(cards flipping)
(clicking)
- [Dulaj] How have I changed you?
- How have you changed me?
- Yeah.
- You could take it as a compliment, or like,
You've like showed me like it's fine to have fun,
if you know what I mean.
like it's all good.
(laughter)
I'm not saying it's all good to go to parties--
- Making you into a party animal or something.
I hope my mom doesn't see this.
(laughing)
- No you've shown me like
you need time to take a break from like work and school
and like just have time to go out with friends.
Do you know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- I mean parties are cool.
- Parties or hanging out with other people
and going to the park, play some basketball,
go for long drives.
Premade on the petrol money but it's all right.
- How do you see me changing?
- See you changing,
I would say like you've grown.
- Grown height or?
(laughing)
- Definitely not a beard 'cause look there.
- I just get patches.
- It's funny at times though,
sometimes you say some stupid stuff--
- Like what?
- Some funny stuff
and then you say then
and then the next day you're like doing some crazy thing
that no one's ever done before.
- What do you mean?
- You know like,
that's what I mean like
we know the boys are like I know the real you.
It's just funny 'cause we see you
doing all this with us
and then the next day you're like so serious, so focused,
like taking all the responsibilities and doing everything
and then there's something I would say you're changing.
It's not like you change every day
but you change with whatever the situation is
you can change
and then you can adapt to what you have to do
for everyone else or what to do.
- Do you think I was a good head boy this year?
- Is that even a question?
See that's the first time
you ever asked me that question.
- I try not to
take in people's opinions.
I don't know, do you think I've been?
- Being a head boy in high school means?
- I kind of wish I wasn't.
- Really?
- Yeah.
I feel like I would've done what I did
even without the title.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- But it's just I think about it all the time like--
- I would say being a head boy in high school,
each head boy is different to one another
and you were a different head boy
and you were your own head boy
to Cashmere High School
and there's no way I'm gonna say
you were a bad head boy.
I don't think anyone could say that.
You represented Cashmere High
and you represented the class of 2019,
like you represented all of us,
even from the announcement.
They would talk about you, you know,
they would talk about it and be like,
wow, one day I might want to be like him.
- I haven't felt like
whenever we get grades back,
when people ask, oh, what you got and like
when I get a bad mark and they do better than me
like I really hate it
when they compare themselves to me,
like they think I'm more perfect
but I'm actually like the opposite.
There's so much stuff that I'm going through
that people don't know about.
- What's one thing you still don't understand about me?
- Relationships.
- So me having a girlfriend?
- I don't know, you're a very cute guy.
Like what's your deal man?
- What's my deal that I've never been in a relationship?
- Or you're just chilling?
- I don't know man.
I haven't found a relationship
but I've found some really cool people,
some that I've seen, discovered and talked to
that has actually changed me
and they don't even know about it
and it kind of sucks
like some of them might not even talk to me right now
but at the end of the day,
I want them to know
'cause whatever the summer fling or whatever,
whatever happened, that was really cool,
it was really cool 'cause they actually like showed me
a different side of me,
like taking care of someone else and all that.
It's been really nice meeting them in high school.
Maybe see them again one time, you never know.
I think we're just waiting and chilling,
waiting for that right person.
I just turned 18, man.
I'm still--
- What if we were looking for a girlfriend?
- What if we were--
- And we weren't, like why are we still single for real?
- That's tough, I don't know.
I would say like even though we are looking for someone
the person hasn't found us yet.
- True.
Do you think there's anything about us that would
be like ah no?
- That's tough.
I'm six foot, you're six foot and above.
They say that's a big difference.
- What experience do you think
has shaped us the most and why?
- There's a lot of experiences.
- Really?
- Yeah, there's a lot
but the most obvious thing is like
what happened here this year,
what happened in March really brought us closer.
Emotionally, we were always connected
but even spiritually sort of thing.
What happened in March
and the way you acted upon it
it showed us another side of you,
a side that's like been a bit quiet
but like this time you wanted to show people
what you can do.
And that just brought us a lot together I would say
'cause like what I wanted to do
was I wanted to help you as much as I can
to get whatever you want to do.
You put all your emotions away
and then you just wanted to help each and every one.
That was one of the most phenomenal things I've seen,
17 years of you living,
that was in you
but this year you brought it out
and then you showed the world,
like not just New Zealand,
you showed the world that like
that one person can make a difference
and that's what brought us together even more.
- I think it wasn't till that event
that I realized after the visual and everything
and when you said for all of us
to come to your house and get a free, that actual,
it might not have seemed a lot to you
but actually meant a lot for me
'cause while I was making it seem
like I was all good with what happened
and standing up there,
I hadn't had time to process it myself
and I think I just needed that time with you guys
after the visual.
But yeah just showed me how valuable life is
and like to cherish every day.
To lose students at our own high school
it hit me real hard.
That could've been you.
- How do you think what happened in March 15
affected my relationship to this country?
- I mean we haven't really had a talk about it.
You don't really talk about it, do you?
I mean there was that thing that happened
while your parents were away and,
did it happen in Sri Lanka?
- It happened in Sri Lanka.
- Do you want to share that?
- I mean I moved from Sri Lanka to here
and this is my home as well
and my relationship to this country hasn't changed.
Obviously, something like that
has never happened here in New Zealand
but in Sri Lanka like I've heard stories like this
and experienced stuff like that
but moving to a city,
moving to a country like this
and not really expecting something like that to happen
'cause I want to be here
when all my mates are here and my family.
So I was like there's no way I'm leaving here
'cause of one thing that has happened here
'cause New Zealand's been through a lot,
Christchurch has been through a lot,
with the earthquakes and all of that
but my relationship would never change
'cause of something like that
'cause I always still will love New Zealand
and being here has like changed me to the better.
- New Zealand has been through so much.
We've been through so much.
It was so hard
'cause I sat on the fence with everything.
I said that New Zealand hasn't been,
we don't have racism here
but like we've had decades of racism
but just not so open
and especially being brown and going to a high school
where there's probably like 10 of us,
it's so hard to know if you're white enough
or brown enough and
it's so hard competing at a European prominent school.
So many people don't know what I'm going through
and they're like oh,
why aren't you at school?
There's so many brown jokes and like
we laugh it off but like
there's a point in time
where it actually gets a bit too much
and it's like you don't realize.
I think those are the conversations
we need to start having.
- Yeah.
- How do you think what happened
on March the 15th changed us?
- Well we talked about it before,
it changed us in a better way, I would say
'cause it was shocking, for one.
Those were streets that we walked
and Hagley Park, right in front of Hagley Park,
for stuff like that to happen
in places we have memories
and like gone past,
we never knew it was there,
some people didn't even know where it was
but it brought a lot of people together.
It brought people that you've never talked to together,
people that you've seen around together.
It helped in a way,
you know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- But it helped bring people
and show people what others are capable of
and that that's not what's right
and there's more to life than yeah,
didn't really change us.
- It feels like such a long time ago but it also feels like
I can recall everything like it was yesterday.
I think you're right,
it didn't change us,
it just reinforced what we had already known.
The way we were brought up,
hatred doesn't beat hatred.
And I think what it showed us
was that we can do anything,
we as young people.
For us to create the first ever vigil,
young people created the first vigil
to show our love for what happened
after the events of the 15th,
and no other big event happened
till like three or four days after.
When I stood there in that crowd of people,
seeing so many young students from all different schools,
races, beliefs, faiths,
it was actually incredible and
when I did the Facebook event,
I literally thought it would just be
like 100 of us from Cashmere.
But there's a photo of like
the whole crowd of young people,
all different color of uniforms,
and just seeing them holding up their candle,
I'll always remember that.
In 10 years, I'll see that picture and
remember that feeling of unity and pride
for my community and our city.
- Yeah. - Yeah.