Opening Night, Melbourne Comedy Festival 2018. Dilruk Jayasinha’s introductory salvo:

This is so exciting. I honestly… Sorry, it’s unbelievable — that I get to do stand-up comedy here at the Palais in Melbourne. Because I… I’m from Sri Lanka! And I used to be an accountant. Yeah. A Sri Lankan accountant!!! So — not just a money cruncher, but a curry-munching money cruncher!

Thaaat word … is it back again? For someone who has spent the last 30 years of her life specialising in English literary, postcolonial and cultural studies, I had never encountered it until I arrived in Australia 10 years ago.

On today’s episode of Essays On Air, a podcast from The Conversation, I’m reading my essay, titled The politics of curry.

Find and subscribe to Essays on Air in Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Read more: When a suburb's turn for gentrification comes ...

Additional audio

Big Mojo Vadodara by Kevin MacLeod

Dilruk Jayasinha’s performance at the Melbourne Comedy Festival 2018 (used under fair dealing)

Indian beats by delta9THC #2

Indian dream by zebra 404

Old Man’s Tale by David Szesztay

Snow by David Szesztay

Sound effects from Orange Free Sounds and Free Sound

Today’s episode was recorded and edited by Maggy Liu.

Mridula Nath Chakraborty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.