Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
The past week was a great time for the Indian community to share its culture and heritage with the wider community as we celebrated Hindi Language Week.
Language connects us and gives us the feeling of being part of a community, with similar values, sayings and mannerisms.
It is a way for cultures to express how they view the world and to celebrate our cultural differences. Language develops over time, becoming a tool for seeing how cultures have mixed, and evolved in new countries alongside others.
I am delighted to celebrate the Hindi Language Week.
Hindi is currently taught in twenty schools and eight community-based learning organisations in Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton.
Tireless work
I would like to congratulate the Hindi Language and Culture Trust of New Zealand along with Teach Hindi New Zealand who have worked tirelessly over the past ten years to introduce Hindi language teaching in schools.
The Trust’s next project is to prepare a National Hindi Curriculum Project.
Just like language, identity develops overtime as people interact with new cultures and move to new places.
As a person born and raised in India, I have a great understanding and respect for identity and how it can change over time.
While in India, I had the fortune of interacting with a broad range of cultures and languages, from Hindi and Punjabi to English.
As generations of Indian New Zealanders who have grown up and are growing up in this country, it is important to embrace our Indian identity.
New Zealand’s multicultural society has so much to offer and I am confident that our future generations will adopt both Indian and Kiwi identities, enriching in the process both cultures.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi has been Member of Parliament on National List since November 2008. He is currently Chairman of Law & Order Select Committee of Parliament.
