It is 42 years since I arrived in New Zealand but I often wonder what I would have missed in my life had I not left Dar Es Salaam (Tanganyika in East Africa), where I was born and raised in a Gujarati family of eight children (four boys and four girls).
My father Karsan Rana Barot went to Africa from his native Gujarat in the late 1920s. My mother Sulochana was very young when she joined him after marriage.
We were fortunate to have loving and understanding parents. They believed in equal opportunity for all and provided us good education.
Tanganyika became independent in 1961 and later merged with Zanzibar to become Tanzania. There was no University and hence my parents sent us overseas for higher education.
But I was determined to stay at home and pursue the nursing profession. I also became a broadcaster presenting a Hindi programme on the local radio station.
Migrating to New Zealand in 1969 with my Kiwi husband and three young children, I was keen to go on air but it was not until 1989 when Access Radio was established in Lower Hutt that my dream became a reality.
Access Radio
My association began with the ‘Indian Community Programme’ from ‘Wellington Access,’ the first in the country. I am gratified that it continued to grow and thrive despite competition from television and other sources.
Today, the Programme is broadcast in English, Hindi and Gujarati.
I was humbled and honoured at the same time in 2003 when my Programme was voted the ‘Best Access & Community Programme of the Year,’ at the 2003 Radio New Zealand Awards. It was undoubtedly a moment of pride and happiness to everyone connected with the Programme.
I am also proud to have evolved my own style. This is a not Programme that bores people with one type of music or chitchat. I have built up a large collection of music that reflects the many moods and local differences that are part of India’s vast and varied culture.
I still present music, views and news, and deliver in the same three languages.
As I look back, I feel satisfied over my involvement with the community in many other ways.
I therefore answer my own question by saying that had I remained in East Africa, I would not been the Vice-President for Save the Children Fund for 31 years.
I would not have been the Secretary and later President of the New Zealand-India Society for 22 years.
I would not have taught cooking Indian, Italian, Eastern and Chinese-Thai styles for thousands of people from all walks of life in many communities, mainly in Lower Hutt, for the past 28 years.
I would not have established an unbroken record as community broadcaster for 30 years.
Recognition & Reward
I am grateful that the New Zealand Government recognised my work and awarded me with a Queen’s Service Medal, appointed me as a Justice of the Peace and Marriage Celebrant, both of which were awarded for the first time to a woman of Indian origin.
My wish is to continue to serve the community as a broadcaster, as a social worker and as a person committed to good causes.
Editor’s Note: As our longstanding friend, supporter and reader, we at Indian Newslink offer our felicitations to Bala and wish her continued success, good health and prosperity. Her programme is broadcast on Wellington Access Radio 783 AM on Saturdays at 7 am (‘Bhakti Prabha’) and Sundays at 6 pm (Indian Community Programme).
http://www.accessradio.org.nz/
