Guys N' Chai

"Self-forgiveness is the single most powerful arrow we have in our quiver."

Ankur Varma sits down with Suneet Bhatt — executive coach, Rutgers lecturer, and author of Making Sense of Purpose, a book named for his late father Kiran.

Suneet grew up the son of immigrant parents who built a bridge to America for their family and never asked for anything in return. In this conversation, he opens up about the responsibility he inherited, the dreams he was told to let go of, the father he never got to say goodbye to, and the book he wrote to reconcile with him.

They talk about responsibility vs. reciprocity, writing as a path through grief, why most self-help makes things worse, and the single most powerful resilience tool human beings have access to: self-forgiveness.

The real conversation starts where the script ends. Pull up a cup.

Learn more about Guys N' Chai Podcast and Brown Man Therapy, a non-profit organization bringing awareness and solutions to South Asian men's mental health, by visiting us at the spaces below:

brownmantherapy.com

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The permission to build a life that's actually yours doesn't come from anyone else. Sandeep Acharya learned that the long way.

In this episode of Guys N' Chai, Ankur Varma sits down with Sandeep — founder and CEO of Octave Health, one of the most ambitious mental health companies in the country — for a conversation that has almost nothing to do with running a business.

Sandeep grew up in Jersey, the son of two Bell Labs programmers, leaning into academics because he felt invisible everywhere else. He went to Bain, then Harvard, then investing, then a startup, before finally quitting a stable job with no plan lined up. Along the way, he taught himself music theory, joined Penn Masala, and released an album on one of the earliest South Asian labels. He describes himself as risk-averse. His career says otherwise.

Ankur and Sandeep talk about giving yourself permission when no one else will, why intention beats reaction, and how a thyroid cancer diagnosis last year taught him what a decade of entrepreneurship couldn't quite. They also get into what he's passing down to his three daughters, the Mahabharata musical he's working on with a Grammy-winning collaborator, and why he's building a life where the line between work and play disappears.

This is a conversation about the version of yourself you keep quiet, and what happens when you stop.

The real conversation starts where the script ends. Pull up a cup.

Learn more about Guys N' Chai Podcast and Brown Man Therapy, a non-profit organization bringing awareness and solutions to South Asian men's mental health, by visiting us at the spaces below:

brownmantherapy.com

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"Life is far more rewarding when you can be honest with yourself."

In this episode of Guys N' Chai, Ankur Varma sits down with Qasim Rashid — human rights lawyer, author, and one of the most recognizable South Asian Muslim public voices in America — for a conversation about what it actually costs to live a public life without a mask.

Qasim talks about the father he lost last year and the family lineage of service he was raised in, going back to a grandfather in Pakistan who kept feeding an abusive neighbor because the obligation to serve wasn't contingent on being treated well. He walks through his framework for responding to online hate without absorbing it, why he treats trolls as opportunities for what he calls collateral education, and why he refuses to stay quiet on positions that cost him clients, speaking gigs, and years of income.

This is a conversation about faith, resilience, and what it takes to stay whole in public.

The real conversation starts where the script ends. Pull up a cup.

Hosted by Ankur Varma, LCPC — licensed psychotherapist and co-founder of Brown Man Therapy.

Find Qasim at qasimrashid.com. Subscribe to his newsletter at qasimrashid.substack.com. Follow him @QasimRashid across all platforms.

Follow Guys N' Chai on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. Learn more at brownmantherapy.com.

Learn more about Guys N' Chai Podcast and Brown Man Therapy, a non-profit organization bringing awareness and solutions to South Asian men's mental health, by visiting us at the spaces below:

brownmantherapy.com

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"Who am I" isn't a question you answer once. It's one you come back to.

In this episode of Guys & Chai, Ankur Varma sits down with Rahim Thawer — psychotherapist, educator, writer, and author of The Mental Health Guide for Cis and Trans Queer Guys — for a conversation about what it costs to find yourself when the community that raised you has already answered that question for you.

Rahim talks about growing up Ismaili Muslim in Toronto, the years he spent moving — Singapore, Melbourne, Winnipeg, South Africa, now Alabama — and how distance became the way he made room to ask the harder questions. About coming out at 22, building psychic boundaries inside an insular extended family, getting sober at 38, and turning 40 with the kind of grief that comes from mourning who you didn't get to be.

This is a conversation about identity, belonging, and the quiet work of choosing a life that's actually yours — even when it means being punished for it.

The real conversation starts where the script ends. Pull up a cup.

Learn more about Guys N' Chai Podcast and Brown Man Therapy, a non-profit organization bringing awareness and solutions to South Asian men's mental health, by visiting us at the spaces below:

brownmantherapy.com

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Kunal Makwana lost his father at seven. He built his life around what that loss taught him.

In our latest episode of Guys N' Chai, host Ankur Varma sits down with Kunal, founder of KMAK Fitness, and one of the most successful South Asian fitness coaches in the world to talk about everything that came before the business. Growing up across Kenya, Tanzania, and London. Losing his father to lung cancer in six months. Defying his family's expectations to pursue sports when "doctor or lawyer" was the only acceptable answer. And building a company that's now transformed over 3,000 South Asian lives.

Kunal opens up about identity in the diaspora, the immigrant mother who didn't understand his choices until much later, and the question that quietly drives him: what does it mean to live a life that's actually yours?

Plus, his framework on consistency and why fitness doesn't have to be the number one priority in your life to actually work, that anyone trying to build a sustainable practice will want to save.

The real conversation starts where the script ends. Pull up a cup.

Learn more about Guys N' Chai Podcast and Brown Man Therapy, a non-profit organization bringing awareness and solutions to South Asian men's mental health, by visiting us at the spaces below:

brownmantherapy.com

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In our first episode ever of Guys N' Chai, Ankur Varma is joined by Rahul Sharma, founder of Funkadesi, psychologist, and educator joins to discuss everything from evaporated milk in his family chai recipe to Kenya and now to his secret CHAI recipe.

Guys N' Chai Podcast is produced by Brown Man Therapy.

Visit brownmantherapy.com for all of our episodes and find us on Spotify, Apple, Google and other podcast apps!

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About Guys N' Chai

Brown men are taught to hold it together. Guys & Chai is what happens when we stop.

Hosted by Ankur Varma — licensed psychotherapist and co-founder of Brown Man Therapy — this is a podcast about success and everything that comes with it. The pressure. The self-doubt. The silence between what we say and what we actually carry.

Born out of real conversations at Guys & Chai events, each episode sits down with a South Asian man to talk honestly about his story, what he's learned, and what he wishes more of us talked about. No talking points. No performing. Just two guys, chai, and the conversation that starts where the script ends.

New episodes drop monthly.

Learn more about Guys N' Chai Podcast and Brown Man Therapy, a non-profit organization bringing awareness and solutions to South Asian men's mental health, by visiting us at the spaces below:

brownmantherapy.com

Instagram | Youtube | LinkedIn | Apple | Spotify