Kiwi-Indian experience explored
Despite being a Kiwi Sananda Chatterjee still gets told to go back to where she came from.
The Indian-born Aucklander has co-written Swabhoomi: Borrowed Earth, an original play which explores the 150 year history of Indians living in New Zealand.
Set to be performed by Auckland-based Prayas Theatre Company, the show mixes fact with fiction and shares various stories of the Indian experience in New Zealand.
Chatterjee, who moved to New Zealand 15 years ago, said Prayas regarded the play as an exercise in researching the history of Indians in New Zealand.
‘‘We’ve talked about migration in kind of an almost romanticised way but we wanted to get to the ground realities and find the history of Indians in New Zealand which you don’t really hear about a lot,’’ Chatterjee said.
Despite New Zealand being home, Chatterjee said still experiences discrimination.
As a result Swabhoomi aims to show that while everyone may come from different backgrounds, essentially we are all the same, Chatterjee said.
‘‘We do the same things, we might have slightly different food preferences but we have the same goals in life,’’ she said.
Swabhoomi: Borrowed Earth performs at TAPAC in Western Springs from May 25 to June 4.