Stories across Borders

Interviewer: So we'll just start with what's your name full name. 

 

Gagan: My name is Gagan Sachdeva 

 

Interviewer: Where are you from and what was it? Like growing up there. 

 

Gagan: I am from Delhi, India and, uh, growing up over there, I have obviously mixed memories, like everybody does you know good and bad, both. So, I come from a middle-class family in India. My dad was a teacher and mother was a housewife. So yeah, I think the key characteristics of my growing up was my friends, my cousins, my family, my extended family. I think those are the key kind of features that come in mind when I think about my growing up in India. Lots of fun playing with friends, playing out in the streets, going for cycling, playing sport, having lots of school friends. 

 

Interviewer: Would you say that you enjoyed your childhood? 

 

Gagan: I did, yeah. 

 

Interviewer: Do you like there was anything that could have made your childhood better? Was there anything that was a stress upon your life? 

 

Gagan: Yes, I think I think growing up in a in a vast country like India, I think the education system focuses a lot on excelling on competition. So, there's a lot of competitive learning environment that gets created, so you have to kind of beat others to go on the top so that I think was something that doesn't make learning very enjoyable. I think there could be some aspects that could have been different over there, and what I find over here is that education is more inclusive and it's more inquiry based, more student centered. So yeah, from that perspective, I think I think the pressures of having a good education and excelling in marks and your grades is quite important for you. There is a lot of importance placed on that, it doesn't make your learning as much fun as it would be. 

 

Interviewer: Would you say, like from your teenage years to kind of early adult years, did you think you had a different experience or were you still enjoying your time in that way? 

 

Gagan: No, it was different. I think the pressure I could feel the pressure. The pressure of doing well in your studies and making a career and going out and getting a job. All of those pressures were there for sure. But overall, I think it was overall a positive experience and it wasn’t like, very negative. 

 

Interviewer: What were the circumstances which brought you to New Zealand? 

 

Gagan: For us, I think for me and Tamanna there were two or three aspects that played their role. Tamanna already had family here, so she was wanting to reunite with the family. When we were dating each other, we used to discuss if at all we got married, then what would life be and what do we expect from life. So, that became a big part of our conversations. I think one of her key aspects was that “would my partner be open to moving to New Zealand?” So, I think I was certainly open to it so that became one aspect. The second aspect was around of course, having a better lifestyle for ourselves and for our kids, so I think that also became quite a big motivation for us. 

 

Interviewer: What about the Indian lifestyle that you found would be improved upon by coming here? 

 

 

Gagan: I think a better balance of work and life, lesser pressure. Different types of pressure of course. For example, I'll give you an example, just to go to my work every day, I would be on the road for about four hours. So that was huge, also pollution and driving for long hours and long days in office. That was a huge amount of pressure on life, and then that cuts down your time with your family because sometimes you’re working on Saturdays and you're working on weekends. So, I think that became the quality of life. I would say became, is far better over here as compared to what it was back then. 

 

Interviewer: What was the process of coming to New Zealand like? 

 

Gagan: It’s quite a long story. I don't know whether you want to hear all of it, but I think it was quite an interesting one because we had a long battle with immigration because they had some very archaic policies to evaluate who is a skilled migrant. So, we wanted to move in as skilled migrant. I found some of the policies are quite funny. Like for example, I was working with a multinational company and Tamanna was also working with one of the Big Six consulting companies Accenture. I was working with Aviva which is a UK based insurance company, sixth largest in the world. Now because I was working in India, my employment was not considered a skilled employment because it is not a comparable labor market with comparison to western countries. They said that if you're working with the same company, but let's say in UK, we would give you points for your employment but not when you're working in India. So, I found it quite unacceptable. That led to a huge kind of back and forth with immigration. But after a very long battle two years, they eventually gave us a six-month work visa and they said that if you guys think that you're very skilled, why don't you come to New Zealand? Find a job? And see whether you can find a job or not. And if you get a job. Then we'll give you residence. So that's where it all started. 

 

Interviewer: So, like what were your kind of like emotions going through the immigration process? Was it very stressful, what was like your kind of feelings throughout? 

 

Gagan: It was a very stressful time. I think having to fight your case for all of the things that they were looking for and you know putting up that case against why you are eligible under a particular category. I think that did put a lot of pressure. I think one of the most stressful pressure points was when they, after all of the process was completed, I think they wanted to give us only six months visa and not a residence which was a big risk for us because we had all our life, my job, Tamanna’s job and also our house. Everything was there now, and they expected us to take the risk to pack up everything and just come here on a six-month work Visa. Yeah, so that was very pressurizing for us. 

 

Interviewer: I see. How long have you been in New Zealand and what's your profession?  

 

Gagan: I've been in New Zealand for about 16 now years, and I work in the education sector.  I manage an education company. 

 

Interviewer: What brought you to that job? 

 

Gagan: Well, it was a chance meeting. We were very new in the country, and somebody just said that hey, why don't you meet up with this guy and I ended up meeting with the person and he is now my boss. That was the only interview I gave in New Zealand, and I’m still with the same company. I've never given any other interviews. So I’m just lucky to have found something where I just grew with the company and grew the company as well. 

 

Interviewer: What was the most difficult part about assimilating to New Zealand like New Zealand culture or life here? What was the hardest part? 

 

Gagan: I think the hardest part is not having your family around because I grew up in Delhi, I had lots of childhood friends, my whole circle of cousins, my first cousins who are all very, very dear and close to me, my aunties and all the extended family, you have a lot of social support.  So I think that was something that we really missed initially, not having enough social support around us.  When of course, when you have a small baby because Jia was just one when we came here. So you're looking for jobs and you have all of those pressures. So that was also kind of quite pressurizing. The challenge is, the key challenge was not having enough social support. A little bit of uncertainty and also trying to understand and get to know the culture of the place puts a lot of pressure on you. 

 

Interviewer: Did you say there were language barriers, or did you find that was pretty easy to integrate into? 

 

Gagan: No, I think language was fine, language was absolutely not an issue at all.

 

Interviewer: Yeah, there is a big population here which is Indian.

 

Gagan: That’s right, and also we have both grown up and all of our education was where the medium of instruction was English, so we did not find it difficult at all. 

 

Interviewer: What made it easier for you to adapt to New Zealand? 

 

Gagan: I think open mindedness. I think being open to whatever came our way helped us a lot. Also we found that there was a lot of similarity in the values of the society here and what we had as values, so that also really helped. 

 

Interviewer: You kind of already answered this question but did the government here make the process of immigrating easier or harder? Is there anything you would like to add to earlier? 

 

Gagan: I think the government really needs to understand, from my perspective as to what are the levers at play. What really are they looking for in immigrants? Because, you know, studies after studies have done productivity commissions, the Commission does lots of studies on these matters because they advise government on policy making and the policy frameworks. I find that the government should make the process more transparent. And should actually do something to really attract good, talented people into the country. I think the current processes and the policy frameworks are very biased and they come with a lot of predispositions, and I think if that is removed from it then I think there is a lot of potential of attracting good talented migrants to this country who really contribute a lot. 

 

Interviewer: What would you say you've learned through the process of immigrating to New Zealand?

 

Gagan: I think what I have learned is don't be afraid of challenging the authorities and don't take everything as gospel, that you hear and stand by what you believe in. If the policies are not supporting you, you can always put your point across and fight for your case, and I think in our case we were lucky that our voice was heard and that we were given all that we wanted. 

 

Interviewer: If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself before immigrating? 

 

Gagan: I would tell myself to be a little kinder to ourselves. That's all. I think we took a lot of pressure when we moved here, and I think that way you lose the fun of being in the country. So, because when you're new in the country you just are under so much pressure to settle, and that sometimes you lose the fun part. So yeah, I would certainly go back and ask myself to just take it easy (laughter).

 

Interviewer: What would you say are your favorite and least favorite things about living in New Zealand? 

 

Gagan: I think the favorite thing is I think there are some just lovely people over here. We found some really beautiful communities such as the Baha’i community being one of them. People and nature I think are the most beautiful part of our journey here. And the aspects that I don't personally like as much, I think there are some but there is nothing that stands out truly, but I think there are some. The political framework around how people are viewed, or predispositions about certain groups of people. I think that is something that I think needs to go away. I'm being very politically correct here, so there is a little bit of racism that that we could do without. 

 

Interviewer: What would life be like if you didn't immigrate to New Zealand? So, if you'd stayed in Delhi? 

 

Gagan: I would be on the road, I would be spending 1/4 of my life on the road for sure (laughter). I would be working at least 50 to 55 hours a week. I would not be having enough balance in my life. I would not be having a lot of those things that I enjoy over here, the laid-back lifestyle and also a good balanced life, I would certainly not have it back in India. 

 

Interviewer: Do you think there's anything about Delhi that you miss? 

 

Gagan: My friends, my friends and family and my cousins.  

 

Interviewer: What I've often gotten as response to that is food. It’s that what they miss about their home country is the food there. Do you think you miss the food? 

 

Gagan: Oh certainly, but I think you asked me this question five years back food would have been on my mind. Not anymore though. I think you get some decent options here also now. I think the cuisine, and that's the good part of having a multicultural society. We are so diverse, and the food options are pretty good now. 

 

Interviewer: Yeah, that's all. Thank you very much for doing the interview. 

 

Gagan: I hope that was helpful.