSamuel wrote: Many many happy returns of the day Indian Link

AneetaMenon wrote: Excellent news! Congratulations

PrlyaSongappan wrote: A great achievement!

DISHING UPA CULiNARY COURSE FOR THE DISABLED

Sai Narayan reported on the Annalakshmi CulinaryScience Program in Perth, which holds cooking classes for the disabled, and theirneed for continued community support

DhanyaSamuel wrote: What an amazing venture

AneetaMenon wrote: This is excellent

WELCOME TOOZ!

We welcome diplomat and poetAbhay K. Kumar who has been appointedas India's DeputyHigh Commissioner toAustralia. He is expected to take up his post in Canberra shortly

PREVENT/NG MIGRAINES

Migraines have stumped doctors foryears, while causing pain for millions of people. Tasneem Zavery reported on an Indian-Australian collaboration thatmay but an end to these painful episodes

JamesBogashwrote: It's always good to hear about natural approaches that actually work on fixing some of the underlying problems contributing to headaches. It is far more likely for someone to be deficient in vitamin b12 than for someone to be deficient in Topamax

GREAT JOB, YET AGAIN

MrldulaNathChakraborty wrote: LOVED all your stories in this issue. Urban turbans and the word poetry pieces were especially interesting. And I cannot wait to try out that caulif ower recipe.