In this episode, Aneri sits down with comedian and self-published author Akanksha Aurora (also known by her pen name, Desi Buchanan aka Bombay's Fleabag) to talk about her book Chef's Kiss - the very real story of a Mumbai chef she hooked up with from Hinge, the TikTok from their first date that hit 400K views, and dirty floor mattresses she swears she'll never write about. They get into ghosting, third culture identity (na idhar ka, na udhar ka), how polyamory feels like homework, and self-publishing a book for $500 on a credit card. Classic.

Follow Akanksha on Instagram @bombay_satire and TikTok @desibuchanan for Chef's Kiss and her South Asian women's writers group.

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...

Author and screenwriter Reenita Malhotra joins Not Quite for an intimate conversation about death, mothering a child who is exactly like you (hello, karmic mirror), the emotional complexity of loving flawed parents, and why women’s stories have historically been reduced to footnotes.

The two dive into South Asian identity, aging, creativity, sexuality, bipolar fathers, immigrant motherhood, and the strange freedom that comes from finally trusting yourself.

Reenita also shares the story behind her newest project uncovering one of the first South Asian women in America whose role in revolutionary history was almost erased entirely.

Follow Reenita’s work:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reenita_storyteller/
Website: http://www.reenita.com

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...

Neighbors can be friends in 2026.

Aneri's neighbor Tiera Ashley came over, and within four minutes they were talking about the year she lactated without being pregnant (sleeping pill side effect), whether her boyfriend tried it, and what her own breast milk tasted like.

From there they meandered into transcendental meditation, the drug-dealer boyfriends of our teenage years, and the era when their moms sat at the kitchen table with highlighted phone bills demanding answers.

Both writers, the women cover what it means to be sovereign in a world that would rather you didn't.

Follow @ttieraashley on Substack.

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...

In this episode, Aneri and solo performer, dancer, and actress Mayuri Bhandari talk about growing up sheltered in a Jain household, navigating cultural appropriation in Western yoga spaces, and what it means to separate dogma from the actual essence of your spirituality. They also get into creating solo theater, the fear of disappointing Brown parents, and how they found each other on a Holi dance floor when nobody else was dancing. 

Follow @theantiyogishow on Instagram to get tickets for her next showing of "The Anti-Yogi" (premiered at Edinburgh Fringe in 2025). 

You can follow her other creative work @mayuribhandariofficial.

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...

Aneri sits down with Diya Patel - actress, model, and Mumbai-raised Angeleno - to talk about travel pre-social media, living as a queer, femme baddie, and being the first in your woman's bloodline to break free. Diya grew up across Mumbai, Singapore, and Philly, and Aneri across Detroit, NYC, and Los Angeles. These two have lived enough lives to fill a hundreds books. Listen until the end to hear Diya's magical girlfriend Haley crash the pod.

Not Quite

Also available on:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@notquitebyaneri
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notquitebyaneri/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@notquitebyaneri

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...

Nayeema Raza hangs with Aneri Shah to talk about:
 ✓ The Diplo–Justin Trudeau rumor (and the Page Six chaos that followed)
 ✓ Breakups that make you hotter and younger (science pending)
 ✓ Kids who FaceTime silently for hours
 ✓ Growing up in Indonesia and Sudan
 ✓ Pregnancy, identity, and raising curious humans

Come hang with us.

Also available on:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@notquitebyaneri

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notquitebyaneri/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@notquitebyaneri

Newsletter: https://www.notquitebyaneri.substack.com

Follow Nayeema: @smartgirldumbquestions

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...

Amanda Knox hangs with Aneri Shah and talks about what really happened in Italy, how the world spun it into an orgy that wasn't real, and what it takes to forgive your persecutors (and yourself). We cover slut-shaming, metta-meditation, masturbating in prison, and asking your male friends for baby juice. You know, all the regular bases when it comes to true crime.

In a first-of-it's-kind beyond the headlines episode, we get to see who Amanda Knox truly is. Not quite a former prisoner or sexual deviant. Just a girl. 

Tune in. Hang with us. Love you. 

Also available on:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@notquitebyaneri
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notquitebyaneri/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@notquitebyaneri

Read more of Amanda's words at:
her newsletter: amandaknox.substack.com 
and "Free" her latest memoir: https://a.co/d/anjQ0XG

Catch our behind-the-scenes @ notquitebyaneri.substack.com

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...

We know what you're thinking. Did she do it? whispers.

I'll be honest. Having lost track of the case, I thought she might have. Until I watched her new show on Hulu and it dawned on me that 1. "she was 'just a girl'" and 2. "it could have been me."

It's fascinating how people's headlines become bigger and weirder, and in Amanda's case orgy-ier, than they actually are. 

In this first of its kind episode, I sit down with Amanda Knox - in her hometown! - and we talk about everything from how women's narratives get f*cked up, to meta meditation to forgive your persecutors, to masturbating in prison, tapping your man friends for baby juice..and a lot more.  

It's not quite what people know of Amanda, it's actually her beyond the headlines. (And she's really fun).

Love,

Aneri 

Rangeela Dance Company director (and physical therapist) Priyanka Vora joins Aneri to giggle over her onstage moment with Hrithik Roshan, one of the hottest Bollywood stars on the planet, talk about sensuality and desire, and wonder how the next generation will carry on our culture.

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...

Aneri and Aishwarya Sonar, a producer (Lambe Log Productions!) who splits her time between LA and India, discuss drinking your friend’s titty milk (on purpose), being punished for a nose ring, and the stripper songs that defined their teenage years.

Welcome to Not Quite. A space with no limits for the misunderstood - the misfits, the artists, the perpetual reinventers, and public figures whos headlines rarely reflect their truth. We're creatives, deep thinkers, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons who unpack the gap between perception and the weirdos we actually are inside.

Listen.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1OyrzivLEfo5EnFA1N05WQ
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/not-quite/id1775940665
Instagram: https://instagram.com/notquitebyaneri  ...