Forty-eight-year-old Thomas Pahi never saw his father. All he has is an old picture, a name which might not be his real name, some tales his mother shared, and a strong will to meet him.
“My mother is a Maori woman. Back then, when you are young, you get up to mischief. I think that’s what happened between my mum and my dad. They had a bit of a fling and I ended up coming from that,” chuckles Mr Pahi.
Mr Pahi believes his father was a Fiji national of Indian origin who was living in Auckland around 1976-77. He had met Mr Pahi’s mother who was 18 years old at that time.
“According to my mum, he was 29 years old at that time," Mr Pahi told SBS Hindi.
Thomas Pahi Source: Supplied
"He was already married and had kids too. He came back when he heard my mother was pregnant. He actually wanted to be involved. But my grandfather, a minister and a man of Bible, so to speak, found out that he had a wife and children in Auckland. My grandmother told me he put a shotgun to my father and told him to be on his way. He was told, the child would be brought up by the grandparents.”
Mr Pahi never heard from his father. As soon as he was old enough, he started looking for him.
He says he has been looking into it for a few years now, but with no success. He has tried different avenues.
“I have tried Land and Revenue, Immigration and vehicle registration departments. I also contacted ‘Lost and Found’ TV Channel but they could not find anything,” he said.
He has also taken to social media with some heart-touching appeals in search of his father.
Mr Pahi says he was told about his father by his mother in his early teens.
Source: Supplied
“She did say to me that he may have had another name like Davinder or something like that.”
Mr Pahi has contacted many David Singhs in New Zealand and overseas. “To be honest, there are lots of David Singhs around New Zealand and around the world. I talked to a couple of David Singhs but they were not around the same age my father was,” says Mr Pahi.
His father would be around 70 now. Why is he looking for him now?
“I am not looking for any financial gains or anything of that sort. I am looking for him just to fill in the gaps. I have children and his grandchildren keep asking me, can we get to meet him. I say, I would like to meet him too,” answers Mr Pahi as his voice quivers.
Mr Pahi’s mother married later. She has a family but she wants to meet David Singh too.
“She would love to meet him again just to see how he is. She is happy for me to meet him. She is quite supportive,” he says. There is a car in the picture. He tried to trace him through the registration of the car but in vain as the vehicle is too old.
Thomas Pahi has been trying all avenues possible to find his father. He imagines the day he would meet him. He thinks it will be a very emotional moment.
“I will probably break down and cry, to be honest. I am 48 but the end of the day he is my father and I obviously have some traits about me that are not from my Maori side,” says Mr Pahi.
Mr Pahi says he wants to fill a huge gap in his life before it gets too late.
“What makes me little sad is that I may not get to meet him if I don’t find him before he dies. That is why I am really pushing to try and find him. I know he would be getting old now. So that is why I am really trying to find him,” he says.
