Masala Podcast: The South Asian feminist podcast

"Three-quarters of women with HIV in the UK are BAME..." In episode seven, I talk to Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan, an NHS Consultant who’s also a Sexual Health & HIV activist, working primarily among South Asian womxn. Many of whom have contracted the virus through their husbands, but are unable to tell anyone because of the stigma around HIV. Plus an interview with Mina Kakaiya, who’s had HIV for 2...

"I had night sweats, hot flushes, itchy skin, insomnia, tingling on my skin..." In this episode, I talk with Madhu Kapoor, Founder, M for Menopause who went through a difficult journey through menopause. She found no literature or support when she was struggling. And is now on a mission to get South Asian women talking openly about the menopause. Sangeeta’s monologues talk about how talking about...

"Women are taught to carry shame & honour for their families." In this episode, I speak with Leesa Gazi, the director of a critically acclaimed and highly impactful film about survivors of rape in Bangladesh during the war, who are now in their 70’s and 80s. Leesa stayed with the women, connected with them and discussed their experiences – and has now turned this into an empathetic and impactf...

"My mum found out that I was a Porn Star!" This episode features an interview with the South Asian porn star Sahara Knite. We explore attitudes towards porn & sex among South Asians, and talk about very South Asian fetishes. We talk about Sahara’s family and their responses to her work. Sangeeta talks about her personal experiences watching porn for the first time, when she was growing up in I...

"This idea of not belonging anywhere is one of the sadnesses of my life." In this episode, I speak with writer, poet, speaker and BBC radio presenter Salma El-Wardany speaks about juggling multiple identities & looking for belonging within those identities. She speaks about her South Asian side and how her ‘Desi’ identity plays out in her life & her work. MORE ABOUT SALMA: Writer, poet, sp...

"I was depressed & suicidal because of how I was treated because of my skin colour." In this episode, I speak with Seema Hari, who is a model, a Software Engineer and a powerful activist fighting colourism. Seema talks about growing up as a dark skinned Indian girl and the awful way she was treated by teachers and adults around her. She talks about slowly worked towards loving her own skin col...

"I feel pressure to produce perfect chapattis despite being a successful comedian!" I speak with Shazia Mirza, a famous comedian and writer, appearing on Jonathan Ross, Celebrity Island with Bear Gryls, Celebs in Solitary & many more shows. Her new show ‘Coconut’ will be on tour in 2021. Shazia travels all over the world doing stand-up comedy, is hugely successful but still feels the pressure...

In this final episode for Series 1 of Masala Podcast, the theme is Mental Health especially among South Asian women. I chat with Tina Mistry, clinical psychologist and director of TherapySense. She specialises in issues around race, culture and identity and works with South Asian communities. Tina has a specialist interest in working with trauma (including PTSD, developmental and intergenerational...

A SPECIAL BOOK CLUB EPISODE WITH SASS In this special episode of Masala Podcast, I’m discussing the book ‘Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows' by Balli Kaur Jaswal with Shirin Shah who’s the Co-founder of SASS - South Asian Sisters Speak (SASS) as well as Mahek Mehta and Maryam Siddiqui who’ve been part of previous SASS book clubs. Described as ‘warm and hilariously funny’ – this gem of a book takes...

On this episode of Masala Podcast, I chat with Seeta Patel, a renowned classical Bharatanatyam dancer. We explore how traditional Indian dancing and the female body relate to each other. We discuss the origins of the Bharatanatyam dance, which can be traced back to the Devadasis and temple and court traditions. We talk about classical dance and its place in Indian society today. My guest Seeta Pat...

On this episode of Masala Podcast, we explore what it means to be transgender, South Asian & Muslim. My guest is Asifa Lahore, Britain’s first out Muslim drag queen. Asifa is a well-known drag performer and TV star. She’s constantly pushing the boundaries of what it means to be LGBT, South Asian and Muslim. Asifa featured in Channel 4’s groundbreaking documentary Muslim Drag Queens in 2015. Sh...

This is a live recording of the Masala Podcast Launch Event on 8th Oct, at Rich Mix, London. The official launch of Masala Podcast was such a powerful experience. The audience responses were incredible, the support was overwhelming. The evening was a panel discussion with my guests from Season 1. We discussed the themes of the podcast: identity, race, sexual identity, mental health, the body and p...

The theme of this episode of Masala Podcast is Periods. On this episode I speak to Manjit K. Gill, CEO & Founder of the period charity Binti. Her mission is to create a huge, social impact whilst generating a sustainable organisation. As a British Indian, providing basic menstrual rights for women in India has become her obsessive, compulsive dedication to making a change. Binti is a registere...

Masala Podcast Episode 3 - SOUTH ASIAN IDENTITY On this episode I speak to the multi-award-winning novelist, Preti Taneja. Preti was born and grew up in the UK and following a career in human rights reporting, now teaches writing in prison and in universities. Her novel WE THAT ARE YOUNG (Galley Beggar Press) won the 2018 Desmond Elliot Prize for the best debut of the year. It has been described a...

This theme of this episode of Masala Podcast is ‘ Queer and South Asian ’. I speak to three incredible people who identify as queer and South Asian. My guests are open and authentic in discussing their early lives and how they discovered their sexuality. We talk about how heteronormative and patriarchal ideologies in South Asian culture make it almost impossible for some womnx to consider an alter...

Masala Podcast is a show for South Asian & British Asian women, where we talk about all those things that we’re NOT supposed to talk about in our culture. Sex, sexuality, periods, menopause, mental health, shame, sexual harassment and many more taboos. On each episode, I speak to brave and beautiful South Asian women: burlesque dancers, drag queens, mental health specialists, erotic novel love...