Gurasis: 0:02

so now you know the final segment of the podcast I call it beneath the accent I'm gonna ask a couple of questions. You can answer them in one word or a sentence or howsoever. You feel like the idea is just to know more about simran, so ready absolutely first is what advice would you give to your younger self, and at what age?

Simran: 0:20

be authentic, trust the process at I I would say age 18, 19.

Gurasis: 0:27

Okay, what's that one dish from your home country that always brings you comfort and nostalgia?

Simran: 0:34

Ooh, okay, so since I told you that my mom is from Bihar, that's where she grew up I've grown up on a lot of Bihari food. She grew up, um, I've grown up on a lot of uh, bihari food. Um, it has to be boiled rice with yellow dal and then maybe some uh uh, it's called aloo chokha, which is basically mashed potatoes on the side. So that's gonna probably be it, yeah okay, awesome, making me hungry already.

Gurasis: 1:04

Okay, describe a moment when you experienced a significant cultural difference that surprised you interesting.

Simran: 1:11

I think this was probably the first time that I was invited to, uh, one of my white friends's house for thanksgiving and uh, just kind of like seeing that dynamic within their family and how you know everybody kind of went about. You know, that interpersonal relationship and this was me at 18, probably that to me was that to me just kind of made me think about the way that we do that in a lot of Southeast Asian cultures.

Simran: 1:42

And it's really like I think both of those are really warm, but there was a bit of a difference there, so that's something that came to mind.

Gurasis: 1:49

Do you have any instance, any funny story related to your misunderstanding around the accent or English?

Simran: 1:56

So my name is Simran Zeet Simran Zeet with a Z, but I go by Simran. That's what I go by in conversations. So a lot of times I've heard different variations of Simran from people. I've heard Simran. I've heard Simran. I've heard different kind of like mispronunciations. Like for the longest time Starbucks used to mess up the name that they used to put on the cups and then probably there were enough Simrons who came in the downtown Toronto core that they finally were able to figure it out.

Simran: 2:35

But I've heard so many different variations of this name. It's not even funny, and you know it's also funny that a lot of times, um, I think microsoft outlook or microsoft word, um autocorrect simran to simon. So there have been many emails in which it's been hey, simon, um, and I'm like man, this is not even like ask simon to finish this job for you. This was not meant for me, uh, but yeah, that that's something that came to mind.

Gurasis: 3:07

Okay, for me the spellings are always correct. It's always a pronunciation which goes from Guruses to Guruses, guruses, juruses. So that's where my pronunciation goes to. Okay, tell us about your first friend that you made in Canada, and are you still in Connect?

Simran: 3:31

Oh, that's that's so. That's so beautiful, so that's such a beautiful question. Yes, the first friend that I did make in Canada was this friend, from Chandigarh actually, who happened to be a fellow international student who I had met. Um, so, you know, universities I think they still do they have these international student centers, uh, in university, so I think there was like a welcome night. For international students. That was that. You know, this place in windsor was organizing and I met my friend. His name is rohan khanna and I'm there and, uh, yeah, we're still in touch. We lost touch for a couple of years, I think from 2015 to 2018, 2019.

Simran: 4:15

And then we reconnected back in 2020 and then we've been. We've been in touch, so shout out to Rohan, he's in India vacationing right now. But yeah, we were still in touch.

Gurasis: 4:28

Okay, awesome. What's that? One tradition that you have adopted, like a Canadian tradition that you have adopted?

Simran: 4:37

It's going to probably be opening conversations up with asking about the weather. I love that answer, just because I think it's something, that I was just mentioning this to someone back home I think it was my parents or somebody else but how? In India, you know, we never really check the weather. We don't talk about the weather that much.

Simran: 5:02

It just is what it is, and we just kind of take it at face value. You just like get accustomed to it. But I what it is and you just kind of take it at face value. You just like get, get it, get accustomed to it. But I think it has. It is such a thing here in canada and I think rightfully so, because the weather here changes so quickly, um, that everybody's always on their phone looking at you know what the latest prediction is? Um, and I think it just ends up finding its way into conversations as well. So yeah, it's gonna be.

Simran: 5:26

It's gonna be opening up conversations by talking about it, just publicly musing about the weather yeah, I just realized I do that a lot too.

Gurasis: 5:34

I do ask a lot about the weather and I think if, uh, the amount of times I've asked city that, what's the weather outside? Right I think if she could really be a human she'll snap at me that stop asking about the weather every single day.

Simran: 5:49

I know right, yeah, crazy.

Gurasis: 5:52

Oh, my god, okay, what's something that you ate for the first time in Canada?

Simran: 5:59

It has to be the turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, uh, thanksgiving. So, uh, you know the place that he used to kind of have, like the food court at the university um did the special thing, um, thanksgiving 2011, uh, in which they they're gonna serve the turkey, they serve the potatoes, the stuffing and everything, the cranberry sauce and uh, that to me, was just like wow, it was like a a net new kind of food experience and, uh, something that I actually took quite a liking to.

Gurasis: 6:33

So it was the first time that I ate that in in canada I actually tried that two years ago for the first time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it too yeah yeah, yeah. If you had to describe yourself as an animal, any creature, what would it be and why?

Simran: 6:48

there are so many that come to mind, but I probably am going to go with, uh, an eagle or a hawk. Um, that's the one that I identify with the most right now, um, like in the stage of my life in which there's still a bit of that independence um if you know like going about life and you know living it.

Simran: 7:08

you know, on my own terms, On my terms yeah, also being very authentic and really looking at things from perspective and, yeah, a bit of that kind of like going with the flow, because, you know, eagles and hawks, they don't really flap their wings too much. A lot of it is, you know, just trusting the process and seeing where the wind takes them and, just course, correcting along the way. So I'm going to say probably that, yeah, eagle or hawk.

Gurasis: 7:37

I love that. Okay, if you could, if you had to create one law that everybody has to follow, what would it be?

Simran: 7:47

In Canada or In general, any law for the world.

Simran: 7:53

Genuinely speaking, making some part of your week mandatory for community service, a hundred percent, just because I think it's going to get a lot of people out of their homes and interacting with people that they generally don't interact with.

Simran: 8:12

So a lot of that, you know, cultural knowledge, exchange, that happens.

Simran: 8:16

I genuinely believe that, you know, like, doing something for others without expecting anything in return is one of the ways to genuinely experience that joy that if you've not done it, you won't really know what I'm talking about, but if you've done it it's a different kind of an experience and I think everyone deserves to feel that at least once in their life. And I think, third is, it also will, I think, hopefully it might be hard for people because it's a law that they need to follow, but eventually it might just become a force of habit. But just paying it forward, you know, and I think I, I very strongly believe that, only if we could, you know, have more people-to-people interactions within the community, in which, you know, I'm meeting people who have a very different viewpoint than myself and I'm meeting them over, I don't know, like a street cleanup, let's say a street cleanup, let's say Conversations are meant to happen, bridges are meant to be built. I just think it's going to, at the very least you know, make us better as a society.

Gurasis: 9:27

So I'm going to probably say yeah, mandatory community service in some way shape or form on a weekly or monthly basis. Yeah, Okay, Amazing.

Simran: 9:33

Finally describe Canada in one word or a sentence home, uh, is what I'm going to go with, um and uh, the reason why I say that and this has been, again, something that I remember from the first time that I came back from my first vacation to India and that has stayed with me is, and that's and that's, you know why I've come to love this country so much because this country has helped me find my own self and it's also really provided me with those connections, those people. It really really embodies that ethos of doing something for others and being kind, right, um. So the reason why I said home is because, um, and this is something that I've loved every single time that I've you know, come back, uh, from a foreign country into canada that whenever the cbsf officer, um, it takes your passport and they do everything you could be a student, you could be on a visitor visa, you could be a resident or a citizen they say welcome home.

Gurasis: 10:41

Welcome home? Yeah, absolutely.

Simran: 10:42

And that is so it's really warm. It really like talks about what Canada is all about, which is it's welcoming. It's welcoming, um, and it really is. It's kind, in the way that you know, it sees people kind of coming in and adding to the vibrancy of the culture and the economy. So, uh, yeah, canada is home man okay, yeah.

Gurasis: 11:10

So, simran, if you could leave me with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Simran: 11:16

I'd probably say it's great that you've started this community through. You know my Thick Accent podcast and your listeners tune in. My advice to you will be to not give up on storytelling in any way, shape or form right. It could be through a podcast today.

Simran: 11:39

It could be through other means and avenues, you know next week, next month's, coming years, as you get more busy never stop telling stories, because I think you you personally, I think, having interacted with you over the course of this podcast and previously as well I think you have a real talent with telling stories, shaping stories, um and uh. For somebody out there who might not really have the access to come and meet people like you and me, it's easy for them to tune into the podcast and, you know, be a part of our lives and share and get a, you know, sliced, sliced version of our lives and, you know, get to experience it vicariously, and I think that's really powerful. That's really something that can really help move the needle If people can understand that. You know the experiences that I'm having as an immigrant. Uh, simran and good asses and other people who've been on the podcast have had similar experiences.

Simran: 12:43

I think that validation goes a long way in terms of giving them that uh bit of confidence, that self-belief, um. So I think you're doing a terrific job in terms of you know telling these stories and my advice will be that never stop telling stories. Just make sure that if you've been chosen, if you have chosen this path for yourself to tell these stories, just make sure that it always remains a part of you know what you do, because you don't know who you might be influencing in what way. And yeah, that's going to probably be it. Yeah.

Gurasis: 13:23

Wow, I think once again, I'm so impressed the way you articulate your thoughts. But thank you, thank you for all your kind words. I really appreciate that. And finally, tell me how would you describe your experience of being on this podcast oh, it was amazing good to see.

Simran: 13:39

You've been a very gracious host. Um, you made me think about um. You kind of made me, uh, introspect and you know go back and you know think about things. You know what I was and you know think about things. You know what I was like growing up in India and when I moved here and it just refreshed and jogged my memory.

Simran: 14:03

I think you also went into, like, certain areas. You kind of like delved into certain areas which I don't think a lot of people, a lot of hosts or a lot of question like interviewers, go into, and for me, the highlight was that it was a very human conversation. Right, it was a conversation which was definitely about my experience and you know what kind of my trials and tribulations were, what my successes were, et cetera, et cetera. But, um, it was also about, uh, you. I really liked the way that you drew out uh pieces about you know, different pieces about how I thought about things or how you summarize that towards the end. So it's been, it's been fantastic and again, kudos to you for um doing this and and uh doing this for the community well, thank you.

Gurasis: 14:58

Thank you for being on the podcast and adding value to my listeners, and thank you for being so open about all the stories and experiences that you have shared with me and my listeners.

Simran: 15:08

So thank you, thanks a lot it's been a pleasure, good to see you. Thank you, thanks everyone.