Summer is almost over, but there’s still time left to squeeze in a really good book on the beach.

This week’s guest, best-selling author Amulya Malladi’s new novel The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You just may be the one. And it’s just been released on audiobook, too.

Amulya Malladi is a prolific author. She’s the best-selling author of eight novels, including The Copenhagen Affair and A House for Happy Mothers. Add the fact that she is a corporate executive for a large global company who travels the world, and has lived in India, Europe, and the United States, well, I think I want to be her in my next life. 

Amulya is as much entertaining to talk with as she is talented. She’s has a firecracker personality, and we chat about her need to write, our mutual experiences mixing up Indian and Western cultures in our lives, her outspoken, rebellious nature, and about one of her burning goals to accomplish when she moved from India to Memphis, TN, that had nothing to do with her studies. (Think Carrie Bradshaw goes to college). Amulya spins the narrative of her connections with cultures, women’s issues, and how they all manifest in her books. 

Stay tuned until the end of this riveting conversation to listen to an audiobook sample of The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You. It’s good. Really good. 

Subscribe to Southern Life Indian Wife where you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher andTuneIn. Keep up to date with the podcast and my upcoming book news by following me on Facebook,  Instagram, and Twitter! And…email me at [email protected] to order a signed copy of my book The Unexpected Daughter. 

To learn more about Amulya Malladi and The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, find her on Facebook, Instagram, and at amulyamalladi.com. To purchase the audiobook, hop over to Audible. Enjoy!

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The amazing Sophia Watson joins me on Southern Life Indian Wife this week. Sophia is an actress, model, writer, and film producer from the Atlanta area. 

I’ve known Sophia since she was five years old and have had the privilege of watching her accomplish so much. She has appeared in 10 films, including 2008’s Living Proof alongside Harry Connick Jr., and 2016’s Elbow Grease with starring Burt Reynolds, and so much more. 

Her latest accomplishment is the short film #SLUT, which she wrote, starred in, and produced during her senior year in high school. This multifaceted star talent is only 19-years-old!

I so love chatting with her on the podcast. She’s such a dynamic professional. We delve into her grounded childhood acting experience and her personal reasons for making the film #SLUT. This actress has a bright future ahead and you’re going to love getting to know her. You’re definitely going to see much more of her soon.

Subscribe to Southern Life Indian Wife where you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts  and TuneIn. Keep up to date with the podcast and my upcoming book news by following me on Facebook,  Instagram and Twitter! And…email me at [email protected] to order a signed copy of my book The Unexpected Daughter. 

Watch the trailer for #SLUT and root for her at the Cobb International Film Festival August 1. She loves chatting it up with followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and you can find out more about her at IMDb.

Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/

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How did you meet your spouse? 

I met my husband on a starry summer night when I was sixteen. It was love at first sight.  We dated for three years, he proposed on one knee, we had a huge wedding. My husband is Indian and bucked the Indian arranged marriage system. He says he got away with it because he is a man.

Me on the other hand, I grew up in the US with Gloria Steinem in the news, right after the sexual revolution, and with parents who raised me to be independent.  I’d be damned if anyone was going to tell me what to do. 

My guest this week is Ushma Dahya’s experience was vastly different from mine or my husband’s. Ushma is an accomplished pharmacist, mother of 2, wife for twenty years, and a recent immigrant to the U.S from an Indian community outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. And a cancer survivor.  In this episode, she tells the story of her arranged marriage, living in a household in which her husband’s parents dictated every detail of her life, and how her husband stood by her during her cancer fight. Her story may surprise western listeners, and I hope, bring to light the harmful circumstances many women endure because of their culture’s gender roles - and that there is hope.

Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/

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Do you believe in ghosts? 

Heather Dobson does. She is an Atlanta-area stay-at-home mom by day and seasoned paranormal investigator by night. She travels the country looking with Paranormal Georgia Investigators for evidence of the afterlife and is now the author of her first book, Memoirs of a Future Ghost, scheduled for release August third this year. 

Heather joins me on Southern Life Indian Wife to discuss mom stuff, how people here in the Bible Belt offer to pray for her, and what exactly goes through her mind when she hears a ghostly voice on a recording tell her to get out of a house. 

If you get goosebumps during the episode as I did during our conversation, I want to hear about it. And I implore you to pre-order her book for even more tales of her experiences with the paranormal.

Subscribe to Southern Life Indian Wife where you listen to podcasts, including Apple  Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Tunein. Keep up to date with the podcast and my upcoming book news by following me on Facebook,  Instagram and Twitter!

To learn all about Heather Dobson and pre-order “Memoirs of a Future Ghost,” find her here: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and her website and PGI’s website.

Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anyone who knows me or reads my social media posts regularly knows that cooking is not my forte. That’s one reason why sitting down with celebrity Chef Elliott Farmer on episode three of the "Southern Life Indian Wife" podcast brought me so much joy. 

Chef Elliott Farmer is an Atlanta native who has more accomplishments on his resume than I could ever dream of for myself. He is a cookbook author who inspired me to publish my own book years ago. He has appeared on Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen” for two seasons, his catering company provided meals for SuperBowl VII in Atlanta, filmed a pilot for Food Network’s “Atlanta Chefs,” and has made TV and film appearances, including “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” To top that off the man has a doctoral degree in Psychology!

I met Chef Elliott through my husband on the set filming his “Atlanta Chefs” pilot, and instantly fell in friendship love.

In the podcast, he opens up about how his work ethic took him on a long journey from a poor childhood in Atlanta to celebrity chef and Doctor of Psychology. He talks about making love to your food, and his new catering venture associated with Jay-Z and Usher.

His talk of food will make you hungry. 

His charm and infectious optimism will knock your socks off and keep you wanting more.

Subscribe to "Southern Life Indian Wife"where you listen to podcasts. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook! To learn more about Chef Elliott Farmer, find him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and at his website.

Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/

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How do you protect your children from the dangers of being online? This week I talk mom-to-mom with Gina-Ann Riggs on her experience navigating social media and the inherent risks with her son, Chandler Riggs. While you might know Chandler from playing Carl on 'The Walking Dead', you might not know that he and his family were targeted by an online predator. Listen for tips on how you can keep your family safe on this week’s episode of Southern Life Indian Wife.

Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/

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Good books, good wine, good people, and good stories. They can change the world. After connecting deeply with readers about my novel The Unexpected Daughter, I realized our conversations needed to continue past emails and book signing events. I wanted a long sit down with people to talk. Truths. Grit. And a tiny bit of smack.

Today, I’m proud, and terribly nervous, to announce the launch of my new podcast Southern Life Indian Wife with best-selling author Emily Carpenter as my very first guest.

Emily and I sat down together to discuss her newest book release, Until The Day I Die, plus a whole lot more. Our conversation digs into who she is as an author as well as all-around strong woman. She’s a bit of an over-achiever and still humble as all get-out. I loved getting to look her in the eyes while she told her story, about her writing and about her.

Good people sharing stories leaves us all a little better than when we began. I’m better after our conversation. After you listen to this episode, I know you’ll take some goodness with you too.

Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.