A new podcast is taking off. Now one-episode old, GayBCD co-hosted by Farhad Karkaria and Sunetro Lahiri, airs every Tuesday and hopes to be “the dictionary of all things in life from a queer perspective.” Lahiri, 32 and Karkaria, 34 are creatives based in Mumbai. The latter also co-hosts another podcast on LGBTQ issues, called Keeping it Queer , with comedian Navin Noronha.
The pilot episode, which premiered last week, is an hour-long freewheeling conversation between Karkaria and Lahiri, weaving in and out of their personal memories. Their lazy tone and banter might just end up working for what the duo is trying to achieve: to highlight everyday things concerning queer people as issues that aren’t limited to being queer, but to merely “being human”. For example, their first episode, titled ‘Coming Out’, has Lahiri and Karkaria recalling how they told their respective sets of parents that they were not heterosexuals.
Ahead of their second episode, which will be available to stream today, the duo spoke about the podcast, their approach, and what GayBCD hopes to achieve.
Edited excerpts:
What’s the name of the podcast, GayBCD, trying to convey?
Lahiri: Kavita [Rajwade, co-founder] of IVM Podcasts approached both of us separately. The idea was that the normalisation of queer life needs attention. This is how the conversation about the podcast evolved to us saying we will just talk about various aspects of life. This will be an unravelling of all things queer — so people can say that this is not a queer dictionary, it’s a human dictionary.
How does recording these episodes affect you personally?
Lahiri: As the conversation takes an organic shape, these episodes also became like therapy sessions for us.There’s so much unravelling happening, so many epiphanies. We also like being surprised by each others’ responses.
Karkaria: And a lot of times, it becomes therapeutic because we end up revisiting things that we don’t think about any more.
How does this normalise things as you hope to?
Karkaria: For instance, after the first episode, someone sent us a message about how he broke down after he heard the episode, and that led to a tender moment between him and his parents. He said that while he didn’t come out to his parents, it was good for him to know that they were there for him. I don’t have the aptitude to be an activist, but as long as it resonates with someone and gives some degree of comfort...[that’s a start].
What will some future episodes will be about?
Karkaria: We’ve recorded a few already. Dating is one. For us, it’s never been about just boys, boys, boy. Both Sunetro and I have had fulfilling, straight relationships in the past.
Lahiri: I felt like it will be an interesting episode [because] people think that sexuality is watertight.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify
