Everything that's new here

Last Sunday, I wore a bra because I actually cared about what someone thought of me. I wore a bra, changed into a respectable t-shirt, slapped on some chapstick and brushed my hair before getting on a Skype call with Tina aka Mom Boss of 3. And then, I remembered that for the best audio quality on our podcast, we usually don't turn the video on during these calls. So it was a wasted effort. At least, before the call with Tina started, I got to feel superior to Meenal who hadn't even brushed her teeth. Okay, maybe she did brush her teeth but she sure as hell wasn't wearing a bra. I know this because she told me and I know that sharing that information with you guys is going to cost me a few days worth of free medical advice. And I really need her to tell me what's up with my uterus these days.

The interview we did with Tina is one that I am genuinely proud of. After 30 whole episodes, this is the one where we got everything right. The audio was perfect, the guest was amazing, and the conversation flowed smoothly. Tina was so lovely to let us ask her questions that might have made most people uncomfortable, and her answers brought a lot of value to our library of content.

At one point in her life, she had two kids under the age of two. And now, she has three under six. Her life is a hell of a rollercoaster ride and she tries to be a boss at it every single day.

I've shared before that many aspects of motherhood make me anxious and Tina was kind enough to relate to them and tell me all about her experience. We asked her what she thought about the expectations on new moms these days, and about the possibility of her children growing up to renounce the religious teachings their family tries to instill in them. I shared that one big fear I had was about my kids going against my personal value systems, making me lose my shit about it, and proving me a hypocrite. Her answer to that one is my personal favourite. We reminded her of generations past when our grandmothers had eight children and never got credit for their efforts, and we asked her for advice every new mother needs.

This episode is the first of Season 3, and along with it being one of our favourite works, it comes with a whirlwind of new updates and changes.

For starters, we have new music. A new season seemed like a good time to switch music tracks and this new one with all the clapping and singing feels very "us". Tell us what you think about it!

The other new change is that Desi Outsiders is now brought to you by audioBoom. Henceforth, you'll be able to listen to us only via audioBoom, which is a very welcome change, to say the least. Instead of having our content on multiple platforms like SoundCloud, YouTube, and a separate player on our website for those of you who don't use podcast apps, all of our new content will now be available only via audioBoom. This way, if you already use iTunes or any other podcast apps, you'll continue to receive our content the way you used to. But if you don't have an app for it, all you have to do is follow the link to our website as always and press play on the audioBoom player we provide (like the one above). Worry not, it continues playing the podcast even if you click out of the browser on mobile.

We hope that this change makes accessing our content a lot easier for you. And finally, our YouTube channel will be dedicated to videos alone.

However, because there were so many moving pieces involved in yesterday's release, I want to apologize to those of you who had some initial starting trouble with the whole set up. We've figured out all the glitches and know that there's no cause for worry anymore. Do let me know if you come across something we may have overlooked.

In other disappointing news, our hopes and dreams of working with a new audio engineer went down the drain, and now we're back to square one with Shane losing sleep once a week. We're on the lookout for someone who might be willing to edit our audio. We have a few systems in place, and I must say, a lot of expectations from potential applicants. But if you know someone who might good for the job, kindly point them to us.

But let's not dwell on the disappointments anymore. Allow me to lift us up with another cool update which we're extremely excited about - Dear Barb.

This will be a new section on our website where we'll document letters we write to one another every week. With each passing day, we've been finding ourselves more and more frustrated by the less and less time we've had to communicate with each other. In the past few months, we've sometimes found ourselves communicating merely with the aid of emojis. In fact, Ankita's misuse of the poop emoji may have been the reason why this new segment was created.

So starting this season, we're going to be writing letters to each other detailing all the "unimportant" things happening in our lives - all the things we once used to exchange on long phone calls with each other on a daily basis. And the best part? We're including you in our conversations.

Do we have time to do this? Not really.

But are we going to do this? Oh, totally!

Dear Barb is going to be a creative outlet for us. We're going to do this merely for the fun of it. Letter writing is something I've always enjoyed and I've written letters to all the people I love. Meenal and I want to bring back this lost art and explore all the possibilities in this area. And we hope you'll join us in our weekly exchange.

Also, the Desi Outsiders website is prettier now. It's a work in progress but we hope you enjoy what it looks like now, especially since you're going to be spending some time there twice a week, reading all of our letters to each other.

But apart from that, all I want to say is that this is a new beginning for us. A new chapter that we're beyond excited about. So please be kind enough to support the show, leave a review and share with friends and family. It'll help us out a lot.

Once again, you've been the best! I cannot thank you enough for the kindness you've shown me, and the love you've extended to Shane, Meenal, and Desi Outsiders. I promise to never take your support for granted, and I'm always ever so grateful for it.


Now scroll back up and listen to the episode with Tina that I'm so proud of :)