White authors aren't tasked with writing stories addressing colonialism, inequality, racism, etc. Desi writers have that burden placed upon them (internally & externally: our readership demands it and the publishing industry rewards it). How do we not feed into trauma porn? How do we nurture and grow a readership that connects with and cares about our "joys" as much as our trauma? What is self-love other than our focus on stories of our successes, triumphs and joys?

Guest author: Nadir Shah

Co-hosts: Upasna Kakroo & Salma Hussain

Produced by: ⁠⁠⁠Peerbagh⁠⁠⁠

Episode cover art: Niloufer Wadia

Research: Imtiaz Ali and Diksha Sharma

Supported by: The Very Asian Foundation

Books/media in the episode:

• Slumdog Millionaire (Vikas Swaroop); 2009 film by Danny Boyle

• You Started It (Jackie Khalileh)
• More then just a pretty face (Syed Masood)
• Honk Honk, Beep Beep, Putter Putt! (Rukhsana Khan)
• The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey)
• Bento (Peerbagh)
• Never Have I Ever (Mindy Kaling, 2020)

South Asia has had a long history of unique reprepresentation of various genders from the Hijra community to Shikhandi in the Mahabharata, but how are we rep-ing today? This episode deals with the representation of different gender and sexual identities in literature and why they're critical for building inclusive and loving cultures.

Guest author: Adib Khorram

Co-hosts: Upasna Kakroo & Salma Hussain

Produced by: ⁠⁠⁠Peerbagh⁠⁠⁠

Episode cover art: Niloufer Wadia

Research: Imtiaz Ali and Diksha Sharma

Supported by: The Very Asian Foundation

Books/media in the episode:

• Darius the Great (Adib Khorram)

• Keya Das’s Second Act (Sopan Deb)

• Authors: Julian Winters, Firoozeh Dumas, Marjan Kamali, Martha Wells

Our (Asian) culture has a fascination with "good" children. Obedience and co-dependency is baked into our idea of what makes a good and bad life or child. In this episode we talk about these model minority myths and how we can subvert these limiting narratives of what success means.

Guest author: Annika Sharma

Co-hosts: Upasna Kakroo & Salma Hussain

Produced by: ⁠⁠Peerbagh⁠⁠

Episode cover art: Niloufer Wadia

Research: Imtiaz Ali and Diksha Sharma

Supported by: The Very Asian Foundation

Books/media in the episode:

• Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words (Chai Masala Club, #1)

• The Girl Who Wouldn’t Stay Within the Lines (Vinitha)

• Counting Down with You (Tashie Bhuiyan)

• Sort of (2021, Bilal Baig)
• A Suitable Boy (Vikram Seth)

In this episode of Zubaani we talk with full time writer and a full time model, Jyoti Rajan Gopal who dazzles the world with grace and gray hair. And importantly, we discuss, how do we break the European beauty standards and notions of what is pretty in our desi communities? What does it take to reclaim our self-worth and build safe spaces of belonging no matter how we look?

Guest author: Jyoti Rajan Gopal

Co-hosts: Upasna Kakroo & Salma Hussain

Produced by: ⁠Peerbagh⁠

Episode cover art: Niloufer Wadia

Research: Imtiaz Ali and Diksha Sharma

Supported by: The Very Asian Foundation

Books/media in the episode:

• TJ Powar has something to prove (Jesmeen Kaur Deo)
• What Color is the Baby? (Harshini Vankineni)
• Razia Sultan (Kamal Amrohi, 1983)
• Mississippi Masala (Mira Nair, 1991)
• Laxmi's Mooch (Shelly Anand)
• I am Kavi (Thushanthi Ponweera)
• If you're not the one (Farah Naz Rishi)
• Desert Queen & My Patti's Saris (Jyoti Rajan Gopal)

In DDLJ, the father says "ja, Simran, ja." Was that not every desi father telling his daughter, 'go follow your heart?' We swoon. We die. We believe Shah Rukh Khan is a global treasure. Almost every South Asian writer is writing about love in one way or another. How does it show up in our homes? How does it work along lines of gender, caste, class, and age?

Guest author: Uzma Jalaludin

Co-hosts: Upasna Kakroo & Salma Hussain

Produced by: Peerbagh

Episode cover art: Niloufer Wadia

Research: Imtiaz Ali and Diksha Sharma

Supported by: The Very Asian Foundation

Books/media in the episode:

• Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995 film, Aditya Chopra)
• Detective Aunty (Uzma Jalaludin)
• When Dimple Met Rishi (Sandhya Menon)

• Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating (Adiba Jagirdar)

Welcome to Season 2 of the Zubaani podcast by nonprofit ⁠⁠⁠⁠Peerbagh⁠⁠⁠⁠. Season two takes a deep dive into the topic of intergenerational storytelling with writers Salma Hussain and Upasna Kakroo as cohosts.

Episode 5, Season 2: Stories of Conflict

In this podcast episode, we talk about stories of internalized or external conflict that are often hidden in families. Books we discuss may work as tools and resources to help navigate through these complex journeys in our families.

Books and other trivia discussed in this episode:

• The Secret Diary of Mona Hassan (Salma Hussain)

Why: Research shows intergenerational storytelling is like a resource (similar to air, clean water) but it is inequitably distributed. Whether you live in the subcontinent or the diaspora, colonial rule and its subsequent conflicts have left the South Asian subcontinent wounded. There is intense loss of human stories that tell the stories of our resilience, empowerment, or those that celebrate joy.

About: Peerbagh is an award-winning 501c3 nonprofit organization working with a mission to diversify bookshelves and build storytellers. The nonprofit creates storytelling events and produces the world’s only South-Asia-inspired children’s print magazine, Bento. 

Episode art by Ira Nagar.

Research for the expert by Imtiaz Ali.

This podcast has been made with the support of the City of Austin's Elevate Grant and Michigan Humanities.

Welcome to Season 2 of the Zubaani podcast by nonprofit ⁠⁠⁠Peerbagh⁠⁠⁠. Season two takes a deep dive into the topic of intergenerational storytelling with writers Salma Hussain and Upasna Kakroo as cohosts.

Episode 4, Season 2: Festivals & Folklore

In this podcast episode, we talk about festivals and folklore from South Asia in today's times. Festivals present an easy entry point into sharing culture and the region's diversity. We also talk about folk and our cultural pasts that are all in fact changing and adapting with newer context. Books we discuss present these ideas with imaginative and inclusive new voices.

Books and other trivia discussed in this episode:

• Archie Celebrates Diwali (Mitali Banerjee Ruths)

• Jinnealogy (Dr. Anand Taneja)

Why: Research shows intergenerational storytelling is like a resource (similar to air, clean water) but it is inequitably distributed. Whether you live in the subcontinent or the diaspora, colonial rule and its subsequent conflicts have left the South Asian subcontinent wounded. There is intense loss of human stories that tell the stories of our resilience, empowerment, or those that celebrate joy.

About: Peerbagh is an award-winning 501c3 nonprofit organization working with a mission to diversify bookshelves and build storytellers. The nonprofit creates storytelling events and produces the world’s only South-Asia-inspired children’s print magazine, Bento. 

Episode art by Ira Nagar.

Research for the expert by Imtiaz Ali.

This podcast has been made with the support of the City of Austin's Elevate Grant and Michigan Humanities.

Welcome to Season 2 of the Zubaani podcast by nonprofit ⁠⁠Peerbagh⁠⁠. Season two takes a deep dive into the topic of intergenerational storytelling with writers Salma Hussain and Upasna Kakroo as cohosts.

Episode 3, Season 2: Rewriting Narratives

In this podcast episode, we discuss retellings that are being written for South Asian settings. We also talk about what makes these retellings authentic. The episode also talks about the colonial impact in defining hierarchies in art and writing. This has led to an odd othering of South Asian stories in the West, and we talk about desi writers who continue to subvert that.

Dog noises and nods in the episode belong to Pluto (mom: Salma)

Books and other trivia discussed in this episode:

• Runaway Dosa (Suma Subramaniam)
• Waiting for Father (Aftab Yusuf Shaikh)
• Ayesha At Last (Uzma Jalaluddin)
• From Waris to Heer (Haroon Khalid)
• In Other Words (Jhumpa Lahiri)
• The Broken Spell - Indian Storytelling and the Romance Genre in Persian and Urdu (Dr. Pasha Khan)
• 1947 Earth (film by Deepa Mehta based on Ice Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa)
• Bento, The Shape of Home, issue #3 (Peerbagh)
• Bridgerton (TV series, Netflix)
• James (Percival Everett)
• Omkara (Film by Vishal Bharadwaj based on Shakespeare's Othello)

Why: Research shows intergenerational storytelling is like a resource (similar to air, clean water) but it is inequitably distributed. Whether you live in the subcontinent or the diaspora, colonial rule and its subsequent conflicts have left the South Asian subcontinent wounded. There is intense loss of human stories that tell the stories of our resilience, empowerment, or those that celebrate joy.

About: Peerbagh is an award-winning 501c3 nonprofit organization working with a mission to diversify bookshelves and build storytellers. The nonprofit creates storytelling events and produces the world’s only South-Asia-inspired children’s print magazine, Bento. 

Episode art by Ira Nagar.

Research for the expert by Imtiaz Ali.

This podcast has been made with the support of the City of Austin's Elevate Grant and Michigan Humanities.

Welcome to Season 2 of the Zubaani podcast by nonprofit ⁠Peerbagh⁠. Season two takes a deep dive into the topic of intergenerational storytelling with writers Salma Hussain and Upasna Kakroo as cohosts.

Episode 2, Season 2: Food Memories

In this podcast episode, we discuss the role of food in storytelling and building cultural identities. We also feature children's books that bring this aspect of South Asian culture for kids and families. Mangoes are included :-)

Books and other trivia discussed in this episode:

• 100 Chapatis – Picture Book, by Derek Mascarenhas (Author), Shantala Robinson (Illustrator)

• Mama's Roti – Picture Book, by Raakhee Mirchandani (Author), Shreya Gupta (Illustrator)

• Why We Eat with Our Hands: A Celebration of Indian Culture and Heritage by Anjali Jariwala (Author), Shelley Seguinot (Illustrator)

  
  

Why: Research shows intergenerational storytelling is like a resource (similar to air, clean water) but it is inequitably distributed. Whether you live in the subcontinent or the diaspora, colonial rule and its subsequent conflicts have left the South Asian subcontinent wounded. There is intense loss of human stories that tell the stories of our resilience, empowerment, or those that celebrate joy.

About: Peerbagh is an award-winning 501c3 nonprofit organization working with a mission to diversify bookshelves and build storytellers. The nonprofit creates storytelling events and produces the world’s only South-Asia-inspired children’s print magazine, Bento. 

Episode art by Ira Nagar.

Research for the expert by Imtiaz Ali.

This podcast has been made with the support of the City of Austin's Elevate Grant and Michigan Humanities.

Website: ⁠peerbagh.com/bookstore⁠

Podcast page: https://www.peerbagh.com/zubaani-podcast-south-asian-parenting-tips-and-storytelling/

Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/peerbagh.stories⁠

Welcome to Season 2 of the Zubaani podcast by nonprofit Peerbagh. "Zubaani" in Hindustani translates to "through the language" or "by means of language". Season two takes a deep dive into the topic of intergenerational storytelling with writers Salma Hussain and Upasna Kakroo as cohosts.

Research shows intergenerational storytelling is like a resource (similar to air, clean water) but it is inequitably distributed. Whether you live in the subcontinent or the diaspora, colonial rule and its subsequent conflicts have left the South Asian subcontinent wounded. There is intense loss of human stories that tell the stories of our resilience, empowerment, or those that celebrate joy. 

Episode 1, Season 2: The Stories We Carry

In this podcast episode, we explore family stories, heirlooms and traditions that are passed down from generations. We talk about what it means to pass on stories, languages, and culture to kids when we're raising kids outside of the "village." We recommend books that adapt these for modern parenting contexts, and we share our own stories from grandmother’s wedding Saris to favorite books that inspire us.

Books and other trivia discussed in this episode:

• Once Upon a Sari ( Zenia Wadhwani, Avani Dwivedi)
• The Katha Chest (Radhiah Chowdhury, Lavanya Naidu)
• Aanchal Malhotra’s Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory (Adult nonfiction)
• The Partition Project (Saadia Faruqi)
• Shakti Sweets, Srinagar https://shaktisweets.co.in/about-us/
• The Museum of Material Memory https://www.instagram.com/museumofmaterialmemory/

About: Peerbagh is an award-winning 501c3 nonprofit organization working with a mission to diversify bookshelves and build storytellers. The nonprofit creates storytelling events and produces the world’s only South-Asia-inspired children’s print magazine, Bento. 

Episode art by Ira Nagar.

Research for the expert by Imtiaz Ali.

This podcast has been made with the support of the City of Austin's Elevate Grant and Michigan Humanities.

Website: peerbagh.com/bookstore

Podcast page: https://www.peerbagh.com/zubaani-podcast-south-asian-parenting-tips-and-storytelling/

Instagram: instagram.com/peerbagh.stories