Episode 4.02: Lights, Camera, Ashan, with ABC's Ashan Singh
Ashan Singh, Reporter at ABC’s Nightline
“I remember feeling a lot of guilt leaving my house as a kid and literally switching the way that I walk. You know that in the back of your head your mother would be like, ‘why are you talking like that?’”
Code switching (which sounds like some computer science term) is the art of switching off between languages, behaviors, and jargon according to your surrounding environment. It might sound familiar to you, because almost all Desi people use it as an adaptive mechanism! In this episode, I speak with ABC Nightline's Ashan Singh about his experience as a reporter, and how he is able to use code switching - which often has a negative connotation - as a means of connection. We talk about storytelling and interviewing, and learning to use code switching to be one with our social and professional spheres. We talk about what it means to be American.