NEARLY everything Indian is enormously important for two Kiwi/Indian girls and their parents.
Hasmukh and his wife Parvati Jeram arrived in New Zealand in 1977.
 Their daughters: Vandana, 23, and Dharmistha, 20, born here, have both learned Gujarati and say the most important part of Indian culture is that of respecting their elders and the people around them.
Dharmistha says she is grateful to her parents for teaching them their language “because it’s important to be able to speak to people of your own ethnicity”.
The two have been brought up eating and cooking Indian dishes, and both have been back to India more times than their dad.
“Last time I went was three years ago,” says Dharmistha. “I really wanted to go this year. I just can’t get enough of it, really. I want the best of both worlds. But I don’t want to stay in India the whole time. I want to have a good time, and then come back to New Zealand.”
It’s the atmosphere; the people and the good moods of the Indian people that keep drawing her back to her parent’s home country.
“I love it. I just love everything about it. I love the food. I love the culture. I love the clothing. I love the colours.
At the [Diwali] festival everyone comes together to celebrate and just enjoy.”
Her favourite food is Pav Bhaji – a mixture of bread, mashed peas, potatoes and carrots; her earliest Indian memory was being taught Gujarati by her parents. “We were raised in a completely different environment and they want to teach us their traditions,” she says of her family’s dedication to their culture.
Their dad, Hasmukh, of the Mt Victoria Foodmarket,  (see Capital Times’ Best of Wellington awards) says, “We’re just proud of them that they believe in the Indian culture and the Indian community.”