Beyond The Highlight Reel: Gen Z, Identity & Curry Confessions | Ft. Hamza Islam Ep. 067 - My Thick Accent

Episode Transcript
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Gurasis (00:01):
Have you ever seen your favorite celebrity and wondered
what it's like to be them?
Or perhaps you have come acrosssomeone intriguing while
scrolling and had the samequestion.
Maybe, at times, you simplycrave a different perspective on
the challenges you face daily.
Well, these are the exactquestions that inspired my guest

(00:21):
to start his own podcast.
Born in the US to a Bangladeshiimmigrant family, my guest
embarked on a journey to explorethe essence of human connection
and diverse perspectives.
His podcast uniquely featuresGen Z voices, allowing them to
be their true selves and toportray authenticity in their

(00:42):
stories.
Oh my Curry Goodness podcastisn't just about conversations.
It's about understanding whatit's like to be another person,
seeking those unique viewpointsand fostering genuine human
connections.
With a title as unique andflavorful as oh my Curry
Goodness, he has created aplatform that brings together

(01:04):
stories and insights from allwalks of life, particularly
highlighting the experiences ofGen Z's.
Join me as we dive into hisstory, his motivations and the
incredible impact his podcast ismaking.
Please welcome Hamza Islam.

Hamza (01:23):
Thank you so much for having me.
I love the introduction.
It was an amazing introductionand I know I joke about how
uniquely creative oh my CurryGoodness is.
But I also love your podcast,my Thick Accent.
Truth be told, I do not have anaccent, so slightly jealous of
that because I sound like areally boring person, but

(01:44):
nevertheless happy to be here.
Thank you so much.

Gurasis (01:47):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you for being on thepodcast, and you don't have to
have an accent to be on thepodcast.
It's about the impact that yourbackground has had on you,
right?
It's not just limited to youraccents and how you speak today.
It's everything that you'vebeen through, and even your
parents in your case, right?
So, welcome, very excited toget into your story today.

(02:11):
Yeah, thank you so much.
Awesome.
So, hamza, this podcast, thisparticular episode, is part of
season two, where I'm trying toturn up the fun factor a little
bit, because why not?
So I'm going to start with somefun questions.
Okay, so ready.

Hamza (02:20):
I'm ready.

Gurasis (02:21):
All right, so what's your go to breakfast?

Hamza (02:25):
My go to breakfast.
So there's two.
There's two meals I like tohave.
One is just two slices of breadand then Nutella chocolate,
just because I really lovechocolate, and so sometimes it
annoys my mom because shenotices that I eat quite often,
but I mean I like it a lot, soI'm going to have it.

(02:46):
But if I don't have two slicesof bread, nutella I will also
have.
There's a cereal called cookiecrisp, which is basically
they're small cookies but it'snot.
It's not an actual snack, it'sused for, it's used for having
breakfast and I like the crunchwhenever I have, when it's,
whenever it's in my mouth andthere's also that chocolatey
flavor.
So yeah, cookie crisps, cerealor two slices of bread and

(03:13):
nutella, those are two of mygo-to breakfast meals I mean, of
course, nutella.

Gurasis (03:17):
right, who doesn't love nutella?
I personally love it, you knowI.
Sometimes it's like.
When I came to canada Iactually got introduced to it
for the first time, not that Ididn't have it back in India, it
just wasn't that casual andcommon.
When I started seeing my newroommates and everybody I met
here, their first breakfastgo-to was literally like banana
slices and those Nutella.

(03:37):
So I started adopting that aswell.
So I love that All right.
So next is share a favoritesong or a dialogue or a movie
and tell us why it's significantto you

Hamza (03:50):
.
Yeah, so, in terms of favoritesong, I I've been, I've gotten
in the habit of listening tomusic without lyrics, so like
without actual words.
For example, I don't know ifyou've ever seen the movie
interstellar, which the one thatstars that stars matthew
mcconaughey, but there's aparticular song or the scene in

(04:12):
the movie where they're drivinginto a cornfield and the song
that takes place during thatscene is called cornfield chase.
Now it's a bit interestingbecause when you hear music,
when you hear songs or what'syour favorite song, you think of
the ones with words, but unlessyou haven't seen the movie or
you haven't checked thesoundtrack, you don't know how
good of that song is.

(04:33):
Because even without the words,the tune, the, the, just like
you're creating this, likethere's something about music
without words that lets you kindof create imagination in your
head and so there's something Ilove about that song.
I don't know how to explain it,but it's just like one of those
things where you listen to itand it just takes you on some
sort of weird adventureno-transcript run through yours

(05:15):
if you have it.
So that's a song and then maybeI'm gonna cheat myself here
I'll probably say a tv show.
So I don't know.
Know, it's one of the mostpopular TV shows in the 90s,
called Seinfeld, starring JerrySeinfeld, and essentially for
those who don't know and I'm notsaying this in a hypothetical

(05:36):
way I mean literally said thisit's a show about nothing.
And I think what makes it, whatmakes it so impactful is I
think a lot of people have anidea.
So like, okay, we want the showto be about this or we want
something to be about this.
It has to be about something.
And yet you look at a show likeSeinfeld and it's literally

(05:58):
about nothing.
It's like literally going tothe grocery store that's's a
story.
Reading a book that's a story.
Asking a girl out and gettingrejected that's a story.
So you think like it's not evenabout anything.
It's just something thathappens on a regular basis or on
a daily basis and you overlookit, but the fact that it's being

(06:19):
overlooked is what makes it oneof the most popular shows, not
just of like the 90s but,honestly, of all time, because
of how relatable it is to somany people.
Even though that took place inthe 80s and the 90s, there's
still some bits of it that isrelevant today.
Asking a girl out is stillsomething many people do, and
even if you get rejected, that'sanother thing that many of us

(06:41):
go through.
So, yeah, definitely one of myfavorite, if not favorite, tv
shows of all time all right, I'mactually wrapping up my current
show I'm watching.

Gurasis (06:51):
Maybe I can add that one to my next list, you know
yeah, it's a great show.

Hamza (06:55):
It's a great show okay.

Gurasis (06:58):
So next is if you had to teach one phrase or anything
you know in your mother tongue,what would it be and what does
it mean?

Hamza (07:05):
yeah, so I'm not.
For those who don't know, Imean, I think you may have
talked about in yourintroduction, but I'm, my
parents come from bangladesh,but I don't speak their language
.
I'm someone who can understandwhat people are saying, but if
you tell me to write it, uh,it's a big no-no.
But I'll give you a simple wordbecause I'm not that well
versed in the language.

(07:26):
But it's called.
It's basically the term is pasaor pasa, which means but in
Bengali.
And I find it to be a bit funnyat times because in my
university I go to school in theUnited States there's a student
organization called well,there's a Pakistan Student
Association at our school, butthey call themselves pasa, which

(07:47):
also in bengali it means but,but for them it's it's just a
short acronym for pakistanassociation.
So anytime someone talks about,hey, you know you should join
pasa, it's a friendlyenvironment, I'm like, I'm sure
it's a friendly environment.
I'm sure it is, and I thinksome people know.
I think some people know whatit means because some of the
people from the Pakistan StudentAssociation can speak Bengali a

(08:09):
little bit and then they'realso friends with some of the
people from the Bengali StudentAssociation.
But it's still a little funnythat you call your your student
organization and that namehappens to be a part of your
body in another language.
So interesting thing.
It's a simple word, but stillan interesting word, especially

(08:30):
if you're going to call yourorganization Kasa.

Gurasis (08:33):
That is funny.
You know, I actually know manywords in different languages
which actually mean completely adifferent meaning altogether in
my own language, and I wouldn'tsay that right now, but I do
know a few of those examples.
I love that.
All right, yeah, uh.
Next is if you could teleportback to a particular place,
where would you go and whatwould you do?

Hamza (08:57):
I mean, there's a lot of fun places I would love to go
back to, but I think, as a big,as a huge soccer fan, I I didn't
attend this game, but I wish Icould go back in time and just
witness it in person, but one ofmy I mean, I'm a huge soccer
fan and one of my favoritesoccer games growing up was the
2010 world cup, when usa playedalgeria and, for obvious reasons

(09:20):
, I was supported the unitedstates and this so I was born in
2002.
I was eight years old when the2010 World Cup happened and the
significance of that game waswhen the United States they had
to win the game.
Or else, for those who don'tknow what people like, don't
know much about the FIFA WorldCup, there was the group stage
and then there was, likeknockout stage.
So USA had to win their lastgame in order to go to the

(09:40):
knockout stage.
So, spoiler order to go to theknockout stage.
So, spoiler alert, they won thegame, but they won with like
very little time left on theclock.
So I think the fact and it'slike it's one of those fantasy
moments where you score thegame-winning goal with seconds
remaining of the match and Iremember like that's.
Like that's literally thedefinition of every soccer fan's

(10:01):
dream, like scoring a goal withno time remaining.
That puts your team in a reallygood place, and so I only watch
it on tv.
But if you could ask me, like,what's one place you'd love to
go, it's probably definitelythat moment, just because it was
so cool seeing the usa win withwith so much at stake, and I
remember losing my mind at homebut I could not imagine how much

(10:24):
I would go crazy if it wasactually if I witnessed it in
person just because of howchaotic it was.

Gurasis (10:33):
I've asked this question before, also in our
earlier conversation.
I'd like to ask again you knowfor my listeners that tell us
like when was the first time yougot exposed to soccer?

Hamza (10:42):
Yeah, so probably maybe five or six years old I first
started getting into the sport,because I remember being in a
few soccer programs here andthere, but I think when I was
about eight years old seven oreight years old is when I
started really developing thatlove for the game.
So, whether it's the 2010 worldcup or other, like, we have our
own soccer team in columbuswhere I'm based they call it the

(11:04):
columbus crew.
When I when I saw that we hadour own soccer team in Columbus,
where I'm based they call itthe Columbus crew when I saw
that we had our own soccer team,it was really cool to see that,
okay, there's a soccer teamthat I can watch literally
that's close to where I live andthen just seeing the 2010 World
Cup I think those twocombinations then kind of
propelled my interest in soccer.

(11:24):
But to go back to your originalquestion as to when I was
exposed probably five or six,although my dad may be the
better person to ask, becausehe's he he knows more about my
soccer, my love for soccer, thanI do.

Gurasis (11:37):
so okay, now I'd like to take you down the memory lane
, hamza.
I want to tell us a little bitabout your formative years in
America you were born there andalso about your parents
immigration as well yeah.

Hamza (11:49):
So unfortunately I don't know much about my mom's history
.
She usually tends to hide it orkeep it to herself, which I
respect because you know, justbecause I don't want to be I
don't want to poke the bear, ifyou will but my dad, I know a
little bit more about my dad'shistory.
So, obviously, like you said,but both my parents come from
bangladesh.
My dad was an internationalstudent.

(12:10):
He moved to the united statesto uh, to go to college and he
went to a school in kansas notkansas university, but there's a
different school in kansas,okay, and there are a lot of
challenges that he had to facethroughout that time.
So I mean obviously, as I meanobviously, when you're a student
whether middle school, highschool, college, elementary,

(12:32):
whatever that is you want to dowell, but forget trying to get
the best grades possible.
You're adapting into a newenvironment, because the united
states and bangladesh arecompletely different in terms of
absolutely how they look like,they're the way of life,
different environments.
Um, south asian cultures don'tusually like to go drinking,
whereas in the united states,especially college years, you

(12:52):
see a lot of that.
So there's the environmentaspect.
There's the language barrier.
He didn't understand english,so half like.
So a lot of times if he didn'tknow a word, he would literally
have a dictionary to figure out.
Okay, what does this word mean?
So I can understand the problem.
And then there's the fact thatcollege can be expensive.
So there would be days where hewould work X amount of hours

(13:15):
and then not get that much sleepbecause he had a class in an
hour or two.
So he had to go through a lotto get to where he is today.
So he had to go through a lotto get to where he is today and
his goal is obviously to providethe best life for me possible,
because he doesn't want me to gothrough those those, those
struggles.
And I think that's what a lotof south asian parents want for
their kids.

(13:35):
Where there's that common andwhen I say common notion I don't
mean it's like oh, of courseyou're gonna say that, but it's
unless you are not a parent youwould not understand where it's
like hey, listen yeah we, wewent through a lot of stuff yeah
, youmight be going through some
things, but it's not comparableto what we went through.
You might worry about trying toget the best grades in

(13:56):
accounting, which is such a hardclass for me, but for me I mean
forget school being difficult.
There were so many things, somany other things that were
difficult.
So I mean, my dad is an amazinghuman being.
He is one of the smartestpeople I've met.
He's very good at criticalthinking skills, where I'm
someone that overthinks and thenI burn out whenever I do things

(14:19):
.
So I really wish I could havethat.
But yeah, who knows, maybe I'llget it at some point, but
definitely not now.
So that's a bit about myparents.
And then some point my parentsmet and then moved to Ohio.
I was born in 2002.
If you ask my parents, they'llsay like I was a very energetic
and chaotic kid and I feel likeeven today I'm still a chaotic

(14:41):
person at times.
Today I'm still a chaoticperson at times.
But I would say that, um, it'sweird.
Like growing up, it was like Ispent so much time playing video
games and being in like thesports, like sports, um world,
because, like again, like when Isaid about being like five or
six, being exposed to soccer andthen, eight or nine, it was

(15:01):
like, oh, I really love thesports.
Like, growing up I was, um, Iwas someone who was like, so
focused on trying to become aprofessional soccer player, but
then at some point there came apoint in time where I realized,
yeah, this is probably not gonnawork.
There was a part of me thatstill wishes I could be a
professional soccer player.
But I wish there was a timewhere I decided you know what,

(15:23):
instead of trying to live inthis weird fantasy, I wish I
probably would have donesomething more quote-unquote
nerdy, like reading books or youknow, going on these math, uh,
like learning about math,learning about science.
Looking at it now, like I'msomeone who overthinks where my
dad is, like, I know how to dothese things.
Even if it's going to take sometime, I'll figure it out.
Yeah, I was a very like athleticoriented or athletic minded

(15:46):
person, and then, I guess, onceI stopped pursuing this dream of
being a professional soccerplayer, then came this weird
question of, okay, what do Iwant to do?
Yeah, my dad is a computerscience major, but for a while I
was very hesitant to docomputer science because I would
see his computer screen and Igo, that's a nightmare.
It took me a while before Istarted liking computer science
because it was just again one ofthose like okay, I see what I.

(16:08):
I see the computer and I'm likethis looks, there's so much,
there's so much, it lookscomplicated.
But then I went and ended upstudying it.
I'm still studying it right nowin college and it took me some
time because there's differentcomputer programming languages.
So it was one of those things.
I had to figure that for myself.
But, like you said inintroduction, I focus a lot on
human connections and people'sstories.

(16:30):
That came from when I was nineyears old, meeting my some of
the players who played for thecolumbus crew, which is still my
favorite soccer soccer team tothis day, and that kind of
propelled my interest, becausesome, a lot of times we focus so
much on the title of a personor like part of their identity
without realizing their wholeidentity.

(16:51):
So, for example, a professionalsoccer player is a part of a
person's identity, or it's apart of a person but it is not
the person.
So as a nine-year-old it waslike, okay, what's it like to be
this professional soccer player?
And then, still as a chaotickid, I was like what's it like
to be the president of theUnited States?

(17:11):
What is it like to be acelebrity?
What is it like to do this?
And then, high school, it waslike what is it like to be these
people?
Because I only saw my friendsas classmates, not humans.
That's why we spoke a lot, butwe never spoke outside of the
classroom in the sense of like,let's hang out as friends.
I didn't really get thatopportunity because of maybe I
was busy or they were busy, sothat's kind of like what led me

(17:33):
into the, I guess, the interestof humans.
And now in college, now that Iget to hang out with a few
people here and there, thereI've gotten a little bit of an
understanding of like.
Oh okay.
So you know, I used to see youas this, but there's a different
side of you and because of thisweird, this interesting
curiosity of like, oh wow,there's more to this person.

(17:54):
That's why here I am creating apodcast known as oh my goodness,
where I learn about people solong explanation about my family
, and then my little chaoticdreams of being a professional
soccer player, adding in themixture of computer science
major, and then more, and thenobviously not more importantly,
but obviously here today, asidefrom majoring in computer

(18:14):
science, creating a podcast thatfocuses on a person's journey.
So hope that answers all thequestions.

Gurasis (18:19):
I know that's a really long answer wow, you have
definitely tapped into variousphases of your life so far and I
have like so many questions outof all you know.
The part where you mentionedabout your father, you know,
coming and studying and managingwork and trying to assimilate
into a new culture, when youwere talking about that, it
really reminded me of a littlebit of about my journey, a

(18:40):
little bit about the journeys ofpeople I speak to throughout on
the podcast, so that reallylike resonated with that a lot.
Second thing you said is thatyou are like a chaotic person,
aren't?
We all are.

Hamza (18:50):
We all are sort of figuring out, you know, work in
progress, going with the flow,and just just literally like
figuring out things as we goright oh, yeah, for sure, and I
think chaos chaos, if you thatvaries from person to person and
it's interesting and I thinkit's okay, because as a kid
maybe we're just too imaginative, whereas adults, if we're

(19:12):
imaginative, then people see usas kids.
But I still feel like andobviously I don't know much I
mean, maybe there'll be otherpeople that maybe will elaborate
more on this, because I'm stilllearning this idea but I feel
like a lot of us can still be akid, even as adults, where it's
like we can be a massive, we canbe ridiculous and a good way,
in a good way, not in like acreepy way, I'm not talking

(19:34):
about that.
So we can always have that.
And you know, going back to theinternational, being
international student, I thinkthat's something that none as
someone like me like I grew upin the united states, went to
school in the united states fromelementary school to college
something I'll never understandbecause you know the challenges
that you guys have is sodifferent and a lot definitely

(19:56):
more difficult than what I gothrough, and that's not to say
and I don't like the idea ofcomparing difficulties like, oh,
you went through this, I wentthrough much worse because, like
, obviously people'sdifficulties are still
difficulties, but it does allowyou to have a more open mind and
more appreciative and knowingthat there are certain things

(20:16):
that are given to you that arenot given to other people.
Not because of preferences, notlike, oh, it's because of your
skin color or whatever.
It's more like you know, you'reused to this, whereas other
people it's like they're doingthis for the first time on their
own, and independence is not aneasy thing.
And it's not just like I meanlike the fact.
It's not just like taking careof yourself, like okay, making

(20:39):
sure that I dress well or myhair looks good, whatever.
It's more like you really gotyou have to take care of
yourself from, like, a financialstandpoint and then make
balancing jobs here and there,and then also course coursework
and other passion projects.
So definitely a difficultchallenge and you know something
I'll never understand.
But you know, in a way,international students can be a

(21:01):
source of inspiration, becauseyou can really see that they
literally know the definition ofhard work, whereas hard work
for many of us is studying xamount of hours to do well on a
physics exam or accounting exam.
Shout out to those who wentthrough those classes because
those are difficult, but yeah no, you totally articulated it
perfectly.

Gurasis (21:21):
You know I I totally understand that all these
challenges your father, forinstance, have gone through to
be able to give their childrenthis life right, what you have
right now.
But I also want to go back toyour family once more and your
initial years once again.
Tell me, like did your familymaintain those bangladesi
traditions and languages at home, and has that influenced your

(21:43):
connection to your heritage inany way?

Hamza (21:46):
yeah, so, embarrassingly enough, I was one of those
people that, like I said before,my parents could well.
My mom speaks bangla to me, butmy dad will speak english.
My mom will speak bengali to me, but I will respond in english.
That's basically how I am,where it's like they'll speak in
one language, but I understandenough to be like okay, I know
what you're saying, I just don'tknow how to say it in bangla,

(22:08):
so I'm gonna say it in english.
When I do speak bengali, my momsaid I sound like a white
person, so because of that, Ijust speak english in its
entirety.
Uh, although the only times Iwill speak bangla is if it's
with my grandparents or whetherit's on my mom or dad's side,
that's the only time, althoughthere are a couple of family
members, particularly my momsaid, that speak english, so I

(22:32):
can speak bangla or english withthem.
Um, in terms of the bengaliheritage, they obviously
practice it a lot.
So, whether it's food, movies,traditions, um, I wouldn't say
they're like those hardcoreconservative, strict bengali
people, but they're definitelyone of those people where it's
like this is a part of you and,regardless of how much you

(22:55):
change, the bengali part isstill a part of your identity.
So it was.
It was interesting because Inever understood that growing up
because and I think, think andI'm not using it as like this is
a your fault thing or yourfault thing but growing up in
the United States, you'reaccustomed to interacting with
non-Bengali people and thenmaybe every once in a while,

(23:15):
like on a weekend, we'll go to afriend's house.
Obviously they're mostlyBengali.
A few of my mom's friends arePakistani, so sometimes I'll
hang out with them.
Most of the time it's Bengali.
A few of my mom's friends arePakistani, so sometimes I'll
hang out with them.
Most of the time it's Bengali.
So maybe because I didn't getto spend time with other people
who are like me, that's probablythe reason why my relationship
with my Bengali, my the Bengaliside of me, wasn't strong and

(23:39):
it's taking.
It's taking a journey.
I feel like now that I'm incollege, I'm exploring that a
little bit more.
One of my goals is to learn thelanguage that I could
communicate more, and my onlyobsession with bengali culture.
I don't know if you're a bigcricket fan, but I'm a big fan
of the bangladesh cricket team,so that's the only time where I
become proud like that's theonly.

(23:59):
That's usually the only timewhere I'm like, I'm bengali for
like eight hours back to beingamerican, I see yeah, and then,
whenever bangladesh plays, againback to bengali.
I can't speak the national, Ican't recite the national anthem
, but I'm bengali eight hoursand then, once the bangladesh
cricket team is done playing,back to being american.
So that's kind of how it is.
However, it's still a journey,but now it's.

(24:22):
It's taken me a while before Irealized you know what I I I
like the fact that I'm mingaliamerican.
I know that it's a part of meand it's something that I can
either just try to deny it asmuch as possible or I can
embrace it, and so I chose toembrace it.
It's definitely, like I said,it's been a journey, but I hope
that, as I continue growing andlearning, have a better

(24:43):
relationship with that.
So it's one of those thingswhere it was difficult at first,
but because I've stillmaintained it and I've never
tried to remove it, even thoughit exists, I'm still going to
try to do everything that I canto make sure I develop that
positive relationship with myBengali tradition and identity.

Gurasis (25:09):
You talked about attending a lot of those South
asian parties.
What about those festivals andtraditions?
How was that?
Like you know, growing up, wasit like only limited to the us
traditions and cultures you werecelebrating, or was it also
something that you werecelebrating on your own?

Hamza (25:17):
so in terms of traditions and festivals, I mean, we never
really celebrated anything likewe never celebrated bangla, new
york, bengali independence.
It wasn't anything like that.
I think the only traditions andfestivals that I really
celebrated growing up were werebasically eid or eid okay
because I am muslim, so wecelebrate eid twice a year
majority of the time, althoughthey're, it changes from year to

(25:39):
year.
So in terms of eid celebrations,that's the only, that's the
only festival or traditions Ican think of.
Um I don't think there's anydifference between, like I don't
know if there's any bengalitraditions or practices other
than just going to people'shouses, talking to people and
going to another house.
Um weddings I don't know muchabout the whole wedding process.

(26:02):
It's just more like again goingto the, the ceremony and seeing
the husband and the wife.
So I guess in a way it's likeamerican, but then again I don't
know the whole marriage process.
It's just there to see the twopeople getting married.
Again, I don't know much aboutthe tradition and the culture
thing.

Gurasis (26:18):
That's another thing I'm learning about but more so
just like the usual eat orregular get-togethers and I
would like to pivot towards yourcareer choices, and at one
point I heard you talking aboutchoosing computer science and
you said that anything otherthan Ohio State University would

(26:39):
be considered failure withinthe South Asian community, as
they take pride in theiracademic qualifications, and it
was also the time where you werevery much entrusted into
psychology.
Right, but you end up choosingcomputer science.
And then in your second year,in your senior year, when your
father gave you the option, orhe asked you whether you'd like
to go back to psychology or wantto stick to computer science,

(27:01):
you said I want to stick tocomputer science.
I want to know what happened inthat one initial year and why
would you never like to go backto psychology then?

Hamza (27:10):
yeah.
So the interesting story is Ithought that psychology majors
had to overcome their fears, andI have a huge fear of spiders.
So I thought like, in order tobe like in psychology, you have
to overcome that.
However, after interacting withsome of the people I've had on
the podcast for example, Iinterviewed someone by the name

(27:30):
of Kendi Wesley who's aprofessional soccer player and
she's a psychology major, andshe's like trust me, if I found
out that I had to overcome myfears of spiders and other
things, I would not studypsychology.
So I think that's the reasonwhy.

(27:51):
But then I guess the other thingwas computer science was still
a part, even for a long time.
It was just a matter of what'sthe right programming language
for me, because computer scienceis a broad term.
It's not just I mean, it ispart of it is coding, but it's
still a broad term.
There's obviously differentlanguages that take place, and
so once I found the languagethat I enjoyed, which is html,
javascript, basically buildingwebsites, then I was like oh
okay, I, I really like doingthis.

(28:12):
So that's why I stuck tocomputer science, because of the
idea of building websites.
Is psychology something I wouldlike to visit at some point.
Maybe because obviously mypodcast centers around
psychology understanding howhumans think a little bit,
because it's obviously about theperson's journey, not actually
like psychology, like conceptsor anything.
It's more like, okay, this iswhat a person is going through

(28:34):
mentally during these times.
But yeah, it was more, becauseI thought you had to overcome
your fear of spiders.
Turns out it's okay to bescared of spiders, even, and
still study psychology.
But also the fact that afterspending some time with computer
science, I realized, oh, Ifound what I'm interested in,
this is what I'm gonna do.
So I'm stuck with it and I'mhappy with it, although, like

(28:57):
every profession, butparticularly computer science,
there's obviously challengeshere and there.

Gurasis (29:02):
Okay, you know.
Another thing is that all thefriends I have who were born
here or the other firstgeneration of immigrants I've
spoken to on the podcast, onecommon denominator they had
initially in their lives wasthat our life is sort of planned
like it's kind of given that,okay, you have to follow like a
certain path.
You know the classics thedoctor, lawyer, engineer, sort

(29:25):
of a thing basically given the,the outline you have to follow,
just because they had thisimmigrant guilt in them.
Okay, our parents have done somuch for us and we have to sort
of follow what they are askingus to do.
That was that at any point thecase with you in your teenage
years?
But even like right now, do youhave like any sort of those
conversations or even a timejust introspecting that, oh, my

(29:47):
god, like my father has gonethrough all this, my parents
have done all that.
Maybe I should do this to beable to prove to them that, okay
, I'm, I'm like the good kidyeah, it's, it's definitely a
balance, I would say.

Hamza (29:59):
Growing up, my parents were never those very strict,
hardcore people where it's likeyou have to be this okay or else
you're a failure.
Now, to be fair, there arepeople in the community that I
grew up in that will have thatmindset.
My parents were the type ofpeople that will say, like we,
we really would like you to dolike my dad because he's a

(30:20):
computer science major.
It's like hey, I would reallylove for you to do computer
science because I can definitelyhelp you in these areas,
whether it's help you get a jobif we get an internship, or help
you with any sort of computerscience or computer issue for
any of your classes.
But if you want to do things,that's fine.
It's just more like I willprobably not be able to help you
.
So if I chose to take thepsychology route or the medical

(30:41):
route or any other route, my dadwould probably be not the best
person.
But if it's a computer scienceroute, then he'll be able to
help me.
So it's more of like, not likea.
I forget.
You see this a lot where it'slike it's not a requirement but
it's appreciative, whereas somepeople would say, no, it's a
requirement that you're here orelse you are considered a
failure.

(31:01):
So, yeah, flexible, but likewith boundaries, is how I would
say my dad is, and I mean eventhen when I was still hesitant
to do it.
Or I mean, obviously that tookplace while I was hesitant, but
then, even now, or now that I'vebeen into it, I still sometimes
get help from every now andthen, and I'll ask him some

(31:23):
questions like hey, you know,I've there's this topic that I'm
learning about.
Does it make, can you explainmore about it?
And it's helped me develop abetter appreciation for the
topics that my dad studied.
But again, that took thatitself took a journey, and it
wasn't.
It wasn't easy because it waslike, oh, I don't want to do
this.
And now it's like, okay, I wantto do this, but please like I

(31:46):
hope my parents would understandthat like I would definitely
need a lot of help in this,because it wasn't something that
I was so passionate about.
It wasn't like you need to dothis, it was it's better you do
this because I can help you,because you don't want to be in
a situation where it's like Ican't help you and then you're
kind of figuring it out on yourown.
You're just going to stressyourself out.

Gurasis (32:04):
No, my takeaway is definitely they weren't as
strict as the people I've spokento.
You know their parents.
Like you said, you are sort oflike broken the mold and you are
starting your own podcast.
You're working on it as well,right, you're not sticking to
those traditional routes.
So definitely I would say I'mreally glad to hear their
parents were one of those Also.

(32:26):
You know, when I came to CanadaAmza, I obviously didn't have
the choice other than hangingout alone, like for the initial
two months or so at least.
You know, figuring things on myown, doing everything on my own
and, just, you know, live withit by myself, roaming around
alone.
But I want to ask you that youhave mentioned it so many times
on the podcast that you used tohang out alone because you felt

(32:47):
like you did not fit with yourcollege mates.
I want to know the reasonbehind that.
Why is that?

Hamza (32:52):
Yeah, it's a a really good question.
I think my biggest concern whenit comes to hanging out with
people is whether I became likea pest or a burden to them,
because the thing about collegeis that everyone is busy,
regardless of what they'remajoring in.
Everyone has a busy schedule,and I think the one thing that I
try to stay away from is it'snot that I don't want to hang

(33:13):
out with people.
It's I do, but I don't want toreach out with people.
It's I do, but I don't want toreach out to you at a bad time,
for you to then say you'rebecoming a pest or a burden.
And it's something that I stilldeal with today, even though
some of the friends have beenreally transparent in the sense
where they say, hey, I reallywant to hang out with you, but I
got this.
It's hard to find out which kindof friends you want to

(33:34):
associate with because you don'tyou probably don't know their
intentions and I think, becauseyou don't know their intentions,
that's why it can be a bitscary to reach out to people, so
that's why I hang out by myself.
However, if there is anadvantage to hanging out by
yourself that maybe you don'tfind when hanging out with other
people is you get to spend more.

(33:54):
Well, this is obviously a nodip sherlock kind of thing, but
you get to spend time withyourself and you find ways to.
You might find things that youlike that maybe other people
don't like, so maybe you mighthave lunch.
Like, for example, I'll havelunch but I'll also watch maybe
a late night or not late nightshow or, like you know, those

(34:16):
late night tv shows like theDaily Show it used to be like
the Daily Show with Trevor Noah,now it's called the Daily Show
or Conan O'Brien, like.
I like watching these shows,but maybe my friends don't.
So, in a way, I get to find waysto create entertainment for
myself, entertainment for myself, and that's a weird advantage

(34:40):
because you know yourself andyou get to enter.
You get to enjoy the thingsthat you like that maybe in a
group setting you don't get to.
So, even though I worry aboutbeing a burden and a pest, there
are times where I will hang outwith people, but that's such a
rarity because of people'sschedules.
Even though I worry about that,in a way, I'm glad that I do
get alone time because it's like, okay, I can use that time to
watch a soccer game or watch acricket game um, not the 10-hour

(35:03):
one, I mean like highlights orwatch a funny podcast clip.
So it has its pros and cons,but in a way I'm glad that if
you were to say it's more likeI'm more so glad that I spend
time alone just because the factthat I get to create my own
form of entertainment.

Gurasis (35:23):
But what about, like just going out for brunch or
just coffee chats or just ingeneral?
Do you do that, or is thatsomething also you stay away
from?

Hamza (35:31):
I try to do that.
It's just that maybe again itgoes back to the fear of what if
I'm becoming a burden or a pest.
I think one of my biggest fearsis sending follow-up messages
because you don't exactly knowwhen to respond, because you
don't know that maybe they didsee your message but they're
busy and so it's like you don'twant to be in a situation where
you send a follow-up message andthen the person goes I saw your

(35:53):
message, you don't need to sendme another one, but it's been a
few hours and I haven't heardback.
So I don't know.
And I think again it goes backto that hesitancy.
So even during brunch oranything, it's because of that
fear of being seen as someonethat I know I am not.
I would probably stick to theconservative side and just be

(36:13):
like, okay, I'm just going tohang out by myself, because it's
the less consequential side.
However, there are parts of mewhere I'm like I wish I could
use that time to hang out withpeople.
It's just that people don'tlike it goes back to intentions.
We just don't know what theother person is feeling or
thinking, because we only seethe outside stuff, not the

(36:33):
inside.

Gurasis (36:41):
But when you meet them, don't, can, can't you see kind
of like sense, the non-verbal,like you know, how are you
feeling being with them?
Or or would you say likesometimes maybe it's in your
mind and you are overthinkingand maybe you have that fear of
judgment?

Hamza (36:48):
oh yeah, and the reason why it exists.
It's not just something that Icreated in my head, it's
something that actually happened, like there have been a few
times where people are like, hey, you know, you've reached out
to me too many times and eventhough it's like because you
haven't responded to any of mytext messages, there was one
time where I reached out tosomeone and I waited five hours
for them only to find out thatthey couldn't make it.

(37:10):
But it's like, why did you, whydid it take me five hours to
wait for you to say something?
So sometimes I feel like Idon't want to say anything, or
not necessarily criticize, butlike question why?
Because, again, I don't knowwhat they're going through.
So I guess maybe I'moverthinking, but the reason why
I overthink is because they'vehappened.

(37:31):
But you know, fortunately, thefriends that I've met nowadays
they do a really good job ofbeing transparent and I focus a
lot on transparency.
I don't like loyalty too much.
I don't like the idea of I needyou when I need it, but it's
more like I would love to beable to spend time with you, but
I want to know what's going onon your end that may be

(37:52):
preventing you from making ithappen.
And the more elaborative theyare, the more you can trust them
.
Because if people say thesebroad terms, like, oh, I'm
really busy or I can't do it,maybe they're busy, but that's
such a really broad answer.
So when people go like, hey, I'dlove to meet with you, but

(38:15):
right now I'm currently goingthrough these challenges that's
preventing me from doing this.
But I can assure you that whenmy schedule does show up, that I
can meet up.
And then there's also timeswhere I'll say like, yeah, I do
worry about meeting or talkingto people, or I worry about
judgment, and they do a good jobof saying like listen, you know
, that's that's something that Ideal with too.
But you know, you know youdon't ever give off that vibe

(38:35):
and if it is, it's because maybeI'm not doing a good job on my
end.
So they're very transparent andthat's what I look for and I
really appreciate, I'm reallyglad that you know I have these
type of friends because, yeah,it's not easy finding good
people no, totally.

Gurasis (38:48):
These are the people you want to stick to and not the
other ones who are kind of likethrowing an attitude, like an
underlying way of saying that Iwant to hang out with you.
Maybe those are not the peopleyou want to be with, you know,
regardless, yeah yeah, for sureyeah okay, on another note, tell
me you know what are thespecific role models within your
family or within the communityor the parties you have attended

(39:09):
to inspired you during yourupbringing?

Hamza (39:13):
well, yeah, so I definitely say my parents.
In a way.
I think my dad is more like youknow.
He's very good at critical.
I mean, he's someone whoemphasizes the importance of
critical thinking and someonewho's willing to spend hours and
hours just to get somethingright.
He's one of the hardest workingpeople I've met and, even
though podcasting and softwareengineering are completely

(39:35):
different lately, what I've beendoing is spending hours and
hours trying to come up withways to improve the podcast
itself, whether it's coming upwith better questions, coming up
with better ways to conversewith people studying other
podcasts.
Again, that's something my dadunderstands, or may not
understand because he doesn't dopodcasts, understands, but or

(39:58):
may not understand because he'snot.
He doesn't do podcasts.
But the fact that I'm willing tospend as many hours as I can to
get to try to create the bestthing possible, that's something
I've taken away from my dadbecause he's he's he will spend
like he.
Well, there are days wherehe'll come home late because
he's working on this thing thathe hopes can can make money.
He's willing to do thing thathe hopes can make money.
He's willing to do everythingthat he can to support his

(40:20):
family.
So I take inspiration from thatand also my mom.
I think my mom is very good atbeing calm and being present,
even when other people might begoing crazy or being ridiculous.
My mom's very good at stayingcomposed and calm, which is
something that I struggle with,so I try to do that.
It's still a challenge, but Ihope that I can obtain these

(40:42):
traits, because there are a lotof crazy things that can happen
right, absolutely.
It's nice to try to get thattrait because people want to be
around those calm people,especially in times where things
not be going your way and haveyou?

Gurasis (40:57):
have you traveled within the country a lot or not?
Well, I've been to a few stateshere and there, but mostly I've
stayed, I've stayed home okay,and did that travel or just
growing up in a diverse countrylike us influenced your
worldview in any way?

Hamza (41:19):
yes and no.
Yes, because even in differentstates of the united states
there's different cultureswithin different states.
How I grew up in ohio will bedifferent from how someone grew
up in California, florida,kansas or other states.

(41:40):
So there's definitely the stateculture.
But what's also easy to forgetis someone who's lived in the
United States is that the UnitedStates is not the world.
The United States is part ofthe world, but there's different
countries with differentcultures, different environments
.
So, like you might, if you'reborn in the United States and

(42:02):
you go to India, like if you'reused to United States culture,
when you go to India, it's acompletely different environment
.
We go to Bangladesh, it's adifferent environment.
When you go to China, england,belgium, russia, wherever you go
, their way of living isdifferent.
So I think yes, in a sense,where it's like I understand
that there's different ways ofliving.
That maybe I may not understandas someone who comes from Ohio,

(42:23):
but in a sense I also have tobe careful that the United
States is not the world, eventhough it's one of the biggest
countries in the world.
There are other places thathave different cultures and
surroundings that if I were togo there, I would be.
I would be quote unquote thedumbest person in the country
because I don't know what'sgoing on over there okay, let's

(42:47):
just talk about your podcast.

Gurasis (42:49):
oh my curry goodness.
And this podcast, I believe,wasn't the first time you were
starting a podcast.
You have started threedifferent podcasts before this
and this one you started inDecember 2022.
And you have called this a moreof like a self-discovery,
because you were curious aboutdifferent perspectives that
exist in this world, or it couldbe for the same topic that you

(43:11):
have a deep passion for.
So tell us all about it.

Hamza (43:15):
Yeah.
So I started oh my greatgoodness in january of 2023, but
the whole process started inapril of 2022 and essentially
the reason why I started andquit started quit was because
there wasn't a clear directionand also the guess the
conversations I had werebasically just friends from
college or just neighbors, andwhile they may be good

(43:36):
conversations, people reallydon't care about your day in
calculus, like there's nothingtoo much to really relate to or
seek inspiration from.
So I was so interested in thestorytelling or what's it like
to be other people, like I said,like one of my favorite shows I
would like to watch is theDaily Show with Trevor Noah or
these late night interview talkshows and I'm like, oh, I really

(43:58):
want to do that.
But then let's find people thatare not necessarily more
interesting, but it's more like,oh, let's actually like that
actually fit the narrative ofstorytelling, learning from
people who have gone throughdifficult challenges to get to
where they are today.
Because we're growing up at atime of social media, we're
going at a time of social media,we're going at a time of the
internet.
We can easily talk about theaccomplishments or the highlight

(44:20):
reels.
We don't talk about the journey.
So it's like, okay, let's focuson that.
So from april of 2022 throughdecember of 2022, it was okay,
come up with questions that areinteresting, because I saw a
video where it's like you needto ask questions that they've
never been asked before and thenalso find people between April

(44:40):
and December and even nowadays,but I don't do it as much Try to
find people.
That would be a great fit forthe podcast, and the idea of oh
my Curry Goodness stems from thefact that when we hear stories
that are interesting, we say ohmy Goodness.
And then curry was a way toemphasize the goodness part.
So oh my curry goodness.

Gurasis (44:57):
But why did you decide to do it just with Gen Zs?

Hamza (45:01):
Hypothetically talking about your life is a quote
unquote easy thing, but I wantto focus on a group of people
that we don't do as much Like,we don't talk about
vulnerabilities or difficultjourneys.
So I chose Gen Z and I want mygoal.
One of the things I want to doand I know it sounds weird
ethically but it's stillimportant is ask those

(45:22):
uncomfortable questions, becausethat really shows the human
side of you and I thinkabsolutely it's easy to do that
with older generations, but it'sreally difficult to do it with
gen Z because it's like I guessmaybe, gen Z, we can easily, we
can focus, we can easily fallinto the trap of judgment, or
you know this idea of like Ooh,can I really talk about this?

(45:43):
And it's like, yes, becausethat's what makes you you.
Now, of course, there is thepart where it's like you don't
want to be too dark or you don'twant to make them make it too
uncomfortable.
But there is a argument you canmake where you can learn about
people's stories.
You can learn about theirjourney.
You can learn, even though youare young because gen z is a
young generation that there'sstill experiences that you

(46:06):
experienced, good and bad, thatshaped you into who you are
today.
So let's try to have thosedifficult and yet important
conversations, because I think,gen z, it's so easy to forget
that we're human because ofsocial media, gen z can easily
fall into the fact of highlightreels and social media and
materialistic things withoutfocusing on the raw and the

(46:29):
realness, which is the fact thatthey exist as human beings.
So, yeah, that's why I focus ongen z and it's been fun.
Hopefully at some point I don'tknow when, but I'd love to
incorporate differentgenerations, but that's going to
be a it's going to be.
It's going to take some time.

Gurasis (46:44):
I want to be able to develop a good relationship with
gen z before I go to othergenerations now I see why you
focus on just gen z's, because Iheard you talking that you
focus on Gen Z's because usuallythey play a version of somebody
that they are not.
But listening to this responseof yours, I see what you're
saying.
There are so much likepreoccupied by the social media

(47:05):
image and like the like, theexternal, non-existent image
which they are not just to besocially accepted within their
friend group, so to say, and notreally tapping into who they
actually are.
Right, and that's what Ibelieve you're trying to bring
them on the podcast and reallyunfold those layers of who they
actually are.

Hamza (47:23):
Yeah, and it's, it's.
It's a difficult.
I mean, every, every guest hasa different experience, even
though I've had a lot ofactivists, entrepreneurs,
podcasters they're all differentpeople, right.
So it's, it's definitely achallenge and obviously you know
you don't want to ask thosesame basic tell me a bit about
yourself, tell me about whatit's like to do this and all

(47:44):
that.
It's more like let's go into,let's like it's, it's we want to
be, we want to be creative, wewant to have fun.
We also want to be serious, butwhen you go to the serious part
, it is a dance, it is aslippery slope, because when you
are talking about difficultexperiences, you have to make
sure that they're comfortabletalking about it before they can

(48:04):
, and there are times where it'sbest not to talk about because
of the magnitude, but maybethere will be situations where
they'll go.
You know I it's the first timeI've talked about this, or you
know this is the first time I'mtalking more about this.

Gurasis (48:17):
You like these things because or you appreciate these
things, because these are thethings that make humans humans
tell me about an episode whereyou felt like it never went as
you planned, or somebody likewho was like a really difficult
guest, and how did you liketackle that?

Hamza (48:38):
I mean, every guest is difficult one way or another.
Um, okay, so I interviewedsomeone when I say difficult,
because I usually like to have alot of research on my guests,
but this person, I am notkidding.
I think I had three bulletpoints for this person.
So her name is alex ang.
She's a mental health activist,content creator, and she has

(49:00):
her own podcast, called as foranxious, where each letter of
the alphabet it's focuses on aparticular anxiety.
So, like a is for anxious, b isfor books, c is for climate
change, slash career, d is for,I think, dog.
So, basically, going throughthe alphabet, and when I had her
on the podcast, it was a bitscary because I only had three
bullet points, which isbasically what she does, what

(49:22):
she is known for and the factthat she has her own podcast.
However, I think what made theconversation the I think the
interview itself was like anhour 18 minutes long, and I
thought it was going to be likefive minutes long because I had
three bullet points.
I think the reason why it wassuch a it was a.
It was difficult because I onlyhad three bullet points, but
what made it easy was sharingour the common things that we're

(49:46):
anxious about.
So, whether it's social anxietyor overthinking, or our passion
for storytelling, hearing otherpeople's stories, podcasting
because we were able to I wasable to find out, like the other
things that make alex ang, theperson I interviewed, because of
the fact that she talked aboutthings that make her anxious.
It was like, okay, let's talkabout some things that make me

(50:07):
anxious and see where we have incommon and can we develop that
conversation.
So we spent a good amount oftime talking about social
anxiety because I was I'm notdiagnosed with it, but I would
say like that is something thatI worry about, which is like
that, that hesitation to talk topeople worrying about the worst
thing to happen, and so whatwas something that was like I

(50:27):
don't know if this is going togo well, turned out to be a
really unique, interestingconversation about someone
else's anxiety and how it has apart in her personal life very
interesting.

Gurasis (50:39):
You know, I don't can't relate to that.
I've had those people as wellwhere I decided to have them and
sometimes, you know, I havethat intro call with them and I
know nothing about them and whenI just sit with them there is
some sort of click that you feelthat, oh my god, I think I can
talk to this person forever.
So I've had those multiplepeople on the podcast.
Tell me also like, do you haveany certain ritual or something

(51:00):
like, before you certain startrecording anything that you have
?

Hamza (51:04):
I took a break from the podcast.
I'm starting to go back intopublishing all my episodes
because so from May through JuneI decided to not publish any
episodes because I wanted totake that time to look back.
Lately I've been going backinto continuing season two of my
podcast.
Oh, my great goodness, beforethe 65 episodes no ritual, no
prep, no ritual or anything.

(51:25):
It was just get everythingready and then hit record.
Now it's more like one of thethings I want to do on each
podcast, whether I'm the host orI'm the guest of, is to
practice breathing and beingmore calm and being more present
.
I think it's.
I may be difficult as a as aguest, because I'm not used to
being a guest on a podcast.
I'm used to being a host of apodcast.

(51:48):
So I've done a good job oftrying to trying to calm myself
and not talk too fast or saythings that end up becoming a
bad like, bad messaging or maybecontradicting myself in any way
.
So focusing definitely on liketrying to breathe, maybe for
like 30 minutes.
You know, listen to music thatdoesn't have any background or
doesn't have any lyrics, notnecessarily meditating, but just

(52:10):
like, just like, take a deepbreath and, you know, do it as
much as you can and then whenyou get to the interview you
have try to have the bestconversations possible, because
I think the past 65 episodesthat I did, it felt like every
episode I was nervous, which isprobably why I felt maybe the
conversations weren't that good.
So when I started going back itwas like, okay, I really want

(52:31):
to make sure that I'm calm andpresent so that I am not nervous
and therefore we can have anexciting, exciting conversation.
So something that I had tolearn throughout my little break
.
But I'm glad that it's working,because now I feel like not to
say that other interviews werebad, but it's like I know that
I'm doing a good job because I'mnot freaking out.
I'm being present and trying todo everything that I can to

(52:54):
make sure that we have aninteresting conversation so,
since you mentioned that, youknow you've reflected on your
previous episodes.

Gurasis (53:01):
What's something different that you're bringing
in the season two?
Tell us about that yeah.

Hamza (53:06):
So I mentioned this in my little podcast update that I
published.
It's not something that I guessis or someone from a listener's
point of view will be able tonotice, at least in the sense of
like oh, wow, he definitelychanged it, but it's more like
again, it goes back to thatcalmness and being more

(53:26):
intentional with what I say,making sure that I don't say
anything that might be notnecessarily controversial, but
it's like oh, maybe not thatthat's that's wrong.
Like there's a differencebetween being wrong and being
controversial.
So it's being more present andknowing what I'm saying, so that
I don't freak out or getnervous or I talk too fast.
Another thing that I want to addwhich a friend of mine actually

(53:48):
recommended me and it's, Iguess, it's difficult because
it'll be dependent on the guestis to try to be a little bit
more funnier.
Now, that is a little bit of achallenge because it depends on
who I'm talking to, and thenalso the fact that when you
implement comedic tones, it's ahit or miss.
You can say something funny,but you might think it's funny,

(54:09):
but the guest doesn't.
So then you're like uh, this isweird.
So I want to incorporate morelike, I want to incorporate
comedy.
But I think the the thing withcomedy is it's you got to be
careful when you implement it,because you don't want to be in
a situation where you say it andthen it's like oh you look bad
because the guest is notlaughing or, even worse, a guest

(54:29):
in order to make it lessawkward.

Gurasis (54:32):
They're laughing, but they're laughing because they
have to, not because they wantto and I'm sure you are open to
collaborations as well and also,if any of my listeners would
like to listen to your podcastas well, tell us where they can
find it absolutely so, you.

Hamza (54:47):
So you can find oh my Career Goodness on Spotify,
apple Podcasts, wherever you getyour podcasts.
You can also follow it onYouTube.
A friend of mine said that hewatches podcasts on YouTube, so
that's why I decided to do that.
And then, if you want to followthe podcast on social media,
it's only an Instagram account,but it's at the omcg podcast.

(55:09):
Um, you can find it.
We're only on instagram, notanywhere else.
So that's where you can findpreview clips.
And then I also do a thingwhere it's a podcast lineup,
where it's like for the month ofx, here are all the episodes
that will be released.
So it's kind of like a okay,like a, like a lineup.
So there's that and then otherupdates or announcements.

Gurasis (55:30):
So, yeah, those are the places you can find and learn
from people of the gen zgeneration before we uh get into
the final segment, hamza, I'veadded this new segment in this
season, obviously, and I call itknow your host, where I ask my
guests to ask me any questionthey might have okay, all right,

(55:50):
well, let me put on my podcastmask.

Hamza (55:53):
Let's do this, okay.
So question one, one of this,one of my favorite questions to
ask people and probably not askyou it on if, when you join my
podcast, so when you go into anew passion or experience, there
are certain things that youpicked up when you go through
that experience.
So envision like you know those, those, those, uh commercials

(56:13):
about medicine where it's likebefore a person you would look
like, you look like this after aperson, you look like this when
you look at my thick accent.
Tell me a bit about what youwere like as a person before my
thick accent and how has yourlife changed since you started
my Thick Accident podcast?
So tell me a bit about thebefore and after of creating.

Gurasis (56:33):
Wow, I love this question and I feel like I've
recently answered this offline,but I'll still answer that for
you, of course.
So you know, when I came toCanada in 2018, hamza, I felt
like I had this spark, likeenthusiastic, fun, good disease
was there.
But I feel like I had thisspark, like enthusiastic, fun,
good disease was there.
But I feel like, with time,with the challenges I had as an
immigrant trying to navigate alife in a new world where life

(56:57):
has never existed before for me,right, for the first initial
three and a half years, I feellike I lost that spark because I
was too much occupied with theimmigration process.
The pandemic was the addedpressure, because everything is
nice and hunky-dory when youcome here, right, but eventually
the reality kicks in.
The weather takes a toll on you.
I think I lost a part of me,sort of, I would say.

(57:19):
But when I started working onit and then I obviously started
talking to these people, right,and and these people are the
people who have been through asimilar sort of a journey which
I am in right now right, becausey'all are like, I would say,
like 20, some like 10 or 20years ahead in their immigrant
journey than me, right?
So talking to them basicallyreassured me that whatever is

(57:41):
happening with me, I'm not aloneinto this.
And also because when I went totoronto last year you know it
was I completed my one year Iwent to toronto, I spoke at
networking event and I saw thelive reaction of people about
the podcast and it was justbefore the lunch time and during
the lunch time I saw the amountof people who came and talked
to me and I felt like damn thatgood, as he says back.

(58:05):
You know, because I was thisperson back in india.
I was into every possible, youname it.
I was in that extracurricularactivity except sports.
I wasn't too much into sports,complete opposite from you, but
I was into.
You know, you can say I wasinto dramatics, I was into
singing also.
I was part of my school choir,the dancing also.
I have done at one point, I'vedone a lot of hosting.
I've done a lot of RG in myschool, organized events,

(58:28):
hosting, anchoring so much.
But I feel like I never gotthat opportunity or that stage
to really showcase what I had,you know, when I came to Canada.
But through this podcast I feellike this was a great, you know
, like a platform for mepersonally to be able to
showcase that who actually I am,you know, which I never got
before.
So, yeah, the short answer is Ifeel like I didn't have that

(58:51):
spark.
I lost that spark before this,but after this podcast I have
regained my spark and thatenergy which I lost before.

Hamza (58:58):
Yeah, you know it's interesting because the way I
answer this question is, youknow, I still develop that fear
of talking to people.
However, I feel like thatthere's a difference between
wanting to talk to someone and Ineed to talk to someone.
I think I do a better job ofneeding to talk to someone
rather than the want, because ona podcast, you need, like, if

(59:19):
you, if you want to have a gueston your podcast, you need to
reach out to them.
So some people will go through,like some people will go
through the actual gueststhemselves, or there's maybe a
pr man, like an assistantmanager, whatever.
I have to go through them.
Sometimes it can be difficultbecause they obviously have more
like they're obviously managingthe person, or maybe they're

(59:40):
managing an organization that aguest is part of.
So it's like, oh, do I reallywant to bother them?
But I'm I kind of need to quote, unquote bother them, because
if I really want this guest, Ineed to reach out to them.
So I think the need, like Ineed to talk to someone If you
want me to.
If you say, like, hamza, I needyou to talk to this person,
I'll do it.
If you say, hamza, go talk, Iwant you to go talk to this

(01:00:01):
person.
He has a podcast or she has apodcast.
Oh boy, here we go again.
All right, hi, hopefully thisconversation is not a bad
conversation.
So I think the need, like needto talk to someone I'm okay with
, but the wanting still a workin progress.
But I hope to be at a pointwhere I'm like you know what,
regardless if it's a good answer, a bad answer, at least I tried
my best so now we're in thefinal segment.

Gurasis (01:00:25):
I call it beneath the accent because we are knowing
each other beneath our accents,unique accents.
I'm going to ask a couple ofquestions.
You can answer them in one wordor a sentence, or however you
feel like.
The idea is just to know moreabout you.
So first is are you an earlybird or a night owl?
Oh, early bird, a word thatdescribes you best.

Hamza (01:00:46):
I was going to say curious, you know, like
C-U-R-R-Y-O-U-S, but yeah,definitely curious.
I like that.
It just doesn't come out thetongue well, but definitely
curious.
Just because you know, I'msomeone who likes to really know
what it's like to be otherpeople and I'd like to know more
than what I see there's more tosomething than what is

(01:01:08):
currently being presented.
Just because you know why, not?

Gurasis (01:01:11):
it's, it's fun to learn more that's a great idea for a
t-shirt.
You know, curious, I love thatI've tried.

Hamza (01:01:17):
I keep like stay curious, but it's just, it's gotta fit,
I don't know.

Gurasis (01:01:21):
I'm still working on it no, you, you have to make a
t-shirt for that for sure.
I love that so cool.
All right, what's your go-tocomfort food?

Hamza (01:01:30):
Butter or chicken makhani .
Chicken makhani, all the way.
Garlic naan has to be it.
Mangalasi, that's my go-to meal.
That's like no, you're nottaking anything else.

Gurasis (01:01:43):
Do you have any hidden talents?

Hamza (01:01:45):
Other than asking really weird philosophical questions
from time to time.
I think that's the only talentI can think of, but no, I don't
know, just just asking weirdquestions.

Gurasis (01:01:57):
I don't even know that the talent I mean sure you know
it's not everybody's cup of teato even ask a question sometimes
, you know that's true what'sthe best piece of advice someone
ever gave you?

Hamza (01:02:06):
ironically enough, I hated getting this advice when I
first started my podcast, but,to be honest, it's never been
more truer than before.
But things take time and Ithink it's the most important
piece of advice, because youobviously want the good things
to happen to you, but sometimesabsolutely no one's taught me
this.
I think this is something I'vecome to realize my own which is,
in order for something to bebeautiful, it has to be ugly in

(01:02:31):
a sense.
That think of, like everythingthat everyone that's become
successful or created thatreally incredible product that
took a journey that took a lotof failures, challenges,
obstacles, other things.
And yeah, it takes time time.
Now, for some people it maytake more time, some people may
take shorter time, but it reallydoes take time to develop that

(01:02:55):
thing and you have to make surethat you continue to keep
fighting.
And I want to be careful when Italk about this, because there
are a lot of people that reallywanted that thing but they never
end up getting it.
And it's not a knock on them,but it's more like maybe there's
something else that theydecided to pursue or they just
really couldn't do it.
So there's something you haveto be really careful of.

(01:03:17):
But with this podcast, I reallywant this podcast to be
successful, but I also know thatin order for it to be
successful, it's going to haveto take a journey and, whether I
like it or not successful, it'sgoing to have to take a journey
and, whether I like it or not,that's fact, but that's factual
and I have to accept that factwell, honestly, I have no doubts
it won't be successful.

Gurasis (01:03:34):
So definitely more power to you thank you, I
appreciate it okay, tell me, ifyou could describe yourself as
any creature, what would it be?

Hamza (01:03:44):
that's a good question.
Probably a cat.
I mean, I think I think thecats movie ruined it for me,
that really terrible movie thatcame out in 2019, but even then,
I mean, I I find cats reallyadorable.
So I don't know, cats are justlike the type of thing I mean.
Also, I think people also likedogs as well, but I don't know
what.
I've noticed that whenever Isee people with cats, they
really like being around cats.

(01:04:05):
So that's something I I wish ifI were to be an animal,
probably a cat, just becauseit's like oh yeah, I just want
to be around you, not in acreepy way, but more like in
like, in a fun way okay, who'syour go-to person when you feel
stuck?
okay.
So I want to take it into adifferent route.
In the sense, the easiestanswer would be my mom and dad,
but then, from a more religiousstandpoint, probably god.

(01:04:29):
I am muslim, so for thoselistening, maybe you may not
relate to this or not, but Idefinitely go to god for help.
For help, I consider religion,or like faith, as a gps, so I
usually go to that to help guideme as to what I should or
should not do, what, what isright and what is wrong.
So if that's an answer thatyou'll be willing to accept,

(01:04:50):
because we obviously maybedifferent religions or we can't
see God, obviously mom and dadis like my go to people, but if
it's other than parents, withoutdoubt God great answer.

Gurasis (01:05:00):
What's the most expensive thing you would like
to own?

Hamza (01:05:03):
I'm not someone that likes to spend too much money,
probably.
I don't know how to say themicrophone name, but it's called
like Shure or Shure microphone.
Yeah, so it's one of the bestmicrophones out there because
the voice is very professionaland crisp.
I use a Yeti microphone for mypodcast, but if I were to make

(01:05:26):
sound on my I'm currently usinga desk but if you I don't know
if you can hear this, but youcan hear like scratching noises.
Sometimes it picks it up on theyeti, but on a sure microphone
sure, sure, whatever it'spronounced um, it does a good
job of not picking that up.
So maybe a shuri microphone issomething I'd like to own one
day.
But then again, like like Isaid, I'm not someone who likes

(01:05:46):
to spend.
I'm one of those people thatlike to spend more money on
books.
I will probably get like a setof books for, like, the lord of
the rings or hobbit, which islike which could be a lot of
money because there's like sixor seven books.

Gurasis (01:05:57):
So, yeah, probably probably sherry microphone if
you could have any superpower,what would it be?

Hamza (01:06:03):
um, as someone who likes to overthink and be judged and
worry about judgment, mindreading definitely like to read
people's mind, like I would loveto be those people where it's
like you know we're having agood time, but I'd like to know
are they really having a goodtime?
You know, I'm one of thosepeople that's like, yeah, you
know, you seem like a reallygood guy.
And then you know, in my mindI'm like, oh man, how long is he
going to continue to talk aboutchicken curry and why it's the

(01:06:23):
greatest food on the planet?
What time is it?
Oh man, only three hours leftuntil I can get to my class.
I'd love to know that.
Obviously, I don't try to borepeople out of my love for
creative, but it's like I reallywant to know, because there's a
difference between what you sayon the outside and then how you
really feel on the inside.
So mind reading woulddefinitely be a really cool
superpower.

Gurasis (01:06:42):
If you could create this one law, Hamza, that
everybody has to follow, whatwould it be?

Hamza (01:06:47):
Actually, interestingly enough, jay Shetty actually has
asked his guest some of thatquestion.
So I was like whoa?
I've always thought about what?
How would I answer thisquestion?
I'm really glad you broughtthat up One law that I would
create.
I don't know if this is a goodlaw, but I still think it's.
I wish it's something that wecan all do, which is to be
understanding Everyone, which isto be understanding.
Everyone is different.
You're one of 8 billion peopleon the planet, so you might have

(01:07:10):
time, but other people may nothave time, and that's not to say
that they don't want to bearound you.
It's that there are certainthings that's preventing them
from being able to be in your orbe able to help you or be able
to spend time with you, and it'ssomething that I've had to be
patient with, because I used tothink, oh, they don't want to

(01:07:32):
hang out with me because of me.
Later on I realized, no, thereare certain things that are
preventing them from doing thatthing.
So everyone has difficultchallenges.
Sometimes.
It's just one of those thingswhere you don't really
understand.
There's a reason why they can'tdo the things that you want to
do with them, because they'regoing through something.
So just be understanding and bepatient totally.

Gurasis (01:07:47):
And to add to that, I feel like it also makes things
very easier for your own sanityto accept that why is the reason
they are behaving a certain way?
So that you don't likeoverthink and kind of like make
your own reasons behind it.
And you start even start.
Sometimes, I feel like when youdon't think it that way, you
also start criticizing your ownself.
Is it me?
You start questioning yourself.
I was the one who did that.

(01:08:07):
Maybe I spoke wrong at thispoint.
Maybe I did that.
You know it's better to thinkfrom other person's perspective.
At time.
It's like you know that thatclassic example of your six
might be their nine for sure,yeah, and it's.

Hamza (01:08:18):
And again, it's not something that we understand.
If you're waiting for someoneto hang out with you and they
never respond to you, you mightwant to demand an explanation,
like, hey, we were supposed tomeet up, but what happened in
you?
You might want to demand anexplanation like, hey, we were
supposed to meet up, but whathappened?
In these cases you might wantan explanation, but there are
cases where it's like, whateverthey're going through, just let
it be.
Because sometimes you know,maybe it's best to not hear the
story, like, for example, if Isay I'm sick, it's easy to go.

(01:08:40):
Is he really sick?
Or if he just does he reallywant to hang out with me?
But if I tell you I had diarrhea, then you're like, okay, you
know what?
I should not have asked thatquestion.
So, okay, you did not need toask that, you did not need to
tell me that.
So there are.
I think it is a difficult slope, but at the end of the day, you
know, people are people and youknow at some point you need to

(01:09:02):
think it has to be outside ofyou, it needs to be bigger than
you, right?
Not everything revolves aroundyou.
People have other obligations.

Gurasis (01:09:10):
And finally, if you could leave me with one piece of
advice, what would it be?

Hamza (01:09:19):
So I think the first thing would definitely be, like
I said, everything takes time.
It's great to find somethingthat you're really passionate
about.
One piece of advice I'd love togive to people and it's
something because I actuallyasked this question to my guest
is it's okay to dislike yourpassion?
And it's weird because youthink that just because you're

(01:09:39):
passionate about something, itmeans that you're going to love
every minute.
But it's not necessarily love,it's more of embracing.
You know it's weird.
I used to say think of yourpassion as your spouse, right In
the sense.
I'm not married, by the way.
But, you know, just whether it'swife, wife, wife, husband,
husband, husband, whatever youknow, you're going to have

(01:10:00):
difficult conversations, youguys are going to fight, but at
the end of the day, you're goingto stick together because you
believe that throughout thedifficulty, you will still
remain as one.
Passions in general, it'ssimilar to that.
So if you don't like yourpassion, it's not necessarily a
bad thing.
It's part of the journey,because one of the things on my
podcast, it's not about thedestination, it's about the

(01:10:22):
journey.
So if there are times where youdislike your passion, it's not
that you want to divorce from it.
It's literally part of what itmeans to be in the field.
Podcasting there are a lot ofchallenges Leadership, promotion
, good questions, goodconversations.
Maybe you're hard on yourself,these self-doubts.
That's part of podcasting.

(01:10:43):
Obviously there's more, butthese are things that come to
mind.
So if there are times whereyou're like I don't like my
thick accent or I'm not likingwhere it's at, that's a normal
thing because, first of all, youcare and, secondly, it's part
of what it means to be in thisfield.
So love your passion absolutely, but definitely embrace the the
negativity, even though it'ssomething that you are really

(01:11:05):
passionate about no, no, exactly.

Gurasis (01:11:07):
You know, there are days obviously like I do
question it, like okay, what amI doing?
Am I doing it correctly?
Am I done?
So?
I think that's also normal,like you just said, that it's a
good thing that you care aboutit.
That's why you are questioningyourself that what are you
exactly doing?
So, yeah, thank you for that.

Hamza (01:11:33):
And, lastly, how would you describe your experience of
being on this podcast today?
It's definitely been a funexperience, um, in a in a weird
way and I I don't I hope I don'toffend you by saying this but
definitely a learning experience, because I'm so used to being
the host, not the guest, right.
So, host, you have a set ofpreparation, you know what to
talk about, but as a guest nowit's like okay, I really got to
make sure that I do the talking.
But then it's like, okay, howdo I make sure that I don't?
I don't want to talk too muchabout something, cause maybe

(01:11:53):
there's other things you want totalk about.
But then I also don't want to bein a situation where I give you
like a two or three word answerand then it's like, for example
, hamza, tell me about your time, where you tell me like your
favorite podcast guest and I'mlike I like this person, and
then you're like that's it.
But then, at the same time, Ialso don't want to be in a

(01:12:15):
situation where I spent two orthree, four or five minutes
talking about why I like thisguest, because there's a
difference.
So, definitely a learningexperience.
So, if I apologize if I rambletoo much, but it's one of those
things where it's a learningexperience, and I hope that in
future episodes I figure out howto be a good guest, because
being a great host is one thing,but being a great guest, that's

(01:12:38):
another thing.

Gurasis (01:12:39):
Okay, awesome.
Well, on that note, thank you.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast today and adding
value to my listeners.
Thanks a lot.

Hamza (01:12:45):
Yeah, of course.
Thank you so much and I hope to.

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Beyond The Highlight Reel: Gen Z, Identity & Curry Confessions | Ft. Hamza Islam Ep. 067

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Beyond The Highlight Reel: Gen Z, Identity & Curry Confessions | Ft. Hamza Islam Ep. 067