City Farming in New Zealand

I've been following Pattu Raj's blog about growing fruit and veggies with great interest. Her posts and the pictures of everything she's managed to grow clearly show what a green thumb she has.

Learning to grow veges at home

When I received an invitation  from "Sustainability Trust" in NZ to participate in a brain storming session on growing veggies in NZ cities, they requested that we spread the word. The session was on how city dwellers can and why they ought to become self sufficient in growing fruit and veggies. I immediately thought of Pattu's blog as she and her friends are doing exactly that. I asked if she would accept a guest post. To my delight, she said she would.

To find out more please head on over to "Pattu's Terrace Garden" and my guest post on "City Farming In New Zealand."

Home grown veges

7 Experts Who Helped Us Buy A House in NZ

house_with_chimney.jpg free clipart

Wherever one is in the world I think the anxiety and excitement of buying one's own property is universal. We were scarcely able to believe that we were finally taking the plunge. And we had no clue as to what was involved.

We started off by peeking into houses as discreetly as possible. We drove around on weekends looking for "for sale" boards. We boldly ventured far, as, the further we went from the city, the cheaper and more spacious the houses seemed to get.

We trudged around visiting "Open Homes", drove around looking for "For Sale" boards, read the classifieds and ...nothing. What we loved wasn't for sale and what we didn't, was! We felt tired and dispirited before we'd even begun.

There are many ways to search for houses and for us, the best was "TradeMe" - New Zealand's answer to Ebay! The only problem was that the agents - all of them - took wide angled photos of each room so that the room looked bigger than it actually was. We had to gauge how stretched the rooms looked in the photos compared to their actual sizes by looking carefully at the ridiculously stretched furniture - cabinets, sofas and micros. But these photos are taken with the agents banking on most people not looking at the furnishings as much as the rooms in which they are placed. The idea is to get people to actually visit the property before discarding it. Can't help wishing housing agents stopped doing that.

After many false starts we finally decided on the house we wanted. I can't begin to tell you how thrilled we were. The housing agent was wonderful and showed us around the property.

The Housing Agent (or broker) is the first professional one meets when one decides to buy property in NZ.  It is quite a hard job to be in as the agent gets a commission only if he or she notches up a sale. No sale, no pay. It is in his or her interest to ensure the process moves along smoothly.

If buyers have done their homework, they know the government valuation of the property and what houses in the area have recently sold for. Government valuations are revised every three years (I think) and if one wants to know the current value of the property as compared to a three year old valuation, one can, if one wishers, employ the services of a valuer. This involves a fee.

The valuation is a good starting point for the buyer. The seller has an asking price. The housing agent helps with the negotiations. This, to my mind, needs great delicacy and tact. The buyer and seller don't meet till negotiations are over. The agent needs to keep both positive as they hammer out a compromise. The agent also needs to be a mind reader. For example, at what point in the negotiations will/won't/can/can't the buyer or seller call a halt? If they settle for a price it is a major hurdle overcome but there's still plenty the buyer has to worry about.


How on earth does one find out if everything is above board and the property is sound? That is where the other experts come in. 

The professionals we dealt with were the housing agent (as above), the city council, a certified builder, our lawyers, the bank and the mortgage (loan) agent. Here’s what each of them did for us.

• We applied to the city council for a LIM report. LIM stands for Land Information Memorandum. It lets us know whether the land on which the property stands is safe to invest in. Involves a, to my mind, hefty, fee.
• For peace of mind, it is best to invest in a certified builder for a builder’s report on the state of the property one plans to invest in - what needs painting or repairs or redoing. One pays a hefty fee for this service too. 

But in the long run, these reports are invaluable for what is right or wrong with the property and the land it stands on. Just to give an example, the property we finally bought had something wrong with the drainage system and we managed to get the cost of repairs off the asking price.

Once we decided on the home we wanted to buy, we informed the sellers through the housing agent, negotiated and settled for a price and signed a conditional contract.

The conditions in our case were:

1. subject to finance from the bank, 
2. subject to the LIM report from the city council which really took a long time - ten working days, and 
3. subject to the builder’s report.

We'd picked a lovely property and were all ready to sign on the dotted line when we received the builder’s report. That wasn’t satisfactory and put a halt to the proceedings. Oh the dejection, the desire to ignore what was in the report and having come this far, to go ahead anyway. But in the end, thanks to the advice of a friend experienced in the property line and of course, the builder's report,  good sense prevailed. It was worth the fee we paid the builder or we would’ve made a terrible mistake. For a lifelong investment and possibly something one would like to leave for the kids, one cannot afford to make such mistakes.

The search was on again. We were lucky the second time around. Somehow, it was a more subdued affair. The house agent (a different one for a different house in a different locality) stood by quietly as many hopeful buyers wandered through the property looking for the pros and cons on "Open day". The agent was there to answer any questions potential buyers might have and we had plenty.

The builder’s report had a long list of exactly what he thought was wrong with the second property we liked. We noticed they were mostly minor repairs or associated with normal wear and tear. Keeping in mind the time frame, the kind of repairs to be carried out and what was RIGHT with the property, we picked out a few repairs we considered essential and asked the seller to attend to those. The seller agreed. Then there was no going back. We were committed. We were full of misgivings and doubt, our experience having told us anything could happen at the 11th hour. Yet, along with the fear there was that undeniable little knot of excitement and elation.

All three conditions above were met within a certain number of (specified in the contract) days and the contract went unconditional. It was now over to the bank and our lawyers. The housing agent sent us a gift basket with chocolates, cheese, crackers, gourmet jams and other goodies including a thoughtfully provided packet of special spices to make "Bombay Potatoes". This was her own personal touch. With or without the goodies, she comes highly recommended by this family of buyers.

The lawyers and bank were essential but our mortgage agent was invaluable in securing the best possible terms the bank could offer. Without his help we couldn’t possibly have known what to ask the bank for. He negotiated hard on our behalf. The papers he ensured we had ready for the bank were a thick wad (I think about 80 pages) but they helped the process along smoothly and rapidly. The bank, after satisfying itself that we would have the wherewithal to pay, ensuring if anything happened to us, at least our insurance could, mortgaged the property to itself at the current rate.

The final professionals we employed were the packers and movers. They were wonderful. Their work is punishing and yet they were cheerful and efficient. What they lifted and moved in one day would’ve taken reasonably strong and ordinary folk a week. There was no damage and perhaps minimal loss.

Shock.jpg free clipart

After we moved in, we stepped out for lunch one afternoon. When we got back we had the shock of our lives. We'd been burgled. Not everything is rosy in New Zealand and having lived here for many years, we don't see it through rose spectacles either. It is just that when things go right, one tends to forget what could go wrong. We ought to have remembered to install an alarm system; we ought not... no point in hashing all that up.

Our insurance covered our loses and now, we have an alarm system installed. Our neighbours were really supportive and we feel we can finally begin to enjoy our new home.

This post was prompted by Smita's experience of buying a house in India. Her first post on the series is here

What I love / hate about NZ

Oceania Globe by rorzer, openclipart

Before your eyes glaze over at how clean and green I think my adopted  country of residence is, I'd like to tell you straight away this post is more about what I feel, whether right or wrong, about the people of NZ.

“Awwww,” said the two old ladies, eyes melting as they spotted my little dog. They ran across to stroke her. Kara wagged her tail – she loves humans. She just hates big dogs, barking at them with indignation from behind the safety of our garden fence when they approach her territory. The two ladies chatted with her. I smiled and we exchanged a few pleasantries before going our separate ways.

“Doggy, doggy,” squeaked the little child in the pram, body straining forward, both arms reaching out to touch Kara as the mother, with a smile at me continued walking, chatting with the baby. “Yes, that's a cute little doggy...,” her voice faded as we went our way in opposite directions.

Puppy by Gerald_G, open clipart

It is obvious. The people here, on the whole, love dogs. The ones who don’t are extremely few and far between. They might be “cat” people or they are afraid and instil, to my regret, the same fear in their children, or very rarely, they really do hate dogs.

Sport - All five fingers not being equal, NZ has a sprinkling of those who love outdoor activities, the ones in-between and the ones who hate them passionately. But I've always seen some people jogging on the streets come rain or shine or young kids playing out in the fields and parks. Rugby is a religion and NZ is over the moon as they are hosting the Rugby World Cup 2011 in September. Luckily, for us Indians, there are enough cricket enthusiasts for cricket to feature quite prominently on the NZ radar.  I can't help looking on with pleasure as I see a parent - mum or dad - teaching their toddlers to kick ball at the park. Not sure if this is a good idea but I've seen babies in prams zoom past with parents behind the handlebars (wheel?). They start young and schools lay a lot of stress on outdoor activities.

Which brings me to my son's school principal. This is an individual - and I don't guarantee every principal is like her - who is everywhere, knows every kid and cares. My son was six or seven years old. One of the students in his class was deaf. He talked in sign language. Thanks to his principal's go ahead the entire class learnt to speak the language. At the end of the year they did a song and dance routine and apart from singing it, they acted it out too --- in sign language. If I find the video clip I'll put it up here. As for the young hearing impaired boy, he was soon very much part of the mainstream, being boisterous and happy and carrying out some animated conversations with everyone in his class --- in sign!

Another observation: Like people the world over, the ones who are in the majority on any given day or in any given situation, have this need to show how superior they are; how refined, how very cultured. What do they feel about the minorities? To my mind many of them are prejudiced. But they know it is “politically incorrect” to openly say so. So they manage to convery it with their facial expressions, their body language and the inflections in their voices. 

I have seen this happen EVERYWHERE, including India. Think about anyone from another community married into your family. Are you critical? Does he / she need a little instruction in your way of behaviour? So why shouldn’t it happen here? Again, New Zealanders, just like us, aren’t a homogenous lot – they are as varied as we, in India, are. You will find some who are respectful of other cultures – even curious and eager to try something new and different. They find the food, the clothes, the adornments, the festivals of other cultures fascinating.

Finally, there’s one person who I guess I feel the need to talk about – Paul Henry. I can hear you all cringe - why dredge up something you'd rather forget? But please indulge me. I saw him recently in an interview and surprisingly, felt sad. To me, he was always crass but funny. Sometimes I felt myself squirm at his remarks and sometimes I laughed. But none of his remarks were to be taken seriously. After he spoke about the NZ governor general's name and face - Sir Anand Satyanand - not being local enough, our PM felt the same – didn’t know whether he should smile or not. (Just to clarify I mean the NZ PM - I seem to have two PMs in my mind - Manmohan Singh and John Key, which is another story.) If he could have, he would've complained to the queen about the "Sir" in Sir Anand Satyanand too. Grow up Paul. Have you, as yet, complained to the Americans about "Obama" not sounding American enough? For that matter why not complain about Sonya not being Indian enough, to the Indians? And of course, Paul on a run simply couldn't stop - the theme was Indians. He made the "dixit" remark on another occassion. I don't remember which came first but he made both those comments on TVNZ.

The, mostly white, New Zealanders decided enough was enough and stood outside the TVNZ studios yelling for Paul's resignation. A young and idealistic Ben – http://www.ben.geek.nz/2010/10/no-more-breakfast/ - who, on the "breakfast show" - Paul's programme, showed us new gadgets with a lot of fun comments from Paul, resigned in protest over "Paul’s dixit”. Hats off to people like Ben as I am not sure I would’ve done the same for them or for my principles, had the situation been reversed. Another lady who is a New Zealander living outside the country said she was proud of NZ being so multicultural and now he'd (meaning Paul Henry) gone and changed the face of her country. Many people spoke out for and many against Paul.

Anyway, Paul was forced to resign.

In the interview, a year after his unfortunate comment and subsequent resignation, I saw a man who was hurt by the "racist" slur from his own people against him. He did not see himself as racist at all. And he stuck to his guns about the “dixit”. He noticed how some New Zealanders had changed the pronunciation to “dick-sit”.

Now that things have calmed down, I can’t help wishing he had received a deserved rap on his knuckles and that’s it. Somehow, to my mind, the whole thing got bigger than it should have. Perhaps it is wrong of me to say so when he upset so many people, when young Ben gave up his job in protest.

In India I had a piano called “Moutrie”. If you speak Hindi or Gujarati, does that make you smile? Let’s just realise words in other languages do sound funny and that’s all Paul Henry was trying to be – funny and irrepressible. Do I think Paul, after this incident, might think before speaking so he doesn’t appear quite so insensitive? I honestly don't know.

Indians didn't say much then. How could we? We were all disgusted and shamed by that image. Our upbeat mood of being able to showcase India to the world at the commonwealth games took a crashing dive. And the added dimension to Indians paying taxes in India was the awareness that the sports minister was spending billions - $80 for toilet rolls, $125 first-aid kits, $220 on mirrors costing $98 retail, $61 on soap dispensers costing $1.97, and $250,190 on high-altitude simulators costing $11,830 (according to business week quoting Economic Times and India Today magazine, and any number of other newspapers and magazines).

Where are things now?

Right now, Indians are burning with anger at the amount of money being pocketed by our ministers in scam after scam amounting to billions. Ordinary Indians have joined a movement, “India Against Corruption” in their droves. According to IAC, there are problems in our present anti-corruption system. For example, corruption charges against politicians ultimately land on the desks of people working under the very person who's being investigated. In effect, employees have to investigate their bosses. ABSURRRD.

This is where we are at, right now. Paul Henry, we have had to move on.

Here is my hope - that IAC and the wonderful work they are doing, and the fight they face from our (Indian) government, is something the world watches closely. (A clarification - I mean people the world over and not governments the world over which thought somehow gives me the heebee jeebees.)

If you would like to find out more about IAC, go to
 http://nevermindyaar.blogspot.com/p/india-against-corruption.html
Or go directly to the IAC site at http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/



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CAN I HELP YOU MA’AM?

One of the first things I heard when I returned to India for a family celebration was “Ma’am”. I’d forgotten that term. It isn’t that people don’t use it in New Zealand - just not that often.

In India you use it if you’re addressing
• your teachers at school and college
• a client or customer
• your seniors in an organisation or
• a well known personality

In fact you use "sir or ma'am" for anyone you address who you don't know too well, simply as a mark of respect and courtesy.

There are other terms, for example, “ji”, used as a suffix to the person’s name or surname. Rajiv, for example, becomes either “sir” or “Rajivji”. To keep things simple we’ll leave these out for now although I have touched upon “sahib and m’emsahib” in my book, “Never Mind Yaar”.

Of course, there is another school of thought where “ma’am” and “sir” are avoided because they smack, to the user, of servility to the British. But I have noticed that the memory of that period is definitely ebbing in younger Indian minds. They have moved on and are, on the whole, confident and upbeat.

I remember when I lived in India, I used to go ma’aming and “sir-ing” people as a mark of respect too. In New Zealand, I lost the habit as the trend was to address everyone, including one’s boss, client or seniors, even the Prime Minister, by their first names. It took me a while to accept it wasn’t disrespectful, just relaxed. Today, I don’t give it a second thought except when I go back to India and am asked “Can I help you Ma’am”.

In fact, here’s where it gets confusing. In New Zealand they often use “Ma’am” to censure you in a politically correct way. For example, a cop pulling you over for speeding calls you “Ma’am” or a court registrar who finds your excuses to exempt yourself from jury duty flimsy might say, “Sorry Ma’am, these aren’t sufficient grounds for exemption”

Ultimately, however you are addressed, if you are able to judge what the tone or inflection in a voice and the expression on a face convey, you won't go too wrong.



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