For Us, By Us

Welcome to American Desis. This is a show where two young men, Akaash Singh and Arjun Gupta, explore what it means to be a South Asian in America today. They navigate issues such as assimilation, cultural appropriation and preservation, shame, language and accents, and even names. 

In their inaugural episode, Akaash and Arjun tell you why they started this podcast, what they are trying to accomplish, and they introduce you, the listeners, to their unique format. After releasing an interview with a guest one day, they release a discussion episode a few days later. During the discussion episode, Akaash and Arjun speak on things that came up during the interview and how they personally relate to these issues. In an effort to further build a community, they read and respond to tweets, website responses, and Facebook messages from the listeners.. To give you an idea of what the discussion will be like: in this first episode Akaash and Arjun speak about a Facebook message that was sent to them recently which deals with insecurity and how it affects their ethnic identity. They also engage with some tweets about how sex fits in to the shifting the western identity of Indians and whether racism plays into South Asian success.

So who are these guests? Where do they come from? And is this discussion fun? Well, I guess you gotta listen to this episode to find out!