Born in Chennai, been in Pondicherry, brought up in Bombay and now living all the way in the the States. She brought with her to America, her training in Carnatic music and her passion to learn much more. And now, she makes it all the way into the nominations of the Grammys for the New Age album category in spite of losing her voice twice and having to undergo surgery to get it back. The journey is quite interesting and miraculous in a lot of ways. From speech training to pitch perfect singing and now trying to talk about patriarchy in society through her art… We are talking about none other than Priya Darshini herself. We, at desis.live spoke to her about her journey to America and her music. Here is an excerpt from the interview.

Miraal: Priya Darshini just got nominated for the Grammy for Best New Age album.

Priya Darshini: Yeah, it is my debut album and it got nominated for Best New Age album category.

Miraal: That is amazing. Tell us more about India and how you got here.

Priya: I’m Tamilian and was born in Chennai. The first three, four years of my life we lived in Pondicherry and then moved to Bombay. We’ve all been there since. My entire family has been educated in carnatic classical music. But it was mostly from the standpoint of education and culture. My grandmother was an established singer and a bharatnatyam dancer. So as a child, my sister and I, we both studied Carnatic music, we weren’t really given a choice. When I was 9 or 10, I started getting interested in learning music from other parts of the world. I was curious about other cultures and what it was like outside and music was the way for me to learn about those cultures. I would ask everyone to bring me back CDs or cassette tapes at that time, and my dad used to get them and I would listen to them all day. That’s how I started introducing myself to music from other parts of the world. A lot of it started with imitation of their vocal styles. And I started to get very interested in the rock and metal, the supposedly cool styles of music because in my head, Carnatic classical music was not cool. In my teens I started listening to jazz and I was introduced to Alan Fitzgerald and Miles Davis and it changed so much about how I thought. And again, I was introduced to a Hindustani classical teacher and I started to look for other Hindustani classical gurus.

Miraal: But there is a huge difference between Carnatic and Hindustani classical and we’ll come to that.

Priya: Yeah. So in my teens, I started really diving in deeper into studying different forms. And eventually, when I was 20, I found my guru who I’m still studying with. He’s like one of my favorite humans in the entire world. He holds so much space for me and has so much patience with teaching me. I have weekly lessons with him even now, because that’s my foundation to understand every other style of music.

Miraal: Who is your guru?

Priya: His name is Sunil, and he’s based in Mumbai. In my teens also, I started working in advertising and I was very curious about that. I was just humming at one point, and I remember someone was like, you sound really good, do you want to come in on this recording? That’s how I started singing for TV commercials. And instead of doing a ton of voiceovers, eventually, I got few offers for singing in Bollywood movies. And that’s how I started singing.

Miraal: What movies did you sing in?

Priya: I think my most famous song was from a movie called Meine Pyaar Kyum Kiya. It’s called Bindi Nazar. These were songs that were not really my style. When you are trying to make it a profession, whatever comes your way, you sort of take it, that’s what I was telling myself. Once that happened, I was still singing and looking for other opportunities in music. At that time in India, the independent music industry was just sort of beginning to flourish. It wasn’t developed to where you could fully make a profession out of your independent music. So you have to be part of the film industry, which I was happy to be. But at that point, the diversity in the type of music wasn’t much. Of course, it’s changed so much, the music is so beautiful now, and so diverse, it’s just incredible. But I was in the industry around 2007 and I was looking for opportunities. Something in my heart kept telling me that I really want to travel the world and learn more. I want to immerse myself in music from other cultures, and I want to study more. So my dream was to travel the world and meeting people and immersing myself in these cultures and learning these styles of music.

And in 2007, I ran an ultra marathon in 2007. There is something about training and running for such a big goal that I’ve set for myself. At that point, it seemed impossible, and then making my own impossible possible put me on this journey. I started to believe in myself in a different way than I had before. And so I would put up stickers and everything all over my walls. The whole thing was to keep focusing on the work.And finally in 2008, I got a call from someone I really admire and look up to and his name was Roy Wooten and he was part of this band called Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. I’m a huge fan of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. And when he called me, I was in shock. He was coming to India to tour and he invited me to join him on the tour. And within our first phone call, we were talking about how to use Vedic math, or how he had used the golden ratios to invent an instrument and he was using that, to create these new compositions. And just the way he was thinking and that type of thought process, it resonated with me so much. And I was like, Okay, this is my cue. And I took it. So, I went on tour with him. And he called me back to come to Nashville to perform. And that’s how I came to US for the first time.

Miraal: And what year was this?

Priya: This was in 2008.I started working with him, and then I met so many other incredible musicians in Nashville, people I was I really looked up to, and there was so much to learn, I was just like, this fascinated child just like hungry for education. Living in Nashville for a little while really helped me see how I could learn all these other styles and how I could bring them into who I am in a natural, organic way, without trying to pretend to be something else. This was also the time I started to respect my own culture and what the gifts I had been given. How my training in Indian classical music was helping me understand all these other styles, because I would just have to sit in and improvise with all of these incredible artists on the spot. And the only reason I could do that was because of my training. That really opened my mind up a lot more and help helped me formulate my journey in many ways. Right after that, I was back in India. To move here, I have to get a visa and I was applying for my O-1 visa. And that’s a large application. So I had to build my application. All that work that I was doing for years and I finally applied and moved to New York in 2013. And so that’s my entire musical journey of coming from India to US. Once I was in New York, I was starting from scratch again. I was in this dream place, surrounded and immersed in art forms from around the world and the best of the best of best artists from around the world. And I was learning so much. I could just dive into any style of music that interested me. And of course, you can’t just like start playing another style of music without immersing yourself in that culture a little bit. That’s another thing I learned very quickly. I learned about cultural appropriation only after I moved here.

Miraal: So tell me something because you said you’re training in Indian classical, especially Carnatic gave you a give you a better understanding of other music. Did you think other music was easier once you’d had that really rigorous training? Because I know Carnatic is seriously rigorous training.

Priya: My rigorous training has been in Hindustani classical more than Carnatic. My Carnatic music training was in the first 10 to 12 years of my life, I continued studying with my grandmother, and because culturally, there’s so much carnatic music in my life. So that was always a part of my life. But my training has been in Hindustani classical music.

That said, no, I don’t think any music is easier or, or more difficult. Anything is as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. If you immerse yourself and ask more questions, there’s always going to be more challenges. If you want to get better at an art form, you have to dive in deep and it’s going to be as difficult as any other art form that you learn. If you’re going to stay on the superficial level, then of course, it’s going to be easy. At that point, even Indian classical music could be easy, but the quality of it depends on how much time you spend and the quality of time you spend. But, the reason I love our style of music is because firstly, culturally, it comes naturally to me. And secondly, I love the introspective aspect of Indian classical music. When I’m studying Indian classical music with my guru, it has become very clear that this study is not separate from the study of life or the philosophy of life, or just learning to be a better human being, and learning to drop your egos. Because this entire music requires you to be present in the moment to be able to function and improvise. It’s 100% improvised, so you can’t really do that if you’re not in the moment. It’s also taught me so much about life and about myself. It’s helped me be introspective and constantly question how I can be better. These are very important questions that we should be asking ourselves, just to be better people every day. And this music makes me do that, which I really love. And I love that it’s not disconnected from life. It’s not like I’m doing a class. And then that’s it. It is an immersive study. And I really love that about it.

Miraal: So how did you find your voice? Because I heard some songs from your album. it’s a very different voice Priya. How did you get to this?

Priya: I haven’t really talked about this much, to be honest. I lost my voice twice. In my childhood, I lost my voice once when I was 12 years old. And I had surgery, followed by voice therapy and speech therapy, and four months of voice rest. Then I had a bunch of rules thrown at me, you can’t do this, you can do that. So I was careful. Because my dream was to be singing and so having lost my voice, I lost a bit of tonality. And I was really struggling to create any sound whatsoever. So it was very important to me that I save my voice and sing. So I followed all the rules. And yet, when I was 19, I lost it again. And I had another nodule and had to go through surgery again, and did the whole five months of silence time, therapy, all of that stuff. But after I found my guru, I started working on my voice. And I also came to New York in 2005, which we didn’t talk about, to figure out how I can save my voice and learn voice technique. And I learned with this wonderful person called Lisa Sokolov, who’s a wonderful jazz singer. So I studied with her for a bit. I was studying in film school here and I was also working with Mita nyers namesake in the post production department at that time. So that’s what helped me a little;channelize my energies into figuring out the physiology of voice and how do I use my voice. And by then I actually lost the quality of my voice a little bit, I couldn’t hit high notes. So there was a lot for me to work on. And Lisa Sokoloff told me a lot of what she was teaching me actually came from yoga pranayam. Everybody’s vocal cords is so unique to themselves, to their own body and to their own physiology. So every person’s voice has to be treated differently. And I’ve spent years of my life since losing my voice in just figuring out how to use my voice in the proper technique. So my Guruji really helped me a lot. The RIAs has helped a lot. It was steady practice on a daily basis. So that’s just about the quality of my voice, but also when you say, how did you find your voic, I’m guessing you’re also asking about the voice inside, right?

Miraal: Actually, the composition of your sound is very different from anything else. It’s more Morissette mode. And I started comparing but seriously, I’m comparing your voice and your composition more than that genre. And yet you stand apart. Because there is a soul that’s different. And I believe every song has a soul and you got to catch that and then you can understand that song and the emotion behind it better. I don’t know if I’m making sense to a lot of people. But for me, I live life in color and in sound. And I remember things in color and sound. I don’t know if that’s the way with a lot of people.

Priya: Did you know that the meaning of raga is coloring of the mind ?

Miraal: I did not.

Priya: It doesn’t fully translate like that. But loosely, you’re coloring the mind with these beautiful, melodic flavors, like an emotional landscape. Coming back to your question, that’s a good question, because the answer to that is actually the recording process in how this album was made. It is very different from any other album you’ll hear in the sense that most albums are studio recordings, where you have the ability to record several takes, and then you can sit and figure out how you want these to be arranged. Everybody’s recorded on separate tracks, and then you put them all together. In this situation, this was a live recording, so the entire album was recorded live. There’s no post production, no editing, there’s no EQ in my voice, no compression, none whatsoever, it’s just very minimal editing in the we would play the entire song top to bottom three times, and then pick the best take. And that was it. Chesky Records, the record label who put out this record with me, has this incredible recording technology. They’re basically a bunch of audiophile geeks, who’ve spent decades inventing these incredible recording styles. And their whole intention with this is to recreate the vibe of hearing a band live. Another angle to this is to also be able to record the space. If you’re hearing something that feels so surreal and magical, it is the space. This whole album was recorded in an abandoned church in Brooklyn. And there was one really powerful microphone. The placement of artists is done very carefully. That is the whole game here; how you place every artist. And what they’ve captured is 100% organic. Nobody was mic-ed separately.So as you can see that when you’re singing into one microphone, and everybody’s playing into one microphone, you can’t separate the tracks. So if there’s a mistake that someone makes, it’s in there.

Miraal: How do they calculate that math? It must be a crazy algorithm.

Priya: They’re amazing. The idea was to use the architecture of the church. So when they when they reached out to me about this, I took a week to decide what to do, because they were like, you can do a bunch of cover songs and rearrange the songs or something. But I was actually trying to collaborate with the architecture of the space and the recording technology that they’ve invented. I felt like I needed to write something that’s keeping all of that in mind. So we had to keep the instrumentation very minimal, because percussion, for example, if we were playing very heavy, there would be a lot of bass, they would boom through the through the whole church. So we had to keep it very minimal. In fact, 90% of the percussion is playing brooms that I bought at an Indian store. Yes, it’s the broom that you use. That’s the cheapest instrument. Chuck Palmer, who’s playing percussion on this, he’s brilliant.

Miraal: If I tell my friends who are music composers back in India that this was done in a church and it uses the acoustics of the architecture of a big hall to create the sound, they’re really not going to believe because they’re so used to the studio; they’re not comfortable with any other environment.

Priya: Recording in a studio is not better or worse, or recording live is not better or worse. It’s a different sound and completely different approach.

Miraal: How did you decide that you wanted that sound? And to get that sound, you have to do this. What was the process?

Priya: I cannot take credit for that, because Chesky Records heard me, Max, the dulcimer player on the record, who’s also my husband and Dave eggar, who’s a cellist on the record. Chesky was at our benefit concert somewhere in Manhattan, heard us perform and reached out to me saying I’d love to sign you because I really like your voice and this style of music would be beautiful in our style of recording. And that’s when I started reading up about them. The reason that I was so excited to jump in was also because of my whole internal process that was going on around the time. I’ve been really questioning who I am, where I am, what is home and trying to embrace who I am and trying to really work through these difficult questions. In many ways, the answers to most of these questions were embracing myself the way I am and authenticity of just being 100% me. I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not.

Miraal: Yeah, if you’re not authentic, it shows through.

Priya: So that’s when I started diving in deep to find out what is my voice and I’m going to find my sound. When Chesky came to me, it happened to be around the same time, which was really amazing. This was a great opportunity for me to try and take this challenge on. it was a very big challenge for me, because we also wrote this whole record in 12 days. We wrote it and then went right into the recording process. So the only way to have done that was to stay very vulnerable, drop all our egos and trust each other. I was really happy to be working with people that I feel safe with. And they also felt safe with me. And we could function from that deep place of authenticity. It was a very emotional experience for each one of us to be recording.

Miraal: I read somewhere that you said the song Banyan Tree was an important song for you to overcome the trauma.

Priya: Yes.

Miraal: Do you want to talk about it? Only if you want to talk about it.

Priya: I’ll touch upon it a little bit. It is still difficult for me to talk about it just because of the repercussions when you talk about this stuff. I need to tread very carefully. I hope there could be a time when I don’t have to edit out the truth. We shouldn’t have to be so scared to speak the truth.

Yes, this is a long battle. The song actually came about when I was really processing a lot of a difficult emotional time. I was working with this organization as the artistic director, and there was this ensemble that we were working with. The whole idea was to try and bring more attention and throw light on works by female identified artists. And a lot of this came from the Indian classical music space, that’s always been a very deep part of who I am, as well with my family. And we’ve been working on education for girls and things like that for decades. So this was in line with what I was doing. And I was really excited to be able to be a part of something like this, and have a team working on it. But what happened was, there was an incident a guru, and we all know how gurus are put on a pedestal as if they’re infallible, almost godlike. And that is problematic, because when you do that, it can be taken advantage of. And that’s what happened. I tried to bring it up, so that I could warn other women and children but it backfired. Now, of course, in Brooklyn, people are scared to say that, oh, she’s wrong, but then there are other micro aggressions that happened.

Miraal: Maybe culturally, you don’t think this is appropriate. But yes, it is traumatic not to be believed and when you are attacked for things other people do. And then people can separate person and action and behavior.

Priya: Of course. And these are important things, something that’s been going on for a long time. Pretty much every woman I know has been through something like this.

Miraal: Especially with people we know well.

Priya: So it’s a long fight for me. I need this to be addressed now. But I also understand that this is a system that’s been put in place for centuries, and you can’t really uproot something that has been put in place for centuries so easily. It takes time and there will be a lot of challenges, a lot of difficulty. And there are so many powerful, strong, brave women who’ve been talking on this. And I’m so grateful to each one of them for their voice. Because even though there was retaliation from the community for what I did, I know for a fact that there’s some change that’s going to happen somewhere. That they’re thinking about it somewhere, they might think twice before supporting or helping or enabling any of this to happen again.

Miraal: I’ll tell you something that has always worked with me. I’ve been an entrepreneur 5-6 times over and I’ve had good exits, been there, done that whatever, such is life. And I’ve lived and worked in countries where women are not even human beings in countries where women are not supposed to open their mouth. And I’ve been a vocal voice there. Through the years, as I suffered being probably the only woman in the room or being mistreated or being screamed at or exploited, the one thing that really stood by me, is just focus on what you’re doing. Whatever is around you, it is the symptom, not the problem. People behaving with you in a certain way are a symptom of something that is rotten inside of them. You can only feel bad about it. And what is much larger are the triggers that people have, the deep rooted patriarchy in our cultures is the root cause of all of this. It is so deep rooted that years of education, years of exposure to a different cultural environment, years of emancipation cannot eradicate it in one century. The deep rooted patriarchy is such that they believe that women are a subset of human beings, not human.

Priya: They are just scared because the women can do so much. All they need to do is get out of the way.

Miraal: I am very skeptical about men who tell me Oh, we really like strong women. If you have to say it, then there’s a problem. To say in the first place, even label it that way, or even have a voice about it. Who the hell do you think you are? That you are okay with it?

Miraal: This deep rooted patriarchy, it’s probably going to take generations to go. And the only way to deal with it is to separate it from your life. Do what you’re doing and focus on your goals. Do not even give a bother to the public. The public has very limited memory, and it goes away. They will forget about this entire episode in a few but this guy will not and this guy will keep doing what he’s doing. You just have to be a better person.

Priya: I have that response to be grateful for because when I wrote this song, it came from the reason that I was being silenced so much but the only place that I can’t be silenced is in my art. And I’d rather speak through my art than through any other way.

Miraal: You have no idea how scared they would be right now.

Priya: I hope they are. But I would have preferred that people aren’t making changes out of fear but because it’s necessary and understanding that it is the right thing. But if this is how people need to change then so be it. It’s so frustrating to me that when I talk to someone of my great grandmother’s generation, my grandmother’s generation or my mother’s generation and then the next generation, everybody has the same story to tell. We’re done with this. Of course, there’s been a lot of development and progress. I’m very happy that women can vote now and go to work.

Miraal: Imagine being thankful for things that we should be taking for granted.

Priya: And it’s not so different. Before I moved to America, I thought that in the West the patriarchy is not as much and it’s better. But what I’ve learned is that it’s the same everywhere. It’s how they are enacted that is different.

Miraal: Because a section of the women have figured out, they can make money through commercializing feminism.

Priya: It adds a complication, definitely.

Miraal: Anyway, having said that, your story and your journey is such an inspiration to many girls who follow this.

Priya: That makes me happy, because they all can do whatever they want and set their hearts to.

Miraal: So what would you want to tell them, these little girls all over the world, want to be where you are too. They’re looking at you thinking if you can make this journey, so can I.

Priya: That’s what I’ve always believed. Even when I started running, a lot of people are like, Oh, you can’t do this. It’s too crazy. But I did it, I ran a 100 miles. And then afterwards, I saw so many women breaking that boundary for themselves, it’s amazing to watch. What I tell them is that every dream is equal, no matter who is dreaming it and where they’re dreaming from. Every dream is valid; every dream has the equal amount of possibility of it coming true. Now, yes, for some, it’s much harder to get there. Because opportunities don’t open up for everyone so easily because of where we are from what we have access to or our privileges. And I believe that one has to just keep doing the work. Don’t ever give up on the dream. I spend a lot of time dreaming in a day; I dream a lot. It’s such an important thing to do. And never clip your own wings, because people will be telling you what you can and cannot do. But what they think does not matter. It’s only what you think that matters. So think high of yourself, set the highest bar for yourself, whatever it may be in any profession. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Grammy or an Oscar or none of these awards. They’re just here to give you a little pat on the back. But someone sitting in some village somewhere is probably way better musician than I am. But they’re not getting that Grammy doesn’t mean they’re worse, it just means that they didn’t have this opportunity. These awards are not a reflection of someone’s talent and ability. So it’s very important to not get fazed by all the glamour and the fame that comes along with this stuff. Just keep focusing on the work, detach from results. And stay 100% authentic because every person has such a unique story. When you speak or create art, do something from your own story. It will always be something that is 100% unique and the world will always need unique stories.

Miraal: It doesn’t need to be a genre. It just needs to be authentic. Perfect. This is such an amazing message. What is next for you? Where do you go from here?

Priya: I’ve been teaching a lot lately. I really enjoy teaching. I’ve been teaching online about voice culture. I help my students understand how to use their voice better, depending on their own physiology. Because I’ve had that experience and I want to share it with other people. And I teach Hindustani classical music and I also teach improvisation. One of my favorite things to do also is to try and help musicians from a different style of music, understand improvisational techniques, through the Indian classical music way, so they can find ways to bridge all of these different styles. So I’ve been teaching a ton, I’ve been studying a lot, which has been lovely. I’m very, very interested in environmentalism. So I’ve been reading a lot about sustainability and circular models of sustainability. I’m interested in biomimicry, seven reading a lot about biomimicry. That and also working with my NGO back in Bombay,

Miraal: What does it do? Tell us more about it.

Priya: So the NGO is called Janarakshita, and it’s based in Bombay. We work in pediatric cancer. And we also work in building schools and educational facilities for especially the Adivasi and the Dalit communities with a focus on girls. So with a pediatric cancer, it’s everything from start to end with a patient. A lot of times when you’re in this world, you don’t know how to navigate it, you’re already going through so many traumas, and, you shouldn’t have to make decisions like paperwork and mundane stuff which adds so much of stress. So we try and handle that stuff, we try and we give them counseling when needed, we try and continue the child’s education while they’re going through treatment, we find them a place to live, because a lot of them come from other parts of the country. And they live on the streets when they’re getting treatment so we try and get them a place to stay that’s safe for them. If the child is near the end and not going to make it, we also try and do what we can to make their last moments be what they want it to be, we do our best. So that’s one of the things we do. And then recently we have focused a bit on building toilets and sanitation facilities at schools deep in Maharashtra, because we noticed that a lot of girls would be dropping out of school around the age when they get their period. And we figured that maybe a lot of it had to do with just the lack of sanitation. A lot of these government run schools have one roof, and they don’t even have bathrooms. So a lot of them had to go to the fields and there are snake bites and all kinds of things. So something as simple as building a toilet was bringing back girls to school. Providing hygiene facilities for girls, especially having a separate toilet for them helped girls come back to school. So we’ve been sort of focusing a little on that as well. Of course, now with the pandemic, everything has gotten harder.

Miraal: I don’t know how these kids are able to study with the lack of internet access.

Priya: They don’t have tablets. That’s another thing that our NGO has been trying to focus on. My parents are the main people behind the NGO. My mother has been doing this for all of my life and my father has also been deeply connected to education and these issues. I was always interested in animals and wildlife, so we joined forces, and that’s how this started.

Miraal: What happens next, with your music career?

Priya: I don’t know; if it was not the pandemic, I believe there would have been a very different trajectory. A Grammy nomination is more opportunities. And you know, you can network more and more people want to be here, you, you know, there’s more accessibility for my music. And I was supposed to be touring my album, all over the world. I was so excited for that but that’s all canceled for now.

Miraal: You can do online concerts right?

Priya: We can but half my band is somewhere else. And I’m with Max, my husband. So luckily, with the two of us do some, but I’m really trying to avoid putting out too much stuff online. There’s so much already available online. And maybe this is the time to immerse myself more and study more and just write. We’ve been working on two different albums and a bunch of collaborative projects, so I’m just in the studio, writing music all the time and practicing and studying.

Miraal: So if you were to collaborate with somebody now, tell me the names. Tell me some international names and tell me some names in India. Three favorites internationally and three favorites from India.

Priya: Quincy Jones, I want to work with him. I want to work with Bjork. I am a big Bjork fan. I would love to work with Anuska, who’s also been nominated and she’s a dear friend. I love her so much. Anushka and Nora, both have been have been nominated. And I’m so proud of them. Anushka has been nominated seven times. I love this current album. It’s come from a really deep, vulnerable place to and I really want her to get that award.

Miraal: You never know, this has been the year of the brown women, by the way. So many of us have hit mainstream this year.

Priya: I just hope it’s not a fad. And it’s just it’s not like, Oh, this is the year for them.

Miraal: We’re here to say.So the album is periphery. What’s your favorite song? It’s like having a favorite kid right?

Priya: It’s hard to tell. Each one has such a different process for me, but I really like lonely a star. I love mean home is beautiful. And Johanna is lovely. And they’re all beautiful songs, but I feel lonely star was really fun to work on and write. I wrote that inspired by this star called CX 330. It’s at the edge of our galaxy, millions of light years away from any other celestial object. And the star has been going through a growth spurt. It’s a young star. It’s like a little teenager going through a growth spurt. And it’s just shining so brightly. And something about the fact that it’s at the edge of the universe, alone, going through a growth spurt and shining and no one is seeing it and yet it’s shining for itself. That moved me so much. And as I was thinking more and more about it, somehow I started seeing that star in the daily people around me, and I was like wow, you’re all just shining, doing your best every single day, even when no one’s watching. The beauty of that hit me and so I wrote that song for this purpose and I really enjoy that process.

Miraal: So Priya, thank you so much for being with us. This is such a pleasure this conversation was completely organic and unscripted and as authentic as you are. We’re all rooting for you. There are so many of us rooting for you, not only not people who come from an Indian origin, but also all the girls are rooting for you, girls who look up to you girls, who will define their journeys and create aspirations around the path that you take. And that’s a huge responsibility

Priya: Thank you so much for having me and for asking all these questions and you know, engaging me in this conversation and just listening to me, I really appreciate it.

Its indeed been a great year for brown women and the Indain diaspora in general. From making it to the Grammy’s and being a part of important causes back in India and here in America too. Cheers to all the desi people who made it big breaking stereotypes and fought the odds and continue to give back to the society in so many different ways through their contributions and make us all so proud.

So for all those who missed out the interview check it out at desis.live and do not forget to listen to Priya’s amazing music.