Moving out is supposed to be part of growing up. But in many South Asian families, leaving home can feel less like independence and more like rejection.

In this episode, Saf and Zoheb talk about moving out, living with parents after marriage, the expectations placed on South Asian sons, and what happens when family loyalty starts to clash with the need for your own space.

They also get into the pressure placed on wives entering a new family home, why some men grow up without basic domestic skills, and the blurred line between South Asian culture and religion.

Is staying at home always a sign of closeness? And does moving out really mean leaving your family behind?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Content warning: This episode includes discussion of murder, the deaths of children, suicide and self-harm, postpartum mental illness, psychosis and other distressing details.

Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas, Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been convicted of first-degree murder for orchestrating the shooting. The jury took less than three hours to reach its verdict. Davis was not accused of firing the fatal shots himself, and the identity of the shooter has never been established in court. He is due to be sentenced on 13 October 2026 and has said he plans to appeal. (Reuters)

In Massachusetts, the Lindsay Clancy case ended very differently. After roughly 38 hours of deliberation across seven days, the jury could not reach a unanimous decision and a mistrial was declared. Reporting since the trial indicates 11 jurors favoured finding Clancy not criminally responsible, with one holdout. Her defence has now asked the judge to find her not guilty rather than allow a second trial. That motion is due to be heard on 29 September. Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek a retrial if the motion fails. (Reuters)

In this episode, Saf and Zoheb talk through both cases, the decades of theories surrounding Tupac and Biggie, whether a case can really feel “solved” 30 years later, and what happens when even medical experts and jurors cannot agree on criminal responsibility.

They also get into the wider questions these cases raise: how much mental illness should change legal responsibility, whether one juror should be able to stop a verdict, and whether justice still means the same thing when it arrives decades late.

Important note: The Lindsay Clancy case remains active. This episode discusses publicly reported evidence, testimony and court proceedings available at the time of recording. Saf and Zoheb are sharing personal opinions and reactions, not making factual claims about medical diagnosis or legal guilt beyond what has been established in court. Some details discussed during the conversation are corrected or clarified as the episode progresses.

Recorded before the latest legal developments: Since recording, Lindsay Clancy’s defence has formally asked the judge to enter a finding of not guilty following the mistrial. A hearing is scheduled for 29 September 2026. Duane Davis remains awaiting sentencing on 13 October 2026 and has indicated that he intends to appeal.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we living through the age of fame without talent, or has social media simply given people opportunities they never had before?

Saf and Zoheb look back at how social media has changed from the days of Hi5, Bebo, MySpace, BBM and BlackBerry to a world where TikTok, Instagram and everything else follows us around in our pockets.

They get into whether life was actually better when you had to go home and log on, why so much of life now feels like it’s being performed for an audience, and what happens when attention itself becomes something people can turn into money.

There’s the influencer with a ring light in a restaurant, people sitting on TikTok Live asking strangers for gifts, the rise of people becoming rich and famous without any obvious talent, and the flip side of all of that: social media has also helped genuinely talented people get discovered, created careers that didn’t exist before and given ordinary people access to opportunities they may never otherwise have had.

They also talk about the UK’s planned under-16 social media ban, online safety, children growing up permanently connected, gaming platforms, trolls and whether social media has made it harder to separate the loudest people online from what people are actually like in real life.

And, because this is The Side Room, the conversation somehow also gets into Michael Jackson, old Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones, BlackBerry Messenger, Floyd Mayweather, a Bollywood singer getting suspended from Twitter and whether Saf and Zoheb could take Mayweather in a two-on-one fight.

Would either of them choose to keep social media if they had the option to get rid of it completely?

A note on the conversation: The views expressed in this episode are personal opinions, recollections and conversational commentary from the hosts. References to people, events and wider issues are not presented as verified factual reporting and should not be treated as such.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

South Asian parents love an expectation.

Do well at school. Go to uni. Get a good job. Don’t embarrass the family. And while you’re at it, why can’t you be more like your cousin?

In this episode, Saf and Zoheb talk about the pressure they grew up with, how much of it came from their parents, and how differently that pressure could land depending on whether you were the oldest, youngest, a boy or a girl.

They get into school, discipline, being compared to other people, the things South Asian dads absolutely do not apologise for, and the expectations that somehow follow you all the way into marriage.

Zoheb’s wife gets pulled into the conversation towards the end completely randomly. She wasn’t mic’d up, so the audio changes a bit, but the conversation was worth keeping in.

We barely scratched the surface with this one, so there’s definitely more to come.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode discusses allegations and personal opinions around an ongoing public conversation.

A few clips we posted about Iksy started getting more attention than we expected, and then the DMs came in. People were sending us their own stories, screenshots and experiences. Some were detailed, some weren’t, and we obviously can’t verify everything we’ve been sent.

Then Iksy went on Podghost and gave his side of the story, so we sat down and talked about the whole thing properly.

We get into the allegations, his response, whether he seemed remorseful, accountability, second chances and what happens when people simply stop trusting you.

But it also turns into a much wider conversation about our own community. Why do the same stories around money, bad business and people taking advantage of each other keep coming up? Why does it feel like some of the things we saw growing up are still happening in our generation? And even if you forgive someone, does that mean you ever have to trust them again?

And yes, we also get into the clout-chasing comments, publicising sins, community responsibility and whether any of this should even be discussed publicly in the first place.

A note before listening:

This episode is a conversation and reflects the personal opinions of the people taking part. Any allegations or claims of wrongdoing discussed in this episode are allegations and should not be understood as findings of fact. We have not independently verified every claim, message or account referred to during the conversation, and we make no determination as to their truth or accuracy.

Some of the discussion refers to statements, allegations and commentary already circulating publicly or shared with us by third parties. Where we discuss these matters, we are doing so for the purposes of conversation, commentary and opinion.

We do not encourage harassment, threats, abuse, doxxing or contacting anyone mentioned in this episode, including their friends or family.

If you believe we have materially misstated something discussed in this episode, you can contact The Side Room directly.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you know which friendships are actually built to last?

Saf and Zoheb talk about childhood friends, making close friends as adults, friendship after marriage, and the people who show up when life gets difficult. They look back at the friendships they grew up with, the ones that have lasted, the ones that quietly faded, and what happens when someone you still care about no longer fits the life you’ve built.

They also get into outgrowing old friends, keeping a smaller circle as you get older, whether loyalty should have limits, and how marriage, family and grief can change the way you look at the people around you. Plus, has social media made us feel connected while actually making us worse at keeping in touch?

Zoheb’s wife was also listening in and occasionally joins the conversation. She wasn’t mic’d up for the episode, so apologies for the audio quality when you hear her chipping in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing up Muslim in Britain meant learning the Quran, praying and, sometimes, being told exactly what would send you to hell.

Saf and Zoheb look back at getting punished for mistakes, feeling afraid to get religion wrong, drifting from prayer as they got older and eventually having to build their own relationship with faith as adults. They talk about relearning the Quran, struggling with prayer (salah), South Asian parents using religion when it suited them, and how much of what they were taught came from culture rather than Islam itself.

Were they taught to love their religion, or were they taught to fear what happened if they got it wrong?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You get married thinking it’s about you and the person you love, but then the honeymoon period wears off. Money conversations get real, families get involved, everyone has an opinion. Suddenly, we're thrown into discussions about who compromises, who provides, whose parents come first and what exactly you both signed up for.

Saf and Zoheb get into all of it, comparing what marriage has actually been like for them. Someone else (Zoheb’s wife) also starts chiming in from behind the camera and accidentally becomes this episode’s unofficial third voice.

What follows is a very Side Room conversation about marriage, mummy’s boys, in-laws, culture dressed up as religion, divorce, financial readiness and the uncomfortable gap between wanting to get married and actually being ready to be someone’s husband.

At the heart of it is something pretty simple:

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A quick note: Zoheb’s wife wasn’t meant to be on the episode and wasn’t separately mic’d, so she’s a little quieter in places, sorry about that. We’re still improving the setup and getting better as we go.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.