For any Indian cultural organisation in New Zealand, it is no small achievement to be able to keep bonding across the community for more than 25 years. But the Auckland Marathi Association (AMAI) has been successfully catering to the city’s Marathi-speaking diaspora since 1995.
In the sixth part of our special series on the ethnic-cultural associations in NZ, we focus on AMAI and its work for the Marathi Indian community and much more.
“AMAI started as a home away from home for people of Marathi origin in NZ in 1995. Twenty-seven years back, a few families from Maharashtra felt the need to bond around our shared culture and identity in a new land, NZ, which they were still learning to call home. We aim to be an extended family for all Marathi people. It is a platform for all Marathi people to get together, celebrate talent, share culture and bond in different events (in person or virtual). We are an easy-going committee,” reveals AMAI President Vishal Patil.
Patil said this year they have also started ‘AMAI Katta’ for people to interact with each other and ‘AMAI Career’ for people to publish, seek jobs, or seek career guidance.
AMAI has more than 500 members; however, in a true sense, it caters to more than 5000 Marathi people in and around Auckland. “We provide an unbiased platform for people to propose and be part of any event that helps the community. We’ve also seen some people connect in AMAI events like Chaha Katta and find friends for a lifetime,” explains Patil.
Some of their Facebook events have more than 10000 views and visitors from Tauranga, Hamilton. Interestingly, they even ship their annual Diwali Anka (publication) to members in Hamilton.
There are many events throughout the year that are celebrated with zest and zeal by AMAI, which has one of the youngest executive committees of any cultural association.
“We celebrate Ganesh Utsav, Diwali Pahat, sports day and various other programs. Our events have dance, music, games and delicious food. We also work with external parties to get more Marathi content in NZ, like Marathi movies. We recently concluded the first season of Auckland Maharashtra Cricket League and celebrated Maharashtra state formation Day, Anand Jatra, on 1 May at Mt Eden War Memorial. It is always easy to connect with people who speak the same language and share the same background. Moreover, life is a festival and nothing better than celebrating it like back home, at your new home,” says Patil.
According to Patil, the strength of AMAI lies in making sure that the community remains connected to its root while they adopt the new modern avatar. “It is exhilarating to see new people coming to events and find new friends, as we adopt the cool avatar while keeping our roots to traditions. It is wonderful to see teams being formed during sports and the families connecting later. The fact that we have been able to provide a platform for existing talent to perform, inspiring the new generation and supporting our people when they go through tough times is wonderful. After all, AMAI is our family and being an enabler through volunteering is a matter of great satisfaction and pride.”
Giving an insight into AMAI’s future, Patil says, “We are trying to get a larger space for the next Ganesh Utsav and simplify our technology backend. In June, we'll have our AGM before handing it over to the new committee for the next two years. We’d also like to connect with Marathi Students and make it easy for them to integrate with larger groups.”