Captions by Alana Cruikshank. Edited by Glenna Casalme. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 GENTLE ELECTRONICA MUSIC Eden Terrace is a tiny pocket of inner-city Auckland bounded by the motorway on one side and train tracks on the other. MUSIC CONTINUES Its old-school charms have held developers at bay for decades, and you can still find rows of Victorian shopfronts next to turn-of-the-century villas less than 2 K's away from Queen Street. GENTLE ELECTRONICA MUSIC My mother's parents are from Samoa. My father's mother is from Mangaia, in the Cook Islands, and his father's family were Irish. But Eden Terrace is the place my family calls home. We have great neighbours from a range of ethnic backgrounds. This is a hard-working neighbourhood that draws in entrepreneurs and big thinkers. Let me introduce you to some of the diverse people from our hood. We'll meet an artist born in China who is inspired by the practical solutions people find to life's challenges,... Being an artist, we were told to make things, but by looking at things like this, you realise it's not just artists who do that; it's, like, everyday people. ...a couple from India dish up a vast array of delights. It is important to keep the culture alive. If the culture dies, its language dies. Language dies means the food will slowly disappear too. A local man shares the story of his Italian grandfather's unsung heroism,... One of the thing that he really wanted me to know was that he was scared. He` He always said it. 'I was scared to death, 'but, uh, we were there, all together, to do something, and we had to do it'. ...and we'll tune in to the voice of NZ's Hindi community. Personally, as a presenter, I get to meet many people, so many listeners that we talk to on the radio but we haven't seen. But it's at such events that we get to see them, to interact with our listeners, with the community and know what's happening out there, so I think it's very important to be a part of community events. I'm Courtney Sina Meredith, and this is my neighbourhood. MELLOW GUITAR MUSIC I'm a writer, and this is my publisher. Beatnik fit right into this area. They're innovative and enterprising but also very supportive. MUSIC CONTINUES These guys published my first book and were right there with me at the world's largest book fair in Frankfurt. Split/fountain is another creative Eden Terrace business. Xin Cheng has found it a very supportive environment for creating art inspired by her travels. SOFT ELECTRONICA MUSIC I was born in Kunming, in China. I came to NZ in 1996, when I was 13. My parents decided that we'd have a better life, and I would get a better education here in NZ. I studied science first, but then I decided, no, I really want to try being an artist, so I studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours at Elam. So, the project on Waiheke is part of the Headland Sculpture Trail. Um, I'm working on this work with Chris Berthelsen. I guess both Chris and I had been doing lots of research on things made by everyday people and just these sort of makeshift ways that people have used very frugal materials. And so that's why we've sourced all the materials from the island, and most are just junk and rubbish. CHATTER I guess I like the fact that they are just there, lying around. There's nothing prestigious about the materials themselves. So in that sense, anyone can make use of them. Usually when we get here, some things would have changed, so we look around and photograph some of the things that people have done. The photographs become part of this resource that we're constantly building. SOFT TECHNO MUSIC When I went to art school, we had a class that was about making things on a shoestring, and it was all about using found objects. But at the same time, I started looking at how other people used these frugal materials. And so I started collecting photos of these sorts of creations. So I went Cambodia for a few times last year and the year before, and I was really inspired by all these makeshift creations that people had made, often seen on the side of the road, because that's pretty much their living space. Well, I guess this is quite an easy one, where a plank of wood is added to the back of the bike so that they could carry more load. This, which is like a store for selling palm sugar. I think that's really great. I think one thing about being an artist is that we were told to make things, but by looking at things like this, you realise it's not just artists who do that; it's, like, everyday people, and they have, you know, the same kind of creativity as, you know, what's called artists. UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC So the new project at split/fountain ` the idea is to use the resource of photos and things I've collected over the years in various parts of the world and seeing how they can be applied to other situations or used as starting point for discussions about` about public spaces and also what you could do on an everyday kind of level. Well, I guess the latest thing that I'm very fascinated by is this kind of wrapping around the bookcase. I wanted a way of displaying these photos without having to fix them on to the shelf with tape, and so I thought of using the inner tube of bikes and cut-up tyre strips. UPBEAT MUSIC GROWS CHATTER Oh my God, that's awesome. Oh my God, that's awesome. (CHUCKLES) Those are quite cool. Oh my God, that's awesome. (CHUCKLES) Those are quite cool. BOTH LAUGH It's good to see things being repurposed and used in different ways, especially unexpected ways, I guess. So, yeah. It's, like, nice to find, like, in amongst the photos, sort of, these things that, like, kind of go together well, even though they're obviously from completely different places. In the future, I'm interested to move beyond the gallery system and make things that are part of everyday life. I guess things like running workshops with people on how to make things for themselves. Yeah, I would like to, you know, keep on working on how materials can be reused rather than adding to the landfill. ELECTRONICA MUSIC Mmm. What do you think? What do you think? It's beautiful. What do you think? It's beautiful. (LAUGHS) Um,... (CHUCKLES) this is my grandpa, John. This is my mother, Kim, and my grandpa makes the best oka in the whole wide world. It's definitely my favourite food, I think. ELECTRONICA MUSIC CONTINUES My grandmother, Rita Sina Meredith, whose middle name I share, passed away when I was only 6. I remember her as being incredibly hard-working, always there for the family. She was my hero. Maurizio Piglia, who owns a restaurant here in Eden Terrace, held his grandfather in high regard, but it wasn't until recently that his family discovered the true extent of his heroism during World War II. MELLOW GUITAR MUSIC I love Eden Terrace. It` It is a lively crossroad. It's` It's a nice vibe. I like the place, and it's a good place for doing business. This is my restaurant, together with a few partners. It's called Ika. I was born in Milano, in Italy. I came to NZ in 2007 ` um, April 2007. 16. I had the sensation that there was something very, very, very bad coming in the economy of, uh, Europe, particularly. I chose NZ because, it's, uh` basically it's the safest place, and also because I could find someone who wanted my skills in NZ at the time. Having, uh, this place and running, uh, this place, it's, uh` it's a nice` it's a nice passion. It's a nice hobby. And my other main hobby is military history. LILTING PIANO MUSIC The military history bug was, uh` was given to me by my father. That's me as a child, Mum and Dad, which are pretty recognisable in their younger` in their younger years. They` This was more or less the` the age in which my father was` was, uh, telling me a lot of stories that he read on books and got me interested into` into the military stories as adventurous, as, uh` as part of this great thing that crossed all over the world, which was World War II. This is Grand` Grandfather when he was a younger` a young beau. Very` Very dapper, very handsome. (LAUGHS) A very handsome man. You look like him. (LAUGHS) Slightly, slightly, yeah. Slightly, slightly, yeah. A little bit. A little bit. (LAUGHS) Grandfather was` was part of the` of the resistance, particularly after German occupation, and, uh, yes, uh, Grandfather and others sabotaged the production of the` of the ammunition factory ` not to` not to have the ammunition reach the German army. These are his, uh, Socialist Party cards, but the first two, this one and this, are 1944 and 1945. So this was dangerous stuff to carry in the pocket at that time. You got, uh, a one-way ticket for Germany, for deportation in the camps, for just holding them. It did take a risk, but they were, uh, ready to stand up for their convictions and pay if that was the price to pay. That was that. He was a man of integrity ` I would accept it ` he would never call himself brave, because he said one of the thing that he really wanted me to know about his, uh` his brief couple of days of firefight was that he was scared. He always said it, 'I was scared to death, but we were there all together to do something, and we had to do it.' MID-TEMPO PIANO MUSIC My interest in re-enactment came, uh... now is 20 years ago. We call it military re-enactment, yes. We do dress up in uniform, and we do also mock battles, uh, firing blanks, but we do it basically for the entertainment purpose, because, you know, um, giving back, uh, the sensation of what a battle could have been on a rugby field... (LAUGHS) may become a little bit awkward. But, anyway, uh, the` the part I really like more is the part of displaying camp and equipment and talking to people. What is this uniform? What is this uniform? It's, uh, the first Rifle Regiment, which is Canterbury, here. All my` All my mates here are` The two are Auckland Regiments. For me, it's just trying to remember that there were people that left the family, left everything and went to fight, and` and most, in many cases die in the mud of faraway countries. GUNFIRE I do imagine what it was like for these men to put it on and go into battle, but whatever I could imagine, it's probably one-tenth of the reality. For them it was a moral decision to go and` and fight, but then it was also life and death, which for us is just, uh` it's just fun with our hobby for one day or a couple of days. I hope that my grandfather looks to` he looks down and he understand that I do it to remember the choices he made, not to glorify something that he didn't like. TECHNO MUSIC One of the things I like best about Eden Terrace is taking my brothers down to Basque Park to play soccer. I was lucky growing up. I had friends from similar backgrounds who brought out the best in me. At times, I did feel different growing up, but I came to realise that my differences were actually my strengths. I remember counting my special powers on my fingers ` brown, female, writer. I believed I could do anything because I came from a line of strong warrior women ` ancestors who had given everything to those around them. Establishing a sense of belonging is so important for any minority group. Since Radio Tarana set up shop here in Eden Terrace 20 years ago, they've given NZ's Hindi community a powerful voice. SLOW ELECTRONICA MUSIC My name is Hemant Parikh. I was born in Gujarat, which is a state in India, and I was probably about 12, I think, when I came to NZ, which was back in '86. And then I did my, um, intermediate and high schooling here, and then after that, uh, Robert Khan, the CEO of Radio Tarana then, he had an idea of starting up a radio station, and, um, hence we both sort of clicked, and things started rolling. Well, from` from the start of Radio Tarana, the objective was to make it grow based on population needs. And as the population grew over the years, our` our station grew. Good afternoon! (SPEAKS INDIAN LANGUAGE) And we estimated the population to be somewhere around 38,000 to 45,000. Fast-forward to 2015, the population has grown well over 150,000. When I say Indians, I'm` by that, I refer to Indians as a whole in NZ, so they come from countries like India; they come from countries like Fiji. We also have people from Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore. So the, um, you know` The interest is very vast. SOFT TECHNO MUSIC We at Radio Tarana have been involved with many events, right from community events to international events, and, um, these events, uh, unite the people. There's so much celebration, togetherness. Events like Fiji Festival and Diwali Festival in 2005 at Aotea Centre was filled with so many people. We had a Bollywood star and Bollywood dance competitions, so it was one of those events that you don't forget even 10 years later. There's a few years of history here. If we, um, had all the 20 years of history, we'd be filling up many walls, but this is just some of it. EASY-GOING MUSIC CHATTER The Indian Community has events throughout the year. Our calendar's really busy. So, how is the kite festival? So, how is the kite festival? Awesome, man. Awesome. So, how is the kite festival? Awesome, man. Awesome. BOTH SPEAK HINDI In India, there's three festivals celebrated simultaneously in South, in North and in Gujarat. Across India, there's celebrations going on. The kite festival is change of season, so from the winter to a little bit of warmth we get into, and people celebrate. A lot of people get out on the roofs, flying kites in the villages, the cities, and the whole city's flooded with kites. CHATTER, SHOUTING (SPEAKS INDIAN LANGUAGE) How are you enjoying the kite-flying today? (SPEAKS INDIAN LANGUAGE) How are you enjoying the kite-flying today? Very fun. Very fun. We come in the morning. It's nice. Um, wind` Required wind is there. Now a little bit less, but we still enjoy it. Such events do make us connected, um, as a community. We come together to celebrate together. So you definitely feel the presence of your community out here, cos otherwise, everyone is sitting in their own homes and their own suburbs and probably not meeting up as much as we get to meet when we come together at such events. The fun part is` is to be part of the community, meeting them. They come and say hello to you. Some oldies will bless you. Some youngsters will say, 'Oh, that's the uncle who does the radio programme.' Not that we look like uncles, but, yeah, it's been` uh, it's fun to be here at the events, and I love them. As a presenter, I get to meet so many people, so many listeners we talk to on the radio but we haven't seen. It's at such events that we get to see them, to interact with our listeners, with the community and know what's happening out there, what is it that they need, how we can help as a radio station, what's our responsibility, how we can contribute, so I think it's very important to be a part of community events. UPBEAT ELECTRONICA MUSIC I think, uh, the most thing that we're proud of is that we're still existing. We are serving the community for so long and doing it so well. I mean, there's so many people here who are away from their home, their loved ones, and we put that entertainment aspect back in their life, where they forget their loneliness. Whether they come straight from work, they feel a bit relaxed back driving home, sleeping at night, getting up in the morning and listening to something devotional and getting good vibes for the day. So I think around the clock, Radio Tarana's team, we put in such programming that the community has hooked on to it, and, um, yeah, we are so proud that we served the community for so long and our community supports us in big numbers. DREAMY ELECTRONICA MUSIC This is the Kings Arms Tavern, one of the oldest pubs in Auckland and a legendary live music venue. It's a rite of passage for bands, and even the occasional poet, to perform here. MUSIC BUILDS CHATTER In many ways, this place feels like the essence of my neighbourhood. It's a bit rustic, with a great sense of community. People remember each other and stop to catch up. Another Eden Terrace institution is the Mahatma Ghandi Centre. It's home to many cultural events and some spectacular feasts. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC My name is Parshottambhai Govind,... ...and my name is Indira Govind. I was born in India ` Navsari. And I was born in Waipukurau, NZ. Well, we met in India. I was on` I was on a holiday sort of um` world-trip holiday with my own family, and that's where I met Parshott. Our meeting was arranged by the families. The family had more to say than us, but the final decision was ours to say yes or no. That's how we, sort of, got to know each other, and yeah. Well, I arrived in NZ in 1972. We were settled in Taupo, and that's where we got married, in Taupo. It was a good wedding. It was a good wedding. Those days, there wasn't very many people in NZ. Even though, we had nearly 250, uh, guests attended our wedding in Taupo. UPBEAT MUSIC We came to Auckland towards the end of 1983 for young children, young family, to familiarise with the Indian culture, language and the people, so more for the social life. The Mahatma Ghandi Centre is, uh, situated at 145 New North Rd, Eden Terrace, Auckland. Our involvements from the beginning is executive members. We enjoy every bit of it when we get together for when we prepare the food for either some functions or weddings. Well, at the moment there are nearly 40 of us working all in the kitchen. We're preparing lunch for today's wedding for 550 people. CHATTER POTS CLANG ALL CONVERSE IN INDIAN LANGUAGE I think these ladies are working very hard. Thank you, ladies. It's going to be mainly vegetarian and one sweet ` deep-fried chapattis, or we call it puri, and so forth. Well, we are doing our puris for the wedding, which will be... a 12` 12 o'clock wedding, eh? a 12` 12 o'clock wedding, eh? < 12.30. a 12` 12 o'clock wedding, eh? < 12.30. 12 o'clock wedding. We started 5 o'clock in the morning, and the cooks all arrive around about that time. GENTLE TECHNO MUSIC We roll them, and then we put them there to get it dried, and then we take it into the kitchen and get it fried. Everybody here is all volunteer workers. We just ring them up, and they'll` they'll come. Oh, we just love it, because we enjoy it. We have a good old laugh. No, it` It is good. It is good. SOFT PIANO MUSIC Our involvement with Mahatma Gandhi is more important because it is a cultural place. It is important to keep the culture alive. If not, then, uh... If the culture dies, its language dies. Language dies means the food will sort of disappear too. Actually though, you know, the Ghandi Centre, their people always cook the nice food. Yes. And we're enjoying the food. We've just come from Wellington, and we're just dying for lunch, and it's beautiful. Well, it's a credit to all the cooks and all the helpers who have prepared this lunch, and I think, uh, that's what the enjoyment we get ` people that eat the food and they enjoy the food. UPLIFTING PIANO MUSIC The bride looks absolutely gorgeous,... And the groom is handsome. And the groom is handsome. ...and the groom is really really nice. Very very nice-looking couple. For us, I think it is very important, that we get involved in the community so our children can understand not just to get involved in the community but to preserve the culture, language and heritage. Well, I think it is what we'd done ` hard work, providing, cooking the food for guests. I think it's all worthwhile, and hopefully the bride and bridegroom will enjoy their food also and their parents will appreciate what we have done for them today. EASY-GOING GUITAR MUSIC Eden Terrace is an interesting spot. My neighbours come from all walks of life. This is a suburb that draws in passionate people, from students to entrepreneurs alike. COFFEE GRINDER WHIRRS One of the things I particularly love about Eden Terrace is my local cafe, Goodness Gracious. Greg and his team take such great care of my family. When my mum went into hospital last year, they gave me a bag of treats to take up to her ward. It was really special. We live in a neighbourhood surrounded by caring and authentic people. I truly couldn't ask for more than that. Captions by Alana Cruikshank. Edited by Glenna Casalme. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015