It was Trikone Australia that launched us into March this year, with a spectacular evolving birdcage in its Mardi Gras float.
Its core message about liberation is one we hope will inspire through this month, as we mark International Women’s Day, begin Ramadan, celebrate Holi – and cast a weary look at world affairs amidst an imminent election in our own backyard.
Offering a brief sense of relief and escape, is this list of the social and cultural highlights in our community this month. We hope there’s something here that tickles your fancy, for after-hours experiences that will relax, inform, and inspire.
If we’ve missed your event, drop us a line at editor@indianlink.com.au – we’ll be glad to add it here.
International Women’s Day 2025
This year’s IWD theme, Accelerate Action, is a global call to recognise strategies, resources, and initiatives that drive women’s progress while supporting and amplifying their implementation.
While there are many mainstream events to mark the occasion, women’s groups within our own community are speaking up for the cause in their own way, whether a mass statement against domestic violence, and a fundraising walk for women’s health (both in Sydney) and a focus on women’s entrepreneurship in Perth.
Holi Hai!
Yup, it’s the Festival of Colours this month. The gulal has already been in the air (and on our clothes and skin and hair!) even though the actual celebration is not until 14 March.
Gone are the days when you had one communal Holi celebration in every major Australian city – we now have events strewn across metropolises.
In Sydney this year, you can say Holi Hai and smear the coloured powder at Tumbalong Park, Marrickville, Burwood, Castle Hill, Parramatta, Lane Cove, Kyeemagh, Claremont Meadows, Liverpool, Merrylands, at an after-school event at Kogarah, at a singles-only event in the CBD, and at The Entrance.
In Melbourne, go toss the gulal at Coburg North, Oakleigh, Wyndham, at two separate events at the CBD, over two days at Docklands, and at Mambourin.
In Adelaide, wish your friends Happy Holi at Mitchell Park, Gladys Elphick Park, North Terrace, Light Square, at Semaphore Beach, at a fun run at Kensington Gardens Reserve, and at a ladies-only event at Hampstead Gardens.
In Brisbane, try the bhang (ok, our apologies, a safer equivalent!) at Mount Gravatt Showgrounds, North Lakes, Southport, and Burbank.
In Perth, the smear campaigns are at East Perth and Cannington.
STAGE
The Adelaide Fringe, Australia’s largest open-access arts festival, is now well underway. Its program of diverse and vibrant arts experiences includes more than a few Indian links. Check out the Bharatanatyam show by Swaroopa Prameel Unni Sringaram (including spoken word) and a strong line-up of stand-up comics (including Nazeem Husain, Vibhinna, Rao Morusapalli, and Aditya Gautam).
Meanwhile in Melbourne, Oblation at Asia TOPA presents an innovative audiovisual experience. Created by electronic composer Vijay Thillaimuthu, Oblation fuses chanting, melodies and rhythms from south India and Sri Lanka with lasers, projections, and vibrations to draw you in to a uniquely restorative and transformative space.
For classical music enthusiasts, the Melbourne Hindustani Classical Music Society (MHCMS) is putting on the annual Melbourne International Festival of Hindustani Classical Music. The line-up includes Indrani Mukherjee (vocal), the ‘Flute Sisters’ Debopriya and Suchismita Chatterjee, Ragini Shankar (violin), and Shruti Sadolikar (vocal).
Still in Melbourne, check out artists Amla, Jessie Hill and Minhy’s Beats To Draw To, which blends live music with art. Indian community events in March 2025
Sydney meanwhile, waits to welcome India’s pop culture icon Neha Kakkar – wonder how many Kala Chashmas will be brought out for the show.
BOOKS AND BEYOND
Acclaimed Indian writer, essayist, and commentator known for his sharp analysis of history, politics, and global affairs, Pankaj Mishra makes his way to Adelaide this month after Sydney. He’s at the Adelaide Writers Week talking about Gaza as “a clash between the West’s view of the Holocaust as a unique moral reference point and the rest of the world’s traumatic experience of colonialism.”
At the same event, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi discusses his memoir Shattered and the life-altering accident that transformed his world.
Australian writer of children’s books Susanne Gervay launches her book Parrot Palace, a heartwarming tale of the friendship between three kids from diverse backgrounds, highlighting diverse traditions and the strength of community.
MasterChef Australia (2021) winner Justin Narayan presents his new cookbook, Everything is Indian.
IN THE ARTS
Mumbai artist 
Ritihika Merchant presents her work Terraformation (‘earth-shaping’ or the process of making a planet) at the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane this month. Mythology, science, and speculative fiction weave together in her watercolours, to create fantasy new planets, in a statement about our own threatened world.
If you’re a parent of young ones, then consider Rithika’s If the Seeds Chose Where to Grow, in which hybrid ‘beings’ and plant forms make up an imaginative new world.
Meanwhile in Sydney, Nusra Latif Qureshi’s exhibition Birds in Far Pavillions continues at the AGNSW. Bridging historical influences with modern experimentation in her work, Nusra makes poignant reflections on history and identity.
If in Melbourne, check out Delhi artist duo Thukral and Tagra’s Bread Circuses and Home, a public installation and performance art series at Fed Square that uses kushti (wrestling) to tell tales of Punjabi migration (the unique ways that cultures adapt, survive and transform). Indian community events in March 2025
JUST FOR LAUGHS
It’s comedy stars galore this month, starting of course with the father of them all, Russell Peters – he of the sharp observational humour, clever crowd-work, spot-on accents, and witty takes on race, identity, and stereotypes that become cultural commentary.
We also have Internet sensation from India Shraddha Jain (aka Aiyyo Shraddha) – she of the relatable sketches on everyday life that also become societal critiques.
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival starts later this month, and we counted no less than 41 performers of South Asian origin – or was it 42?! The line-up includes home-grown stars, and comedians from India and from across the diaspora.
While we wait for the comic relief, we’re chuckling over the names of the shows: Where’s My Visa: Aussie Visa Rejected (Indians Fight Back), referencing that chant from the cricket stands only weeks ago; Australia’s First Indian Prime Minister (Aditya Gautam), 7-Eleven Attacks: The Indians are coming (Delhi Buoy); How Now Brown Rao (Rao Morusapalli); Main NRI Banega (Aditya Gautam and Chetan Singh); Aiyyo So Mini Things (Shraddha Jain), and simply, RELAX (Russell Peters).
Here’s to a happy month!
For more Indian community events in March 2025, head to our What’s On section.
