Last night, Indy and I had the pleasure of seeing #MarriageMaterial at the @LyricHammer and let me tell you, it was a moving, nostalgic ride that hit far closer to home than I expected 🎭
I first read Marriage Material by @Sathnam during my uni days, so I already knew the story’s pulse, a story steeped in migration, memory, and identity. Seeing it brought to life on stage stirred a familiar ache. It didn’t just retell a narrative, it resurrected corners of my own lived experience: our family’s little shop in East London, Punjabi songs playing in the backroom, food always on the stove, relatives popping in, and my parents’ quiet retellings of racism, resistance, and rebuilding 💪🏽
There’s a line in the play (simple and understated) about arrivals and beginnings, and I instantly thought of three photographs that live quietly in my parents’ home: one of my paternal grandparents and dad when they first arrived in the 60s, another of my mum at 18 before she flew over to marry my dad, and a slightly faded wedding photo... all snapshots of sacrifice, love, and quiet resilience ❤️
Those images hovered in my mind throughout the play. Marriage Material captured the power of migration stories, not as grand history, but as everyday choices made in the name of family and survival. The characters carried these truths with grace, and the performances were heartfelt and familiar 👌🏽
My only slight gripe? Every film, TV show, play, and book about brown stories for yearssss seems to centre around a wedding. Don’t get me wrong, who doesn’t love one? But can we have a brown story without it? (That said, it’s Marriage Material so a wedding was bound to happen! 😅)
Still, it was worth every minute. This play isn’t just entertainment, it’s testimony. A celebration and a confrontation. And as I left the theatre, heart full, I thought about how powerful it is to see our stories... messy, multifaceted, and marinated in memory... told on a stage like that.
So if you’re in London, go see Marriage Material - it’s on until 21st June! You might just find a piece of yourself between the lines… 🤎
Thank you @weareMediaHive for the invitation!
(Forgot to share this news with you X...)
First came love. Then came two ♥️
With God's grace and blessings, we are excited to share that our family will have a new addition coming this winter 👶🏽
We have no doubt that Maahi is going to be the best big sis. Vaheguru 🙏🏼
Join us for the impactful and insightful conversations during the opening night of the exhibit “Lapata. And the Left Behind” on June 7th, 6-9pm.
Guests speakers are listed below :
Ravi Singh (Founder, Khalsa Aid) @ravisinghka
Jindi Singh ( Director, Khalsa Aid Canada) @jindisinghka
Gurmeet Kaur (Author- Vailiant Jaswant Singh)
Sukhman Singh ( Co-Founder, Ensaaf) @ensaaf
#BeKind25 #KA25 #khalsaaid #Lapata
Couldn't be more proud of my East London brudda @HussainManawer 🩵 Indy and I have had the joy of watching your growth over the years and you have gone from strength to strength. Even through loss, grief and pain, you have given the world your words in order to help us all heal.
This road can be a lonely one, but I'm so glad to have met people like you that navigate this journey with kindness and connection, and always lead with love - first.
It's an honour to be a part of this beautiful book. Thank you for letting me share my words of hope in these pages.
"I WANTED TO QUIT TOO" out May 23rd. PRE ORDER 🩵
.@Khalsa_Aid Celebrates 25 years today
I was 10 years old when they coordinated their first humanitarian mission at my local Gurdwara - I hadn't fully grasped what was happening in Kosovo.
Still, it planted an important seed of supporting those around us in times of need.
Tune in tonight for the next episode of @bbcasiannetwork Chill at 10pm. Tonight we'll be talking all about the importance of sleep 😴😍
You can catch last week's episode on @BBCSounds here https://t.co/Qn2hwqqPgt
Super excited to announce that I'll be joining the @bbcasiannetwork family as the new presenter for Asian Network Chill ✨
Taking time to chill, whatever that might mean for you, is so important. As an author, poet, teacher and new mum, I know how hard it can be to slow down. But hopefully if you catch my new Chill Show, you'll feel inspired to step back, slow down, be present and more mindful 💭
I'll be exploring interesting new ways to look after our wellbeing whilst listening to the best soothing tunes...
So come chill with me every Monday at 8pm, Saturdays 7am and anytime you need to unwind on @BBCSounds just search Asian Network Chill 📻
First show airs next week Monday 4th March! 😍
#bbcasiannetwork #AsianNetworkChill #bbcasiannetworkchill
Two years ago today, we published my first book baby, Brown Girl Like Me. From the moment it made it's way out into the world, my life has never been the same.
This brown girl manifesto started a movement amongst brown women and girls in ways that I could have only dreamt of.
To accelerate the cultural change, the revolution, that I knew was possible from this book, it couldn’t have been done alone. So again, I say thank you all the people that made this book happen, to everyone that bought it, read it, shared it, laughed through it, cried with it. To all those that supported it every step of the way.
We will continue to celebrate ourselves. We will continue to shout our rally cries and make them heard. And we will keep fighting so that the generations of brown women before us and the generations to come find their healing and power.
Over the next week, I'll be sharing some of the insights, videos and favourite posts since the book came out. Let's see if things have changed/improved/developed/stayed the same since my initial findings 💭
If you could do one thing for me today, it's to give this book to someone you think needs it. Your sister, your bestie, your husband, your colleague, the auntie that lives down the road. You never know who it could help.
And in the meantime, I'll keep fighting, writing, teaching, healing, resting and living joyously for every single #BrownGirlLikeMe ❤️
~ Pause for Thought
Over the weekend, I cleaned and refilled our bird feeder, topping up on seeds and peanuts whilst my baby daughter sat in her pram and observed with intrigue. Watching the birds come and enjoy the feeder is one of her favourite things to do every morning. But what I thought was just a good distraction for her whilst I made breakfast and unloaded the dishwasher was actually an important life lesson my daughter was teaching me.
At just ten months old, she has been reminding me to slow down and to be more present in the moment. To take notice of all the little things, and rather than rushing around all the time, to not let the little things pass me by.
So today, I sat on the floor by the door with her, and she was overjoyed. We said good morning to the robins, and sparrows, and to our surprise, a gorgeous woodpecker also paid us a visit. It was black and white, with a bright red patch at the back of his head. If it wasn’t for my daughter, when else would I have spotted such a gorgeous creature on a Monday morning?
This practice of mindfulness has always made me feel calmer and more in tune with myself, a practice that Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Beckett University, Steve Taylor, has described as giving our whole attention to an experience – to what we are seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling or hearing – rather than to our thoughts.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Sikh Guru, reminds Sikhs of this notion to be listening deeply, and being super-tuned and conscious. He says, "Those who listen with their mind and ears to the Lord's meditative remembrance, are blessed with peace at the Lord's Gate.”
Thanks to my baby girl, my family and I are becoming more conscious of slowing down, and making time to stop and smell the roses, (literally!) and I’ve started to appreciate the beauty of life in a whole new way, through her eyes.
📻 Catch me on @BBCRadio2 at 5.45am every Tuesday this month #pauseforthought #bbcradio #bbcradio2
Sikhs commemorate the martyrdom of Mata Gujri ji, Sahibzade Baba Fateh Singh (6), Baba Zoravar Singh (9), along with Baba Jujhar Singh (14), Baba Ajit Singh (18), and numerous Sikhs martyred at Chamkaur in 1705.
There ultimate sacrifice is revered in India ‘defenders of faith’
BIRMINGHAM TO THE WORLD 🏆🌎
@Leon_EdwardsMMA defeats Colby Covington by unanimous decision to defend the welterweight title!
[ #UFC296 | B2YB @Manscaped ]