Prayas

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry has always enjoyed best-seller status in New Zealand.

If it offers an insight into parts of India few New Zealanders know, other work by Mistry inspire migrant Indians to look at themselves.

For Auckland’s Amit Ohdedar, of the Auckland Indian theatre group Prayas, its one of Mistry’s earlier works that touched a chord and led to the creation of a tribute to the Parsi writer who now lives in Canada.

“For many of us Mistry’s experiences mirror our own,” says Amit who was attracted to Mistry’s earlier work, Tales from Firozsha Baag.

Under Amit’s direction Prayas has staged two plays by other playwrights: Charandas Chor in 2005 and The Terrace in 2007.

One of Mistry’s stories related the problem of a migrant from India who moved to Canada but found the contrast in toilet experiences hard to take.

Rather than just re-tell that story, Prayas went out into Auckland’s migrant community to collect their stories and experiences.

With the rich collection of anecdotes, Amit wove them into a play that is now Khoj – The Search.

It is the story of Jamshed Balsara (played by Rahul Gandhi) who leaves Mumbai for Auckland. His grumpy father (Bhavnesh Soni) and pining mother (Rashmi Pilapitiya) miss him badly, but hope their son makes it big in New Zealand.

Like many parents of migrant children, they have only a vague notion of what New Zealand is. Contact is by mail and the occasional phone call from a public phone service in Mumbai.

Jamshed’s experience of New Zealand suffers from the sit or squat toilet problem that Mistry reveals occurs to migrants.

The play owes much to community input, both at the time Prayas was collecting stories to later, when play readings were held and later, when it went into rehearsal.

“We found a nuance here, an expression there and improvised every time we came together for rehearsals,” Kolkata born Amit says.

“The play boldly challenges both the migrant community as well as local New Zealanders regarding preconceived ideas about people and cultures.”

The topic might be serious, but Khoj – The Search comes with humour and compassion.

“Khoj raises some serious questions through humour. Jamshed’s ‘toilet issues’ are used as a metaphor for adapting to the adjustment issues in a new country,” Amit said.

This is a line from the play which sums its up: “New Zealand has embraced us with open arms, given us our home. But it is a pity that that we still feel we are outsiders.”