Episodes
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Many South Asians rush to treat physical pains but brush off emotional ones. In this episode, the ladies invite Kulpreet Singh, the founder of the South Asian Mental Health Alliance (SAMHA), who explains why we're not immune to things like clinical depression. Diagnosed with ADHD, Singh learned that he faced limitations others around him didn't. And yet, people didn't take his condition seriously. He explains what mental health issues South Asians are more prone to and how Indians often dismiss problems of the mind while our religions focus on them. He then delves into how to help a loved one with these problems and how to raise kids who handle difficulties in a healthy way.
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Challenging deeply rooted notions of anti-black racism among South Asians starts with educating ourselves. This week we speak with Deepa Iyer, a South Asian American writer, strategist, lawyer, and racial justice advocate to tackle ideas such as the "model minority" myth. How can we be impactful in the Black Lives Matter movement if we aren't frontline workers in the justice system? How can start conversations about dismantling long-held views about colorism and discrimination amongst the South Asian community and even our own families? Tune in to learn how we can become part of this change.
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Missing episodes?
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Black Lives Matter: three words that profoundly capture the pain and inspiring resilience of the most marginalized minority group in the US. As a minority community that has faced its own anti-racist challenges, South Asians should empathize with the Black community, yet many feel angered by the rise of riots in our country this past June. In today’s episode we speak with special guest Arjun Singh Sethi, a Sikh American civil and political rights writer, human rights lawyer, and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and Vanderbilt University Law School. Arjun helps Chit Chaat explore why South Asians may find it difficult to support Black Americans and why it’s so important to listen to and stand by them in solidarity.
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Beauty is far from skin-deep when it comes to Indian culture. Though our Indian features are just starting to become accepted by American standards (thank you to all the South Asian influencers and celebs out there), sometimes the harshest critics of our physical selves are the people who are closest to us...and, of course, the auntie network. The ladies of Chit Chaat share their internal struggles to fit in and feel beautiful.
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The Chit Chaat ladies continue to explore the evolving identity of Indian Americans with the fabulous 2AverageBrownGirls hosts. In this episode, we share our appreciation for today’s media landscape that has broadened perceptions of the Indian identity to more than just a convenience store owner named Apu (finally). Thanks to storytellers like Mindy Kaling and Aziz Ansari, a unique representation of a ‘brown voice’ has captured the media centerstage. However, their stories still represent only a minority of experiences within today’s Indian American population. Tune in to hear the ladies passionately discuss their desires for the future of ‘brownish’ media.
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The Chit Chaat ladies discuss the 'hairy' details of growing up in North America as young Indian women with special guests Ravneet and Jafrin, co-hosts of the podcast 2AvgBrownGirls. Together the ladies share the first time they all felt uncomfortably 'different' from their peers. Their skin color, their hair texture, and their accents left them feeling excluded from traditional perceptions of normalcy. And, though they're all in their 30s, it is only recently that many of them finally appreciate their brown girl identity enough to not apologize for it.
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After many years spent 'adulting' (or at least trying to adult), the Chit Chaat crew takes a moment to candidly share the guilt they live with day in and day out because their parents immigrated to the US. The ladies acknowledge the selfless sacrifices their families made with the sole purpose of building a bright future for their children (a.k.a us). What they didn't expect though, was the pressure many first generation Millennials feel nowadays to live a life worthy of their sacrifices. We now realize their selflessness ironically allows us to be selfish to pursue our passions, but is it fair? Do we really deserve that?
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The Chit Chaat crew takes on the most taboo topic among Indian parents. Ladies and gents, let's talk about S-E-X...and sex education. The ladies make it clear that dating as an Indian-American woman is no easy feat. As Ludacris so eloquently put it, we are expected to be 'ladies in the streets', nurturers for all those around us, well-educated and professionally successful, and somehow also 'freaks in the sheets'. And while we carry these heavy responsibilities on our shoulders, we're also supposed to be attracted to and fall in love (or grow in love) with what we like to call, 'baby Indian men'.
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Now in their 30s, the ladies of Chit Chaat reflect on their dating history and the pressures faced to bypass dating and immediately marry within their community once they are 'of age'. What drives Indian parents' persistence to marry their sons and daughters off to families within their same culture - is it for cultural preservation or does it offer a sense of security? And how do we resolve the obvious double standard that exists between Indian men and women and their dating behavior? The crew shares their theories on how we can move forward and de-stigmatize dating for future generations.
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In the Indian culture, older generations often disagree with younger ones on the purpose of marriage: though tradition prioritized security and stability, today, we 'young folk' advocate for compatibility and chemistry as the keys to wedded bliss. The Chit Chaat ladies both defend and reject the traditional Hindu custom of arranged marriages. Are old-school biodatas and dating app profiles the exact same thing? Should we grow in love in a marriage, or fall in love before lifelong commitment? Their unique experiences with marriage reveal some surprising insights.
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Family Karma provided a glimpse into the most anticipated holiday celebration among the Indian community in Miami - Diwali. Known commonly as "The Festival of Lights", Diwali represents many things to many people. The Chit Chaat crew gets personal and talks about the role Diwali played in their childhood lives and how its role evolved as they matured into young chatty women. They question and explore the intersection between culture and Hinduism, pondering traditional customs and rituals that define being "Indian."
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Each cast member on the Bravo TV show Family Karma has chosen to air their personal lives on national TV - an act that defies the Indian tradition of sweeping all things personal 'under the rug'. In this episode, the-five-ladies-who-laugh explore how impactful perceptions are in their lives, realizing that it "takes more than abs...it takes guts" to share your truths to the world.
