Producer Rounak Maiti sits down with photojournalist and activist Karanjit Singh, for a discussion of religious identity, being brown in America, and his experience as the victim of a racially motivated attack.

As a passionate community organizer and activist for the Tibetan diaspora and community-in-exile, Karanjit speaks candidly about the frustration, confusion and fear a South Asian, especially a Sikh, is familiar with. 

Co-producer Ujan Sengupta and Rounak catch up and reflect on their conversation afterwards.

The Script

The second episode of the Pardesi podcast focuses on a familiar yet under-studied concept.

We chat with academic and writer, Dr. Melissa Myambo about “Frontier Migration“, which concerns the movement of people from developed to developing economies in search of better opportunities for livelihood. 

While most of us may be familiar with the converse, Frontier Migration is gradually emerging across the  world and becoming, as we shall find out in the episode, increasingly relevant.

A New Frontier

In the second part of our interview with Dr. Melissa Myambo, we connect her research on frontier migration to the daily lives of African migrants in India. We also talked about the subtle and violent manifestations of discrimination, and how different African communities in India use everything from revenue to religion as a form of resilience.

A New Frontier (pt. II)

On today's episode, we sat down with french photographer Arthur Crestani, the creator behind "Bad City Dreams." In this critical collection of urban photography, Arthur explores the narrative of false hopes in the promise of luxurious, dreamy real estate. Across metropolitan India, the rapid development of condominiums and apartment complexes has resulted in a stark contrast between lives portrayed, and lives actually lived. This begs some questions: why are there so many new buildings? Who lives in them? And most importantly, why do they have eloquent, francophone names?

"Bad City Dreams" with Arthur Crestani

The official catalog of podcasts by The Pardesi, a collaborative series of research projects, interviews, soundwalks, discussions and collective brainstorming on the state of the (Indian) nation, Indian youth culture, and the South Asian diaspora.

The Par Desi