No Dating Till You're Married
Each week, debut South Asian author and presenter, Leela Rani Dua, reads you a chapter from her novel, No Dating Till You're Married, in this audiobook podcast.
No Dating Till You're Married is a cross-cultural coming of age story, set between the nostalgia of the 90s and the millennial 2020s, following first-generation Indian-American, Aria Kohli.
Everyone is getting married except Aria, and she's just fine with that. Aria Kohli, born to Indian immigrant parents and raised amongst her American peers, has led a semi-charmed kinda life. She’s got good friends, one who comes with benefits, parents who, as far as Indian parents go, are pretty chill, and a job she likes and is good at. Although she doesn't always feel like she fits in with the Indian diaspora that she is ancestrally connected to, the rest of her life is really starting to come together as long as she only goes home occasionally. But when her mother gets sick and her best friend-with-benefits wants a real relationship, she must decide which piece of each culture will define her adulthood.
Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.
New episodes drop weekly on Thursdays on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
No Dating Till You're Married has been shortlisted for the Mo Siewcharran Prize 2019.
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- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 11 minutes
- Episodes
- 46
- Years Active
- 2024 - 2025
Chapter 45: Operation Doctor
After Aria and Rahul get into an arugment in the middle of the night at the hospital, Sunita needs emergency surgery, and the whole gang, family, friends, relatives, show up to support her. Before go…
Chapter 44: Of Podcasts and Vending Machine Snacks
Aria is stuck in a hospital, at night, with nothing to do! So she does what any sane person would do and eats crappy vending machine snacks and doom scrolls! That is, until Rahul shows up to keep her…
Chapter 43: The Waiting Game
Aria finally has a day to relax and she needs it after the drama at Nikki's engagement party.As much as she's happy for Nikki and Jags, Aria is tired and just wants to zone out with takeout, mindless…
Chapter 42: Next in Line
It's time for Nikki and Jag's engagement! And they're beyond happy. But the stress of all of the everything is starting to weigh on Aria. How will she balance her family, her career, her love life, a…
Chapter 41: Sliding Doors
Paul and Aria do the walk and talk à la Sorkin and The West Wing. Big things are happening at work. Opportunities abound, but Josh and Donna have got nothing on this pair. Aria and Paul are up for th…
Chapter 40: Catching Up
This week, we get into our time machine and head back to the year 2000 to find ourselves at the mall. Matt and Lucy debate the merits of various early 2000s fashion, including Hot Topic, Express, Cha…
Chapter 39: Let the Games Begin
It's Dylan's big night. It's finally time for the launch of World of Witches, the video game, and the pressure is on him to deliver, not just the game, but the big launch event. Will he pull it off? …
Chapter 38: Cross Words & Puzzles
Sunita is in the hospital for her chemo appointment. Aria is keeping her company. And Rahul is around. As usual.! I mean he is her doctor, but he's just always around. And it makes Aria feel some kin…
Chapter 37: A Healthy Balance
Things are getting tense at the Kohli house with the three Kohlis finding themselve in close quarters spending ALL of their time together. Aria decides holy orange bottles aren't going to be enough a…
Chapter 36: The Juggling Act
The Kohlis are cocooned in the world of cancer, sickness, and healing, within the family home. That is until the parents decide it's time for Aria to go on an app date. So off she goes to Starbucks t…
Chapter 35: Hospital Lighting
Basking in the aftermath of Hayleigh's engagment party and the success of getting to with Dylan and her parents, Aria listens to her parents reminisce on their marriage so far and the romance of thei…
Chapter 34: A Delicate Dance
Dylan, Aria, Sunita, and Anil all attend Hayleigh and Todd's engagement party together. There they meet up with family and friends, share a bit of banter, hear speeches from the parents of the bride …
Chapter 33: We Don't Discuss Business at the Table
Dylan encourages Aria to reach out to her parents. But when she doesn't he calls them himself. Sunita invites the pair for a sit down to smooth things over. Dylan and Aria agree to have tea with the …
Chapter 32: The Aftermath
The aftermath of the dinner. Yeah, that one! Where Dylan met the parents and, although it seemed to go well, Dylan was on his best, most charming behavior, all set and dressed to impress, it somehow …
Chapter 31: Meet the Indian Parents
Awkward! It's time for the Kohli parents to acknowledge that their daughter is dating. A boy. A gora, American boy. Without their blessing, consent, permission or intervention. So it's time for them …
Chapter 30: No Boys Allowed
For a culture that is so obsessed with getting their kids married, Indians are very averse to their children dating. So, in 1997, when Aria gets her first ever Valentine, she has to hide it from her …
Chapter 29: Miss Matched
Aria agrees to her parent's demands of going on an arranged marriage date in exchange for them meeting Dylan. And Dylan is cool with it. I think. Mostly. And, although she's not sure what to expect f…
Chapter 28: Chance Encounters
First we hopscotch back to 2001, in which we see the first time Aria and Dylan meet and have a truly pretentious exchange that can only be had by college students.
Then, present day, Aria and her fri…
Chapter 27: The Surprise Performance
Aria is being supportive of her parents, seeing her mom through her illness, hanging out at home, when they ambush her! First with an Indian night, complete with samosas, salvar kameez, mithai, and b…
Chapter 26: The Oversight Committee
In which we look to the past and present for insights into Aria's relationship with her parents, and deep dive into the secret double life of the Indian girl. In 1999, we get ready for a high school …