Desi Outsiders

Last year, on this day, I embarked on a journey without even realising that it was going to completely change my life. Happy Birthday, 22 Nelson Street! So I think it's only fitting that I introduce you guys to my second baby, the #secretproject that we've been working on for months, on this very day. Dear readers, it's time for you to meet the Desi Outsiders.

Remember when I talked about loving Audible and listening to audio books and some of you casually mentioned that it'll be fun to hear me actually, physically rant the way I do on my written braindumps? HA-HA-HA you don't just casually mention something to me and imagine you'd get away with that. From now on, once a week, you get to hear my (sometimes angry) voice on my podcast, Desi Outsiders. That's right, we have a PODCAST now. A PODCAST! I can't believe it either!

Desi Outsiders is a podcast on Indian culture and society, where two Indian girls living in Europe chat about relationships, dating, education, culture, feminism and almost everything under the sun that young Indians should ideally be talking about (or listening to, because we're more than happy to do all the talking).

A while ago, Meenal Viz, a young Indian medical student from Prague got in touch with me, asking if I'd be willing to write for her website called Feminism India. We spoke for the first time on a Thursday at 8 p.m BST apparently (she still remembers the confirmation e-mail I sent her). How cute are we? :P

Gradually, Meenal and I became close friends who bonded at a very deep level. The idea for Desi Outsiders popped up in my brain somewhere around the time I met her, but I never really acted on it. The Husband and I did purchase a domain and kind of set up a framework for it but I wasn't sure if I wanted to host a podcast as a one-woman show as he'd already told me that he wasn't interested in becoming my co-host. About a month later, Meenal asked me if I'd ever thought about starting a podcast and I immediately knew that this was the sign I'd been looking for. She was right there in front me all this while and I hadn't even thought of it. She was an Indian raised abroad in a traditional Indian home and I was raised in India in a more liberal household. It was perfect because we could easily bounce ideas off each other and even tell each other how things were different in our respective lives because of the backgrounds we grew up in. I found my co-host, or rather, we found each other like soulmates (I can feel her cringe at that) and we were both ready to give our everything into this dream project of ours. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the day this wonderful girl came into my life! And I can't wait for you guys to meet her today on our pilot episode!

We're both very passionate about the topics we discuss starting from "Love" marriage in Episode 1 to even an impromptu plug of statistics we looked up on the phone (while recording) on CA pass rates in the country. Also, 50% of us may have made some controversial comments on how people should just adopt dogs instead of bringing poor unsuspecting children into this world. I'm sure you guys just CANNOT guess who might have said that. And did I mention that we're very chatty? Slightly angry sometimes but also very chatty. Oh, and we giggle and laugh a lot because you know, we're funny people. This one time, during a recording session, Meenal said something so funny that I was understandably out of breath but unexpectedly, The Husband, who is required to silently listen and manage our sound quality also burst out laughing. And he couldn't stop for a while so we couldn't use that joke later because you know, a certain asshole destroyed our special moment. Since then, before recording each episode, we've had to remind him that "Shane, we know we're funny people but you're NOT allowed to laugh okay?".

So now you know what I was up to in my closet. Because that's the only room in the house where the sound of passing cars, trucks and dogs does not interfere with our rants on doll-making and dog-loving. This picture was obviously not taken in there:

But just so you get an idea of what usually goes on in there, I mostly look like this:

A little more angry perhaps because sometimes, the topics we discuss tend to boil my blood. In this particular case, The Husband and I were discussing another short joke that he came up with on the spot -_-

The only thing that worries me is the fact that I sound like a...what's the word..a PEACOCK (!) and my laugh...yeah, I have a kind of a... a DONKEY LAUGH (hee-haw!). But apart from that, I'm happy to share my thoughts and braindumps now in audio form.

So do tune in every Thursday from now on for a new episode of the Desi Outsiders Podcast. You can find us on iTunes, aCast, SoundCloud, YouTube, Double Twist and in almost any and all podcast apps that you may already have installed on your phone. We hope to slowly replace your favourite music playlists for your Thursday workouts, drive to/from work, weekends or even for when you're cleaning up around the house.

You can listen to our pilot episode here (where I spill the beans on how Shane and I started talking and eventually dating):

And also follow us on social media @ The Desi Outsiders. These are our social media links:

I will share the links on my personal social media channels as well. Thanks in advance for your support, guys! You've been very kind to me this entire year and now, I need your love and support to get this second baby of mine off the ground as well :) Once again, THANK YOU for everything!


Shameless plug: If anyone is interested in writing for FeminismIndia.com, please get in touch with Meenal by sending in your introduction and a sample piece to [email protected]