Neel Nanda Shares His Story of Domestic Abuse on ‘American Desis Podcast’

Released earlier this week, Neel Nanda's second interview with the American Desis Podcast went into even greater detail and deeper territories than the first conversation had in the week prior.

Released earlier this week, Neel Nanda’s second interview with the American Desis Podcast went into even greater detail and deeper territories than the first conversation had in the week prior.

After being introduced to Nanda and his upbringing, of predominantly avoiding Indians and focusing on his “whitewashed” behavior, podcast listeners are immediately propelled into an entirely different part of Nanda’s life.  Specifically, his life as a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of his father.

[If you missed the recap of the first part of this interview, check it out here: American Desis Podcast Explores Internalized Racism with Comedian Neel Nanda]

The title of the episode “Beaten Not Broken” was a signal for what listeners are apt to hear, and the was solidified when Nanda expressed his resentment towards his old man when he said his dad was not  “a great father or a great person.” Co-hosts Arjun Gupta and Akaash Singh did not beat around the bush in regards to the topic, and Nanda openly discussed how his father was abusive to not only him but to his mother and sister as well. In fact, the abuse was so severe, that all three of them ended up in the hospital at some point or another with injuries sustained by his father’s abuse. At this point, I pretty much lost any coherent thoughts and could only repeatedly think “how awful, how awful, how awful.”

The truth of Plato’s words to “be kind for everyone you know is fighting a hard battle” have never been truer than they were during this podcast.

To the exterior world, including his friends and family, Nanda was leading a normal middle-class childhood in Atlanta. But the truth behind why half of his face was as he said, “red and bruised for a month” remained a Nanda family secret. Nobody would have been able to guess that his father had beaten him black-and-blue for playing the guitar too loudly. Again, while my brain was screaming on behalf of Nanda, he explained to Gupta and Singh that it was “just something that has happened in [his] life.” WHAT?

Gupta echoed my outrage when he vehemently screamed, “We have to do better!” and he then went one better than me and matter of factly stated that Nanda’s “dad should be in jail.”

But for Nanda, all he wanted to take away from his past experiences is lessons for his own future. And as for Nanda’s mom? She is still married to his father, because he no longer abuses her and Nanda reports that his father feels “shame, guilt, and remorse,” despite the fact that he has never once apologized to any of his family members.

Nanda told Gupta and Singh that he copes with his past through his work in comedy, and in the past, he has sought help from psychiatrists. But currently, for Nanda, his comedy is enough therapy for him. Gupta, Singh, and Nanda then tried to make light of Nanda’s father’s abuse—perhaps to give an explanation for his actions. But let’s be real, there is NO explanation for domestic abuse. There is no reasoning it. There is no condoning it. And I really cannot feel anything but outrage right now.