Riya's Ramblings

I started school a few days back. At home. All online. 

We had online school in the spring too but this is very different. In this episode, I talk about my experiences with school this time around. I discuss my favorite and least favorite parts of remote learning. And I have a new role in our online class. I also the two new words I learned during this past two weeks - Synchronous and Asynchronous. Listen to the episode to hear what the two words mean.

How's your online school? What's the good and the bad about it?

Email me at [email protected] about your online school. You can also send me your feedback as a voice memo.

As always listen, rate, and share!!

I recently watched a movie about Gunjan Saxena, the first woman to be a pilot in the  Indian Air Force and go to war. That inspired me to learn about other "first women" in different fields. So I researched them and want to share them with you.

Here's a few of the pioneering women who I learned about while researching for this episode

Sally Ride - first American woman in space

Valentina Tereshkova - first woman in space

Sirimavo Bandarnayike - first woman Prime Minister (Sri Lanka)

Junko Tabei - first woman to climb Mt. Everest

Amelia Earhart - first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

And so many more!!

Is there a woman pioneer who has inspired you? Let me know about them

Email me at [email protected] about anything you want!!

And as always, Listen, Rate, and Share!!

In this episode, I interview my cousin in India over Zoom.  Ira and I discuss many things such as what we are doing in quarantine, how we are handling online school, and other things as well.  I have been wanting to do this interview for a while so here it is! 

It's interesting to see how much we have in common (e.g. we both love "Avengers") and yet there are interesting differences as well (e.g. her lockdown experience was more strict than mine.

This interview was fun to do, and I hope you enjoy listening!

As always listen, rate, and share!

Email me at [email protected] about your quarantine, or anything else!  I love hearing from you!

This episode my dad and I discussed one of my all-time favorite books - The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden.

We  talk about our favorite parts, what the book is about, why we  recommend it, and the impact of a teacher in the book.  We also mention  the fact that is a heavy read, but a very good book and we  recommend it!

Listen to find out more about the book! Don't worry - no spoilers!

Hope you enjoy the episode!  Listen, rate, share!

Remember to email me at [email protected] about your favorite book. 

If you do not have an email account, you can also tweet to my dad on twitter at @hschhaya 

In this episode, I talk about a few interesting things I have done in quarantine to keep busy! I have tried a few different activities and have enjoyed doing them.

I talk about 5 activities – including basketball, tie dying a bandanna and card magic. I also talk about our trip to a nearby lake to look at comet NEOWISE. 

And you are listening to my fifth activity - podcasting!

I have tried something new in this episode – I have three segments that we recorded “live” while doing the activities. It was fun to include them in this episode.

Let me know if you like these “remote” segments.

I had a lot of fun doing this episode, though it took a while to publish. So, I hope you enjoy listening!

You can email me at [email protected] about your quarantine, or anything else!

You can also send me your feedback as a voice memo.

And rate, listen, share!

We talk about his childhood (no TV!, oh no!), his school life (his teachers hit him :() and his life experiences.

I now have a whole new appreciation for my teachers, YouTube and my life.

Make sure to talk to your grandparents - and ask them about their childhood. You will learn SO MUCH!

If you are curious how to say "goodbye" in my mother-tongue (Gujarati), listen till the end. :)

As always, listen, rate and share!

Write to me - [email protected] - with ideas, feedback, questions. What did you learn about your grandparents? Let me know!

You can record your feedback as a voice memo and email it to me. I will include it in a future episode.

Have you ever wondered what Tae Kwon Do is? Well, I have. 

For this episode I interview a Tae Kwon Do student who explains how it works, and his  experience in it!

We cover a lot of topics like the different belts, where it started and more.

He has been studying TKD for nearly 10 years - so you know he knows his stuff!

He recommends it for everyone! It's never too late to start!

Do you currently practice TKD? What do you like most about it? 

Are there any other topics that you are interested in? Record a short audio using the "voice recorder" app and email it to me at [email protected]!  

Listen, rate, and share!

Oh - one more thing. I have a website now. Check it out: https://riyaramblings.wixsite.com/blog

In this episode, I talk about a very inspiring, and educational person - Selva Dut. I recently listened to a book called "A Long Walk to Water", and Selva is the main character. His story is fascinating and I wanted to share his story with you.

His story is full of hardships, challenges, and more. After he goes through his journey, he changes the world to help others through their journey. In the episode, I discuss how he has so many hard things, but still gets through them. 

Listen to the episode, and you will be very inspired and amazed at his life!

Have you read the book? What did you think?

Listen, rate and spread the word!

Email me at [email protected]

Here is the link to the official website for Water for Sudan: https://www.waterforsouthsudan.org/

Also, I want to correct an error I made in the last episode. In that episode, I talked about another book ("Out of my mind") where the main character had cerebral palsy. I said that Stephen Hawking the scientist had that. Mr. Hawking had ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig's disease. He did not have cerebral palsy. I am sorry for the mistake.

In this episode, I talk about one of my favorite books of all time - "Out of my Mind" by Sharon M. Draper. It is the story of a girl who has cerebral palsy, and how she manages to changes the way everyone looks at her! Make sure to listen for more and why it made me laugh and cry while I was reading it. Don't worry - I don't reveal everything about the book.

Enjoy the episode and read the book. Remember: Reading is your superpower, use it!

Have you read the book? What do you think? Any other other books you recommend for me?

Make sure to email me at [email protected]!  I love hearing from y'all

In this episode, I talk about Juneteenth - what it is and why is it an important part of US history.

I hope you enjoy learning about this historical event.

As always, you can email me at [email protected] with your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

Please rate and review the podcast and spread the word!