Chai Across Generations

We reflect on the life and story of Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old graduate student who tragically lost her life when a police officer in Seattle accidentally hit her with his car. Her story became a big news story this week after body camera footage captured another cop making comments about the value of her life. We also talk about the  American Dream and how Jaahnvi's case shows that we a...

Nikil just got back from a trip to India and we chat about all of the things on his trip, including the beauty of a blended Hindu/Sikh wedding, the joys and challenges of visiting relatives back home, and all of the food he ate along the way. Plus, we talk about why the South Asian breakfast buffet is one of the best in the whole world.

We finish our Me Or We series by exploring how individualism or collectivism show up for individual people as and how South Asia and Western societies differ on these dimensions. We also chat about the longstanding South Asian tradition of morning showers and the role that rebellion plays to shape our cultural and family traditions.

We continue our Me or We series this week and explore the topic of family vs. friends. We chat about a number of themes including  the challenges of navigating emotional space with parents, the generational differences in how we think about spending  time with family vs. friends, and the benefit of building guilt-free relationships.

We continue our Me or We series exploring how individualism and collectivism show up in South Asian and Western countries. On this episode, we dive into the idea of private space and how to navigate privacy between generations, especially between parents and children. While privacy is relevant in physical spaces, it's also relevant in digital spaces. Is it okay for parents to follow their chi...

We kick off a new series called Me or We: examining individualism vs. collectivism in the South Asian community. The research and our experience shows that South Asian countries tend to be more collectivist while America and other Western countries focus more on the individual. How does this show up in our lives and influence who we are? We share some fun and hopefully relatable stories about grow...

We're 25 episodes in and take a look back at how the podcast has grown and changed in that time. What did we set out to do initially, how have done against those goals, and what's next? We also chat about what we've learned about ourselves, how we work together, and share something funny that we've learned about the other person along the way!

Traveling to a new country opens our hearts and minds to new ways of thinking and being in the world. While Shankar travels to a new country, we exchange stories and ideas about yoga, meditation, and spirituality as tools that help us "level up" as people as we grow up. 

Immigration marks the start of a personal journey for each person as they learn to relate to both their home culture and their host culture. On this episode, we chat about what it looks like to integrate between two cultures as an immigrant, the cultural elements that really endure over multiple generations, and the differences between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. We also refl...

Immigration affects both those immigrating and their children, who make up a second generation that may find themselves caught in-between two different worlds or cultures. In the second part of our immigration series, we focus more on the second generation experience, including how these immigrants learn to make sense of their identity from guilt to growth, what first generation parents dream of f...

Immigration is an incredibly important force in the lives of South Asians as well as others who have moved away from their home countries. What is immigration? Why does Shankar consider himself a reluctant immigrant? How do we honor the stories of immigrants even after we have immigrated ourselves? We explore these questions and more in the first part of our immigration series.

With Father's Day coming to a close,  we've got another special father-child conversation this week between Shankar and his daughter Shivani. The roles are reversed as Shivani interviews Shankar on a range of topics including Shankar's experience as a single father, his advice to new dads, and some funny and memorable stories from Shivani's childhood. You can also listen to Sha...

Father's Day is this Sunday, and the father-son relationship is very unique. On this episode, we share a conversation between Nikil and his dad about a number of topics including his dad's immigration story to America, what it means to be a father, why it can be so hard for fathers and sons to connect, and how parents evolve as their kids evolve. 

Cousins play a special role in the lives of South Asians, even when they live continents apart. This week we have a special, heartfelt conversation between Shankar and his cousin Hema filled with bits of wisdom as they talk about how their relationship has evolved over decades, how they've found ways to laugh and support one another throughout the years, and how they can empower the next gene...

Marriage is such an important milestone in South Asian culture, and it can feel like everyone has an opinion about when or how you should get married. On this episode, we discuss the pros and cons of marrying early vs. later in life and explore the idea of premarital prep as a way to help young couples. We also reflect on our biggest takeaways from this series on marriage and share a listener stor...

Arranged vs. love marriage sits at the very heart of how we understand marriage across South Asian generations. In the second part of our marriage series, we explore a number of topics  including the differences between these two types of marriage, the role that astrology plays in the marriage process, and tips for young people who receive well-meaning but unsolicited advice from elders on when an...

Marriage is one of the biggest events in South Asian culture and it’s a huge topic that’s as big as our wedding celebrations are long. What is marriage? How does our society relate to it? How has our notion of marriage evolved across generations? We explore these questions and more on this first part of our series on marriage.

Mother's Day is this Sunday, and mothers play a huge role in so many of our lives. But how well do we actually know our moms as people? On this episode, we share a conversation between Nikil and his mom about her life story, what it means to be a mother, and what she’s learned along the way. Plus you'll hear a couple of embarrassing stories about Nikil that only a mother can share. Happy...

Cousins are important in South Asian culture. For many South Asians growing up in the diaspora, cousins are safe harbors and cultural translators to a world back home. On this episode, we share a conversation between Nikil and one of his closest cousins Bharath about what it's like to grow up as cousins in different continents, how their relationship has evolved, and what confuses them about...

We’re excited to share a very special episode with you! For the first time, you’ll hear an audio montage of a diverse set of our listeners from different backgrounds, generations, and locations. We asked our listeners to answer the question “What’s your favorite episode and why?” as a look back on our first 11 episodes. Our listeners amazed us with thoughtful and thought-provoking answers about th...

Conversations can take vastly different directions, and they're not always easy. On this episode, we share some personal stories to illustrate how we've dealt with communication challenges. We also talk about the different ways that communication can turn out, the difference between understanding vs. agreement, and the benefit of not ascribing intention prematurely when we disagree with...

Listening is an incredibly powerful tool that can help us have better conversations across generations. In the second part of our communication series, we explore a number of potent ideas and examples including the importance of parental communication as a role model for children, the three levels of listening, and a type of role reversal between parents and children in recent times.

Intergenerational communication within families can be incredibly challenging sometimes. What is this type of communication, and why is it so important within families? We explore these questions and more on the first part of our series on communication. 

Every generation faces its own unique pressures and mental health challenges. We have to understand these challenges in order to improve mental health for all. In the concluding episode of this mental health series, we discuss what some of these challenges are and share ideas for families to support one another along the way.

We continue our series of episodes on mental health with a look back at the top 5 takeaways from last week's episode. We then dive into the stigma around mental health within the South Asian community, the influence of nature vs. nurture as well as family, and begin to share some ideas around self-care.