New Indian Woman

We chat with Ms. Harini Nagendra, well known researcher, public speaker, columnist and author who writes on ecology and environmental issues. She recently published a detective novel(part of a detective series) which is winning awards of all kinds. In this episode we talk about why she took 14 years to complete this book and how she manages to find time amidst her demanding schedule.

We chat with Ms. Sujatha, content head in a leading television channel. She takes us through her life's ups and downs and how she had to rise like a phoenix and adapt, every time, even when life took her to the lowest point!   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/not-giving-up-when-you-reach-the-lowest-point

In  Part 2 of this 2 part series, we continue our chat with Ms. Anurama Suresh on the fears todays young women and young couple have, about having and rearing a child. Listen to this, for you may be able to make a difference to the young couple in your life. Anurama Suresh is an accredited coach with several years of coaching experience and has her niche in fertility coaching.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here -   https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/fears-about-having-a-child

In  Part 1 of this 2 part series, we talk to Ms. Anurama Suresh on what pregnancy coaching is and why is it required.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/introduction-to-pregnancy-coaching

In this episode, we look at a foundational aspect of our lives - Focus. Without nurturing this, our attempts at all of what we try to do, can be suboptimal. We examine one technique that all of us can try - I am happy to share this from my own personal experience.    For more details on this episode, click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/finding-focus-one-small-chunk-at-a-time

In  Part 2 of this 2 part series, we continue talking to Ms. Gowthami Saraf who has a lot of experience with parents, teachers and children. We focus on what should the New Indian Woman podcast listeners know about the adolescents in their life.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/understanding-adolescents-part-2

In this episode we speak to Ms. Gowthami Saraf who has a lot of experience with parents, teachers and children. We focus on what should the New Indian Woman podcast listeners know about the adolescents in their life.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/understanding-adolescents-part-1

  In this episode Dr. Nandita Iyer explains the structure of her book, This Handmade Life. She talks about how one can start this journey, with just 1 hour per week. She explains the 7 different skills that  may invite us to start something. She even introduces us to people who have explored these skills and even started businesses around them! This is Part 2 of a 2 part series. To listen to Part 1 - click here.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/knowing-handmade-life-though-7-skills-which-is-yours

In these current times when we use our hands mainly on devices, Dr. Nandita Iyer's book, This Handmade Life, really nudges us to discover or rediscover what we would like to do with our hands. In Part 1 of this 2 part series, she introduces this concept to the New Indian Woman listeners and talks about some core skills and the benefits that lie waiting for us.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/are-you-ready-for-handmade-life

In the last episode, we met with someone who had to leave her career due to family circumstances. In Part 2 of the discussion, we focus on how life situations have extended her break to 10 years. We also examine what this meant to her emotionally, especially so considering the roles she performed in her family before and even soon after her marriage. She talks about the challenges she faced, how she reached a state wherein physically and emotionally she had reached rock bottom, when she felt divorce could be an answer.   And then she shares with us what she did, to turn the situation around, well, almost!   For more details on this episode, click here -https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/when-a-2-year-break-extends-to-10-years

In this episode, we meet with someone who had to leave her career due to family circumstances. She talks about how she was independent before her marriage and how she supported her family. And later, what led her to leave her wonderful career, that too when she was enjoying it and was getting recognized for it. This is Part 1 of a 2 Part series.   For more details on this episode, click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/leaving-a-promising-career-and-its-impact

What is mindful eating and why anyone and especially New Indian Woman listeners should know about this ? We meet Santhilakshmy, who has expertise in this area. Passionate about creating tasty and healthy food, Santhilakshmy's journey started 15 years ago, taking her to schools and educational forums, making a case for understanding of our food better.   Listen to this episode to know more about mindful eating and some simple tips to start it in your own context!   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here

This special anniversary episode takes us through the variety of episodes we had in the past year and..   Yes, it talks about how you can engage with this favourite podcst of yours, in many ways!   Thanks to all of you for the wonderful support!   Click here for more details, especially about the episodes of the past year.

In Part 2  of this 2 part series, we speak to Sreeranjini to know more about her future plans around reviving ancient games. We also speak to her about the challenges she has faced and her approach towards handling them. We even examine the possibility of you, the listener, being able to engage with her and to set up something similar in your area. Alternately, if you are keen to delve into what playing some of these ancient games can do for you and your family, please do listen to this episode.   If you missed Part 1 where we talked about the store Kavade she has set up and the play space Attic, please click here   If you would love to read more details on this episode and see the links of her store Kavade and the unique space called Attic, click here 

Sreeranjini is another of those inspiring Indian woman, who chose to follow her passion. She felt children needed something better than the plastic or noisemaking or battery operated toys that are easily available in the market. And that led her into the path of reviving ancient games, and that too in a unique way. She has created a toy store based on this concept, a space for people to relax with a book or a gameboard and now she is taking it even further!   Listen to this episode to know more about her, her journey and what it means to play ancient games!   If you would love to read more details on this episode and see the links of her store Kavade and the unique space called Attic, click here

In this episode, we look at how to use Email as a tool without it taking control over your life. We examine how you can use emails effectively, regardless of whether you are someone who doesn’t use emails much. Or you are struggling with a lot of emails.   There are 5 important points covered in this episode - your email life will become much more simpler with this!   For more details on this episode, click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/emails-how-to-spend-minimum-time-and-maximize-returns

We continue our discussion with Ms. Renu Amitabh, a senior government official, a trainer for banks and insurance companies, a motivational speaker, and so on and also a baker who has taught baking to 1000+ people.   Ms. Renu Amitabh talks about how she finds time, how from childhood, the discipline in her life helped her do many roles at the same time. If her discussion on time management and how she handles challenges is inspiring, you will be pleasantly surprised to listen to her plans for the future. Especially, how baking is an integral part of the plan, baking teaching and sharing the skill of baking.   In this episode, you get to hear the background work that goes behind every story like this, what it means to have the support of a family and how to make it happen. Listen on..   What the New Indian Woman podcast is about   As you may already be aware, this podcast has 2 focus areas. One, We examine the challenges faced by today's Indian woman and proposes ACTIONABLE strategies in the Indian context, on a wide variety of topics - right from identifying their passion to better productivity and parenting.  Second,  We meet women who chose to aspire or have a dream beyond their defined roles  and facilitates sharing of what worked and what didn’t, for them. Today's episode falls in the second category.   And in the process, my aim is to help  you, The New Indian woman, to realize your potential, chase your dreams and aspirations, utilize the wonderful opportunities available in today's world.   What's in this episode:     We ended the previous episode with the question on making time and balancing this passion with her career demands , considering the seniority of her role. And this is what we dive into, in this episode.   She starts sharing, how after her break, when she resumed her office, people continued to ask for baking classes and how she decided to make time for this. She recalls how this aspect has been there right from her childhood, balancing multiple things. She talks about the importance of planning and then, executing as per plan. She then got hooked on to baking and planned to bake almost every day. She tells how she started sharing the loaves she baked with friends and family and especially older people who may have reservations about bread.   She goes on to share about the bad days and how the family supports her. We then discuss about how this family support evolves over a period of time and what is crucial is that one starts,  puts in the effort, for the family to start supporting. She then goes on to talk about a baking course she did in Germany and how baking becomes meditative when you use your hands with natural elements and see how the bare essentials gradually evolve into a finished product right in front of you. She shares how baking teaches you discipline!   She talks about her dreams - to increase awareness about the simplicity of baking bread, about creating short videos on healthy fast food targeting young students, about reaching out to deprived and marginalized women and children to create employment opportunities through baking. She even shares her personal goals, of leaving her job in a few years(and not waiting till retirement) and starting a baking school or academy with short term and long term courses for women and she is even visualizing a chain of cafes where you could place orders for custom breads and when you come to collect them, you could choose to spend some time with music or participate in book and poetry reading sessions!   It is truly wonderful and her energy is so infectious, you don’t want to miss listening to the entire episode!   If you liked this episode, please help this reach more people by sharing this podcast with friends and family over Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page.   Please write to me at krishna@thenewindianwoman.com or reach out to our social media pages to share your views on this episode.     Get in touch   Website : http://thenewindianwoman.com Facebook : http://facebook.com/newindianwoman Email : krishna@thenewindianwoman.com Twitter : https://twitter.com/thenewindianwo1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thenewindianwoman   To Connect with the guest   Website : http://www.renusbreadbakers.com/ Mail : renuamitabh@gmail.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL1wbCrOyGXIrIWkvO3LREw/featured Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/renusbreadbakers/ Subscribe Use the link corresponding to your favourite Podcast App to listen to the latest episode and do not forget to click on Subscribe :   Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/googleniw  Castbox :http://bit.ly/castboxniw Apple Podcast :http://bit.ly/appleniw Stitcher :http://bit.ly/stitcherniw Spotify :http://bit.ly/spotifyniw Radiopublic: http://bit.ly/radiopublicniw Podbean: http://bit.ly/podbeanniw TuneIn: http://bit.ly/tuneinniw

A senior government official, a trainer for banks and insurance companies, a motivational speaker, and so on and also a baker who has taught baking to 1000+ people. And that is exactly why she is featured in this episode of New Indian Woman, as an inspiration to all of us.   Ms. Renu Amitabh talks about how she started baking, a very personal story there and then explains how she got onto sharing the joy of baking with a small group at first and how it has become a passion for her and her focus has been on simplifying baking for all, with basic ingredients.   In this episode, it is interesting to hear about her passion, determination and more. Do not miss listening to this episode, for, you may get hooked on to baking or the power of passion. Listen on..   What the New Indian Woman podcast is about   As you may already be aware, this podcast has 2 focus areas. One, We examine the challenges faced by today's Indian woman and proposes ACTIONABLE strategies in the Indian context, on a wide variety of topics - right from identifying their passion to better productivity and parenting.  Second,  We meet women who chose to aspire or have a dream beyond their defined roles  and facilitates sharing of what worked and what didn’t, for them. Today's episode falls in the second category.   And in the process, my aim is to help  you, The New Indian woman, to realize your potential, chase your dreams and aspirations, utilize the wonderful opportunities available in today's world.   What's in this episode:   She starts with sharing how she is a learner for life and teacher at heart. And goes on to share her personal story on how she started baking and how it was terrible at the start. And how, with persistence, she found out how to bake a basic healthy loaf and then move on to having a common foundational recipe suited for Indian context, to make a lot of baked goodies.   She then talks about her first teaching session, with just 3 people, in her kitchen. She discusses why it is important to talk about failures and to share secrets.   We move on to how impossible it seems, to think of training more than a thousand people in 5 plus years. She explains how she started doing it in small groups, without any plan for it to grow,  and then how it evolved over a period of time. She shares how she carries yeast everywhere and offers to conduct classes wherever she goes, be it on vacation or not. She explains how this method of teaching in small groups can be done by anyone, for any hobby or interest they pursue, with just 2 hours of time set aside and without any marketing!   We talk about the uniqueness of her sessions wherein maids/helpers all join the learning process.  She shares her plan to make her website and Youtube into Hindi also, as currently a lot of people who do not know English are learning baking through the pictures and how she shows what needs to be done! And she reiterates the need to bust the myth around bread making being complex and how she has been doing it over the years. She calls the people who learnt baking from her, her baking family!   We end with the question on making time and balancing this passion with her career demands , considering the seniority of her role - and this will be addressed in the next episode.   If you liked this episode, please help this reach more people by sharing this podcast with friends and family over Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page.   Please write to me at krishna@thenewindianwoman.com or reach out to our social media pages to share your views on this episode.     Get in touch   Website : http://thenewindianwoman.com Facebook : http://facebook.com/newindianwoman Email : krishna@thenewindianwoman.com Twitter : https://twitter.com/thenewindianwo1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thenewindianwoman   To Connect with the guest   Website : http://www.renusbreadbakers.com/ Mail : renuamitabh@gmail.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL1wbCrOyGXIrIWkvO3LREw/featured Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/renusbreadbakers/   Subscribe Use the link corresponding to your favourite Podcast App to listen to the latest episode and do not forget to click on Subscribe :   Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/googleniw  Castbox :http://bit.ly/castboxniw Apple Podcast :http://bit.ly/appleniw Stitcher :http://bit.ly/stitcherniw Spotify :http://bit.ly/spotifyniw Radiopublic: http://bit.ly/radiopublicniw Podbean: http://bit.ly/podbeanniw TuneIn: http://bit.ly/tuneinniw

Description   In Part 2 of this 2 part series, we try to figure out what this role means in day to day life and how to handle this in a way in which it doesn’t affect oneself or the overall objective. The discussion is with an avid New Indian Woman podcast listener from the USA.   The lady is a scientist working in the US and living in a joint family, something quite unnatural there.   We discuss how she decided to start writing down what she did throughout the day, as a starting point.  She shares how this triggered many thoughts and actions, which made a big difference to the quality of her daily life. You are sure to relate to many aspects of this and you may find the strategies adopted by her being effective for you as well.     Listen on ..   What the New Indian Woman podcast is about   As you may already be aware, this podcast has 2 focus areas. One, We examine the challenges faced by today's Indian woman and propose ACTIONABLE strategies in the Indian context, on a wide variety of topics - right from identifying their passion to better productivity and parenting.  Second,  we meet women who chose to aspire or have a dream beyond their defined roles  and facilitate sharing of what worked and what didn’t, for them. Today's episode falls in the first category.   And in the process, my aim is to help  you, The New Indian woman, to realize your potential, chase your dreams and aspirations, utilize the wonderful opportunities available in today's world.   What's in this episode:   Writing down how she spent the day, for a continuous period of time, proved difficult for her. At the same time she made immense learnings from it. What is that learning ? You will be surprised on what she found and what she decided to do about it. Would you want to do this yourself ?   What does it mean to come back from work and realize you have to start cooking dinner while the husband can relax around - this is a familiar story, isnt it? But would you have expected this to be the story in the US ? She talks about the patterns we all get into, of making sure all our responsibilities are done, to the best of our abilities, so that no one around can criticize, before we are convinced to take a break. How to change this pattern? How did she do it, in a joint family, where gender roles are predefined ?   She moves on to talk about how she was being affected by the irritation expressed by family members over the state of the house, of the clutter and such stuff. And how, it took her some time to decide that they need to handle their irritation themselves - she need not think that she should avoid or resolve these. She shares something that really worked for her, in terms of reminding herself every day - such a small, but powerful action. This is something all of us will really find useful.   And again, how she decides to step out of a situation when it really becomes difficult to handle. She shares about all the questions such situations trigger in her and how she decides to acknowledge the anger she feels and tell herself it is OK to be angry. And how selfcare and having someone just to vent, is really helpful. She also shares what didn’t work for her and with professional help, how she had to adopt different techniques to handle the same.   And she summarizes it well by saying it is not about winning or having an upper hand over her mother in law, but about having a good and happy life. This involves a lot of give and take and clarity on which battles you really want to win.   I liked her take on these 2 points especially - about the daughter in law expected to bring happiness into the family and this constant question of would my in laws do this to their own daughter. You should really listen to her articulation of these 2 points.   And the one point she wanted to share with all listeners - Don’t forget to look after yourself!   Most of us may be able to relate to the above challenges in one way or the other. The reflections of the guest and the techniques that worked for her may serve as a good prompt for us and help us in our own journeys.   Hope you enjoy this episode. Please write to me at krishna@thenewindianwoman.com or reach out to our social media pages to share your views on this episode.   If you liked this episode, please help this reach more people by sharing this podcast with friends and family over Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page. And please don’t forget to subscribe to the New Indian Woman Newsletter at https://newindianwoman.substack.com/   Get in touch   Website : http://thenewindianwoman.com Facebook : http://facebook.com/newindianwoman Email : krishna@thenewindianwoman.com Twitter : https://twitter.com/thenewindianwo1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thenewindianwoman Newsletter: https://newindianwoman.substack.com/   Subscribe Use the link corresponding to your favourite Podcast App to listen to the latest episode and do not forget to click on Subscribe :   Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/googleniw  Castbox :http://bit.ly/castboxniw Apple Podcast :http://bit.ly/appleniw Stitcher :http://bit.ly/stitcherniw Spotify :http://bit.ly/spotifyniw Radiopublic: http://bit.ly/radiopublicniw Podbean: http://bit.ly/podbeanniw TuneIn: http://bit.ly/tuneinniw

In Part 1 of this 2 part series, we try to answer the above question. The discussion is with an avid New Indian Woman podcast listener from the USA.   The lady is a scientist working in the US and living in a joint family, something quite unnatural there.   We examine the challenges around unstated expectations, how this can become a drain when it comes to daily living. She also shares how she sought help and what actions she took and continues to take, to make sure the home becomes a place of love, care, freedom, nurturing and more.   Listen on ..   What the New Indian Woman podcast is about   As you may already be aware, this podcast has 2 focus areas. One, We examine the challenges faced by today's Indian woman and propose ACTIONABLE strategies in the Indian context, on a wide variety of topics - right from identifying their passion to better productivity and parenting.  Second,  we meet women who chose to aspire or have a dream beyond their defined roles  and facilitate sharing of what worked and what didn’t, for them. Today's episode falls in the first category.   And in the process, my aim is to help  you, The New Indian woman, to realize your potential, chase your dreams and aspirations, utilize the wonderful opportunities available in today's world.   What's in this episode:   We start with our guest of the day talking about the concept of joint family in the US and why it is important to understand the challenges this particular aspect itself brings forth.   We discuss the additional burden of expectation to fit in, as a daughter in law and how this manifests in daily life. She shares a few examples of this, about certain fixed mindsets, about certain unstated expectations from the daughter in law leading to questions like when do the in laws want to be independent and when do they want help or additional care ?   She talks about constantly trying to watch very closely to figure out what is required vs what doesn’t work for her and what to do then. We discuss there is no such thing as we have figured out how this works and how it is a constant process. This tightrope walking leads to a lot of stress in one's daily life.   She talks about how she found this extremely stressful and how she decided to take professional help. She shares how they have got to a point of living in a harmonious state where there are differences, but they have learnt to navigate the waters without creating tsunamis.   She talks about the scenarios when for unstated reasons her mother in law would get upset and how she used to try to talk it out, apologize etc earlier. And how, after a lot of reflection, she has chosen to respond differently to the same triggers by thinking through, acknowledging and accepting her mother in laws right to have her own feelings and more importantly, there is no need to try to solve this - to believe that her mother in law can resolve her problems herself.   We discuss about such crucial points and the importance of being aware, of reflecting and making the choice of responding or not responding to the trigger. We also  talk about this constant overarching need to respect and love the in-laws as husband's parents  and the acknowledgement that they are not one's own parents.   We get into other practical techniques that she adopted and here, she starts talking about not getting time for herself in her busy schedule, caring for all and carrying out her responsibilities in her various roles.   Most of us may be able to relate to the above challenges in one way or the other. The reflections of the guest and the techniques that worked for her may serve as a good prompt for us and help us in our own journeys.   Hope you enjoy this episode. Please write to me at krishna@thenewindianwoman.com or reach out to our social media pages to share your views on this episode.   If you liked this episode, please help this reach more people by sharing this podcast with friends and family over Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page. And please don’t forget to subscribe to the New Indian Woman Newsletter at https://newindianwoman.substack.com/   Get in touch   Website : http://thenewindianwoman.com Facebook : http://facebook.com/newindianwoman Email : krishna@thenewindianwoman.com Twitter : https://twitter.com/thenewindianwo1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thenewindianwoman Newsletter: https://newindianwoman.substack.com/   Subscribe Use the link corresponding to your favourite Podcast App to listen to the latest episode and do not forget to click on Subscribe :   Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/googleniw  Castbox :http://bit.ly/castboxniw Apple Podcast :http://bit.ly/appleniw Stitcher :http://bit.ly/stitcherniw Spotify :http://bit.ly/spotifyniw Radiopublic: http://bit.ly/radiopublicniw Podbean: http://bit.ly/podbeanniw TuneIn: http://bit.ly/tuneinniw