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Brat Diary: May 12, 2025
6 Plays2 months ago
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Transcript
Cultural Confusion and Comedy
00:00:00
Speaker
I grew up confused about my culture and identity and felt out of place most of the time until I found comedy which forced me to be honest with myself and I realized mostly I'm just an expat brat.
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome to my show.
00:00:14
Speaker
I'm Salman Qureshi.
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Speaker
Hey, we're back and just back literally from the brink of war.
00:00:21
Speaker
In case you haven't noticed, there was another war about to erupt between India and Pakistan.
00:00:27
Speaker
And it's like season 74 of this shit going on.
00:00:30
Speaker
Oh, the same storyline.
00:00:33
Speaker
I mean, these guys don't even change the storyline.
00:00:36
Speaker
It gets a little boring.
00:00:37
Speaker
We're still fighting over Kashmir.
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Speaker
We're still claiming their terrorists on the other side and blah, blah, blah.
War Sentiments and Media Critique
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Speaker
And it's just, you know, what's worse about this time and age is the I get I get politicians trying to do this stuff, man.
00:00:51
Speaker
I'm just so annoyed with this stuff.
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Speaker
I even say hi to you guys.
00:00:55
Speaker
I'm just jumping right in.
00:00:56
Speaker
OK, it's just because it bugs me and I need to vent.
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Speaker
And this is what this is.
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Speaker
It's the people who are pro-war.
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Speaker
And it's just amplified now.
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Speaker
I know the politicians do it.
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Speaker
I know people do propaganda.
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Speaker
But it's so in your face now because I can't avoid it.
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Speaker
It's right there in WhatsApp groups, online, anywhere I go.
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Speaker
And I read comments.
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And even the so-called balanced people want to make it about the other country.
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Speaker
And they're subtle about it a lot more.
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Speaker
but they'll still pass comments.
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Speaker
And it's just, you know what?
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Speaker
It's these uncles.
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Speaker
They're my age.
00:01:34
Speaker
We're uncles now, all right?
00:01:36
Speaker
We're uncles.
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Speaker
We got Bluetooth headsets.
00:01:39
Speaker
We got belly fat.
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Speaker
And we're shouting, nuke them.
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Speaker
You know, just nuke the other side.
00:01:44
Speaker
Dude, our diabetes need to be nuked.
00:01:47
Speaker
That's what...
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Speaker
Like, bro, you're losing a fight with cholesterol.
00:01:53
Speaker
Like, just sit this out, all right?
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Speaker
That's my problem with these people.
00:01:56
Speaker
They sit there, and they go on, and they've got these strategies, and they're egging people on.
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Speaker
They're going, look what we did.
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Speaker
We did.
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Speaker
It's the same people.
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Speaker
Like, they think it's some kind of sport.
00:02:06
Speaker
This is...
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They sit there and they just pretend like they did.
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Speaker
They had something to do with it.
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Speaker
You know, like they hacked into the other country's stuff.
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Speaker
They built one of the bombs.
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Speaker
They flew some shit.
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Speaker
I don't
Media Influence on War Perception
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Speaker
know.
00:02:19
Speaker
No, they're just sitting in the AC, sipping tea, chai, and retweeting Modi memes and like...
00:02:28
Speaker
Pakistani memes and stuff i gotta say i'm not biased but pakistan memes are a lot more funny much funnier and uh and that's what they do though there's no like sense of self just on like get them off twitter i can't get it i can't get myself to call it the other thing it's twitter for me forever twitter or bust right not that i'm on it anymore and it's just like
00:02:52
Speaker
Some of them are like, have no idea about anything.
00:02:55
Speaker
Till last week, they thought Gaza was like a spicy dip or something.
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Speaker
I don't know.
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Speaker
And now they're like military strategists or experts and stuff.
00:03:06
Speaker
I had this one person put up.
00:03:09
Speaker
We need to teach them a lesson.
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Speaker
And I swear, I swear to God, like a few weeks ago, he's telling me how it was hard for him to teach his son how to pee.
00:03:18
Speaker
This is an ironic.
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Speaker
It's...
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Speaker
you concentrate on teaching your kid how to pee not on how to teach a lesson to another country and stuff it's just oh god and then the ones who gloat and just go on about how it's like a I don't know it's like a cricket match and every strike is like a six or something it's
00:03:40
Speaker
And you just don't realize people are dying and their countries are getting screwed.
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Speaker
And the only people who make money off this are rich people.
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Speaker
War does not help the normal citizen.
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Speaker
It just doesn't.
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Speaker
It never has.
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It never has.
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Speaker
It's...
00:03:56
Speaker
If they read stuff now, there's so much information.
00:04:00
Speaker
But how did they not come and read this kind of stuff?
Entertainment vs Reality of War
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Like they just and then it's like this whole chat banner between Indians and Pakistanis, like with each other, like almost like, you know, telling each other, tell your army to chill.
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Speaker
Like anyone has a say in it.
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Speaker
I can't sort out my Wi-Fi.
00:04:22
Speaker
You think I'm going to get military clearance for this shit?
00:04:27
Speaker
The worst are obviously the channels, man.
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Speaker
God, these anchors.
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Speaker
They're the ones who bring this up.
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They're the ones who are really hiding this stuff.
00:04:38
Speaker
And they're talking about safety and screaming for war while they're...
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Speaker
Got guys serving them drinks at the TV channel.
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They're getting well paid.
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They're getting more well paid after getting their ratings up because of this stuff.
00:04:55
Speaker
He's not on the front line.
00:04:57
Speaker
He dodged gym class in school.
00:04:59
Speaker
That's what I think these anchors did.
00:05:02
Speaker
They all did.
00:05:03
Speaker
And they want to talk about war.
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Speaker
Like I feel like anyone, I think this should be a general law, a rule.
00:05:11
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You want to promote war.
00:05:12
Speaker
You want to support war.
00:05:14
Speaker
You want to say, let's go to war.
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Speaker
You got to be on the front line.
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No one is allowed to say, let's go to war unless they are put on the front.
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Speaker
It's an immediate front line thing.
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Speaker
You got to go.
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Speaker
You said you're... Oh, God.
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Speaker
And then they labeled these things.
00:05:31
Speaker
I can't even remember what the Pakistani side was because this was like overdramatic.
00:05:36
Speaker
And then the Indian side was worse.
00:05:39
Speaker
It's called Operation Sindhu.
00:05:41
Speaker
Like, if you don't know what that means, that's just...
Public Discourse on Ceasefire
00:05:43
Speaker
thing they put on the bride on the it's like a red dot.
00:05:47
Speaker
I think that no, no, it's like this red thing you put on the front of your head.
00:05:52
Speaker
The women, the bride, the wife does.
00:05:55
Speaker
Right.
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Speaker
And it's a mark of being married or something.
00:05:58
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But I just, the name, the name, it just sounds so Bollywood.
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Speaker
Like India has just become too Bollywood.
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Speaker
And now there's a ceasefire.
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Speaker
That's my favorite bit.
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Speaker
There's a ceasefire.
00:06:12
Speaker
So now all these people going at each other, especially the ones that live abroad next to Pakistani and Indian neighbors.
00:06:18
Speaker
Like if your neighbors from across, all this talk about like, it's time to stop supporting their celebrities and music and stuff.
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Speaker
I just want to see that now.
00:06:28
Speaker
Like, what are you going to do now?
00:06:30
Speaker
Are you going to stick to your guns about it?
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Speaker
Because the ceasefire happened much way too late.
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Speaker
Luckily, it wasn't like the Palestinian issue, the war that's happened, the genocide happening there.
00:06:42
Speaker
But it was more like this whole buildup over two days, three days, and then it's like done.
00:06:49
Speaker
And you're like...
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Speaker
Okay, so what do we do now?
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Speaker
And people have said stuff, done stuff.
00:06:59
Speaker
Oh, just the craziness of it.
00:07:01
Speaker
You know, my uncle sent me this meme and I thought that was the funniest one I read about it.
00:07:06
Speaker
And he said, look, there's nothing.
00:07:08
Speaker
The meme basically was like talking about, look, there's nothing to worry about until America notifies people in your country to go.
00:07:16
Speaker
You need to leave the country.
00:07:18
Speaker
You need to be extracted.
00:07:20
Speaker
So as long as the U.S. doesn't do it, the U.S. knows it's not going to go to war.
00:07:26
Speaker
If the U.S. sends a notification to its citizen, that's when it's time to worry and run.
00:07:32
Speaker
And it's not so the way it was written was really funny.
00:07:36
Speaker
I didn't really convey it as the proper joke it is.
00:07:39
Speaker
But it was also just like it just was the right thing.
00:07:42
Speaker
It just meant the right thing.
00:07:44
Speaker
Anyway, this is a bizarre episode, isn't it?
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Speaker
I just went off on started this thing.
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Speaker
It's just been in my head, man.
00:07:50
Speaker
It's just been in my head.
00:07:51
Speaker
So I felt the need to kind of just talk about
Political Narratives and Media's Role
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Speaker
it.
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Speaker
I've watched it for so long.
00:08:01
Speaker
It doesn't affect me anymore.
00:08:02
Speaker
In fact, I stay away from it.
00:08:04
Speaker
It doesn't bother me like it used to.
00:08:08
Speaker
It feels like a bad joke.
00:08:11
Speaker
It's these things.
00:08:13
Speaker
And then just the amount of wars that are erupting around.
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Speaker
That's crazy.
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Speaker
I know it's nothing like before.
00:08:19
Speaker
I know statistically we're nowhere near 100 years ago or something where everybody was at war or something.
00:08:28
Speaker
But I did not think...
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Speaker
That... I'll just... Just one last thing about... Trump takes the credit for it.
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Speaker
I mean... As if things weren't bad enough.
00:08:39
Speaker
Ha ha ha.
00:08:41
Speaker
I feel like that was the worst.
00:08:42
Speaker
I know there are innocent people, innocent people that lost lives.
00:08:45
Speaker
That's the worst of it.
00:08:46
Speaker
But after that, after that, you got to admit, Trump taking credit for it.
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Speaker
Oh, man.
00:08:52
Speaker
I like how it pissed off India more.
00:08:54
Speaker
Pakistan is just like, cool, we'll take it.
00:08:56
Speaker
India, I think because they want to act like a superpower, they kind of go,
Personal Stories and Binge-Watching
00:09:00
Speaker
no, no, no.
00:09:00
Speaker
We mediated ourselves.
00:09:03
Speaker
We handled this.
00:09:07
Speaker
But it wasn't, was it?
00:09:08
Speaker
It was a call from the U.S. going, all right, you two.
00:09:12
Speaker
Like shutting two siblings up and shit.
00:09:16
Speaker
That's what we are.
00:09:17
Speaker
Just siblings, cousins, same shit all over.
00:09:21
Speaker
That's the fun stuff that happened.
00:09:25
Speaker
On a personal level, not much.
00:09:28
Speaker
I've just been doing my stuff, watching too much TV.
00:09:32
Speaker
I finished Monk and now I'm on House.
00:09:36
Speaker
Don't love it as much as Monk, but I think House is... Both these shows, I didn't watch them when they first came out.
Improv Comedy in Dubai
00:09:44
Speaker
I'm watching them years later and there's this joy...
00:09:47
Speaker
of getting to watch a show which has several seasons all out there, all done.
00:09:53
Speaker
No waiting, no having to wait for the next year, not having to load up different things and different streaming services.
00:10:05
Speaker
It's all there.
00:10:06
Speaker
It's done.
00:10:07
Speaker
It's ready.
00:10:08
Speaker
There are multiple seasons.
00:10:10
Speaker
It's brilliant.
00:10:11
Speaker
It is the most joyful thing I could.
00:10:17
Speaker
What I'm excited, I've got some shows lined up.
00:10:19
Speaker
I've been doing a lot.
00:10:22
Speaker
I've shifted more back to doing some improv shows lately.
00:10:25
Speaker
And I've had some great performers and friends pass through in Dubai.
00:10:29
Speaker
And it's been great, man.
00:10:31
Speaker
It's Sean McKinley, if you don't know him.
00:10:37
Speaker
He was passing through.
00:10:38
Speaker
Did I say his name wrong?
00:10:39
Speaker
I just called him a friend and went, I don't know how his, what his, sorry, I did.
00:10:46
Speaker
I did.
00:10:46
Speaker
His last name is Sean Kinsley.
00:10:49
Speaker
Sean Kinsley.
00:10:52
Speaker
No, even that's wrong.
00:10:53
Speaker
Oh my God.
00:10:54
Speaker
I'm just digging a hole now.
00:10:56
Speaker
Wait, I'm going to, while we're on here, you know, his last name has always kind of bothered me.
00:11:02
Speaker
Actually, I'm not just Sean Kinsley.
00:11:04
Speaker
Sean Kinsley.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yes.
00:11:06
Speaker
Why did I say McKin?
00:11:09
Speaker
Sean, if you ever listen to this, I know your name, but I just have Alzheimer's or something.
00:11:15
Speaker
The early onset.
00:11:17
Speaker
Or I just have a special kind of disease.
00:11:19
Speaker
I genuinely think I have a name problem.
00:11:21
Speaker
Like I will know people's names.
00:11:23
Speaker
and then blank out.
00:11:24
Speaker
I think I've spoken about this before.
00:11:25
Speaker
So whatever this is, if I forget your name, tough, man.
00:11:28
Speaker
It's just a disease, all right?
00:11:29
Speaker
Don't take it personal.
00:11:32
Speaker
And Felipe, don't ask me his last name.
00:11:36
Speaker
They're friends.
00:11:37
Speaker
So many of my friends, I don't know their last name, which is a shame.
00:11:40
Speaker
Anyway, they're both great performers.
00:11:42
Speaker
Sean's from Canada.
00:11:43
Speaker
He was here, and I got to learn a lot by performing with him and just refreshing.
00:11:48
Speaker
He is a...
00:11:50
Speaker
He's an enigmatic, charismatic, like he is just an amazing person to be around, both as a performer, as a teacher, as a friend.
00:12:00
Speaker
I just felt so, you know, great after just hanging out with him and I wish I had more time.
00:12:07
Speaker
And tonight and the next few days, I'm performing with Felipe because Sean's left and Felipe's from Colombia.
00:12:12
Speaker
He runs his own circus.
00:12:14
Speaker
He's one of the most funniest and brilliant improvisers I've ever seen.
00:12:19
Speaker
I love being on stage with him, watching him.
00:12:22
Speaker
He's just so great that way.
00:12:25
Speaker
And I consider him a good friend too, you know.
00:12:28
Speaker
Again, someone I learn a lot just by being around, you know,
00:12:32
Speaker
So I'm looking forward to that.
00:12:33
Speaker
So it's been a bit of a blessing at the improv theater to have this stuff.
00:12:37
Speaker
That's what's going on with me.
00:12:39
Speaker
And, you know, I think I think if you haven't if you do live in Dubai, you haven't been out.
00:12:45
Speaker
If you've been listening to my podcast, you haven't been to the Courtyard Playhouse to watch an improv show.
00:12:50
Speaker
What is going on with you?
00:12:51
Speaker
Why are
Hopes for Peace and Future Episodes
00:12:52
Speaker
you listening to this then?
00:12:53
Speaker
And he totally should be in there.
00:12:56
Speaker
That's what I'm going to leave you on.
00:12:57
Speaker
I'm keeping this episode short.
00:12:59
Speaker
I'm going to do a few shorter episodes for the next few bits just because other things are really hectic.
00:13:08
Speaker
But yeah, let me know if you've never watched the show and why.
00:13:13
Speaker
And when will you do it then?
00:13:15
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:15
Speaker
So thank God.
00:13:18
Speaker
We're all at peace again.
00:13:19
Speaker
Well, at least my part of the world.
00:13:21
Speaker
And I hope if you're from a place where things are bad, I hope they sort themselves out soon.
00:13:28
Speaker
Chill out and come watch a show.
00:13:30
Speaker
Take care.
00:13:31
Speaker
I'll catch you in the next episode.
00:13:32
Speaker
Thanks for joining us on another adventure with the expat Brad.
00:13:36
Speaker
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