Chai Across Generations

Chai Across Generations

Chai Across Generations is a podcast featuring two friends a generation apart, Nikil and Shankar, as they explore a new topic each episode to better understand - and maybe even bridge - the gap between generations of South Asians.

Episodes

January 15, 2024 23 mins

In honor of MLK Day, we chat about our personal experiences of the holiday and discuss similarities and differences between the histories of African-Americans and South Asians in the US. We also talk about discrimination - especially in the form of colorism - and how it’s important to learn about the histories of other communities.

🍿 WHERE TO WATCH THIS EPISODE: https://youtu.be/GGzSRrTxNiY

🔗 HELPFUL RESOURCES
🌐Zinn Education ...

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Happy New Year! We chat about our personal impressions of New Year, how we think about New Year’s Resolutions and goal-setting, and questions to ask other generations to better understand their hopes and goals for the year.

🍿 WHERE TO WATCH THIS EPISODE: https://youtu.be/LKAphYpu3X4

🔗 HELPFUL RESOURCES
🎥 How To Make 2024 The Best Year Of Your Life by Ali Abdaal - https://youtu.be/c_DOG_mXz5w?si=1L8T-vrQCGG6ydUI

👋🏽 C...

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December 29, 2023 24 mins

We recap our funniest moments from the first 39 episodes in this year-end special! From Shankar sharing hilarious stories with his daughter to Nikil playing a South Asian-inspired version of "Would You Rather?" with Mukhunth, this year had several moments that made us laugh. Thank you all for watching or listening to our show in 2023!  If you want to see more, check out the full episodes below.

🍿 WHERE TO WATCH ...

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We recap the four biggest lessons we learned in 2023 from our conversations on the podcast. From mental health to communicating with other generations and raising multicultural kids, this year has taught us a lot that continues to be relevant in our lives. Thank you all for watching or listening to our show in 2023! 

🍿 WHERE TO WATCH THIS EPISODE: https://youtu.be/MFl4NKnmCyE

🍿 LINKS TO EPISODES MENTIONED 
🎧 Lesson 1...

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We’re back! We share some life updates that have kept us from the podcast in recent weeks. With the holidays right around the corner, we also talk about the top 3 things we love and hate about the holidays including music, expectations, and the act of giving.  

🍿 WHERE TO WATCH THIS EPISODE: https://youtu.be/evQ5XnrpI10

🔗 NONPROFITS MENTIONED BY PREVIOUS GUESTS
👩🏽‍💻 MannMukti - https://www.mannmukti.org/<...

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Raising kids in a foreign land can be challenging, especially around times of celebration back home. On today's episode, we talk to Ajanta Chakraborty and Vivek Kumar about tips for raising multicultural children, the power of stories, and the upcoming festival of Diwali. Ajanta and Vivek are a married couple and co-authors of Maya & Neel's India Adventure Series, a series of 15 children's books that make South A...

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Many young South Asians leave their home countries to pursue their dreams in other countries like America. As they build their lives, they face an interesting question about whether to stay or to return to their home countries to be closer to family. We chat with Mukhunth Raghavan, a PhD student at the University of South Florida, about his journey as a young professional working abroad. We also play a fun game of South Asian “Woul...

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We all have things that affects our mental health, and it can feel very vulnerable to share them with others. In this episode, Abhjith Ravinutala joins the show for an inspiring, vulnerable, and courageous conversation about mental health. He shares his personal experiences with mental health, how the loss of a loved one led him to create MannMukti, and how the perception of mental health has changed over the years within the South...

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October 9, 2023 55 mins

Healing from grief after losing a loved one can be incredibly challenging. How do we move forward, and how do we make peace with their absence? How do we heal when our communities aren't as supportive or understanding about grief as we would like them to be? We explore these questions and much more in this heartfelt episode during Pitru Paksha, a time of reflection in the Hindu calendar to honor those who have passed and those...

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The ICC 2023 Cricket World Cup starts later this week, the biggest event in the cricketing calendar. India is hosting the tournament and hopes to win its third World Cup title. We bring on special guest Balaji Narasimhan to chat about the history and memorable moments of Indian cricket, what it means to be an Indian cricket fan, and preview the upcoming World Cup. We also share an overview of the World Cup schedule, the competing t...

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September 25, 2023 53 mins

If you've ever been to a South Asian dinner party, you've probably gotten these questions from all of the aunties and uncles: "What are you studying? What are you doing?" Education and and career are highly valued in the South Asian community. On this episode, we explore a range of topics including our own educational journeys and how our community can alleviate the high academic pressure placed on students.

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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 as a society have more work to do to...

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 children on social media? Listen on fo...

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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 growing up in these two different envir...

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July 31, 2023 31 mins

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!

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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. 

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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 reflect on our biggest takeaways from t...

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