The Chai Social

Delah Coffee was buzzing with excitement on Sunday afternoon, as we celebrated our one-year anniversary of OPEN Silicon Valley Young Professionals.

Our chapter was founded by Areeba Yasin, who started this organization to unite like-minded individuals from the Pakistani diaspora in a shared space that promotes personal and professional growth in all facets of life.

“By curating events with speakers, topics, and activities closely tied to our backgrounds, we not only celebrate our heritage but also address the unique needs of our community,” Areeba said.

While many of the guests sipped on their coffee or munched on their samosas, they shared stories about their career trajectories with one another, cultivating new connections.

“Being in the Silicon Valley for sometime, I’ve become somewhat accustomed to meeting a lot of people involved in tech wherever I go and due to that there’s a little bit of expectation of meeting tech folks people but what I’ve realized is that OPEN attracts talent of all industries,” said Raeed, one of our many attendees. “I really appreciated learning about the many different things people are doing and many different goals that people have.”

After some networking, we dove into a quick ice breaker activity followed by a game of Charades in teams of two. Many of the participants guessed in anticipation as their teammate performed the designated phrase written on the mini sheet of paper. Some of our favorite highlights were watching Syed use the table as a prop to show he’s “changing a diaper, Faizan silently drawing a large circle with his hands and “entering a make-shift portal,” like the one in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Shayan attempting to stir a pot as he tried to make imaginary “spaghetti,” and Hasan pressing both of his palms against his cheek, while tilting his head, and pretending to drape an imaginary scarf over his head as he showed us all how to be a “blushing bride.”

Out of all the activities we hosted, Faizan enjoyed Charades the most. “I used to be a mime and so it was a little too easy for me but it was nice seeing other people also try.”

After charades concluded, we began a small game of Antakshari, which involved singing a Pakistani or Bollywood song that began with the consonant of the Urdu alphabet. Fajr and Robabeh created a strong harmony as the duo sang the ghazal “Afreen Afreen,” by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, followed by Sophia, Saamia and Shayan singing the catchy chorus of “Who Let The Dogs Out,” in an ensemble, concluding with Saad and Raaed singing the qawwali “Taaj Daare Haram,” in an in-sync chorus.

Because Fajr is an international student who struggled to find community-based events in the Bay Area, she deeply appreciated seeing some familiar faces at the chai social whom she connected with at our annual forum back in November.

“It was really nice to see all of those people again,” said Fajr. “I enjoyed the games that were more very Pakistan-specific in a sense it was nice feeling connected to your own country and your own roots and culture.”

It was great celebrating our achievements we’ve made in the past year at Delah Coffee. We enjoyed seeing all the attendees actively participate and engage in all the activities. We look forward to seeing more of you at our upcoming event: a suhoor which will take place in the next few weeks inshallah. Ramadan Mubarak to you all!