New Zealand is a country that takes pride in its diversity, and the stories of people from diverse ethnic communities are worth telling. One such story is of Archna Tandon, who came to New Zealand after she married Surinder Tandon in 1990. Her story is one of many celebrated by Te Ara Atea, a new community centre and library in Rolleston.
Te Ara Atea has emerged as an engaging space that highlights and honours diversity and the compelling stories of the local community of Rolleston, a flourishing suburb in the Selwyn District near Christchurch.
The Selwyn District Council has worked with community and cultural groups around Selwyn to make a fully integrated public gallery, library, and museum cultural experience. The building houses two permanent art displays, 22 exhibition cases displaying over 50 local taoka (treasures) that reflect Selwyn’s diverse communities and their stories, creative spaces, community rooms, and library areas.
The exhibition cases in the library showcase the district’s many different stories, including migrant stories from places like Iran and India. Part of making Te Ara Atea a space for everyone is telling the many different stories of the diverse community, and the Indian community in Selwyn has been an important part of that.
Among many other displays showcasing stories, artefact, and other items highlighting Selwyn’s diversity, a few pieces trace the journey of Indian community migrants.
On display is a traditional Indian wedding dupatta that belongs to Archna Tandon, who along with her husband was among the first settlers to move to Lincoln in Selwyn District. The dupatta is part of a series of five love cases that showcase the passions and love and aroha of the district. A slide show also chronicles Archna’s journey and her story of coming to New Zealand.
Tandon was asked if she would like to participate in including her profile and her work in one of the display cases in Te Ara Atea, which was looking for Mana Wahine, a selection of influential and notable women in the district.
Sharing her feelings about the display, Tandon says, “I feel honoured and delighted to share a part of our culture. It’s a privilege that our personal story of migration has been found interesting to be exhibited at the newly established Te Ara Atea.”
Archna and Surinder married in Uttar Pradesh in 1990. Her grandmother gifted the hand-embroidered dupatta she wore on her wedding day.
Tandon says about the dupatta, “It has a very emotional value to me. It was gifted to me by my grandmother. I wore a Punjabi suit with that dupatta for my wedding rituals.”
Nicki Moen, Council Head of Arts, Culture & Lifelong Learning, says, “Waikirikiri Selwyn today is one of the most culturally diverse regions in Aotearoa New Zealand, with a growing mix of cultures, particularly in Lincoln and Rolleston, and we wanted Te Ara Atea to be a building that connects the past, through the present with a space where everyone can feel culturally safe and see themselves reflected in the experiences around them.”
Archna’s story
Selwyn already felt like home when Tandon arrived here first. She fell in love with Lincoln. “It felt like home and that I belong here,” she says.
Not long after arriving in Lincoln, she quickly became involved in the community, joining Lincoln International Wives Group and learning to bake from Surinder’s colleagues’ wives in exchange for her Indian curries. “It was a different way of cooking because in India I did a bit of baking, but it’s not a very normal thing, we just have it [bakery items] bought,” she says.
The wives’ group also gave her a platform to share her culture and learn about others. Despite being one of the few Indians in Canterbury at the time, she continued to celebrate traditional Indian festivals like Diwali and Karva Chauth. Over the years, more and more people joined in, and today more than 160 women in Canterbury gather at the temple for the festival.
Archna’s passion for community involvement and cultural exchange did not stop there. In 1998, she and Surinder pioneered Canterbury’s Diwali festival, which has grown ever since, and in 2004 they helped set up Lincoln Multicultural Festival. That event has now become Selwyn CultureFest, where various ethnic groups showcase their culture through music, dance, food, costumes and activities to celebrate Selwyn’s rich cultural diversity.
Tandon worked as a chemist at the University of Canterbury for 20 years before trying something new, becoming a Corrections Officer in 2018 and then the first Kiwi-Indian woman to become a Senior Corrections Officer in the Department of Corrections in 2022.
She has been involved with numerous community groups and organisations, including Christchurch Multicultural Council, Canterbury Migrant Centre, Christchurch Resettlement Services, Shakti Ethnic Women’s Group, Shama Ethnic Women Trust, Indian Social and Cultural Club and Canterbury Indian Women Group.
She is White Ribbon Ambassador and the first ethnic woman to become a Justice of the Peace, a registered marriage celebrant in Canterbury.
Today, after 33 years in Lincoln,Tandon says she will never leave. “We haven’t moved out of Lincoln, we have just moved three streets,” she laughs, adding, “It’s the place to be, it’s peaceful, it’s friendly and it is home.”
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