What Would the Aunties Say?: A brown girl's guide to being yourself and living your best life

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PS: She must've loved that! You have an episode with Dr Ranjot, all about mental health. Why do you think that South Asians often refuse to seek that kind of help? Well, actually, ‘aunty’ and ‘auntie’ are just informal versions of the word ‘aunt’, and so both are okay to use. But if you’re really pedantic, and you absolutely need to know if it’s aunty or auntie… What the dictionaries say about aunty or auntie You will never find a husband in this job, be a doctor", "Indian girls never make it in those industries", "You will never make money in a creative job". When talking to South Asian Aunties about getting into a creative career, these are some of the things you might hear them. I'm joined by BBC Women's Hour presenter and broadcaster Anita Rani. We discuss her experiences as a brown woman in a predominantly white industry and the pressures of following a particular career path.

What Would the Aunties Say? Audiobook by Anchal Seda What Would the Aunties Say? Audiobook by Anchal Seda

You will never find a husband in this job, be a doctor", "Indian girls never make it in those industries", "You will never make money in a creative job". PS: That makes sense. It's always hard for South Asian women being brought up here in the UK; it was very different for a lot of our parents. What was that like for you? Did you struggle with that concept of a dual identity and not really feeling like you belong in either one? PS: It's crazy, and with things like that, it really feels like they'll never change. With your influencer career and the creative path that you went down, how did that decision go down with your family? Was it something that you always knew you wanted to do? And then Ludwig was great,” Collins says. “He was like, ‘All right, so if the 4*Town song is in this key, let’s do this—’ He worked with us to make sure that rhythmically, we were doing what we needed to be doing so he could produce the remix. You know, he’s a pop record producer, in addition to being a composer. So he was able to pull the chant into his own system, along with the 4*Town song, and do this awesome remix where we were like, ‘Oh my God, it works!’ But I think it worked because he’s a magician. I’m not sure it worked because we’re magicians.” PS: What's your experience with it been like so far? And is it something that you were able to talk to your family about?A: They know about it. It's really funny because my dad is plugging it to them and I'd go in and be like, "They don't need to listen to this. It's for the youngsters!" I haven't offended anyone just yet. They think it's a good thing because even they've gone through similar things — probably even worse, being from an older generation. They may feel some shame, but that's on them and that's personal, but all in all, I think everybody gets it, because they were once a young brown girl, too. Navigating the ups and downs of life in our community can be challenging. We live in a very different world today to our parents, uncles, aunties, and grandparents, which comes with lots of unwritten rules and expectations. But you're not alone. Filled with humour and warmth, and based on the podcast of the same name, in What Would the Aunties Say? Anchal shares her own experiences with the stories and dilemmas of other young women like her. It takes you through every aspect of life – from education and career, beauty standards and colourism, to dating and marriage, as well as mental health and therapy, racism and inequality – and of course, your relationship with your family. PS: That's another thing, accepting the fact that there actually might be things that are wrong with us, but this is how we're dealing with it. It's OK to have things wrong with you and be able to fix them.

What Would the Aunties Say? - Anchal Seda - Google Books What Would the Aunties Say? - Anchal Seda - Google Books

PS: Exactly. Easier said than done though! With podcast as a whole, what's one thing that you hope people will take from it? This book will make you laugh and cry and nod your head in recognition. It will help you handle the challenges we face and encourage you to embrace the benefits of the fusion of East and West while inspiring you to be unapologetically yourself. Filled with humour and warmth, and based on the podcast of the same name, in What Would the Aunties Say? Anchal shares her own experiences with the stories and dilemmas of other young women like her. It takes you through every aspect of life - from education and career, beauty standards and colourism, to dating and marriage, as well as mental health and therapy, racism and inequality - and of course, your relationship with your family. Let him drink, this is what men do", "He’s drinking because of you", "Girls don’t drink” - these are some of the phrases you might hear from a South Asian Auntie on the topic of alcohol. In this episode, we’re discussing alcohol culture, predominantly in the Punjabi culture, whether there is a hidden problem, ways of dealing with alcoholism, and hearing the experiences of my special guest Dipz Danjal and how he was able to turn his life around. At the movie’s climax (spoilers ahead!), the family repeats the chant, this time to bring Mei’s mother’s panda under control after she hurts herself, raging against Mei’s adolescent rebellion. In the climactic final number, the chant winds up merging with Ludwig Göransson’s score and “Nobody Like U,” one of the songs siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell’s wrote for Turning Red’s heartthrob boy band 4*Town.Join Anchal, Youtuber, Influencer and a real voice for the Brown girls as she navigates the world of ‘Brown girl problems’ with some very special guests each week. Viewers tuning in to Pixar’s animated movie Turning Red may wind up wondering exactly what the characters are saying during two key sequences where they begin to chant in Cantonese. In one scene in the animated film, 13-year-old protagonist Mei, who’s started turning into a giant red panda whenever she gets emotional, sits down for a family ritual meant to control her inner panda. Her parents, grandmother, and other family members chant rhythmically to begin that ritual. Later in the film, the chant recurs in a different context. The words aren’t subtitled, even in the various Chinese-language translations of the movie. The next step was making sure the voice cast — including Sandra Oh and Ho-Wai Ching as Mei’s mother and grandmother — were comfortable with the poem and with making it sound like something ancient the family had passed down for centuries. A: Ever since I was a young child, I have recorded myself on webcams and created my own shows and formed characters. For my 10th birthday, I asked for a karaoke machine so I could record my own shows! If my parents went out and they left us home alone for a bit, by the time they came home, I'd have a full performance ready. Still, when I was starting to do makeup, they were a bit like, where's this come from? How are you going to make money? Is this actually a career? They just didn't know anything about it. They all immediately think "Asian bridal makeup," but I wanted to do photo shoots and movies. I went to uni and did special-effects makeup, and for them, it was still way outside of the comfort zone, but I'm really stubborn and adamant, and I like to get my way so I guess they just got on board with it. We were really inspired by Taoist chants that monks would do in Taoist temples,” Shi says. “At first, we wanted to see if there was an existing Taoist chant we could use. But then we thought, because this family is so specific, the situation is so unique — this family has this magical panda curse running through them! — we should come up with our own chant for it.”