A Desi Woman with Soniya Gokhale

Kentucky State Representative Nima Kulkarni and Manhattan City Commissioner Usha Reddi join us to discuss the current events in the US. The United States is still reeling from the storming of our Capitol building by a group of right wing Trump's supporters. This horrific event resulted in five deaths and truly underscored the fragility of democracy. Something many Americans simply took for granted as being a founding principle of this country. It was an eye opening example of how the United States, not unlike other democracies around the world, must navigate the rising perils of a changing world order. Amidst a United States that he is harshly divided as never before, we also witnessed the inauguration of our 46th president Joseph R. Biden, And, and our country's first African-American, Indian American and female Vice President Kamala Devi Harris. Therefore, in putting this particular podcast episode together and evaluating the events in the United States of not just this week, but critical and key events of the past several years against the backdrop of a global pandemic that has ravaged the United States; unprecedented political divisiveness; continuing racial and social injustice in the U.S., I thought the most compelling perspective would be that of a newly eligible voter. For this episode, we are excited to be joined by a very special guest cohost, Jay Gokhale. Jay Gokhale is a recent graduate of the Columbus Academy in Columbus, Ohio, and currently a freshman in the honors program at the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University. Jay is impassioned about bringing forth marginalized voices, stories and narratives from our communities.