Pak-Cord: a Pakistani Podcast

This group discussion features 4 guests, with the topic being Cricket, especially with a focus on PSL 2020 which was suspended on March 17, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.     We discuss the progression of PSL, the T20 cricket format, the status of the Pakistani international cricket team and memorable moments of victory and disappointment from the eyes of hardcore Pakistani cricket fans.   At...

Our guest is 24 year old Adil Ghani from London, UK. Adil is the older brother of our previous guest, Aqil Ghani. He is also disabled, and in this episode he walks us through his life story – being diagnosed with Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy at age 3, not being able to walk since age 9, and going through other very difficult transitions in his life. He also shares what it's like to be disabled i...

"Coconut": brown from the outside, white from the inside. Often used to describe desis living abroad who are not as near to or aware of desi culture, as they are to their local culture. Today's guest: Aqil Ghani, 18 years old British-Pakistani brought up in South-east London. Many of you might be wondering what is life like for youngsters who are born and raised abroad, have Pakistani parents, but...

Continuing our 2-part discussion with Hamza Farooq, Myrah Shafiq, and Manahill Shafiq. Episode #48 contains part 1. Previously we analyzed the highly successful and controversial Pakistani drama series - Mere Paas tum Ho. This episode continues that discussion, but not so much about Mere Paas Tum Ho. This time we dive into other topics starting from Pakistani media and culture, to various social i...

For this episode you need 2 things - familiarity with Pakistani dramas, and a grasp of Urglish - that is Urdu + English. This one is a group discussion, all about Pakistani dramas and it is Part 1 of a 2-part discussion. We have 3 very enthusiastic drama-watching guests. Our main focus was to discuss Mere Paas Tum Ho, which was a major hit drama that recently finished in early 2020. We also dove i...

Today’s guest is Ignacio Artaza - Resident Representative at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Pakistan. He has more than 20 years of experience in development cooperation and humanitarian aid. He has served as the UNDP Country Director in Egypt, and has held various positions in UNDP since 1999 - including in New York, Moldova, Sudan, as well as in the occupied Palestinian territor...

This episode is Part 2 of our 2-part series with Ali Rizvi, 37 year old from Washington D.C., U.S. (born in Pakistan) In the last episode (#45) Ali told us about how his search for identity lead him to atheism. In this episode, we ask him for specific questions to understand his mindset - questions like how did he explain this to his family and friends? What if Islam was the right religion? Where...

This episode is Part 1 of a 2-part series discussion with Ali I. Rizvi, 37 year old from Washington DC, U.S, but born in Pakistan. Ali is a documentary filmmaker and video journalist - he also was one of the few journalists who worked on the Panama Papers story. Ali is also an open Ex-muslim and Atheist, originally born as a Shia Muslim.   In this first part of the series, we talk to Ali about his...

Iqra, 26 year old from Brampton, Canada, speaks with us today about her various weird and unfortunate encounters on Muzmatch, a popular Muslim dating app used by Pakistanis. Apps like Muzmatch and Minder are quite powerful and often useful, having helped many people find their significant other and get married. However, a lot of 'bad' folks are on these apps too. Married people (usually men), tryi...

Nosherwan Abbasi is 20 years old currently living around Barcelona, Spain. He moved to Spain earlier in 2019 for his studies. About 5 months before this episode, Nosherwan reached out to us on Instagram and shared a voice note about how his homesickness for Pakistan brought him to this podcast, and he wanted to discuss and share his life with us on Pakcord. We discuss our individual stories living...

Today we shed more light on a highly important and underrated topic in the desi community: depression and mental illness. Our guest: 32 year old Israa Nasir from New York City. Israa has worked directly with patients in a mental health clinic, and now works within health tech to make an impact in the world of healthcare.   Timeline of Discussion: 0:49 - Introduction 7:43 - Israa discusses her ment...

24 year old Hamza Farooq from Miami is our guest today. Born and raised in the U.S., Hamza brings us a purely Pakistani American perspective. Timestamps of Conversation 1:28 - Introduction 2:00 - Hamza discusses his time going to a Catholic high school 6:18 - Growing up in Miami, and the Pakistani demographics of the U.S. 10:03 - Hurricanes and weather related disasters in the U.S. 18:44 - Hamza's...

Our guest for this episode is 22 year old Hassan Raza from England, U.K. (previously lived in Wales) Hassan moved to UK at the young age of 13. He passionately talks about his Pakistani background and adjusting to life in the UK while maintaining his love for the Motherland. Timestamps of Conversation: 2:40 - Intro & adjusting to life in the U.K. 17:35 - Would you move back to Pakistan? 25:00 - Po...

Our goal with this is simple: to scare the poop out of you and out of ourselves. And laugh while we poop. Mostly just laugh!   Guests: Muskaan (Night Owls), Noshirwaan from Lahore Topic: Jinns, Bhoots, Churails, Possessions, Pichal peris, you name it. Time Recorded: 1 AM in Pakistan.   Reference: "The Chilling Exorcism of Anneliese Michel" on YouTube by Buzzfeed Multiplayer.

Today we bring our special guest, Sabina from Michigan, U.S. Sabina works extensively to promote and market Cannabis based products, and teach their value and benefits to the community. Follow Sabina on Instagram at @drcannabina! Resources shared by Sabina for your research:   Instagram: @sagelynaturals, @hempsleyhealth, @leafly Sites: greenflowermedia.com, healer.com, leafly.com

Welcome back! What is life like for Pakistanis in Paris? In his case, 23 year old Saad was born and raised there. Saad gives us his perspective and insight into French culture, especially valuable for Pakistanis and non-French westerners.     Since Paris does not have an extremely large Pakistani community similar to London, Saad is open to use this podcast as a way to meet others! If you are Paki...

In honor of August 14, 2019, we celebrate by bringing 6 guests on-board and playing Trivia! The questions are all about Pakistan and Pakistani culture. New Guests- Awais - Karachi Patch - Lahore Ainy - Peshawar Returning Guests- Hamza - U.K. Marium - Karachi Uswah - Lahore

This episode's special guest is 23-year old Faras Aamir (AKA Farosty) from Maryland USA, one of the founders of the popular Youtube entertainment channel - RwnlPwnl - which brought us awesome, hilarious parody songs like "Desi and I know it", "Pissed Off", "Have Some Gosht" and many others. Faras's other endeavors are a podcast called Strange Flavors which he runs wit...

So Pakistan did not qualify for the Semi-Finals in 2019's Cricket world Cup. What do they need to do next? We invite 4 cricket fanatics to this episode to discuss their thoughts and impressions on the Pakistani cricket team and the landscape of international cricket. Guests: Minahil - 22 from Islamabad Hamza - 24 from U.K. Hassan - 25 from U.A.E. 'Baraf' - 21 from Karachi

Almost every single desi person will relate to the horrifying rishta process. I've been there myself. Getting asked by your parents and aunties about your plans to get married even when you're still in school or perhaps just got your first job. This is especially troubling for desi girls as they often start getting proposals from a very young age, when they're not ready for it. Today we bring on 2...

3 guests in this episode - Amaaz (23, ISB), Laiba (22, Lahore), and Marium (19, Karachi) discuss student life and the success of students depending on the efforts of the teachers, parents, and their environment. Amaaz and Habib also offer comparisons with studies in the west compared to Pakistan.

What if you wanted to study Arts and Humanities, against the wish of your parents who want you to stick with Engineering or Medicine? How would you feel if you studied in a field for a long time, and just because of 1 failed course, you could not get a degree? What if you were pressured into going to medical school and wanted to drop out? What if you managed to drop out, switched to another field...

We asked for your questions around health and fitness during Ramadan, on Instagram and Discord, and now we answer them! Doctor Shagufta Feroz from Lahore (her website: picchls.com), discusses Ramadan in great depth and answers your questions. Dr Shagufta Feroz is a nationally known holistic lifestyle medicine doctor. She is the only Asian who is an LMEd collaborator (Lifestyle Medicine Education c...

This episode, we invited 5 guests - the most so far! Meet Muskaan (18, ISB), Amaan (19, ISB), Hime (18, KHI), Sami (18, KHI), and Saif (23, London). Saif has been on the podcast before, and everyone else is new. The topic is a simple question: Why do you stay up all night? Every person on this episode pulls multiple all-nighters every week. Through that question, we get into other topics like stor...

An in-depth discussion with Hira Hyder, 26 year old Journalist and Life Coach based in Toronto Canada. Hira writes for 5 online lifestyle publications and is also a broadcast journalist for HUM TV Canada. She became especially well-known after her Twitter format of rapid-fire interviews, called "Hira Hyder 7Qs", went viral with responses from celebrities like Ali Zafar, Mahira Khan, Ahad...