American Born Chatty Desis (A·B·C·D)
Summer Kickoff - What's the Best Grill: Tandoori vs BBQ ~ Childhood Trips, Food Showdowns, and Immigrant Resilience With Padma Lakshmi
Remember those family trips growing up with quirky traditions and unexpected adventures? I do, and this week on ABCD, we're painting a nostalgic picture of these experiences, especially those of us with immigrant parents. We'll be sharing the unique activities we engaged in, the connections we forged, and why these experiences were so special.
Ever had a Tandoor in your backyard? Yeah, we'll be talking about that too. We'll be diving into the fiery debate between Tandoori and Barbecue, and sharing our thoughts on the pros and cons of both. Picking between a road trip and a plane trip? We'll weigh in on that as well. Plus, we're going to open up about the transformative power of solo journeys. How can we overcome language barriers and enter foreign social settings alone? You'll find out in this episode.
We're also going to touch base on Padma Lakshmi’s experiences as a star of a Hulu series that explores food and culture of American immigrant and indigenous communities. Reflecting on her inspiring quotes, her appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and her comment on one of our stand-up comedy videos, Padma’s journey is a testament to the resilience and strength of immigrants. So, buckle up, tune in, and join us on this trip down memory lane.
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Remember those family trips growing up with quirky traditions and unexpected adventures? I do, and this week on ABCD, we're painting a nostalgic picture of these experiences, especially those of us with immigrant parents. We'll be sharing the unique activities we engaged in, the connections we forged, and why these experiences were so special.
Ever had a Tandoor in your backyard? Yeah, we'll be talking about that too. We'll be diving into the fiery debate between Tandoori and Barbecue, and sharing our thoughts on the pros and cons of both. Picking between a road trip and a plane trip? We'll weigh in on that as well. Plus, we're going to open up about the transformative power of solo journeys. How can we overcome language barriers and enter foreign social settings alone? You'll find out in this episode.
We're also going to touch base on Padma Lakshmi’s experiences as a star of a Hulu series that explores food and culture of American immigrant and indigenous communities. Reflecting on her inspiring quotes, her appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and her comment on one of our stand-up comedy videos, Padma’s journey is a testament to the resilience and strength of immigrants. So, buckle up, tune in, and join us on this trip down memory lane.
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/effinfunny
Support us on Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2199382/support
Sign up for the ABCD Email List: https://mailchi.mp/effinfunnyproductions/abcd
Join the conversation on Discord: https://discord.gg/effinfunny-783006672439345154
MERCH: https://effinfunny.myshopify.com
No way, yes way, no way, all the way, definitely way. Oh my gosh, yep, yep, gosh Praise, gosh Praise gosh. Praise gosh And gosh we trust Praise be gosh.
Speaker 3:We gotta take gosh out of schools.
Speaker 1:We gotta have a separate. For red. So true, man, it's so true Gosh, damn it. Yeah, i always thought of gosh. Honestly, i've always thought of gosh as like a kind of like off brand, like version of God.
Speaker 2:Sure, as an entity that is like the store brand version. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:In my head there is a gosh And he's just kind of he's still like he's not omnipotent, he's sort of like semi-potent.
Speaker 3:Can we pray on the way home?
Speaker 2:No, we got we got gosh at home.
Speaker 1:Gosh at home Like the go-bots to the transformers.
Speaker 2:She's kind of the.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, gosh willing, we're going to have a great show for you today, This one. Let me get right into it. Introduce our co-host this week And I'd say the absolutely. If I had to be a a mule for smuggling any kind of illegal narcotic for this man, I would do it in a heartbeat. I would stuff anything anywhere for Omar Najam. Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you. Could you tell I didn't have anything?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you?
Speaker 3:know how hurt, how hurtful it is Mine this week. I put so much research, i went through your personal history to prepare a thematic introduction for you And you just wing yours on the fly. You're just discovering as you go. You just probably went cars borders.
Speaker 2:What do I do?
Speaker 3:All right, here's how a professional does it. On the And folks, i'd like to introduce you to your host. I looked it up. The champion of the 1999 X games, sonny Perrie.
Speaker 1:You have to really dig deep there. When I can manual, pop, shove it with the best of them. Those are the only words I know. X gamey things. For those of you wondering why I'm host and Omar is lowly co-hosts because I won last week's game And I feel it's listen. I haven't been in the host seat for so long, so this is like a big deal to me. Omar Had it on lock for weeks, weeks, but I'm back, baby, and this is our show. It's ABCD. American born chatty They sees. It's a podcast within a live stream. That's what we're live right now within our lives as two. American born They sees. It's a pod ducking. We're going to get a t-shirt to that. This is for anyone out there who, like us, are navigating our cultural identities and just want to chat it out.
Speaker 3:Yes, Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. This is happening in three acts, folks, that's right. Act one We're doing the checker check and where we're talking about the reality of family vacations, then we go to act two, a game of would you rather, summer vacation edition, and finally we talk about our day of the week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're getting real summery here. I like it, we're. You know it's a we're collectively having a seasonal change, so let's, um, let's, uh, let's get into it. But first, before we get into it, we got to talk about our sponsor, which is, they see, quest. Yes, that's our actual play TTRPG, set in a South Asian mythology inspired universe built by Jasmine, that bronze girl, buller, and it's got a stellar cast.
Speaker 1:Okay, we're talking critical role darling Anjali Bimani She's hot. Dimension 20 darling Rekha Shankar, hot, and two more darlings, omar, hot, and me, luke, more um, uh, and I'm excited The show is coming along. I'll just say this, i'm just teasing a teaser Teaser is coming out very soon for the show. It's we're right there. We got to get one last little piece for it, And then we're going to release that sucker, and I think people are going to be excited for more info, though, and to get on our mailing list to maybe be the first one of the first, besides our backers to see this teaser trailer. Go to the sea questcom or click the link in our show notes. That's the sea questcom. D E, s, i, q U E S, tcom.
Speaker 3:That's right. And we have one other sponsor this week. You're not going to believe it, but it's you. That's right. Thank you so much for helping us out. All the folks on Patreon, please head over to patreoncom. Slash f and funding. That's E, f, f, i, n, f U N N? Y. We've got multiple tiers for contribution. At $5 a month, you get to play with us during our after show here on Twitch for $10 a month, sondeeb sings your name and the credits. Sometimes it's a acapella, sometimes it does it with the guitar that's right next to him.
Speaker 1:I got the guitar today. Okay, it's getting a real deal.
Speaker 3:We've got so much more support a couple of days season the creative arts and help us keep the ABCD lights on again. That's patreoncom slash F and funny.
Speaker 1:Bam, and we're going to get right into our chakra, check in, let's do it, oh yeah. So today we're talking about family vacations and I think you know, as sons of immigrants, we probably had somewhat similar, maybe, maybe similar sort of experiences during family vacations. I know. I certainly had interesting ones with with my family. Obviously, we're talking about this. Why are we talking about this now? Because summer is right here. It's vacation time, baby, yeah, vacation time. So when I say, when I just say this phrase to you, omar, son, we're going, we're going on a family vacation, where, which chakra do you feel that in? And why? Ha ha, ha, ha ha, the whole family We're piling in. Oh, let's go beta.
Speaker 3:Beta, let's go. I think if I were to have to choose one, it would be um, i feel it in my solar plexus and maybe my sacral chakra, just because it's scared. Like I feel scared, i'm just like, oh no, that's where I'm feeling it right now. I'm just like, oh gosh.
Speaker 1:So emotional kind of area. Yeah Right, okay, it's like it's making you anxious. Okay, so what were your like? what was your general experience on these vacations? Were they? were they nerve wracking? Were you put to the test Like what?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we, we drove, we never flew, and I mean the cars.
Speaker 1:Well, the, the, the, the, oh the road trips, oh the road trips, oh the road trips. Now, what did you drive in? I need some details.
Speaker 3:Uh, uh uh, a mercury, a green mercury villager Yeah, i want to say in 1997 or six mercury villager. Okay, it's a big old van or they would rent like. Uh uh, they're like we don't want to put miles on our car, so we're going to rent a vehicle.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, that's fancy. If you saw the cars you wouldn't think so.
Speaker 1:But that's fair, but my parents would just run. We had a Honda Odyssey, i think it was called.
Speaker 2:Now what was.
Speaker 1:It was even old, i don't know. It was like an old mini van. We would take all the seats out, okay And uh, so no, no seat belts. I don't know if you guys rocked seat belts not not the parricks, and uh, yeah, i'm a little older than you, so, um, we were still at a time where my parents would fight the idea of wearing seat belts. Okay And uh, certainly for these long ass road trips they would just like get. They would just remove the back, the seats, the, the van seats, and we would just like camp out in the back and drive like free form, free style, like you know how it felt, probably for when you ever see Teen Wolf when he's surfing on top of the van.
Speaker 1:I know what that feels like because I did that inside of a van and definitely was flung side to side and had a blast.
Speaker 3:Okay, so a mystery mystery machine situation. Yeah, i guess a little bit of a Scooby Doo van uh with shaggy and scoop in the back. Okay, okay, we, for us, we never went anywhere. and I, i, i feel bad saying this. I don't mean it in terms of the end product, but what I mean is the like, the idea of the destination. we never went anywhere fun.
Speaker 3:It wasn't like we're going to a resort, it wasn't like we're going to like this place, that like, uh, like Disneyland never did anything like that. Okay, it was where, like, we went to national parks or places of somewhat importance. Uh right.
Speaker 1:So it was like educational.
Speaker 3:It was like lots of educational. Uh, i was like a junior ranger program person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Um, it's like take some days off of school. We're going to this library, We're going to road trip to this library. He's six, six hours away.
Speaker 3:Very Yeah, it was our Jewish. Uh, yeah, yeah, that way.
Speaker 1:So cause you guys were your Bay Area, right, that's where you raised as kid. So where were you guys going out to? What was your? do you have any favorite spots?
Speaker 3:Oh, they me personally, cause the thing is like so, when I was a kid I was like I did things could be fun, Right, like when I was a child and child, you're just like. Oh wow, i I. The gift shop has a stuffed animal. You know, like that was great for me As I, as I became a teenager, all I wanted was to stay home. I was like I don't want to go anywhere.
Speaker 1:I want to stay. I want to hang out with my friends, yeah, totally. Um, did they ever like sort of like Oh, you can bring a friend, Do you have a friend, come with you know, that's how they made it exciting for me.
Speaker 3:I, I, I, I don't think so. Okay, i think they might have entertained the idea and been like absolutely not, we're not hanging out with another child, right? We're responsible for this.
Speaker 1:But we can't get a pile of men We can fit. There's no seat.
Speaker 2:You were more the Marrior. You're a more the Marrior family.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, Big time. We did a lot of like yeah, Like my oh yeah, stack vertical.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, we had, we had friends. I had friends come with me to Montreal. It's on a ski trip. Friends go to Hilton Head, like my parents loved. They loved driving to like a different state and then, like posting, i mean we never did anything expensive, everything was on super cheap. Um, but uh, yeah, we, we, we had a lot of uh, a lot of you know, sort of those. we rode trip from New Hampshire to Disney three times, which is an 18 hour drive on that And we do it in a straight shot. I'll never forget this. I'll tell you one little one little one little story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah, we do it in one straight shot. It was new You hit New Jersey by the smell of the 95. So we knew we were like, okay, we're like half-ish way there, um, but uh, it was like whenever, like a cousin came from India, it would be like we're taking them to Disneyland, to Disney world, like that was like we're going to take them to Disney world thing to show them the best, to them, that was the best place in America. And so I don't know if we drove all the way down to Disney and uh, my parents did the thing that they used to do a lot, but I guess before, before, before I was born, but the the one time I really witnessed this was that they just grabbed a phone book, looked up Patel and Perique in the phone book and then called I think it was the first person they called, answered the phone and they were like, started speaking good, drop the. Immediately they became immediate friends and was like, uh, i have my whole family here. Um, can we, can we come have dinner?
Speaker 1:and if you have a place to stay and that family owned a hotel days in and we just rolled up on this day's in and stayed, like they stayed in like one of their joint like joint rooms, things, so they had like their own, you know, and we just like stayed with this Patel family. And then we had a place in Orlando that we had just met And that's where we crashed for Orlando vacation when I was like six. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's amazing. I'm not a baller, i think it's so baller Like I kind of want to do that now. Like I wonder if it's still work, if I just like called up like a this I in what was it? Bloomington, normal, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a couple of pages of the phone book You'll have to definitely go with the first one, but you'll have options and be like Hey, so this is Mr Desai.
Speaker 1:Desai, like I'm some deep freak and I could barely speak a dratty, do I stay at your house? I don't know, man, it's crazy.
Speaker 3:That's so wild. Yeah, i think I stayed out of Motel sixes for the most part, yeah, and we didn't go to Orlando. My parents' favorite places to go were like Arizona and New Mexico And it would be like Oh, we heard about this obsidian extinct volcano, so we're going to drive all the way out there and go check that out.
Speaker 3:And as a teenager, i was just like I want to go, like like I remember and this is such a teenage, immature thought, but I'm just being honest because I'm always on the shelf I just remember being like I just want to go flirt, like this is a waste of my life And I'm just standing in the middle of a barren landscape, like some I don't know Lars von Trier film, i was like I was like I hate this, but you never found, like the, like you know, the other kid that was stuck on the family vacation there too and made eyes across the room and the hot young geologist who was out there checking out the obsidian.
Speaker 3:That would be. oh God, that would be so rad. That's actually when Nana Rima comes around. I'm going to write that That's very good Yeah.
Speaker 1:No, the plot of dirty dancing I never happened to you. You never found your Patrick's Wazie.
Speaker 3:The plot of dirty dancing never happened. The one. There was one time that I felt cool, like a cool traveling teenager, which is wild because we're from California, so I should have just milked that. But I remember just we were in Jackson Hole Wyoming and talk about people staring at you. This was 2000s, jackson Hole Wyoming post 9-11. Really good time.
Speaker 1:Oh no, The brown people are back. They're going to take down the Tetons. Never my dead body, Oh man. They're going to drive the mercury into the old faithful.
Speaker 2:Sorry.
Speaker 3:So I went to, like we were just in this antique store and there was just a guy playing some music and he didn't look like he wanted to work in an antique store. I just remember going hey, are there any cool music venues in town? Like I was going to go and he was just like there's like this really cool, like ska band Are you into?
Speaker 3:like also like some like math rock stuff? And I was just like oh man, yeah, anything like pavement. And he's like oh cool, my dude. And then we talked a little bit and I walked out and I was just like I'm the coolest person here, didn't? go to that concert because I had to get dinner at five and then go sleep in a motel six and play Pokemon.
Speaker 1:So But, hey, you sounded like you were going to go potentially, and that's true. Half the battle, honestly, no-transcript, nice, yeah, i, i don't think I was trying to think if I've ever had like any vacation romances. I definitely had a lot. So we would go to this place called the Anand ashram Okay, this upstate New York ashram, and they were often these. It was mostly not what I think about, it was mostly white kids. Okay, i guess that tracks the people that you know, i don't know Like that's like going to a yoga class now. It's mostly white people. So anyway, yeah, i had some flirty times with, with, with kids there, but you know that nothing ever materialized. I wasn't, i wasn't, i didn't know how to close at the awesome.
Speaker 1:Lots of times it has to do the venue you know really is. I'll meet you at the meditation center at 6pm. Maybe didn't didn't quite know how to pull that off. One last thing, because we, because I got to tell you about this just so crazy, i don't know if this like what was your dad like? I feel like the in terms of those sort of like stereotypical vacation dad, like the Chevy chase ness of it all. Where did your dad rank in that?
Speaker 3:Oh my god, like okay, wanted to go on vacation so badly. So Dean Chevy chase, Yeah, didn't want to like do family activities. So not Chevy chase from those movies.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay.
Speaker 3:My dad is every. I realized this a couple months ago when I actually went on a little vacation with my dad. He is a football dad, you know, like a Marcy blue sort of like. Why can't I talk to you about anything about football? Why don't you want to talk about photography?
Speaker 3:So he would want to go up but it wouldn't be like hey, so are you like like I don't know, like what are you up to, like what's going on? He was just like, oh cool, which lens do you think I should use? And that would be like our conversation. So, yeah, he would like pop off, go just take photographs like all day And then at night just talk about the photographs.
Speaker 1:But that I mean that is still very dead, like that is very vacation dad maneuver. So my dad, speaking of photography, he had I have a. We went to India when I was five and he had a camcorder, but I don't think it recorded to any. It didn't have its own tape, so it wasn't a came, i don't know. It was a video camera that only worked connected to a VCR, so he literally had a VCR.
Speaker 2:Did anybody else have this, Sorry? sorry, somebody popped the button as we brought it down.
Speaker 1:He was amazing.
Speaker 2:The VCR was still plugged in and sorry about that.
Speaker 1:Okay, no, but like, yeah, he had a VCR attached to his body, he like had a strap to his body And we walk around these temples And that's how he'd like take videos. Now, i don't know, remember if this was that's because what the tech, that that's all the technology was capable of at the time Was five years old, or if he was like somehow, like it was somehow the cheapest way of doing it, which is more likely. Have you heard of this? Am I?
Speaker 3:in like I'm imagining data from the goonies, Like that's what I'm seeing right now in my head.
Speaker 1:How do you power these? That's such a great question. I don't know.
Speaker 2:So if Heston's in chat, I don't know I just remember I never encountered a battery operated VCR in my life.
Speaker 1:He must, he must have. I got to find this out. He must have plugged in the VCR and then only had like a certain radius.
Speaker 2:Just got an extension cord run down the back.
Speaker 1:He like leashed himself to this. I remember. I swear to you he definitely had a VCR strap to his body.
Speaker 3:There's something happening down the hall like I can't. I can't. I'm sorry. The birthday party's happening on the hall. I'll have to get it from here.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry You got a party here. Yeah, i don't know. That's. that's what I remember. I don't know if this is a time when people are traveling with VCRs or literally like I don't know I have to ask you about. I'm going to follow up. I'm going to follow up with my dad on this and verify whether this was just an insane like nightmare I had a recurring nightmare I had as a child or if it was really what happened. But that's what I have in my memory.
Speaker 3:Your next film has to be shot this way. It's going to be such a hit in Silver Lake? Yeah specifically a tiny theater is going to love this movie.
Speaker 1:For sure. Well, for that reason I didn't pick my chakra, but I'm going to go with with third eye chakra in terms of where it hits me. I feel like I I look back on these pretty fondly, even though they were filled with like so many embarrassing, awkward moments, but they were. There was a I don't know. There was like a timelessness to it in a way for me, and so that's why I'm going to pick third eye. So there you go. That's our chakra. Check in, shall we jump to our next segment.
Speaker 3:Let's do it All right. So we are now heading into what is going to be a battle of the ages. It's going to be would you rather, summer vacation version. Great, there, it is Echoing throughout time Timelessness. So we've got, we've got some comparisons here. Is this a thing where we want to pick one and try to win, or is this a thing where we're just going to, between the two of us, hash out the winner? I think let's just hash it out, great, okay, so, so you? so let me, let me lay this out then, just to make it easier. Okay, you, for this summer, you only get one of these. Oh, okay, that's the one you rather, right?
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, and it's right now. It's not like in the past. No, it's like this summer. I get one or the other and not okay. Got it, not the other, okay.
Speaker 3:Until until the leaves start turning brown and the jack-o'-lanterns start adorning the porches. Copy that Okay, so let me hit you with the first one Tandoori or barbecue.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, like to eat or to general.
Speaker 2:I think it's got to be across the board. Yeah, use or to eat from To use or eat from.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the problem I'm a bad. I'm a bad South Asian here, in that I don't have a lot of experience with the Tandoor. Now, in a way, i almost want to take away the barbecue. So I'm forced to become good at the Tandoor because, like I know, it's freaking cool. Yeah, for those unfamiliar with the Tandoor, the, the, the from what I know of it, only because literally I have a cousin that has one in his backyard and it's just this, like clay, it's like it's like a clay oven. Yeah, it's cylindrical. As far as his is that. Maybe I don't know if this tracks for all of them, but it's like it's cylindrical and it's super hot and Like obviously you cook stuff within it, but like, the cool thing I remember is that he cook you cook non bread by like slapping on the sides of the cylinder.
Speaker 1:Yes and that's how non bread, like how is it? It's officially supposed to be cooked. Yeah, i don't know, i can't. I'm trying to remember what he, like he actually uses. I guess it's just charcoal, but I don't know, or maybe it's wood.
Speaker 3:I'm not sure what they, what the actual heating and you have like a giant, like a long stick to pull, like the non off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you gotta get this, Yeah cuz it's a because that's downy in the pot.
Speaker 2:It's like you know. Yeah, you're not reaching your hand down there.
Speaker 1:No no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's basically a killing for food.
Speaker 1:Killin, there you go. That's a good, that's it, that's an app Scriptor.
Speaker 3:That's it. So what do you? what are we going? What are we going with?
Speaker 1:I think I'm gonna go with the tandoori because I think I want to challenge myself, because, yeah, i want that challenge of my life to expand my repertoire. But otherwise I'm pretty amazing. Griller Yeah, it is one of my skills, for sure. Oh.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, what about you over next time?
Speaker 1:Yeah, i'm Busy that. Yeah, that day is gonna be rough. Whatever that day is.
Speaker 3:Sorry, actually I got rid of it for the sole purpose I can't.
Speaker 1:I got you. I can only have a tandoori. I can't. What's your, what's yours, i'll do the same because it's this summer, right?
Speaker 3:So why don't we take a break from the usual?
Speaker 2:I'm tired of like.
Speaker 3:I feel like a lot of seasonal things have gotten a little boring.
Speaker 2:In my opinion, Predictable.
Speaker 3:Let's change it up. You know Trader Joe's every soft and it's like this is the winter of hot chocolate and you're just like I guess so yeah. You say so. Mind blown Trader Joe's it's raspberry spring and you're like I guess everything's raspberry now. I guess.
Speaker 1:I hadn't really thought about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, come quad autumn, so I, everybody loves come quantum.
Speaker 1:You're not gonna rain on come quad I'm. you're not gonna take come quad them away from me, are you?
Speaker 3:So I vote. I vote this is the summer of tandoor. I vote this is the summer.
Speaker 1:No, quantum sucks man.
Speaker 2:All right, no barbecue for you all summer barbecue.
Speaker 1:Yeah gone, yeah gone. So, second up, we're gonna go road trip versus plane trip. Okay, you can only have one of these for the entire summer. What are you picking for your vacations for this summer? I don't know what you have planned. Australia, yeah so you can either have to drive to Australia or Or what you can technically do. I will count what you driving. I will count you driving your car onto a ferry and Ferreting across to Australia. So you don't have to like cancel your plans, you just can't. That's interesting.
Speaker 3:That's interesting. Okay, listen, i'm not trying to Overly complicate this. I know that we're this. The whole premise of this thing is like which? which is this, which is this like, and I should. What I should be saying is I Have to go to this wedding. I have to go to this wedding. The road trips are so fun. Road trips are such a thing. Yeah, in the summer. I love summer road trips.
Speaker 1:So let's for the purposes of this, because I think it does get confusing if, like you, have specific plans this summer. It's just like for the next five summers.
Speaker 3:Okay only road trip or plane what I was gonna say, though, is if I could drive on to a ferry Okay, all right, you like that? okay, great, and I could work The cruise line, if I could work the ferry.
Speaker 1:Oh, like you can make some money, yeah, like do some improv, or yeah, i do like some like my car.
Speaker 3:They'll give me a room and then I get, like you know, a flat rate.
Speaker 1:Do you do the cruise with Omar?
Speaker 3:Hell, yeah, i would imagine yeah, it would be a lot better than an improv cruise with Omar. Let me tell you.
Speaker 1:For sure, d&d, and don't drown, chris.
Speaker 3:So, if I could, if I could work it, let me work it. Okay, i'm gonna, i'm gonna, i'm gonna go road trips.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna go road trips to. First of all, i'm pretty sure I got COVID from from the last flight I just took. I'm Quite confident, yeah, and I wore my mask, so But um, yeah, so there's that. There's that element. However, i don't think I would do the ferry thing. I think I would. Just I'm just gonna road trip it because I am not a big fan of Cruises. Those snow, those, those absolute cesspools of Yeah, speaking of places to get go communicative illnesses lock everybody in a box with all this.
Speaker 1:Has there been a movie? has there been a zombie outbreak movie that's taking place on a cruise?
Speaker 3:Well, that's. That's what speed to cruise control should have been.
Speaker 1:Dude, let's rewrite that 100%.
Speaker 3:We're rebooting speed to and like a franchise. No, you heard us speed to cruise control.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it All right so okay planes gone poof or road trip.
Speaker 3:All right, i'm gonna throw this one over to you. You ready for this?
Speaker 1:Real quick, real quick. What's your favorite road trip snack? Let's say it together on the count of three. Ready, okay, one, two, three, three twizzlers hour straws, okay, hey we both picked gummy cylinders.
Speaker 3:All right, typecast is always.
Speaker 1:I feel more connected to you now. All right, okay, the next one.
Speaker 3:Beaches or mountains.
Speaker 1:Oh For the summer.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I Gotta go beach. I'm a big beach volleyball guy and Oh. I'm very top gun. I oil myself up, i'm not, i'm not cut, so it's just a like an oily dad bod. No, no one's happy about it, but I and I'm very short. I'm not great at beach volleyball, i just love it. I love Diving in the sand. I'm quick, i'm quick in the sand, omar, yeah, i, i can get to that, i can get to the balls.
Speaker 3:Are you slow on a mountain? Is it like the opposite?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm slow on a mountain, i just it's the altitude. What are you doing on the mountain in the summer? hiking, that's fine, but like it's not like. There's festivals. There's the whole freaking ocean by the beach There's also lakes, like at sea level, like I don't need to go to a mountain for lakes. I'm just saying for the summer I think the beach is a no brainer for me.
Speaker 3:All right. Where are you All right? Because otherwise you just go to the beach in the other seasons and it seems like you're right, you're saying, like winters, a different story We're talking about, and then mountains. Yeah, ok, all right, i do love a winter beach. OK, i don't have a moody Damien Rice music video winter beach.
Speaker 1:OK, Hey look I'm not, But I'm not like that's not off the table.
Speaker 2:It's just for summer. It's just for summer. You could have both of these in the winter.
Speaker 1:You still got a winter beach man. I don't know. I think this to me, is a no brainer.
Speaker 3:All right, all right. What do we got next?
Speaker 1:Bring. OK, oh, group trips versus solo trips. You can only do solo trips or bring the family. So, bring the family or ditch the family. You can only get one. Where are you at?
Speaker 3:Oh, so it's. Is it specifically family?
Speaker 1:I, i like group versus solo, like you can't OK, no friends or family.
Speaker 3:OK, so solos, no friends or family. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Group is just other people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just other people, that group OK.
Speaker 3:Group. I don't need to go on a solo adventure. I know this.
Speaker 1:Well, in the summer, let me say this OK. Have you done it? You wouldn't remember to drink water.
Speaker 3:But that's not a joke.
Speaker 1:Like someone that your mom has to remind you Or friend or someone in the group. No man, you're one of those people that make someone the mom of your friend group, Aren't you?
Speaker 3:Um yes.
Speaker 1:Yep Guilty as charged. So OK, I have you done a solo trip.
Speaker 3:I've done a mini solo trip up to mountains. Thank you very much. No, not this summer, baby.
Speaker 1:But, like you know, like a long trip to like, have you ever done like a solo trip to like a different country for a while? You know that, oh, speaking English. Like, have you ever done like solo backpacking or No, never done, solo backpacking.
Speaker 3:I wander around Boston by myself, does that count?
Speaker 1:No. So here's where I'm like the only pitch for solo for me, Yeah, is I did one solo trip in my life. I was in my mid thirties And it was right after a big breakup and I did 12 days in Italy But I had my own e-pray love. Like situation It was. I still want to, I still want to be there Like I love my family, I love my son. But that 12 day solo trip I learned so much about myself. Yeah, I was so scared to do it. I was really, really scared. I didn't. I like found every which you know there was. I was trying to find ways to weasel myself out of it. You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean, oh, maybe my throat's a little scratchy, maybe I should cancel it, or whatever.
Speaker 1:Because, like, subconsciously, i knew I was just like this is terrifying. I don't speak the language, i don't. You know, I, i also tend to want to want a mom around me And I was just. I was very anxious, i didn't know what to expect And it was. It was transformative. It was a transformative experience.
Speaker 1:It was interesting because, like I'll keep it brief but, like I, it took me like three or four days to get into the vibe of being a solo traveler. Right, because, like There is this energy of like when you're alone, you feel so awkward about entering any other social group. Yeah, like at a bar, at a restaurant or whatever. Because, like your loans, you have nobody to socially validate. You Like there's no one there to a buddy to be.
Speaker 1:Like. You know, yeah, he's not, he's normal, he's not a murderer, you know, like to help you with that part of the vibe, right, so you're kind of like up to your own width and then put on top of that that you don't speak the language that well, but what I found was I started to shed that sort of veneer of nervousness and had this like I don't care if anybody wants to talk to me, like I'm good sitting at this cafe and drawing, or I'm good, just like you know going to this museum and then, like I think, giving that energy off, people started to come to me, like, sit down across from me at the cafe and be like and start chatting and like you know it was, it was unbelievable, i can't. It was just like such a cool experience. I could suddenly like it was easier to engage in conversation with people, even though I couldn't speak, speak the language that well, just by virtue of like, giving off the like I am just here to meet people and be happy, vibe.
Speaker 3:It's crazy And so I had to go solo. I want to eat pray love. I think you made the right choice.
Speaker 2:My last trip is a solo and I have to agree, that's the way to get, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, really it. As a social person, i was very scared of it. I thought I would get very lonely and it was quite the opposite. It actually it actually sort of awakened me to how, how not alone we are. Hmm, like how, hmm?
Speaker 1:Like just just and like how language barriers don't matter as much if you are, since if you are sincere in your desire to want to connect, not because you want something, but just because you want to connect, like not because you want to get laid, not because you want to, you know, find out where the cool place to hang is, or like like, if you have no real ulterior motive, then people want to connect to and you can just kind of use broken Italian and broken Spanish.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:To connect. People are happy to do it. People are happy to like. Jokes Happen, you know, by virtue of just you being In the moment with somebody. It's really, it's really cool. So that's my pitch for solo.
Speaker 3:You won me over. Okay, it's solo. That's what.
Speaker 1:I'm picking group Because I got a family. I'm not going anywhere without my little one, my little four year old. not not for this summer, but if I didn't have him and my wife, i would definitely have pixel. I don't.
Speaker 3:There's no way this next one could have as emotionally resonant of an answer. But let's challenge ourselves to try to get there. Let's try going for a swim or reading a book.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you about this 12 day swim I did.
Speaker 2:Change my life.
Speaker 1:Technically, I was just pulled out by the undertow and almost drowned, but I met a mermaid and she would go check out a book when I was in Madrid on my way to.
Speaker 3:Barcelona, and I ended up staying with a family and really changing, as I was I love that.
Speaker 1:I wish that was for dummies but the book was books for dummies How to read books. Okay, so this is like a what's your travel hobby kind of a thing. Yeah, you want me to go first.
Speaker 3:Yeah, why don't you go ahead? Are you swimming, are you going for a dip in the pool or are you laying out reading the book?
Speaker 1:This is actually tough for me because immediately I was going to say I don't really care about swimming that much, but then I realized summer it's like hot right, like you kind of want to be able to take a dip.
Speaker 3:Yeah, You won't be able to do it otherwise no swimming.
Speaker 2:Let's be honest Drowning is still permitted, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, because.
Speaker 2:I might have to go that route if I can't swim. You mean drowning yourself or causing time to drown somebody else, like can you get in the water but just stop swimming and then you can still take a dip? Yeah, you have to wait for a life card to like fish out.
Speaker 1:Delvin, you're ruining the podcast. I didn't get it. I just didn't get it. I'm teasing, i think, drowning, i think you can still drown Is that what you're asking? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can still drown. Yeah, yeah, it's not like you're not like suddenly not capable of like. You still have to. You still have to abide by, like regular pool safety measures.
Speaker 3:If we choose swimming, we end up all drownings.
Speaker 1:Okay, you don't like become Aquaman or something?
Speaker 3:If we choose reading, we cure COVID. So this is a real, this is a real soapy.
Speaker 1:Listen, i think, for honestly, for me, I'd say 60% of the time I bring a book Yeah, it's aspirational. Oh my God, i rarely crack that book. I'm picking swimming. I don't think that it's worth. I can read articles, it's fine. How about you, omar?
Speaker 3:Yeah, i'm going to go for a swim. I'm going to take my books. I'm going to hold onto them for the winter. I'm going to go up to a mountain in a group and we're all going to read together, huddled for warmth. Yeah, i'm going to go for a swim.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. Wait, did you pick mountain? I'm going to fall down? No, I'm just here to defend mountains.
Speaker 3:I feel like we were ready to flip it about.
Speaker 2:So far, you've opted for a tenduri road trip and beach unanimously. You tricked Omar into going solo, even though you're not going solo. Well, i can't go solo. What's going to happen to me? I can't go solo night.
Speaker 1:I would break the rules if.
Speaker 2:I went solo.
Speaker 1:I was tricked, he was inspired And then, ok, so you're just defending mountains, because you were like, oh we can't shit on mountains.
Speaker 3:I just feel like you were so quick to be like oh, mountains, lakes, who cares?
Speaker 2:I got to get greased up.
Speaker 3:Do you get greased up on a mountain?
Speaker 1:No one's playing with the boys on a mountain.
Speaker 3:There's no montage of hiking with your friends and flexing. There are so many homies by themselves with farmers' tans, running through mountains, running through big bear. You know this.
Speaker 1:Oh man, anyway. Ok, so we both picked swim. So books are gone, books are. But yeah, if we look at home, you don't need to break your book invigations, it's fine, all right. So look, that's the end of which one, would you?
Speaker 3:rather. Is that a way to rather? is the new thing?
Speaker 1:Can I just call out our podcast? I don't think this should have been titled, would you rather? because to me, would you rather is like you know, some like they're both bad really really specific bad things.
Speaker 1:Like you, rather. You know, swallow this bucket of cod liver oil, or you can only speak in exclamation points. You know, like, like. These are just like. You want this thing or that thing. That's what the segment's called You want this thing or that thing. Anyway, our last segment, which is still, which is appropriately titled, is Desi of the week. This week, our Desi the week is Padma Lakshmi. That's right, padma Lakshmi is an Indian, born American. Author, activist, actress, model, philanthropist and television host, and she is just frankly, she's just littering my Instagram. That's mostly why I was inspired to nominate her this week, but she is a host of the cooking competition program Top Chef on Bravo continuously since season two, that's 2006. For her work, she received a primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality Host in 2009 and 2020, through 2022. She's also the creator, host and executive producer of the critically acclaimed docu series Taste the Nation of.
Speaker 1:Padma Lakshmi, which premiered in June 20th on Hulu and explores the food and culture of immigrant and indigenous communities across America, and I highly recommend you follow on Instagram.
Speaker 3:I actually have a quotation here from Padma Lakshmi which I absolutely love, and it's we don't just go into a community, visit them and we're out and then rinse and repeat in the next town. We're looking at the larger issue of immigration in the country that is so integral to the foundation of our modern republic, but also through the ever evolving thing that is America. Immigration is so uniquely important to this country out of all the countries in the world, and it's what has made it's, it's superpower. Hell yeah, i love that.
Speaker 1:I love that She. she is, by the way, extremely inspirational on her on her Instagram, like. there's a lot of just amazing little nuggets and quotes that I get from her all the time. So she is definitely our DC the week. I think it's perfect for the summer. She's also I think she was on the cover of some sports illustrated as a 52 year old rocking her summer summer. look, let's go. Let's just say you know, 52 does not look like 52 when I was kid. I'm just going to say that it doesn't look anything like what that age used to mean back in the 80s. That's for sure. She's rocking it, rocking it. So give her a follow And you know, i know this is going to go right on, like right next to her, her Emmy.
Speaker 2:just a clip of this, of this DC of the week from the ABCD podcast.
Speaker 1:So congratulations, bob. Now you really deserve it. I hope this really brings your career to new heights. By the way, humble brag, real quick humble brag. She did comment on one of my stand up comedy videos.
Speaker 3:What did you please stop doing this. What did she say? She?
Speaker 1:honestly, if I'm being totally honest, it's a little bit ambiguous as to whether it was a compliment or not. It's unclear unclear to me whether or not it was a compliment. I'm looking at it right now.
Speaker 3:What was it? What was it?
Speaker 1:I'm looking at it, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 3:I would love if it's not ambiguous, Like wow, horrendous. And you're like it's really either way.
Speaker 1:Honestly, even if she said, wow, that's horrendous, i'd be like that's so cool that I put my lunch mix record time out of her fucking day to be like that was terrible. That would be like why, why would you do that? So one of my clips went crazy viral and got two million views, ish around there. Where is it? And she commented I got it and landed on her feed somehow. Let's go. So here it is. I'm going to find the thing, hopefully, where she said a thing, unless she deleted it. No, she didn't. She didn't. Thank you for what you did. She wrote Okay, so my whole. Just take some context. I'll try to be quick.
Speaker 1:The whole joke is that Namaste doesn't mean what you think it means, especially the yoga teachers who use it at the end of their class. To me it was always used as a greeting, and so I make this whole joke about how, in my family, we use it to mean sup or hey, not you know the divine light. It's a respectful greeting, but like it's more of a greeting. So the joke is when you, when you end your class, when you're in your yoga class, what you're really saying is let's take a deep breath. It's a class. Together was up is like the joke. Padma Lakshmi wrote Yup, definitely, only sup. That's what she wrote. That's for comment. That's a stellar review. You think it's a stellar review?
Speaker 2:It could. Yeah, i mean it's. There's potential, there's sarcasm in there.
Speaker 1:I wasn't sure if it was sarcastic.
Speaker 2:Are there any emojis to go with it?
Speaker 1:No emojis, No emojis, Zero emojis. It says Yup def, def. Not even definitely Yup def, only sup. And then I wrote back. I will be pointing to this, as the definitive ruling in my favor was up prayer hands emoji. So I, I planted the flag in. This is not sarcastic.
Speaker 3:Yes, she would have come back and clarified. She would have been like my dearest Santeep, you seem to have an excellent skill in misunderstanding.
Speaker 1:Because you know, we had a whole podcast about this but you remember there's a lot of people that were like that's not what, none of them must say me It's all right.
Speaker 2:A lot of white people mostly, But yeah it wasn't just white people.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying it was only I'm not saying it's only. Yeah, but there were a lot of angry white people in.
Speaker 2:There is all I'm saying.
Speaker 1:I listen, i'm taking it as, until she says otherwise, it is the definitive ruling by Padma Lakshmi that it means sup. There it is. I think we will look up in the ancient Vedas and see the definition right there.
Speaker 3:It's quoting her.
Speaker 1:And it's quoted by the lecture because she is eternal and infinite. We all know that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's what makes her our day of the week Damn nice.
Speaker 1:Oh, what a segue. Hey, everybody, that's our show, as always. If you want to see our lovely faces, if you want to check out the VOD and other ways that you can hang out with us, those are all in the show notes, so please go down there. Oh, but, most importantly, great us and review us on that Apple podcast. That really really helps us in the rankings or whatever. So do it, we love you for it. Uh, or if you have any like specific feedback, like less Sunday, more Omar's mom, like I get it, you can email that to ABCD podcast show at gmailcom or jump into our discord and tell us to our faces.
Speaker 3:Hell yes, and let's talk about our sponsors really quick. We've got Daisy quest, the TTRPG that stars us, and other folks who are incredible and awesome at the tops on deep.
Speaker 3:You were teasing the T's, so if you want to stay up to date with all the updates go to Daisy questcom, that's D S, i, q, u E S T dot com to sign up for that mailing list And that'll give you up to the minute news about the show. And we also want to thank our other sponsors, our patriots and listeners. Thank you all so much.
Speaker 1:You're right, i'm going to thank them. We're going to thank them via song, because I was always here.
Speaker 2:We go. This is.
Speaker 1:I hope this is the up to date, because we are currently running a Patreonathon, so there might be. I hope I don't miss anybody, but don't worry, if I do, i will sing your name next week. One last look at the Patreon notifications. Okay, i really don't. Oh, there is one I'm going to add Pete Russell. I got to Pete Russell of the song Oh boy, oh boy. There we go Hold on. Did you add it?
Speaker 2:Yep, he's in.
Speaker 1:Dove and did it. You're amazing. All right, here we go. The last people I'd like to thank are the patriots who put money into our bank, which include Joshua O'ryan, talbiam, karlo Woosack, benjamin Lowe, wontrip Brown, miranda Hollager, vaden Make Along, christina Romero, danny's Corner, raylin Fox, selina B, adam Nickerson, head Nebish Hater, tate Nervous Rex, sarah H Grassi, santa Cruz, dutek Duplicate, jeremy O'Brien, pete Russell, ollie Oliox and Free John Lee Yang, little Bug. And for this, the thing about this last guy he's got a gorgeous face, he's the sexiest man in Ohio and his name is the real Brandon Pazza. That's right, brandon gets a couplet because he's even at a higher tier. But for the rest of you, thank you so much for supporting us. You're amazing.
Speaker 3:The show is produced by Diego, and now the show's technical director and sound designer is Delvin Neville. The show's executive producers are Sandeep Parikh and Anand Shah. This is edited by Sean Meager. The music is by Harshal Sasodia, Jhavs Veer Singh and Malik Sivvari. This has been an effing funny production And really quick. before you hop in, Sandeep, I just want to give a shout out to our friend Munro. I was at the picket lines and Munro ran up to me and said I love ABCD. I listen and what's going?
Speaker 3:on. So, munro, thank you so much. You know I adore you, you know I love you. Thank you, that made my week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, keep, keep stocking, omar. That's fantastic. On behalf of our co-host, omar Najam, i've been the host of this this fine evening. Sandeep Parikh, may your chakras be aligned and smothered in chutney. Thank you for listening.