Since it is the end of the year and everyone is rejoicing in the festive spirit, Auckland saw yet another Kiwi-Indian community's Christmas celebration.
The event was organised by New Zealand Telugu Association (NZTA) and took place in Waikowhai Room at Fickling Convention Centre in Three Kings.
Around 60 people attended this event, including known faces from the community such as Dr Vijaya Dasari, Siva Kilari and Rani Nallam.
The event on Saturday (December 17) started with attendees offering prayers to the Lord Jesus, led by Rev Paul, Pastor of the Nazarene church. Guests were also seen enjoying carols sung by Sister Charity Ruth Ongoor and assisted by Paul on the guitar.
As no Christmas celebration is complete without gift distribution by Santa, this event also saw guests getting visibly excited as they received gifts from Santa.
Everyone, including children and adults alike, were seen participating in the family fun games organised by NZTA committee members.
The family fun-filled event culminated with guests enjoying delicious lunch.
One of the guests, Swati Reddy, told the Indian Weekender, " It was a well-organised event. I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the games, especially musical chairs. It was a great event and gave an opportunity to celebrate Christmas with our Telugu community."
It may be noted that earlier, this event was supposed to happen at Coyle Park at Pt Chev, but due to the uncertain weather, the organisers had to change the venue last minute.
Says Suneel Kuncha, General Secretary, NZTA, “Even though there was a last-minute change to the venue, it was encouraging to see members coming along and joining us for the Christmas celebrations. It was great to see our NZTA family having a gala time. All the team members were pleased by how things worked out in the end."