The Carolina Desi

Brown People We Know, hosted by Suraj Kandukuri, is an interview podcast with South Asian Americans taking non-traditional career and lifestyle paths. By sharing these stories, the podcast aims to break down stereotypes about South Asians and to reduce social pressures from within the diaspora community to take a certain path. In this episode, Suraj interviews Ranjan Ravaliya who is a retired engineer who earned her PhD in Chemistry in India during the 1980’s. At 62, she decided to come out of retirement by visiting Haridwar in India and training to become a priestess. Today, at 67, she goes by the moniker The New England Priest as she officiates weddings. In this episode, Ranjan shared the story of her family leaving Tanzania during Idi Amin’s time and about earning the nickname “Rapid Ranjan” as she hiked Kilimanjaro years later. They talk about her decision to pursue higher education despite her father’s wishes, and the funny way that she convinced him to pay for it. And she reflected on parenting as a single mother of two and what she sees her role as a grandparent today.

The Carolina Desis teamed up with Keith Chow (@the_real_chow) of the Southern Fried Asians (@southernfriedasians) podcast and the Nerds of Color (@thenerdsofcolor) to put out a special episode discussing this year’s rise in awareness towards AAPI issues as well as the general complexity involved in being labelled as “Asian-American”, especially for those of us living in the American South. What are the similarities in our stories? Who gets to be counted in the coalitions being built? And what does solidarity look like between all of us? Join us as we discuss all these questions and more! IG & Twitter: @the_real_chow IG: @southernfriedasians Twitter: @southernasians All channels: @thenerdsofcolor

Tricha Kumar is a professional dancer and filmmaker who also happens to be the Bollywood film industry's #1 dance choreographer of Bhangra. Join the Carolina Desis this week as Tricha sits down with us to discuss current projects, her philosophy on dance as a career and an artform, the state of Bhangra in Bollywood, the value of labor as a backup dancer, adjusting to Covid, and so much more! IG: @tricha.k Twitter: @trichakumar Website: trichakumar.com [http://trichakumar.com] MOON: facebook.com/moonthefilm [http://facebook.com/moonthefilm] MOON: https://moonthefilm.com/ [https://moonthefilm.com/] Witness to a Devouring Monster: https://www.instagram.com/wtadm_film/ [https://www.instagram.com/wtadm_film/] WTADM Fundraising: https://seedandspark.com/fund/wtdamfilm#story [https://seedandspark.com/fund/wtdamfilm#story]

We've spoken before about the immigrant experience coming from South Asia to the US, but never the other way around! This time, we get to know Jessica Kumar, an American Midwesterner and Co-host of the Invisible India Podcast. Over time, Jessica found herself building a life with her husband and children halfway across the world in India. We sat down to ask Jessica about her work, her transition to life in India, raising bilingual children there, the misconceptions she had before arriving, and much more. Invisible India episode mentioned: * Debunking Misconceptions about India [https://invisibleindiapodcast.com/debunking-misconceptions-about-india/] * @InvisibleIndia on IG * @IndiaInvisible on Twitter * @TheInvisibleIndia on FB

What do Rihanna, Greta Thunberg, and the farmers of India all have in common? They, along with a groundswell of supporters worldwide, are shedding light on the unjustness of three farm laws passed by India's Parliament. The passing of these laws, which has sparked the largest protest in world history, strip away previous protections for workers and open the doors for billionaire corporate interests to destroy an entire way of life for upwards of 60% of India's population still working in agriculture. We sit down with Sahej Preet Singh of the Sikh Coalition to discuss the rapidly developing situation, the plight of the farmers, the ongoing human rights' abuses committed by the government against peaceful protesters, and how it all ties back to us as Americans watching from afar. Please join us for this very special and important episode of the Carolina Desi! Resources discussed in the episode: * @sikhcoalition on IG * www.sikhcoalition.org/farmers-protest [http://www.sikhcoalition.org/farmers-protest] * bit.ly/farmers-protest [http://bit.ly/farmers-protest] * @khalsa_aid on IG