The recent Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame inauguration and the release of the Indian Weekender’s 100th issue brought forth many messages of good wishes from scores of friends acquaintances.
One such long-time friend of Indian Weekender, Wenceslaus Anthony, spokes about the journey of the young newspaper at a gala function at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland.
"On this day, we salute the Indian Weekender for this great message of what we can do for the community?
It is my honour and thanks to Mr.Giri and Mr.Bhav for this opportunity to briefly speak about the birth and Indian Weekender philosophy.
The meteoric rise in the numbers of Kiwi Indians in the last decade has been felt and witnessed by us all.
From a populations of 20 to 30,000 in the late 90's, today we are nearly 120,000 proud Kiwi Indians calling New Zealand their home and proud of our rich heritage India...
The need for a credible, modern newspaper – which rightly portrays the changing face and aspirations of the modern and upwardly mobile kiwi Indians, was being felt by Mr. Giri Gupta and Bhav Dhillon and also the wider Indian diaspora.
The need to have a modern vibrant mouthpiece which will help and celebrate the successes of our community was being felt by one and all.
With this backdrop, the Dhillon/Gupta combine conceived this idea and started working seriously on this project and finally in April 2009 the first issue went to print.
In the early hours of that day – both Bhav & Giri were waiting anxiously outside the printing press to get the delivery of the first issue and once they were happy with the look and feel, loaded the papers in their cars and went off to the streets of Sandringham to hand deliver the first issue and gauge the public interest. There surely were a few surprised souls on Sandringham Road who saw 2 well heeled gentlemen distributing a newspaper from the boot of an expensive German car.
This is how the first issue was made available to the public and despite starting off in the recession, the economic head winds could provide little deterrent to the determination of these 2 gentlemen who were focussed on providing a world class community newspaper to New Zealand.
By the way, once I was approached on Sandrigham Road by a European and he said- why don’t you request the Prime Minister to name Sandrigham “Little India “.
For the record, this paper was launched by Hon Paula Benett at the colourful spring festival of Holi at a jam packed event at the Henderson Trust Stadium.
Both Mr. Gupta and Bhav – are successful businessmen in their own right and this was a perfect opportunity for them to give something back to the community, without any compromises driven by commercial realities.
We all know that with the advent of internet, print media is not the flavour of the day and most print media today face financial pressure but this duo did not get deterred and were focussed on providing a credible community newspaper, raising the profile of their fellow Kiwi Indians.
This reminds me of what then President Julius Nye ere had said: that Education is not only in terms of obtaining teachers, engineers, scientists and administrators but it is the education of the mind. Education means that we work for the common good and foster co-operation- give back to the Community.
This is the message that these two gentlemen Giri and Bhav are establishing for each one of us today through the Indian Weekender- Give back to the Community.
Within a few months of starting, they met Arvind & Rohan, a talented duo who had embarked upon a news website called Sandesh aimed at the Kiwi Indians. Mr. Gupta with his charismatic enigma ended up convincing both Arvind & Rohan and thus the indianweekender.co.nz was born which rose to be the most visited Indian focussed website on both sides of the Tasman.
If you all remember, IPAD was officially launched in NZ on the 22nd of July 2010. With a desire to be ahead of its time, Indian Weekender launched its IPAD version on its first anniversary function held on the 24th of March 2010 and Hon Maurice Williamson was one of the first few people in NZ to have imported an IPAD and he kindly consented to show off his IPAD as well as the Indian Weekender IPAD version to the nearly 200 people who had gathered to celebrate the first anniversary. For those who remember, even a special edition wine – labelled as Indian Weekender was also launched on the occasion and for the record sits as a collectors item in my personal wine rack.
Over the years, this newspaper has kept its high standards of reporting as well as presentation which has been made possible due to the healthy funding provided by both Giri Gupta & Bhav Dhillon. Apart from financial resources, both of them have devoted invaluable time and energy for this non profit making project.
For those who have still not figured this out, Indian Weekender is not about making money –it is about empowering the community, it is about empowering you and Profits if any, will be channelised into their preferred Charities like St Johns. .
The team at Indian Weekender has worked hard and burnt the proverbial midnight oil to bring it to its current status. Rohan the technology wiz of the team has also launched the Indian Weekender APP which was launched a few months ago – so those who have yet not downloaded the free app – please do so and keep in touch with the news and events in NZ and abroad.
Indian Weekender has donned the mantle of being an out and out newspaper for the Indian community as it has supported almost every social and religious event held in the past four years.
It is a 32 page full colour tabloid which is cut and stapled for improved aesthetics and ease of reading. I would be surprised if anyone would say that the paper quality, look & feel is any way less than the NZ Herald. To be compared with the national newspaper is indeed a great achievement for this humble newspaper of the Kiwi Indians.
This newspaper has tirelessly written only positive things about our fellow Kiwi Indians and has to date never ever written anything negative about any individual. The vision is to create positive role models for our Children and encourage them and instil pride in them to be proud Kiwi Indians.
This newspaper is to support and celebrate all the unsung heroes in our community.
Spanned over 4 years, this is the eventful journey of this publication – made possible by this visionary duo of Giri & Bhav with the support and encouragement from the community and every individual in this august gathering.
History has thus been created and a platform provided for our community to express and celebrate their successes and achievements and address the need of the Community-and to seriously reflect on not what the Community can do for you but what you can do for the Community.
Onwards and upwards from here ….....This is YOUR newspaper …in the words of Giri and Bhav- Take ownership .and is thus aptly called INDIAN WEEKENDER – THE PULSE OF THE KIWI INDIAN – JAI HIND."