At Home in India

Indian and Irish cultures mixed comfortably in the home of sisters Farah and Rebecca Taqi who were reared in the Gaeltacht. In this film they take a trip of a lifetime to meet all their father's relations in their ancestral home in India. Farah and Rebecca came to live in Cill Chiarain in Connemara when they were aged eleven and nine. They had previously lived in the Rath Carn Gaeltacht in County Meath and were fluent in Irish as their mother, Nuala McDonagh is a native of Cill Chiarain. Their father, Syed had been a jeweller in Dublin but was also a chef, which is what he did in O'Dowd's Restaurant in Roundstone for a number of years. Syed and Nuala had met in London. The girls had little problems settling in at school and were always aware of their Indian. 'We couldn't but not know as Dad always played Indian music at home and always cooked Indian food,' says Farah. Apparently the Indian home cooking they are used to is totally different to the variety of Indian cuisine available in Galway restaurants. Their Dad travelled home a few times but they never did the trip as a family. This film documents their first ever visit to India, an experience that challenges their preconceptions and questions their identities.