As we state in our intro Desis are a community from South Asian countries not just India. So it's a thrill when we get to have on our show someone from one of the other countries as it helps continue to expand and specify what it means to be Desi. To that end we are thrilled to have on our show Gowri Koneswaran, a Tamil American from Sri Lanka. As we begin the show we dive straight into how the language we use around what community we are from can be so important. How an issue with a...

We all see how Colin Kaepernick's relationship with the US Flag is causing a huge uproar. Well this isn't a solely American issue! Listen in to this clip as we talk, as Desis, about our relationships to our TWO flags!

Louise Keshaviah is a caucasian woman dedicated to the brown cause. So dedicated, in fact, that she is Arjun's agent. So SO dedicated, in fact, that she recorded an interview with us a year ago, then came back when audio errors ruined the first one. So tune in as we speak to agent and Political Correctness Powerhouse Louise Keshaviah talk to us about the ways in which people of color (mainly the South Asian ones) are under and mis-represented in the entertainment industry, the marriage to a...

Continuing our theme around literature and its importance with children, this week we welcome Sanjay Nambiar. Sanjay is a man of the moment: sensitive, intelligent, an entrepreneur, and a feminist. I am not sure he would call himself a feminist but his work in creating the "Super Amazing Princess Heroes" children's stories/ brand surely qualify him as one. Sanjay shares with us how being raised by a single mother laid the foundation for a viewpoint that would erupt into action when he had...

Today we welcome to the podcast two people with an incredible business that is perfect for children and anybody who wants a simple way to learn about South Asian culture (us): Gauri Manglik and Sadaf Siddique. The business is Kitaab World- a one stop shop for South Asian parents to find books (kitaab) that help kids connect to their South Asian culture. It's ideal for kids, or people who know nothing about South Asian culture (Arjun and me). Sitting down with Sadaf and Gauri, they explained...

Our community episode this week obviously starts with a conversation around the Olympics and the Desi and American Desi athletes we want to applaud. But because sports are a lens through which to view society, our applause leads us to discuss the importance of the three female athletes from India. Their dedication and successes inspired us to hope that all people can understand that fighting like a girl means winning. This message is even more poignant in light of the emails that we share...

Akaash and I are in way over our heads as went to the United Nations to interview the Bureau Chief for the New York Times, Somini Sengupta. Somini has been a journalist for over 20 years and has been the Bureau Chief for the Times covering South Asia, Western, and Central Africa all before ending up at the UN. She generously took time after a huge vote to talk to us about her latest book End of Karma: Hope and Fury among India’s Young, as well as her journey from being born in India, to...

We started off our west coast road trip of our show at the majestic campus of UC Santa Barbara, where we got to interview the professor of "Asian American Studies": Dr. Sameer Pandya. Not only is this gentleman rocking a mirch on RateMyProfessor.com, he is also a brilliant mind and published author. After sitting in on one of his lectures, we sat down in his office to discuss his latest book, the origin of the Model Minority myth, Linsanity, and sports as a vehicle through which to understand...

Judith Williams is a know it all. No, I don't mean one of those annoying people who thinks they know everything. I mean she actually knows everything. With degrees from Harvard and Stanford, the Global Head of Diversity at Dropbox came on the show to school Arjun and me on just about all things diversity. After explaining what diversity really is, and all the different types of diversity that are necessary, she explains how companies are looking to achieve it. She also explains the...

Few cases have captured our collective attention as much as the murder trial of Adnan Syed, brought to our attention by the podcast "Serial", which caused a national stir & brought a wealth of attention; however, it's safe to say that the follow up podcast, "Undisclosed", is the reason Adnan has a new case. We were honored to welcome one of the founders/hosts of that podcast, as well as fellow Desi, Rabia Chaudry, to the show. Listen in as we talk to her about her current work, the...

After our community episode surrounding Black Lives Matter, it felt right to drop an episode with one of the brilliant activists in our own community. Enter Anand Subramanian, Associate Director at PolicyLink in Oakland, leading their efforts to advance community-centered policing. Our conversation begins with a reading from their Equity Manifesto and continues to explore the difference between equity and equality. We then get to explore how he got started, examples of how history has created...

In light of recent events, Akaash and I felt moved to do a special community episode to discuss the BlackLivesMatter movement as well as our role or responsibility in it. We needed a space to process what has been a difficult week and wanted to hold space for you guys to join in the conversation. Listen in to what that conversation provoked and join the discussion on Twitter or in our email box.

We talk often about how to be more Indian, or how we feel disconnected in America. Well, in honor of America's Birthday we bring on a gentleman who moved here from India and is a proud American! We have the pleasure of talking with Puneet Sabharwal, a tech industry star, who moved here from India for a woman. Puneet and this nice lady from the midwest got married, and then in true American fashion, realized a few years later it wasn't working out. We chart the journey of his relationship from...

On Wednesday, June 29th, over 100 high school students will depart for a two week journey that will shape the future of their lives. I know that sounds dramatic but that is what Uplift Humanity offers and provides. These students are going to drop into juvenile detention centers all across India and work with the young kids to help them break out of the cycle of recidivism. Before they leave, we had the pleasure to chat with a handful of these volunteers to get a snapshot of who these young...

We begin this community episode with a discussion about family. I just had the fortune of spending some time with my Nani in DC and I ask Akaash if there was a point in his life that shaped the importance he held for family. It springboards us to a moment of advocacy around spending time with those we love, but we had to keep it short because y'all showed up big time this month! Had many beautiful emails to respond to, on top of our normal Twitter fodder. Emails that asked us about Asian...

On today's episode we were fortunate enough to speak with Vaani Gupta- a teacher in Washington D.C. She is also Arjun's, and by extension my own, Didi. Arjun doesn't call her "Didi" though, because he's super disrespectful and an awful brother. And that's the topic on which we begin our discussion. We delve into our terms of respect for our elders, and how Arjun and Vaani used them growing up. We also speak about something Arjun has touched upon frequently: the year he spent in India. We...

"We started this partnership because we realized we didn't have a National Voice." In what feels like a perfect follow up to the Yves episode, so begins our wildly informative conversation with Aarti Kohil, the deputy director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus. After unpacking why the name of the organization is so long, we dive into a collection of topics and thoughts that are incredibly important and fun to think about for our community. We explore how the South Asian...

Imagine waking up to the smell of breakfast on the stove and your mom and dad chatting it up in the kitchen. You check the clock and it's 6 am. Suddenly there is banging on the door. "It's the police open up!" And at that moment your life turns upside down. You are interrogated in your own home, and your father is taken out the door in handcuffs and deported. It is the last time you will see him. This is not a scene from a movie. This is a real moment from Yves Gomes' life. He is part of an...

Deepa Iyer is many things: lawyer, professor, and writer. But above all, she is an activist. Arjun and I were fortunate enough to speak with this enlightened YOUNG woman on this week's episode. We begin the discussion with a talk about her book: "We too Sing America". We discuss the inspiration for the book, some of the people she wrote about (including a future guest of the show), and what she learned from the process of writing. We also discuss the passion of the younger generation she see...

Akaash makes his long awaited return to my arms in this latest episode. He regales us with how annoying brown folk are in Italy and I sing him an amazing version of Happy Birthday. As soon as we are done with the pillow talk, we dive into our thoughts of the last few episodes. which mainly consists of us just shouting out how amazing Anish, Diana, and Dr. Manchanda are. Then I take us down to Twitter Valley and we respond to you guys! Been some amazing twitter involvement the last few weeks...

In part one of our love affair with Dr. Manchanda we dove into what was the concept behind going "upstream." So for part 2 the big question became: "OK, so how do we do this?" Our conversation continues right from where we left off last week answering that question. We ask about the very nature of humanity as being reactionary and whether that needs to change first for any other s**t to occur. We explore how upstream thinking can be used in other realms of society, which leads to a spirited...

Our health care system is broken. Its a sad but true fact. We have become a system that is based on volume of care rather than value, so we now have a healthcare system that is not focused on health! Enter Dr. Rishi Manchanda. A doctor and social medicine advocate who is going to make it right. He is leading the charge with a community of what he calls upstreamists to bring health back into this system and make it more accessible for all. We had the honor to sit down and talk with him outside...

This week we get to hear from the person who brought us into the Audioboom family. And surprisingly they are not South Asian. Diana Velez is a New York born Puerto Rican, or "Nuyorican", who was searching for diverse content stumbled upon our podcast and thought it was great. But aside from the life-changing insight offered on our episodes, there was a more personal appeal. Diana's son is part South Asian as her partner is a Pakistani Christian; which makes her son "Pakirican." Listen in as...

By the age of 22, most of us consider ourselves successful if we've graduated college, possibly with a job in hand. But then there are people like Anish Patel who make most of us feel like absolute losers. Anish is graduating college in a few weeks, but instead of having a job in hand, he has a non profit that he's been running for 6 years! That's right, when Anish was just a self proclaimed sophomore nerd, he started "Uplift Humanity." It was born as a simple idea from a kid who spent...

In the third edition of our wildly popular community episode, we talk about you guys and all the things you care about...but only after we talk about a few things we care about first! I wanted to talk about pressure, but as soon as we started, Akaash reminded me that we hadn't talked about Cuba!! I just returned from there a week and a half ago and wanted to talk about how amazing it was and how much it reminded me of India. This started a discussion about similarities and differences. That...