Celebrating the tricolour in Canterbury
"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom."
Those were words of the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru when he addressed the nation on August 15, 1947.
Since then, we have come a long way. While no one can disagree that we still have a long way to go before India attains its rightful place in the world as a "civilizational powerhouse", the country—home to one-sixth of humanity, and world's third largest economy as well as the largest democracy—has taken giant strides towards that goal in the past 70 years.
These sentiments above were in full flow the past weekend in Christchurch and nearby areas, as the Indian community in Canterbury celebrated Independence Day with patriotic vigour.
"The Indian diaspora, always a large and dynamic entity all around the world, is composed of two main divisions. First is, people like me, first generation immigrants, who have lived a part of their lives in India and are familiar with what Independence Day means back home. [The] other section is the second and third generation immigrants who have not actually lived in India and may be unfamiliar with the emotions associated with August 15. So such celebrations are an effort on our part to remember our home country as well as share our history with Kiwi-Indians and the wider community," said Deepak Sharma, a volunteer with the city-based Indian Social and Cultural Club that was instrumental in organising the Club's mid-winter Ekta festival on August 13, part of Independence Day celebrations in Christchurch.
Indian Cultural Group
The weekend-long celebrations started with a potluck dinner and a special quiz night organised by the Indian Cultural Group (ICG) on August 12 at the TeHapuaHalswell Centre. The quiz master was Dr Krishna Badami, an oncologist at Christchurch Hospital, and the host was Dr Kishore Malhotra from Sydney. In line with the patriotic feel of the evening, there were few dance and song performances as well.
Paayal Sharma, a journalist who has recently moved to Christchurch from India and is still adjusting to the life in New Zealand, was overwhelmed with emotions while listening to the patriotic songs being played throughout the evening.
"While nothing can replace celebrating Independence Day back home with friends and family, celebrations [such as] these bring back those memories even if it is for a sole evening. We won our freedom after a hard-fought struggle spread over a century. It's important that our young generation doesn't forget this."
Christchurch City Councillor, Jimmy Chen, who was the chief guest at the event, congratulated the gathering on India's Independence Day and thanked them for making the city a vibrant place full of colours.
Indian Social and Cultural Club
This was followed by the Indian Social and Cultural Club's Ekta festival on Saturday, August 13.
The concert-style three-hour-long celebration saw 21 performances from almost 135 participants. These included the Bollywood Dreams company, the Bharatnatyam Group of Christchurch, Nirosha and Group, Jalsa Hip Hop, and Laasya Kerela.
(3) But the highlight of the evening was the part rendition of Subhadra Kumari Chauhan's famous poem on one of India's greatest women freedom fighters, Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi.
"We had around 650 people attending the festival, which shows the strong connection Indian diaspora in Christchurch feels towards Indian history and culture," said Natu Rama, President of the Club, whose family moved to New Zealand from Gujarat 100 years back.
Rama, in his speech, spoke about Christchurch's connection with India and shared the story of how the Cashmere area in Christchurch got its name after India's Kashmir (the story was covered in this newspaper in one of our previous issues).
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, National List MP based in Manukau East, and Jo Hayes, National List MP based in Christchurch East, were the chief guests during the event.
"In the last eight years that I have been in the Parliament, I have seen the contribution of the Indian community grow leaps and bounds in New Zealand's success. This is a testimony to our shared ethos, and commitment to human democratic values,” noted Bakshi, while inviting the gathering to the opening ceremony of Global Indianz Canterbury on Friday.
The club also organised a special tricolour hoisting ceremony on August 15, at 7:30 a.m. in Latimer Square in the city's CBD. The event ended with the gathering singing India's national anthem.
Corporate world
The city's corporate world was also not far behind in recognising and honouring India's freedom struggle. “Our company, AuCom Electronics, which is one of the firms in Christchurch with the most diverse workforce, will be flying the tricolour throughout this week to mark the Indian Independence Day,” said Shirish Paranjape, the International Sales Manager of the company who moved to Christchurch from Mumbai in 2002.
Brent Archer, CEO of AuCom added, “This has been the tradition in our company over the last 15 years, and our small way of honouring what Indians achieved.”
Timaru
The South Canterbury Indian Cultural Society, a non-profit based in Timaru, also organised a Disco Night on August 13, to mark the Indian independence, as well as provide an opportunity to new immigrants from India to get to know the local community.
"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom."
Those were words of the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru when he addressed the nation on August 15, 1947.
Since then, we have come a long way. While no one can disagree that we still...
"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom."
Those were words of the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru when he addressed the nation on August 15, 1947.
Since then, we have come a long way. While no one can disagree that we still have a long way to go before India attains its rightful place in the world as a "civilizational powerhouse", the country—home to one-sixth of humanity, and world's third largest economy as well as the largest democracy—has taken giant strides towards that goal in the past 70 years.
These sentiments above were in full flow the past weekend in Christchurch and nearby areas, as the Indian community in Canterbury celebrated Independence Day with patriotic vigour.
"The Indian diaspora, always a large and dynamic entity all around the world, is composed of two main divisions. First is, people like me, first generation immigrants, who have lived a part of their lives in India and are familiar with what Independence Day means back home. [The] other section is the second and third generation immigrants who have not actually lived in India and may be unfamiliar with the emotions associated with August 15. So such celebrations are an effort on our part to remember our home country as well as share our history with Kiwi-Indians and the wider community," said Deepak Sharma, a volunteer with the city-based Indian Social and Cultural Club that was instrumental in organising the Club's mid-winter Ekta festival on August 13, part of Independence Day celebrations in Christchurch.
Indian Cultural Group
The weekend-long celebrations started with a potluck dinner and a special quiz night organised by the Indian Cultural Group (ICG) on August 12 at the TeHapuaHalswell Centre. The quiz master was Dr Krishna Badami, an oncologist at Christchurch Hospital, and the host was Dr Kishore Malhotra from Sydney. In line with the patriotic feel of the evening, there were few dance and song performances as well.
Paayal Sharma, a journalist who has recently moved to Christchurch from India and is still adjusting to the life in New Zealand, was overwhelmed with emotions while listening to the patriotic songs being played throughout the evening.
"While nothing can replace celebrating Independence Day back home with friends and family, celebrations [such as] these bring back those memories even if it is for a sole evening. We won our freedom after a hard-fought struggle spread over a century. It's important that our young generation doesn't forget this."
Christchurch City Councillor, Jimmy Chen, who was the chief guest at the event, congratulated the gathering on India's Independence Day and thanked them for making the city a vibrant place full of colours.
Indian Social and Cultural Club
This was followed by the Indian Social and Cultural Club's Ekta festival on Saturday, August 13.
The concert-style three-hour-long celebration saw 21 performances from almost 135 participants. These included the Bollywood Dreams company, the Bharatnatyam Group of Christchurch, Nirosha and Group, Jalsa Hip Hop, and Laasya Kerela.
(3) But the highlight of the evening was the part rendition of Subhadra Kumari Chauhan's famous poem on one of India's greatest women freedom fighters, Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi.
"We had around 650 people attending the festival, which shows the strong connection Indian diaspora in Christchurch feels towards Indian history and culture," said Natu Rama, President of the Club, whose family moved to New Zealand from Gujarat 100 years back.
Rama, in his speech, spoke about Christchurch's connection with India and shared the story of how the Cashmere area in Christchurch got its name after India's Kashmir (the story was covered in this newspaper in one of our previous issues).
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, National List MP based in Manukau East, and Jo Hayes, National List MP based in Christchurch East, were the chief guests during the event.
"In the last eight years that I have been in the Parliament, I have seen the contribution of the Indian community grow leaps and bounds in New Zealand's success. This is a testimony to our shared ethos, and commitment to human democratic values,” noted Bakshi, while inviting the gathering to the opening ceremony of Global Indianz Canterbury on Friday.
The club also organised a special tricolour hoisting ceremony on August 15, at 7:30 a.m. in Latimer Square in the city's CBD. The event ended with the gathering singing India's national anthem.
Corporate world
The city's corporate world was also not far behind in recognising and honouring India's freedom struggle. “Our company, AuCom Electronics, which is one of the firms in Christchurch with the most diverse workforce, will be flying the tricolour throughout this week to mark the Indian Independence Day,” said Shirish Paranjape, the International Sales Manager of the company who moved to Christchurch from Mumbai in 2002.
Brent Archer, CEO of AuCom added, “This has been the tradition in our company over the last 15 years, and our small way of honouring what Indians achieved.”
Timaru
The South Canterbury Indian Cultural Society, a non-profit based in Timaru, also organised a Disco Night on August 13, to mark the Indian independence, as well as provide an opportunity to new immigrants from India to get to know the local community.
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