[Intertitle: Motivation]

My father was 18 years old when he was imprisoned in Iran for being a Bahai. He was kept in prison for a while and tortured because of his religious beliefs.

When he got out of prison he decided he was gonna leave his family behind and move to India independently. So he moved to India and started studying there and then when the Iranian Revolution was about to happen, my mother's family all decided to move to India as well. So my parents met in in India. They got married and soon after I was born they moved to Australia. 

[Intertitle: The journey]

My father moved to India and then my mother a few years later. Basically, their citizenship in Iran was cancelled because they basically left illegally. India would not provide them with citizenship at the time. So they couldn't go back to Iran, didn't want to go back to Iran, and they needed to get citizenship in a new country. So they basically applied to the United Nations claiming refugee status. When the response came back they had the choice of picking between 3 countries and Australia happened to be that country. 

In the meantime they were stateless basically, so when I was born I wasn't an Indian and I wasn't an Iranian because I wasn't allowed citizenship in India and I'd never been to Iran. So it wasn't until my parents were given a visa to travel to Australia and then citizenship in Australia that I actually had a nationality. Up until that point I was just an Indian born refugee of Iranian parents. 

They sold everything they had and it amounted to about 50 Australian dollars. So apart from the clothes that they owned and some photographs, they basically had a suitcase and a bunch of stories. 

[Intertitle: First impressions]

I think the the lack of family was more shocking for my parents than anything else. Having left everyone behind in India to start with and then leaving them behind in Melbourne again. Not having that community of support around them was the most difficult thing and then I think the slower pace of life also in Townsville was something that they weren't used to. I mean Iran was pretty busy, India there was a hustle-bustle there, and even in Melbourne. But I think Townsville everything was ... it was a bit different for them. 

[Intertitle: Settlement]

Life in Townsville was a bit difficult because there was only I think two other Iranian families at the time. This was the mid to late 80s so there wasn't very many non Anglo-Saxon Australians living in Townsville so we very much stood out.

I remember my first day at school actually. I arrived to class and took my shoes off at the front door and walked in and my teacher asked me where my shoes are and I couldn't speak English so I couldn't explain to her that I'd taken my shoes off at the door because that's what you do as an Iranian. So she got a little bit worked up and took me by the hand and came to walk me to the principal's office when she realised that my shoes were just at the front door. So things like that came up in the first few years.

You know when you're 5, 6, 7 years old you don't understand what a culture is much less cultural difference so they just thought I was weird.

Teasing was pretty standard. Name-calling was pretty obvious even the teachers would at times partake in it. So it was systemic, it wasn't something that it would just happen and someone would take care of it.It was ... it was everywhere and that's all you knew, wherever you went.

I remember you know, not being served promptly when we went out for dinner for example, or I remember abuse being hurled at shopping centre carparks or school playgrounds. And even when it wasn't towards myself personally, if my dad would experience it at work it would affect him, and he would relay it to my mother and then, you know, we'd all feel that sort of tension. So we'd go back to school the next day ever more aware of the fact that we're different. 

[Intertitle: Work and play]

Community development has been a part of my life since before I was even born. I mean my father was doing that sort of work in India. It was a reason why we moved from Melbourne to Townsville. So growing up it's all over and in you. It was my father working with indigenous communities, with newly settled refugees. So it just became an automatic part of life, almost like a language that you learn. It was a way of life for us.

It wasn't until about 4 or 5 years ago that I ...wanted to do something different to community development. I got a little bit disappointed and disheartened with what was happening in social change in general. So I started writing about what I've learnt and the contradictions that I've unravelled, and, you know, the stories I've come across. Whether it's working out your identity or coming to deal with ... you know, with race issues, or whether it's of a more spiritual nature of what is the true self, or where do we come from, where are we going? I guess I'm still doing community development, just in a different sense. I write and I share how I try and change people's hearts minds and opinions or open them to new ideas through my writing. 

[Intertitle: Challenges]

Growing up in Townsville it was a very clear-cut difference between the everyday culture and the home culture. And given that I'd never been to the country of my heritage, Iran, it was a bit difficult for me to work out who I was and what I was. Because I didn't very much feel the Iranian ... I didn't have much of a connection to India apart from the fact that I was born there  and lived there for 12 months, and I didn't really fit in in Australia either.

So yeah it was definitely difficult trying to work out your own identity when you've got these 2, you know, opposite cultures or different cultures and you don't - you're not accepted in one and you don't really have any memory or connection to the other. So I think that played a big part in my character building I guess and being able to have an open mind with reference to all sorts of world issues.

Being in that sort of twilight space not one or the other, I'm able to look at issues in a different light, whereas someone who has spent the majority of their life in Iran and recently comes to Australia they have a strong identity and you know that's in opposition to a new identity whereas mine was wasn't neither here nor there. 

[Intertitle: Reflections]
 
Growing up feeling Australian was something that, I mean, I had to take myself. I realised that if I'll leave it to other people's hands whether I'm an Australian or not, I'll never be an Australian.

Not having ever been to Iran and not really remembering much from India I haven't known anything else. So I've never lived in another country and I have nothing to compare this is all I've ever known. Is it paradise? It's ... it's life ... it's got its ups and downs and you know whether you face racism or prejudice or homophobia or sexism these are just issues we all face. We all face prejudice in some way shape or form throughout our lives, sometimes from within our own families. As an adult now I can look back and realise that the prejudice we face was basically just out of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of something that was new. Now I can realise that's, you know all Australians whether we're new migrants or generational migrants, even Anglo-Saxon Australians we're all seeking a better life in a land that's not ours. So yeah I think the one thing that all Australians share in common is that idea of seeking a better life in in a new land. So I definitely feel Australian in that sense.