Author Khalid Masood once said, "The world is the body, and India is its life." And that explains why Indians, despite staying away from their motherland, still hold a very close connection with India.
And in the context of New Zealand, the Indian cultural associations have been playing an incredible role in keeping this connection strong.
In this tenth part of our series featuring Indian cultural associations in NZ, we look at Auckland Tamil Association (ATA), which was established in 2014 and currently caters to some 110 registered Kiwi Tamilians families. Its mission is ‘to tap the boundless energy, creativity, and ideas, and fully harness the potential of its members for the betterment of the Tamil community in Auckland.’
According to ATA President Vai Ravindran, “ATA was established on November 23rd 2014, during a small family organised by me, to unite the Tamil community in Auckland. We endeavour to work for the Tamil community's well-being, preserve the Tamil culture, and work for the society on humanitarian endeavours.”
Those responsible for its formation are its founding members, including Suresh E, Ganesh RV, Ashwin.T, Meenakshi.V, Murali Kumar, Prakesh.R, Ponnappa M.M, Gayathri.C, Umayal.R, Vikram.M, Barani.R, Sridhar.C and Nagesh.N.
Initially, the association created a Facebook page to bring all the Kiwi Tamil community members together. The Facebook page now consists of almost 3,300 members and 3,446 people following, irrespective of their language.
“We want to keep all the Tamil community members connected and updated about the upcoming events organised by the association through our FB page. Apart from that, we regularly update our website://aucklandtamilassociation.co.nz with the details about our past and future events," says Vai.
Since ATA is committed to promoting the Tamil language, it organises and teaches the Tamil language in NZ through its Tamil language classes at the Auckland Tamil School. The Level 1 and Level 2 classes are held every Saturday from 2:30 pm to 4: 30 pm at Onehunga Community Centre, and Level 3 are held at ATA Community centre. “The only identity we leave for our children is Tamil, so bring your children to see how they learn to say Thirukurral, Aathi Chudi and many more,” says Vai.
ATA aims to provide a base for Tamil and broader Indian youth to participate in cultural, sports, media and arts events and give advice on employment-related issues and provide comprehensive social support services for new Tamil and Indian immigrants.
“Our association is actively engaging with the Tamil and non-Tamil community to spread our rich Tamil culture and heritage through various social, cultural and educational initiatives. From celebrating cultural festivals such as the Tamil New Year, Pongal, Diwali and Christmas to collecting donations for the society to organising sports events, ATA has been actively engaging with the Tamil Indian diaspora in NZ,” explains Vai.
The upcoming calendar for ATA is packed with events such as a workshop for the first home buyer, India's Independence Day celebration and well-being seminars, among others. There is something special planned for Diwali and Pongal next year where performers from overseas will be flying in.
For example, in their first phase of donation during the pandemic, they collected and sent an amount of NZD 1200. With this money, they provided rice and basic groceries for 50 families in Thoothukudi.
On March 27 this year, ATA launched its first Community Centre at the corner of Hillsborough Road and Cape Horn Road in Mt Roskill. Vai says, “It is a community centre for the community by the community and creates a sense of belonging, especially for the diasporic community. It helps create opportunities for like-minded people to congregate and paves the way for our heritage to be passed on to the next generation.”
As a concluding remark, Vai shares his vision for ATA, saying, "The traditions, culture and language are important identity markers for any community. Our association is relentlessly working towards the same for the Tamil community. We want to go beyond celebrations and serve the wider community at all levels.”
ISSUE
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