London Writing Guy

What is a Desi pub? The word "Desi" comes from the Sanskrit word Des, or Desh, meaning homeland. More specifically, a South Asian homeland. In my conversation with it's author, we talk about Britain's racist history that led to these pubs being set up, why they were important then, why they are still important today and the amazing stories behind these establishments.

Aside from his popular podcast, The Bhandwagon Podcast, Ricky Bhandal has been heavily involved in projects aiming to identify and summarise the physical health, mental health, lifestyle behaviour and wider determinants of health-related issues that affest specific communities both nationally and in Birmingham. In our conversation, Ricky gives us a brief insight of what the state of play is. Starting out as a drug addiction worker, Ricky built a bit of a niche for himself as one of the very few Asians working in the drug & alcohol system. His work eventually led him to creating The National Substance Misuse Conference highlighting barriers for all in the system.

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On the 23rd of April 1973, the National Front decided to hold a meeting in Southall town hall. The local community, made up of a large South Asian and West Indian population, saw this as a provocative act. Protests against the National Front holding this meeting were arranged and the local community came out in force. On the day itself, the local community clashed with the police, who were seen to be protecting the National Front. The police used unnecessarily violent and heavy-handed tactics to manage the event. Blair Peach, a teacher from New Zealand, was unfortunately murdered as a result of a blow to the head from a police officer. A report was carried out into Blair Peach’s murder, which revealed that Blair was almost certainly killed by police at the demonstration. However, the report was covered up and hidden until 2010. This conversation is with Ravi Jain. Ravi, at the time, was the General Secretary for the Association of Asian Youth. I speak to Ravi about the events that led to this day and the day itself.

Shuranjeet Singh is the founder of Taraki, not-for-profit organisation that works with Punjabi communities to reshape approaches to mental health. Using a non-clinical but community-centred approach, Taraki supports people with their mental health and well-being. It’s a unique and incredibly useful approach, as it can be taken forward by anyone and everyone.

In this conversation, I speak to Shuranjeet about Taraki’s origin story, the work Shuranjeet and the Taraki team are doing, as well as the techniques used to get these conversations happening.
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Jitesh Chauhan is the subject of his own documentary, entitled “I’m Jit and I’m an alcoholic. It tells Jit’s story through active addiction, the pains, the trauma and the story of his recovery. I spoke to Jit about his time in addiction, the recovery and what he’s gained as a result of being in recovery.

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Fateh Singh is a Nottinghamshire County Cricket club all-rounder. He wants to do it all. Still 18 years old and just having signed a new two-year contract at Notts, time is definitely on his side.

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Shruti Saujani is the Engagement Lead for ED&I at the ECB. I speak to Shruti about leading the Dream Big Desi Women initiative, a programme set up to retain and expand the female coaching network in order to deliver more women’s and girls’ cricket, led by female coaches. We discuss the success of the initiative, Shruti's path into working within sport and her inspirations.

Whether you realise it, or not, we all Code-Switch. But if you're from a minority group, Code-Switching could have significant consequences on your career and mental health. This is a direct reading of my write-up, entitled "A conversation about Code-Switching." 

Dr. Fletcher's research helped inform some of decisions made by the ECB, with regards to improving South Asian participation within English domestic cricket. Dr. Fletcher is a Reader in the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University. Whilst being a cricket fan, he is also a passionate advocate for race equality and social justice. He has many published academic works that cover ideas such as identity, nationalism, cultural resistance, the relationship between cricket and migration as well as much more.

Asian Women Mean Business (AWMB) offers coaching, mentoring and support for South Asian women, daring to dream bigger. I spoke to its founder, Rupinder Kaur.