The Brown Box

Mandakini Arora's Journey to Finding Home

In this episode of The Brown Box, we sit with Mandakini Arora — historian, writer, and feminist. We talk about belonging, displacement, and how you build a home in a place you choose. 🎧 Press play to hear: * How her parents' refugee story shaped her childhood — and her search for belonging * The comfort she found in books and the (very British) world they opened up for her * Walking into AWARE and feeling, for the first time, like she was home * The incredible women of AWARE * The AWARE saga, from the inside * Why she believes every person who cares about equality should be a feminist * What a road rage incident taught her about belonging and being Indian in Singapore * How she went back to school at 59 — and graduated alongside her own daughter * Her next book about the English women who chose Singapore and shaped the nation * And her advice to her younger self about writing and not waiting.  👂 Full conversation waiting for you.  Listen now — link in bio. #thebrownbox #belonging #feminism #singapore #identity #podcast #women #awaredsg ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Ivy Singh, Singapore's Gentle Warrior, Prepares to Fight For Her Farm

She has been called Singapore's Gentle Warrior. And right now, she is preparing for her biggest fight yet! In this episode of The Brown Box, we sit with Ivy Singh — farmer, philosopher, provocateur. We meet her at a crucial moment, as the lease on Bollywood Farms, her life's work, runs out in December, 2026. 💡 Press play to hear: * Ivy's childhood on Rose Lane and how her father taught her that land is life * Stories of kampong spirit — and what Singapore has lost since * Her journey from Netball Singapore president to finding love at a FairPrice opening * How a newspaper article on a plane changed everything * The Bollywood Farms origin story — and the government she had to convince * The origins of agri-tainment and Ivy's twenty six year argument for Singapore's countryside * Words from her staff and the legacy she wants to leave behind * And the question the whole episode is really about — what do we lose if we lose Bollywood Farms? 💡 Full conversation waiting for you. Listen now — link in bio. ✍️ Sign the petition. Help us save Bollywood Farms.🌿 🔗 Link in bio. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Grace Kalaiselvi: Bringing Brown Stories to the Stage

Who gets to stand under the spotlight makes a difference.  In this episode of The Brown Box, we sit with Grace Kalaiselvi — theatre actor, director and educator. We talk about family, absence and survival, and how theatre became a way to make sense of it all — and how Grace, when she couldn’t see herself in the stories on stage, began creating them herself. 🎧 Listen to hear about: • Grace’s early family struggles and how theatre became her escape • Her journey from Tamil theatre to English theatre, and the challenges she faced • Her realisation that there was little space for brown faces in English theatre • The founding of Brown Voices to tell more Indian stories • Her creative process — from idea to opening night • Her most recent play, ‘Invisible’ • Advice to other aspiring actors who want to join her under the spotlight Listen now — link in bio. #thebrownboxpodcast #singaporetheatre #sgpodcasts #singaporeartists #southasianvoices ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Sofie Buligis's Love Letter to Being Celup

In this episode, Sofie talks about the word celup, as she grapples with her own celup-ness and what it means to not fit neatly into the Malay box of the CMIO. Listen to hear about: * what celup means, and Sofie’s journey towards understanding her own celup-ness * her complex heritage — Javanese, Boyanese and Indian — and why her name leaves her with many unanswered questions * a grandmother who was given a Malay identity card despite being of Chinese and Indian heritage * becoming super duper halal as a form of teenage rebellion * finding belonging in a P. Ramlee film * music in her family, a grandfather with a music room, and a household where everyone had to learn an instrument * her admiration for her mother’s fierceness, and her belief in the power of her own softness * the pain of having to put her Malayness in her back pocket * the lack of roles — and nuance — for brown actors in Singapore * her advice for others struggling with their own celup-ness ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

The Storyteller's Gift: Kamini Ramachandran on the Power of Stories

In this episode, we sit with Kamini Ramachandran, a storyteller, educator, and creative force behind MoonShadow Stories and Storyfest Singapore. 🎧 Listen to hear about: * Her grandfather, the storyteller: a planter from Kerala who lived in Malaya, from whom Kamini learnt to love stories * The wildness of nature 🐍: a cobra encounter at four, the love of a dog named Bobby 🐕, and how he protected her * Cherishing books 📚 that allowed her to travel into her imagination, and magazines that allowed her to travel everywhere else * The living, breathing art of oral storytelling, and why it matters beyond childhood * Why she disdains the idea of “moral endings” in stories, asking her audience to find meaning that is personal and discovered * Nights spent with the Elders of the Temiar, and her time visiting the Orang Asli * The importance of sharing stories — sharing with permission, consent, and acknowledgement * Working with AI 🤖 and realizing that she no longer fears it * Immersive storytelling through projects like Harry Potter and Jurassic World 🎭 * The power of stories to remind you that you are not alone — to ground, connect, and heal 💛 ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.