A doctor turned taxi driver finds new life in Queenstown. Tracey Roxburgh talks to Amanpreet Kaur about family and career.
Driving the streets of Wakatipu, safely delivering people to their destinations while juggling a family and time with her husband is not a life Amanpreet Kaur ever envisaged.
Eight years ago Dr Kaur moved to the resort with her husband, Pritpal Singh, following their arranged marriage in Punjab, India.
She has been driving a taxi in Queenstown for the past seven months, a job her husband shares.
The couple own the taxi. Dr Kaur drops their sons, aged 5 and 7, at school in the morning before beginning her shift at 9am.
Mr Singh collects the children from school and the couple have a few precious moments together at 6pm, before Mr Singh drives through the night.
''It's a very relaxed job - there is no pressure on you ... but there's nothing productive in it; you're just picking people up and dropping them off,'' Dr Kaur says.
''I miss what I studied for 25 years but for survival, sometimes we have to co-operate with the environment.''
When asked what her passengers think about having a doctor as their driver, Dr Kaur says its not something she shares with many people.
''Sometimes people get really conscious when you're a doctor and you're driving them.
''I've stopped telling people now.''
Becoming a doctor was a life-long dream and after five and a-half years of studying modern and ancient science, Dr Kaur graduated with a bachelor's degree in Ayrveda medicine and surgery.
She then worked for three years as a doctor, primarily specialising in delivering babies, including Caesarean section, and assisted in other surgeries.
''I was very interested in the gynaecological part. I loved that motherhood part, the childhood part.
''It's a beautiful thing to be a part of.''
Dr Kaur said in India she had a reputation as a ''good doctor'' and would often get calls from patients overseas.
''I was shocked when I got my first phone call from Italy. Sometimes the person gets healed more by words than the medicine.
''It was my dream to be a doctor.''
After realising that dream, Dr Kaur decided to continue her studies and planned to complete a master's degree in Australia, where her brothers were.
She got a passport and was preparing to live overseas for the first time, but at 25 years old she had reached ''the age of marriage''.
''Our parents decided it was time for me to get married and they were looking for an appropriate person for me.''
Her parents were struggling to find the right match for Dr Kaur, until Mr Singh, who had been studying hospitality in New Plymouth, returned to India for his sister's wedding.
A ''middle man'', who knows both families, contacted Dr Kaur's family and briefed them on Mr Singh's background, doing the same for his family.
A ''meeting'' was arranged and by its conclusion the couple had committed to marriage.
''I had never met him.
''We had a look at each other and it started from there.''
Having approval from both sets of parents, the couple were invited to speak to each other about their futures, including their plans for a family.
''It was a very funny meeting - you don't know the person and then we're talking about marriage.
''It's totally a gamble. You can't guess from one or two meetings [what a person's like].
''We had one meeting ... both of us said yes [to the marriage] and the next meeting was our engagement ceremony.
''After that, it was the wedding, four months later.''
Within six months Dr Kaur was able to use her first passport - moving to Queenstown with Mr Singh, who had a job placement at the Millennium Hotel.
''I was happy to come here,'' Dr Kaur says.
''It was already in my mind to go to Australia and study. I was mentally prepared to go ... and do something career-wise.''
Mr Singh began working his way up in the hospitality industry and applied for residency, but was declined.
Once the couple welcomed their first son, however, a second application for residency was accepted and they are now citizens of New Zealand.
Mr Singh later worked for Travelex before purchasing his taxi. Meanwhile, Dr Kaur decided to utilise the skills she had acquired in India and applied to be a midwife.
''I was rejected.
''They didn't give me any reason ... [but] at the end of the day we have to survive and we need money.''
The desire to better their family circumstances led to Dr Kaur's decision to get her passenger's licence and start driving the taxi, however, she has not yet given up on her dream.
She is contemplating either reapplying to become a midwife - hoping this time her qualifications would be assessed and she would be advised if she needed to complete any more studies in New Zealand - or possibly becoming a nurse.
''I miss all of that.''
Despite the sacrifices she has made career-wise, Dr Kaur has no regrets about her life's unexpected change of direction.
New Zealand is the only other country she has lived in and being in Queenstown has taught her ''the world is like a small town''.
She's also learned valuable lessons she hopes to pass on to her sons, neither of whom will have arranged marriages.
''I don't think there will be any such boundaries for my kids.
''I've seen such diversity here.
''Nothing is ... cast, it's an intimate bond between two people that matters.''
