The Indian Edit

As I travel around the sheep-dotted fjords of Iceland, I’m reminded of the stunning landscape of a part of the world that my latest guest has made her home. Looking to work with a textile community, Catherine Allie moved from Germany to Ladakh in the High Himalayas, sandwiched between Tibet and Kashmir. Together with her Ladakhi husband and his nomadic family, she founded textile collective WE ARE KAL. Weaving yak and lamb wool into beautiful, naturally dyed home textiles and clothing, Catherine and her community have created a sustainable business directly linked with the landscape of the places they work in. Bear with our spotty internet connection for the first couple of minutes, and definitely stay tuned until the end to get a glimpse of Catherine’s life in remote Ladakh!

A huge shout out to listener Sarah Dunn for connecting me with Catherine! Please do check out Sarah’s own textile work which draws inspiration from Catherine in the shownotes below at Rani & Reine.

Listen now on your favorite podcast app, Spotify or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 56:

Connect with Catherine via We are Kal’s website and instagram

The gorgeous videos of the collective’s work are here

My generous listener Sarah Dunn’s Rani and Reine

BOOKS and MORE:

Ancient Futures: Lessons from Ladakh for a Globalizing World by Helena Norberg-Hodge

The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

Georgia-based human rights attorney and newly minted Picture book author Shelly Anand joined me for this wonderful chat about body positivity and championing immigrant rights. Her new book Laxmi’s Mooch is out now and another one is due next year!

Listen now on your favorite podcast app, Spotify or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 55:

Connect with Shelly via her website and instagram

Connect with MA ANAND SHELLY on Twitter here

Laxmi’s Mooch on Bookshop.org

BOOKS and MORE:

Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date

Talia Hibbert’s Brown sisters romance novels

Mariame Kaba’s We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice

Bobs’ Burgers

Shrill on Hulu

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

From her childhood in a small town to leading an internationally known brand, Anavila Misra has grown her fashion design label while remaining grounded in both innovation and tradition. Anavila reinvented the sari by using linen, while maintaining a strong connection with the artisan craft clusters who create her beautiful clothing. Join me as she shares how she brought together all her experiences in handloom, menswear, and her love of nature in launching “Anavila” in 2011.

Listen now on your favorite podcast app, or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 54:

See Anavila’s collection on the brand’s website and instagram

Artisans where Anavila launched her collection

BOOKS and MORE:

Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead

Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family by Mitch Albom

The legendary Swati Snacks, Mumbai

Sequel Mumbai, organic, gluten-free cafe

Ram & Shyam Chaat in Khar, Mumbai

L’Usine Cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Pizza 4P’s in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The Truffle Michelin-starred restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

Teaching mindfulness in the US as a South Asian immigrant, my latest guest Zeenat Potia is working to make meditation instruction more inclusive and sustainable. She shares her journey from Bombay to the US, her own experiences with meditation and so many MANY wonderful and wise suggestions for us beginners. We discuss the reasons why people meditate, how to deal with some of the challenges we all face when we do try, and lots of books and resources to keep us motivated. I found this conversation so helpful, and Zeenat’s energy so inspiring - I hope you do too!

Join the chat below, on your favorite podcast app, Spotify or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 53:

Connect with Zeenat on her website (where you can sign up to her newseltter) and instagram

Cambridge Insight Meditation Center where Zeenat teaches (and which has many virtual options if you’re not local!)

Ruth King “Nothing is permanent, perfect or personal.”

BOOKS and MORE:

Island of the blue dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal

Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind by Judson Brewer

Ezra Klein interviews Dr. Brewer on his podcast - transcript here

Children’s Books by William Steig

Homegoing and Transcendant Kingdom by Yaa Gyaasi

Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town by Barbara Demick

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

Curious how this British journalist and mother of three went from idea to (physical) product launch within a (global pandemic) year? London-based Nishika Patel shares how she recruited the right help to create a high-quality and fun kids magazine focused on India, Koolfi Club. I learned so much from the magazine and this chat, and stay tuned until the end when Nishika shares some wonderful new British-Indian kidlit and her sneaky tips for social media!

Join the conversation below, or at www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 52:

Find Koolfi Club on the website and instagram

Nikita Gill The Girl and the Goddess

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Serena Patel’s Anisha, Accidental detective

Nizrana Farook’s The girl who stole and elephant

Jasbinder Bilan's Asha and the Spirit Bird

Bhimbetka rock shelters on Atlas Obscura

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

Two wonderful cultural entrepreneurs - Anu Sehgal of The Culture Tree in NYC and Shikha Malhotra of IFNet in Boston - share how and why they launched their organizations to bring South Asian cultural programming to their communities. Two different backgrounds and journeys, but the same passion for ensuring their and other families could connect with each other and with their heritage!

Join the conversation below, on your favorite podcast app, Spotify or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 51:

Find Anu and The Culture Tree website and instagram

Shikha and IFNet at their camp website

Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime

Britt Bennett’s The Vanishing Half

Books by children’s author Demi

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art “Art At Home”

How I Built This with Guy Raz podcast

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates

Becoming by Michelle Obama

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

The best sort of cookbooks (and conversations! ) expand your world view by taking you on a journey - whether it’s a new place, new techniques or just new ways of using age-old ingredients. I’m so grateful I got to have this chat with the Adelaide-based restaurateur, writer and activist Durkhanai Ayubi, who, along with her family, is bringing Afghan cuisine and culture to a world-wide audience through their new cookbook Parwana. Food is an incredibly important part of the Ayubi family culture and allowed them to stay connected with their heritage as displaced people. Durkhanai and her family have so generously shared their story and culture with their local community through their three restaurants for years, and now her mother Farida’s recipes can reach us all through their gorgeous cookbook. Afghani and Indian food, history, culture, international affairs and social justice - this passionate speaker and I cover it all!

Join the conversation below, on your favorite podcast app, or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 50:

Find Parwana and its sister restaurants at their website and instagram

Parwana the cookbook

Durkhanai’s writing at Multitudes.press

More about The Atlantic Institute

The poetry of Rumi

Kabuliwala by Rabindranath Tagore

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

A Dutch family’s love affair with heritage Indian jewellery began with their mother Bernadette and continues on with my latest guest Noelle Van Gelder and her sister Fleur. The challenges of finding and valuing vintage fine jewellery in India makes this family’s commitment to their work truly remarkable. Noelle takes us behind the scenes of how this unique family business based between the Netherlands and Jaipur was built and how she and her sister Fleur are strengthening it with their contemporary interpretation of the stunning heritage pieces they collect and study.

Join the conversation below, on your favorite podcast app, Spotify or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 49:

Find the fabulous Van Gelder Indian Jewellery at their website and instagram

Explore their new Baoli collection based on the fascinating stepwells of India

Please support the Van Gelder family charity by purchasing this little 20 euro charm bracelet which makes a wonderful gift at https://www.windowopp.com/collection/

Books and other inspiration we discussed:

The Golden Smile of India by Noelle’s mother Bernadette Van Gelder

Desire and Devotion: Art from India, Nepal and Tibet: The John and Berthe Ford Collection

Rijksmuseum

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

I thought, “Wow! I can't imagine I'm in America and I have to make this choice — to either have a family or to work... and that's when I thought to myself.. this is what I needed, a kick in the pants to launch on my own.”

My latest guest belongs to a lineage of independent, female interior designers, but has carved out her own unique style and design philosophy. Come experience the ‘Warm Minimalism’ that Sashya Thind Fernandes uses as a guiding light in all her projects. Her creation of light, open spaces with an emphasis on natural materials will inspire you to rethink (and maybe redesign) your own space!

Join the conversation below, on your favorite podcast app, Spotify or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these inspiring women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 48:

Find Sashya and her studio ID8 Design at her website

Sashya on Instagram

Other designers and inspiration we discussed:

Ilse Crawford

Joseph Dirand

Pierre Yavanovich

John Pawson

Peter Zumthor

Last Tango in Halifax on Netflix

Alain de Botton’s Architecture of Happiness

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Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!

“If you have an idea, don't just sit on it, honestly just go for it! Don't be scared of failing!”

Thrilled to bring you this energizing conversation with the founder of STAC Jewellery (and my cousin) Aakriti Tapuriah! Listen in as we chat about Bombay-based Aakriti’s start in the NGO world, her desire to create something independent from her family business, and her strategy for online success for this modern and minimal ‘everyday luxury’ brand. If you’re curious about launching a brand (from ideation to launch and growth) or just jumping in and launching anything at all, don’t miss this inspiring episode!

Join the conversation below, on your favorite podcast app, Spotify or www.theindianedit.com and please take a second to rate us wherever you’re listening so the voices of these fabulous women can be heard all over the world!

SHOWNOTES FOR EPISODE 47:

Find STAC at their website

STAC on Instagram

STAC’s star bangle (of which I own the original ;)

Books and other stuff we discussed:

Nanhi Kali

The Upstarts: Uber, Airbnb, and the Battle for the New Silicon Valley by Brad Stone

Follow us on Instagram for more on our guests and everything we mentioned in this episode!

Special thanks to Varun Dhabe and the team @ Boon Castle / Flying Carpet Productions for audio post-production engineering!