Julie & Kishore Read Free Page B

realise his greatest challenge was all things Kiwi. Words he
had never heard before such as ‘mate,’ - his cousin had
already called him ‘mate’ twice, chilly bin, fish and chips – pronounced ‘ fush un chups ,’ pavlova, stoked, awesome and the word ‘aye’ or ‘eh’ at the end of a sentence.
Why would people use the word ‘aye ?' He came to
understand it was a term commonly used after asking a question, when you want
the person to agree with you, such as, “It’s nice weather outside today, aye?”

 
    As
Akarsh drove, the needle on his car speedometer never wavered, remaining firmly
on the speed limit of 100km per hour. Kishore, lost in his thoughts caught
sight of the road signs on the other
side of the motorway as they flashed past, Mangere, Onehunga...he wondered how on earth were those
names were pronounced? He soon came to realise some words didn’t sound as they
were written, which absolutely confused him such as: chemist, picturesque,
island, knife, photo and pharmacy.

 
    As
they exited the motorway and entered a suburban area the car finally slowed to
a more moderate pace. Kishore was intrigued at the pedestrians walking along
the footpath. Men wearing wrinkled shirts and shorts with jandals which showed their splayed bare feet. Women with pink
painted lips, squeezed into short skirts and tiny t-shirts. Kishore wondered
why would people go out of the house looking so casual, immodest and why didn’t
they iron their clothes?

 
    Finally
Akarsh drove into the driveway of Kishore’s Aunt’s home. He was happy to see
his Aunt and Uncle but even happier that now the wheels of the next stage of
his life could begin to turn. He had crossed the biggest hurdle , he was here.
    He
was surprised to see their house. It seemed so big. In fact it was a typical
Kiwi house made of brick, with three bedrooms, a garage
underneath and a big back yard. Once inside and after being shown to the room
he was to share with Akarsh, he was eager to take on his next big challenge, to
secure employment. Kishore, determined to find a position in accounting as soon
as possible asked his Aunt for the Situations Vacant section from the
newspaper. Aunt Bhamini said, “You must take a few day’s rest, Kishore, you may
suffer from jet lag, get yourself settled first.”
     
    But
Kishore was impatient, his new life beckoned him, he wanted to get started.

 
 
    CHAPTER FIVE

 
    The Hindi word for happy is khushi.

 
    It
was a wonderful time growing up in New Zealand (godzone) in the late seventies and early eighties.
    The
hippie era was ending and the emergence of computers, big haircuts and even
bigger mobile phones was beginning. A melting pot of a diverse range of
cultures had just begun to arrive on these shores. New Zealand, still young and
under the umbrella of England, was a country known for its peace and beauty but
also for its own certain individuality with its unique icons: L&P, paua
shells, rugby, beetroot, swandris and Watties tomato sauce.

 
    The
fond memories from my childhood were carefree and happy.
            Mum and Dad raised us three kids in a
typical New Zealand middle class neighbourhood. Quaint wooden 'Neil' houses (a
building company that built many new homes in subdivisions around Auckland)
lined the streets of the community we lived in. Dad and Mum bought their house
with their combined life savings and as newlyweds, with suitcases in hand,
moved into the contemporary neighbourhood. Over the years as the houses around
them being constructed rose from the ground, the landscape changed from vast
empty plots, to the neighbourhoods that exist today. Although the layout of
each house was basically the same, each had a different appearance, unique in
its own way. The area was designed for young families and was dubbed Nappy Valley due to the many cloth
nappies that hung on washing lines and flapped in the breeze.

 
    Mum,
Helen was a housewife while Dad, Peter worked for the AEPB