Pod#123 - Sparsh Ahuja - Identity, Partition Stories, Project Dastaan & Narratives Of Similarity

Sparsh Ahuja is on the show! Photographer, documentary film-maker and all around chill guy, Sparsh joins us to talk about Project Dastaan. Stories from the Partition, reconnecting people who lived through those times with their homes left behind, talking about our own diaspora identities, his own trip to Pakistan, and about telling stories that don't fit neatly into boxes. Check out the links below for where you can get more information about the work! Things discussed in this episode: 00:00 Intro 03:13 Why we wanted to get Sparsh on  05:52 Talking about diaspora identity and going “back home” 12:55 How did his parents change as a result of leaving India 16:55 His grandparent’s relationships with their pre and post Partition homes 27:07 General narratives in India around why Pakistan was formed 33:07 His shockingly easy visa process and the trip to his ancestral village 44:13 Project Dastaan’s ongoing projects and how they plan to showcase them 50:34 Do they expect any backlash to stories that don’t fit into established boxes neatly 54:52 Is there a time-limit to the relevance/interest for partition stories 58:11 Sparsh and the team’s future plans after Project Dastaan concludes 1:02:46 South Asian diaspora cultures not as separated abroad as at home 1:05:34 The unrealized legacies of colonialism 1:10:40 A hilariously ridiculous story from his visit to Pakistan 1:14:06 Cultural visibility of Islam in India vs non-Islamic religions in Pakistan 1:19:44 Outro LINKS: Project Dastaan: https://projectdastaan.org/ Sparsh & Sam's podcast with PG Radio:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCELz3OOwrA Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!  Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below! SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan