Tarang Chawla // On the complexity of contentment and the capacity for change

Lovely yayborhood, this episode has been a long time coming with a guest I’ve admired for many years now. We have one of those relationships unique to our modern digital life where we haven’t actually met in person but have followed each other’s work and lives for some time, share many mutual friends and had just SO much to talk about… 

As you’ll hear, that means I strayed all over the place from my usual structured thinking I just had so many questions on so many topics and once you learn a bit more about Tarang Chawla, you’ll understand why. Tarang is not only a fellow former lawyer but also an author, keynote speaker, anti-violence campaigner, gender equality and mental health advocate, former political candidate, and even a Commissioner at the Victorian Multicultural Commission, so it was impossible to feel like I did anything more than scratch the surface and I suspect this won’t be our only chat on the show. 

Just a content warning, we also cover one of the catalysts for his incredible activism being the tragic murder of his younger sister Niki at the age of 23 by her then-husband as well as the impact of this on his own mental health briefly discussing suicide, so please take care while listening. How Tarang has come through this horrific tragedy and dedicated himself to Nikki’s legacy with anti-violence campaigning is nothing short of inspiring and opens up a much more layered and complex conversation about joy in life than is usually the case on the show, which I hope lands in the ears of those who might need to hear it.

Follow Tarang here

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