Let's talk about anything except politics today

Welcome to Export Quality, your home for news by and about South Asian Americans and Canadians - and everything in between.

If you’re new here, welcome! Here’s what this newsletter is all about. And, here’s how we started the year.

For this issue, I want to avoid politics talk. We deserve a little break from whatever unhinged racism and bigotry seeds are now growing abundantly over on X and now Facebook/Meta thanks to Zuck’s so-called loyalty pledge to Trump so he doesn’t get thrown in jail, as our President-Elect threatened. Trust there will be plenty to discuss as we near Inauguration, an occasion I marked in my calendar below and yes, I do have Star Wars stickers for my makeshift planner. If you know me, you should have expected nothing less. (Fellow nerds, I printed out pages from Passion Planner and put them in a spiral notebook to test out how I like using it)

Let’s make this a space for not just journalists, but other creatives who likely gave their immigrant parents agita for the first 10 years of their career.

I just read (actually listened to) Tania James’ Loot and I adored this novel. It transports and is sweeping without drowning you - you never forget how human these characters are in their constant redefining of life purpose and home. It was also a reminder that colonialism was not just a governmental, empire-making operation but a deeply personal one as well. If you can’t feel the wood engravings and taste the ladoos of Tipu Sultan’s kingdom and smell the mustiness and feel the dampness of the English manor, I’d be surprised.

(Up next for me is a re-re-read of Carrie Fisher’s Postcards from the Edge and Michael Finkel’s Art Thief)

Some of what I’m looking forward to digging into in 2025:

• For real book and film recommendations I go to the professionals (also my friends!) Lakshmi Gandhi, whose newsletter with Asha Sundararaman is always a delight, and Bedatri Datta Choudhury, the arts and entertainment editor at Philadelphia Inquirer and a programmer for the DOC NYC film festival. Also, here’s Pooja Makhijani’s 2025 list of book recs for Teen Vogue!

• Lily Singh’s book recommendations have been on point for me so far and I just love the idea of it and how many women authors she supports. This year I’ll be diving into Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel and Savor by Fatima Ali with Tarajia Morrell since I’m fascinated by how food is the thing immigrants never truly leave behind.

• Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome by Aparna Nancherla. Shout out to the original DC crew of Sub(continental) Drift, the open mic night for desis back in the heady days of the mid-2000s and the beginnings of Aparna’s stand up career.

• I never saw Drive-Away Dolls with Geraldine Vishwanathan but it looks campy and unserious enough for me to maybe enjoy right now. Wolfs on Apple TV with Poorna Jagannathan looks intriguing enough in a less comedic Guy Ritchie-esque vein that I may be able to forgive having Brad Pitt in it (We’re Team Jolie in this room). I’m late to the game on Fargo but Richa Moorjani is in it, so I may give it a try.

• As far as upcoming shows, Poorna is in another one on Hulu, this time with the always funny Asif Ali in Deli Boys. This looks like it will either be hilarious or trope-y and terrible, nothing in between. Coming March 2025.

What movies, documentaries, comedy shows, plays, art exhibits, books featuring American/Canadian desis are you looking forward to this year? Let’s share and make a big list in the comments below!

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And now onto your required reading:

More children are getting kidney stones. Experts think it’s their diet - Sabrina Malhi for Washington Post

I’m a travel writer who has visited 68 countries—the 4 ‘magical places’ I think about moving to most - Meena Thiruvengadam for CNBC (I go to her travel writing for a lot of recs/advice/perspective)

Why Do Celebrities All Go to the Same Restaurants? - Priya Krishna for The New York Times

An emerging Texas megadonor just pledged $20 million to “expand a true Republican majority” - Sneha Dey for Texas Tribune

Musk (and Vivek Ramaswamy) and MAGA Fight Over Visas - Surbhi Gupta for New Lines Magazine. Another good one: How Diljit Dosanjh Changed the Way Sikh Men Are Viewed in Pop Culture

For South Asian Women With PCOS, It’s Not Just Symptoms We’re Dealing With - Syeda Saad for Refinery29

Biden creates 2 new national monuments, but bad weather delays the announcement - Deepa Shivaram for NPR

Expect more from me about how funding hyperlocal/community media is going to be incredibly important over the next four years - and how we’re already seeing cuts to ethnic media as hate speech is given free reign in dominant social media