Help us hold the mat
We are looking for guest hosts. People who care about our elders' stories and can sit with them and simply ask (in Fiji Hindi).
Every PAAL episode starts the same way: someone older settles onto the mat, and someone younger says "Batao." Tell me.
Some of the best conversations happen between people who already share something - a village, a surname, a temple, a kitchen. We want PAAL to have many voices asking the questions, not one. So we're opening the mat to guest hosts.
You don't need to be a broadcaster. You don't need experience with a microphone. You need three things:
A real interest in preserving these stories - you understand that they are leaving us, one elder at a time, and that bothers you.
Fiji Hindi you can hold a conversation in. Not textbook Hindi. The Fiji Hindi of the kitchen and the veranda - the way your nani or aaja would actually tell it.
The patience to listen. The elder does the talking. The host makes it easy.
What we take care of
You bring the curiosity. PAAL brings everything else.
The studio. Episodes are recorded professionally, on video, in Sydney. You turn up; the room is ready.
The interview structure. A gentle, tested outline that walks through a life - childhood, the village, leaving, arriving, what they'd want their grandchildren to know. You don't have to invent the questions.
Guidance before you sit down. A short briefing with us on how to open, how to let silences run, how to steer without interrupting, and what to do when the story gets emotional (it will).
Everything after. Editing, translation into English, captions, publishing. Your job ends when the conversation does.
Your name on it. You're credited as the host of that episode, in both languages.
Who this might be:
A grandchild who's realised there are questions they've never asked.
Someone who grew up in Ba, Labasa, Nadi, Rakiraki — anywhere — and still speaks the way they did there.
A teacher, nurse, pandit, molvi, community volunteer: someone elders already open up to.
A young Fiji Indian who wants to reconnect with a language they only half kept.
Anyone who has ever thought, someone should be recording this.
What it asks of you:
Honestly, not much - but it should be said plainly.
Time. One briefing (about an hour, in person or online), and one recording session (allow half a day, including tea before and after).
Preparation. Reading the interview outline and, if you're bringing an elder, a little time getting them comfortable with the idea.
Care. These are people's lives. We treat every story with dignity, and every elder decides what is shared and what stays in the family.