New citizens share their life and customs

Yuba, Parbati, Aiswarga and Ashok Bhandari in their home in Papamoa.PHOTO/RUTH KEBER

Yuba Bhandari had to walk more than four hours to meet his wife for the first time, across his district to another village in Nepal.

There were no real roads or transport in the Gulmi District of Nepal at the time, which is about 200km from Kathmandu.

He and Parbati Bhandari had an arranged marriage set up by their families and only met a handful of times in the weeks prior to their wedding. However, they have now been happily married for nearly 20 years.

The pair have three children — Divya, 18, Ashok, 15, and Aiswarga, 8.

Their marriage has had its trials with Mr Bhandari, a chef, working in neighbouring India for about 10 years when work could not be found in his native country.

He said this was not uncommon for people to study and then work in India.

Mr Bhandari said the time he was separated from his family was hard, but he was able to come home every six months.

"It was hard but my mum and dad were sick so they had to take care of them."

Mr Bhandari has been living in New Zealand for eight years, with the last one and a half years in Tauranga. When he arrived in Tauranga in 1997, there were no other Nepalese people but many of the migrants to the Bay were doctors and nurses.

He now owns his own restaurant in Papamoa, Mumbai Masala Indian Restaurant, which serves both Indian and Nepalese meals.

There are still things in Nepal which the family miss but they try to incorporate different Nepalese traditions into their lives.

One was a festival, Bada Dasai, where people from all over Nepal would return to their home villages to be with their family.

The families would then give "good wishes" to other members in the family.

"Fathers and mothers will wish good fortunes on to their children," he said.

One of the biggest differences from New Zealand when Mr Bhandari left was that 70 per cent of the country cooked on open wood fires as opposed to having gas or electricity.

As well as people wearing traditional clothing like saris for women and kamijs, an over shirt, for men, he said.

Nepalese Association president Lal Bahadur said there are about 120 adult members in the Nepalese Association in the Bay.

25,371,000
Kathmandu; 741,000
147,181 square kilometres (56,827 square miles)
Nepali, English, many other languages and dialects
Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim
Nepalese rupee
59
US$1,400
45