The Turmeric Project: Queer South Asian Art & Healing
To be a queer desi diasporic person is to be lonely. Lonely in rooms full of people with noses just like yours joking about which cousin will get married next.[…]
Suspended Between Languages
I grew up learning to understand Bangla (how Bengalis refer to the Bengali language) and English at the same time — English from watching television and Bangla from my parents.[…]
Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows Tackles the Hard Stuff
At a recent wedding, I caught myself lingering hesitantly near the bar, weighing how I might evade the gaze of aunties and uncles if I walked back to my table with[…]
Arts · Literature · Politics
Novelist Arundhati Roy & Her Mission To Inspire In The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Anjula Gogia, the activist bookseller from Another Story Bookshop in Toronto, had patiently nudged me over a few weeks to introduce and host Arundhati Roy on stage when she read[…]
Music · Politics · Pop Culture
Swet Shop Boys’ Cashmere: An Ear For Identity
Swet Shop Boys perform live at upcoming music festivals in San Francisco (Aug. 13, Outside Lands), and Flushing, NY (Sep. 16, Meadows). Watch their TV debut on The Late Show, and[…]
South Asian Americans & The Politics of Class & Income Inequality
The Reality: “These types of stories need to be heard” Before moving away to Philadelphia, Sarah Madha shared a one-bedroom space with her mom and four siblings. Although it can[…]
When Your Experience As A Woman In Tech Is Worse Than Your Experience As A Woman In The Military
I’m 36 years old, and I’ve had three careers. I’ve served for six years in the U.S. Army, I’ve worked for four years as a Ph.D. candidate/Masters student studying microbiology[…]
Islam & The Imagination: Notes From An American Artist In The 21st Century
By Time. Indeed man is in loss, Except those who have faith and do righteous deeds, and enjoin one another to [follow] the truth, and enjoin one another to patience.[…]
The Big Sick & Brown Romance In Pop Culture Narratives
In the past few years, we have finally seen an uptick in the personal narratives of Brown-American men on the big screen. No longer limited to the sidekick, we finally[…]
My First Time Saying NO To “Giving Up” On My Accent
It was the year 1999. There was a discussion at work about formulating strategies for a new client. As the storyteller and marketing communications lead for the project, I said, “This[…]