The Tea Kettle - DesiQuest After Show Podcast - Episode 2 with Rekha Shankar & Michael Schaubach (sneak peak)

When the kettle whistles and the tea is ready, it's time for the DesiQuest after-show—and what a show it is! Omar Najam and I, Sandeep Parikh, are all cozied up inside the teapot, steaming with excitement.  After every episode of DesiQuest is launched, we'll release another episode of the Tea Kettle with me and Omar and a very special guest, or guest from either behind or in front of the camera.

Stepping into the spotlight, our cherished guests Rekha Shankar and Michael Shaubach join us, adding their unique sparkle to the ensemble of DesiQuest.  There's a special kind of magic that happens when Rekha, who animates the vibrant Laddoo Auntie, meshes her family heritage with her character's flair, showing us that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Meanwhile, Michael Shaubch, the maestro behind the scenes, orchestrates the ebb and flow of our on-screen drama, sharing pearls of wisdom about his directing journey and the tributes he weaves into his work. Together, we unwrap the layers of our characters and creative process, reveling in the narratives we've lovingly crafted for our audience.

Buckle up for a culinary rollercoaster as we enter the kitchen with Laddoo Auntie, the queen of candor and culinary delights, whose throne is challenged during a high-stakes kitty party. It's a tale of gastronomic one-upmanship that I, Sandeep Parikh, as both executive producer and actor, recount with the same passion that fuels our beloved Auntie's quest for cooking supremacy. The emotional whirlwind of competing ladles and clashing spices is a story we tell with fervor, and for those craving the full banquet of behind-the-scenes morsels, we extend an invitation to join our Patreon family.  Join us for a heartfelt tribute to storytelling, where the flavors of DesiQuest are as rich and varied as the characters themselves.

Website: https://www.desiquest.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DesiQuest

Wanna play D&D with the cast? Buy a seat at the table here: www.desiquest/playwiththepros

DesiQuest merch: www.desiquest.com/merch

Sponsors:
Darrington Press: https://darringtonpress.com/candela/
Gharana Foods: https://www.gharanafoods.com/desiquest.html
Die Hard Dice: https://DesiQuest.com/DHD
Hero Forge: https://www.heroforge.com
Misty Mountain Gaming: https://desiquest.com/misty

Episode Transcript

Sandeep Parikh (00:05):
Hello and welcome to the Tea Kettle, the
DesiQuest After Show Podcastexclusive to our Patreon backers
.
This endeavor cannot bepossible without you, you guys,
you beautiful backers.
So thank you, thank you, thankyou, thank you, thank you.
So so much.
I'm your host, Sandeep, I'm theexecutive producer and cast
member who plays Ash, and then Igot my co-pilot over here, none
other than the glorious, thenutritious, the nutritious Omar

(00:30):
Najam, who plays Murkha.
Hi Omar.

Omar Najam (00:33):
Hello everyone.
I've got your vitamins.
You are our vitamins.
Oh well, I have them in my bodyand I don't know how we're
going to make this exchange work, but I'm very excited to see
how this plays.

Sandeep Parikh (00:49):
We're going to leech them out of you.
After every episode ofDesiQuest, we release another
episode of the Tea Kettle withme and Omar, and then some very
special guests, or guests fromeither behind or in front of the
camera, and guess what?
We got one of each.
Yes, we got one of each.
We got, we got.
We'll start with Rekha.

(01:09):
We got Rekha Shankar, who playsLaddoo Auntie on the show.
We love us, some Rekha, rekha,hi, hi, oh, so excited.
And then, from behind thatcamera, we got the one, the only
, the guy who is, I mean, justthe superglue of this thing
Michael Shaubach, our director.

(01:30):
Hi, everybody.

Michael Shaubach (01:32):
How does this work?
So, if you talk, are you on orare we always on?
I need to know if I need anonverbal face.
Do I need a nonverbal actingface?

Sandeep Parikh (01:41):
How does this work?
I mean, I want to say yes, justbecause I want to see that
anyway.
But I think these are justgoing to be on audio, so you're
probably fine.

Michael Shaubach (01:50):
I just did a podcast where I thought it was
video and dressed up very nice,and then learned that it was
audio after everything.

Sandeep Parikh (01:55):
So I'm asking these questions up top.

Michael Shaubach (01:58):
It's also yeah .
So this is all audio.

Sandeep Parikh (02:02):
This is video.
Yeah, this is going to be allaudio.
Yeah, yeah, so do you want tolike for us, for our chemistry?

Omar Najam (02:07):
Yes, Do you want to describe your character, shabak
of like how you're rolling in nobudget, it's all audio.

Michael Shaubach (02:14):
So I'm.
I'm playing the role of MichaelShaubach, Hollywood director,
today.
My mustache is freshly waxedyes, I was thinking I was going
to be on camera the beard is alittle unruly, but you know,
whatever my hair is, I don't Imean perfection, it is

(02:35):
absolutely perfection.
I don't know how to explain it.
I have a swoop of gray that Ifeature, One because it just
works that way.
And two, my mother had the sameswoop of gray and styled her
hair.
It was the 1980s when she hadit the one single swoop of gray

(02:55):
and she did something similarwith her hair.
So I do this as an homage to mymother.
Oh, my God, I love that, andthen classic uh Breezy Hawaiian
shirt today.

Omar Najam (03:07):
Yes.

Michael Shaubach (03:08):
To keep things cool on a hot day in Los
Angeles, california, in autumnthat's so so picture that.

Omar Najam (03:15):
Picture that, wow.
Rekha?

Rekha Shankar (03:19):
Yeah, I'm going in here.
Absolute perfection.
Uh, mustache not threaded.
Um, uh, I've got.
My bangs are absolutely.
You can't even see it, they'refluffed to the nines.
They look really, really, reallygood my hair not washed, but in
a big clip, because that's whatyou have to do because it's

(03:41):
interesting when you have curlyhair, oily at the top, dry at
the bottom.
Um, my shirt, easy, breezy,short sleeve, it's another hot
day in Los Angeles, california.
Um, and I guess, in terms ofhomages to family, um, uh, I
have a nose ring that, and mygrandmother had a nose ring

(04:04):
forever, so that's a big homageand I actually also have a lot
of gray hairs and that'sactually my homage to Shaubach's
mother.

Omar Najam (04:12):
Wow, great stuff.

Sandeep Parikh (04:17):
This is going to be an awesome session.

Omar Najam (04:21):
And that's our time.

Sandeep Parikh (04:24):
Well, before we dive into episode two, we ask
all of our listeners if youhaven't already, maybe you want
to support us a little bit moreyou can head on over to
desiquest.
com and hop onto our mailinglist and then, when you do that,
you get a special discount forsome merchandise.
You can't see this, but I'mwearing the shirt right now, and
there's going to be probably,by the time this comes out, a

(04:45):
couple more t-shirts for you tosnag, or what.
Hoodies and other fun thingies.

Michael Shaubach (04:50):
A new logo, a new logo, a new logo.
So they'll see that.
They'll have already seen that.

Sandeep Parikh (04:56):
A kind of logo.

Michael Shaubach (04:57):
The fabulous VoodooVal.

Rekha Shankar (05:00):
It's going to be like people listening to this
will have seen something I like.
We don't know what it is.

Omar Najam (05:04):
We don't know what is the legacy of that.

Rekha Shankar (05:06):
So Rekha describe it.

Sandeep Parikh (05:08):
I'm just kidding .

Rekha Shankar (05:09):
Okay, this logo rolls in, dressed to the nines,
looking for perfection.
A slash, not thread.

Omar Najam (05:16):
Oh, all right, right , right.

Sandeep Parikh (05:19):
Also, what we want to do before we start the
show is that we had a bunch ofsponsors come in and really take
a bet and a chance on us.
We didn't have any metrics toshow them to be like oh, this is
how much ROI you're returningon investment You're going to
get?
Like no, we didn't have any ofthat.
They were like we love you guys, we want to support what you're
doing and we think you're goingto reach an audience that
matters, and so we want to shoutthem out Free of charge.

(05:42):
They didn't pay for this littlething, but we're going to shout
them out anyway Because wereally love the folks.
Over at Position Squared.
They create a podcast calledthe Spark of Ages podcast.
It's fantastic, I know, becauseI'm in it sometimes but it's a
really great podcast and it'swhere they interview founders,

(06:04):
entrepreneurs, creators, artistsall about what sparked them to
their brilliant idea that thenwent on to become their company
that they exited, or a big pieceof art that really changed
things.
So it's a really cool podcasthosted by Rajiv Parikh, who has
a very cool last name because hemight be related to me, I don't

(06:26):
know Whoa.

Omar Najam (06:27):
But anyway, so if you want to.

Sandeep Parikh (06:29):
You know.
Support the family Parikh andcheck out our collective podcast
together.
Go check out the Spark of Agespodcast.
The links and stuff will be inthe show notes.
So there you go.
That would be helpful.
But now let's dive in.
Let's jump into episode 102,the second episode of DesiQuest,
the second of what's going tobe eight episodes, and I think

(06:51):
we could start off.
You know, let's just start offwith a little bit of an
introduction to Rekha'scharacter.
Oh Laddoo auntie.

Omar Najam (07:00):
Yeah.

Sandeep Parikh (07:00):
Why don't you give us a vibe check on who is
Laddoo auntie.
What's she about?

Rekha Shankar (07:05):
She is sort of prototypical auntie very
opinionated, strong-willed, kindof emotionally aggressive, very
blunt, and it doesn't even feelright to use honest, because
like honest doesn't mean likerude, but with aunties it sort

(07:26):
of does, but it's only becauseshe cares.
She cares very deeply.
She's an incredible cook and alot of her skills she feels are
kind of maybe more in thedomestic realm.
So a lot of her journey is sortof finding how her legacy lives
on when she kind of has such aninsular, small, immediate life

(07:50):
and in her own eyes how shewould describe it.

Sandeep Parikh (07:53):
Totally, and so we kind of jump into this
episode to Kitty Party, whenLaddoo auntie is kind of facing
off right against a rival, canyou take us through what you
were thinking as your character,or as an actor as well, like in
this moment where it's revealedto you that there's someone

(08:16):
filling the tables full of foodthat you did not make?
How is Laddoo auntie takingthis and how are you, Rekha,
kind of opting to play intothese moments?

Rekha Shankar (08:26):
Well for Laddoo auntie, that's not good, and
it's something I like aboutplaying characters that are
really like one track minded isit's really easy to know their
triggers.
So like if you play someonewho's a really good cook and
always wants to feed you ifsomebody else is feeding you,

(08:46):
that's like such an easy thingto be like.
No, like nobody else is.
This is why it's here.
It tastes worse.

Sandeep Parikh (08:56):
Hey, so sorry to interrupt, but the rest of this
episode is for our Patreonsubscribers only.
So if you'd like to hear therest of this juicy conversation,
let me tell you it gets juicy.
There's another 50 minutes 50,5, 0 of this conversation over
at patreoncom slash basic quest.
Thank you so much forsupporting the show.