The South Asian community in New Zealand has been actively pursuing a number of projects and programmes to preserve, protect and promote their cultural and religious heritage. This penchant has seen musical concerts, religious ceremonies and other activities aimed at raising funds for construction of Temples in and around Auckland.
Community initiatives
The New Zealand Thirumurugan Temple Society has been singularly fortunate in that many members of the Tamil-speaking community, especially those of Sri Lankan origin, have been volunteering to conduct events to mobile finances for the new Temple currently under construction at 145 Church Street, Otahuhu in South Auckland.
More than 500 people attended a musical concert (called ‘Musical Journey’) in Auckland held at the Auckland Normal Intermediate School Hall on Saturday, February 22, 2014.
Nadesan Nanthakumar organised the event of his own initiative and raised $4200 for the Temple (Indian Newslink, March 1, 2014). Although it was small considering the total estimated cost of the Temple Project ($2.7 million), his efforts symbolised the community spirit and religious and spiritual awareness.
Suren Surendran, founder member of ‘Swarangal,’ a talented musical group comprising mostly Tamil-speaking singers and instrumentalists has stepped forward to organise a music concert with a combination of visiting celebrity singers and local artistes.
The KME magic
Featuring Karthik (his second name is never mentioned anywhere) and Shakthisree Gopalan, the programme, called, the ‘Karthik Music Experience,’ (KME) will be held at Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls Grammar School (Newton) on Sunday, October 26 at 6 pm.
They will be supported by a six-piece orchestra and the proceeds will go to the New Zealand Thirumurugan Temple Society.
Mr Surendran said that organising concerts featuring international artistes of South Indian origin in New Zealand is a challenge, let alone trying to generate funds for charity.
“But the brilliant thing is that a number of like-minded community members have come together to launch this KME show and if the response experienced thus far is any indication, the show will be a resounding success,” he said.
KME is Karthik’s pet project, which received critical acclaim during a recent tour of 12 cities in America, he added.
Impressive career
A graduate in Commerce, Karthik has more than 2000 songs to his credit rendered in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam and Bengali films. Apart from singing behind the scenes on the big screen, he has appeared in music concerts organised by various associations, clubs and trusts in Africa, Australia, Canada, China, London, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and US. The forthcoming show will be his first in New Zealand.
He has sung for almost all popular music directors including Ilayaraja, A R Rahman, Vidyasagar, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Harris Jayaraj and Mani Sharma.
Mega hits
Among his greatest hits were ‘Ennaku Oru Girlfriend’ (‘Boys’), ‘Oru Maalai’ (Ghajini) in Tamil; ‘Kotha Bangaru Lokam’ (Nijanga Nenenaa), ‘Happy Days’ (Arare Arare, Oh My Friend), ‘Badhulu Tochanai’ (Mr Perfect), ‘Manase Guvvai’ (Naa Peru Shiva), ‘Oh, Oh My Friend’ (Oh My Friend), ‘Meghama’ (Journey), ‘Yevvaro’ (Bodyguard) in Telugu.
His other popular songs include ‘Ava Enna’ (Vaaranam Aayiram), ‘Unnale Unnale,’ (Ghajini) and ‘Alle Alle’ (Savaari).
His song ‘Behene De,’ for Hindi film Raavan, is widely considered as the biggest hit in his career. The track, which topped music charts for several weeks continuously, also received rave critical reviews
Shakthisree Gopalan:
This singer is also songwriter in contemporary, pop and soft rock genres.
Shakthisree has been a backing vocalist for A R Rahman compositions and got her break with the title track for the Hindi film ‘Jab Tak Hai Jann’ in 2012. She later went on to give several chart busters. These include ‘Nenjukkule’ (Kadal), ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ (title track), ‘Enga Ponna Rasa’ (Maryan) and ‘Mannavane En Mannavane’ (Irandam Ulagam).
1. Karthik
2. Shakthisree Gopalan
Temple promotes piety
Sathy Sathiyaselvan
The New Zealand Thirumurugan Temple Society is a non-profit organisation incorporated under the Incorporated Societies Act in 2000.
It is registered as a charitable organisation by the Charities Commission and enjoys donee status from Inland Revenue Department.
A group of enthusiastic individuals who were keen to serve the community formed the Organisation in January 2000. Some of the founding members were well connected to the community through their community work in other organisations for over 15 years in New Zealand.
The Society now has 22 trustees, most of who are professionals holding important positions in Auckland business, health, local and central government organisations.
Along with the tremendously generous support of the community, the Thirumurugan Temple has become an integral part of the Tamil Hindu community in Auckland and wider areas for the last 14 years.
In the beginning, Poojas were held only on Fridays at temporary, hired venues.
A permanent Temple was established at Marua Road in Ellerslie in June 2001. The Thirumurugan Temple functioned from this location until December 2013.
It grew from strength to strength during the 12-year period, both in terms of number of patrons as well as the services offered. This premises however had some limitations. It was part of a five-unit complex, there was little scope for expansion and the parking area for cars was insufficient.
Purchase of Land
With the blessings of the Almighty, our Lord Murugan (also known as Karthikeyan), the Society purchased the property at 145 Church Street in Otahuhu in October 2012.
This is a large (2302 sq m) commercial property being developed as a complex and Temple and a multi-purpose Community Hall.
The Temple relocated from Ellerslie to the new premises and established the temporary ‘Balasthapanam’ in December 2013.
First Stage
The first stage is now partially complete and the ‘Maha Kumbhabhishekam’ took place in June this year. The trustees and management committee are presently considering various fundraising opportunities to enable them to move to the second stage of construction, which envisages completion of the Temple facilities and then take up works relating to the Community hall.
The Society has about 700 devotees who attend the functions and festivals throughout the year. The Temple is open to all public irrespective of their faith or beliefs.
Aims
The aims of the Society are to provide a place of worship for the community to enhance religious and cultural values, establish an educational foundation for teaching of culture and human values (to both adults and children), maintain a library, provide health education and clinics, active participation in charity work and help immigrants to integrate with the mainstream community.
Administration
There are 22 Trustees who are ultimately responsible for the Society’s affairs. Under the direction of the Trustees, a Management Committee has been set up to administer the daily activities of the Society.
There is a separate Finance Sub-Committee consisting of finance professionals advising the Trustees and the Management committee on financial matters and a Cultural Committee to coordinate cultural and spiritual activities.
The property is on the fringe of the Central Business District in Otahuhu and within a short distance from the motorway on/off ramps travelling North or South. The Complex includes ground floor (1285 sq m), office space (386 sq m) and a canopy of 630 sq m.
The former Temple complex accounted for only 431.7 sq m (including Level 1).
The Deities:
Among the Deities at the Temple are Maha Ganapathi, Ketharalingam (Lord Shiva), Thiru Murugan (Presiding Deity), Raja Rajeswari Amman, Maha Vishnu, Sri Bairavar, ‘Ramar Parivaram’ (Rama, Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman), the Navagrahas and Athmalingam (Lord Shiva)
The Finances
The total estimated cost of the Temple Project including the initial purchase is about $2.7 million. Future costs could be about $600,000.
The Project is funded by a bank loan of $1.2 million, retained savings and donations from devotees. Members have also signed up for regular payments to service the bank loan.
We welcome donations either as one-off payments or as regular remittances.
