Welcome to Episode 3 of The Ampersand’s new podcast Rare Company. For those of you who don’t know him yet, I’m so excited to introduce you to the wonderful actor and author Jassa Ahluwalia.
I first met Jassa back when he was a guest on a BBC Asian Network show I was working on in my former life as a music radio producer (I think it might have been as many as 10 years ago!). I thought what so many people might think when they first meet him: “How come that white guy speaks such incredible Punjabi?” But looks can, of course, be deceiving…
Jassa has since coined the phrase “Both Not Half”, an expression that is immeasurably valuable for so many of us trying to articulate our dual heritage to those who might not quite understand our experience. He’s done a TEDx talk on the subject and recently released his own book, a memoir/manifesto exploring identity, spirituality, gender, sexuality and much, much more. I’m so pleased we got to dig into the journey of this book so thoroughly in this conversation.
It’s not just a brilliant book (I absolutely devoured it), it’s also an incredible offer: a means of reframing how we speak about mixed-heritage.
You can find Jassa’s TEDx talk and some of the videos we reference on the podcast here.
We also discuss my recent Substack piece on interracial marriage and othering, which you can read here:
A note on accessibility: If you would like to read a transcript of this episode, please access the web-based version of Substack rather than using the app and click the button just below the title.
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As always, thank you for being here.
With love,
xK
Rare Company: Episode 3 - Jassa Ahluwalia