Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma
Deep conversations, real inspiration! Journalist and Mindset Coach Anuradha Varma interviews a diverse cast of people who share their expertise and experiences on a range of themes, across spirituality, inclusivity, entrepreneurship, mythology, and popular culture. Follow and share to stay updated and grow the conversation!Anuradha is a journalist with nearly three decades of experience, having worked as head of Parenting for Indian Express Online, editor of interiors magazine Casaviva, as well as with publications such as The Times of India, The Pioneer, etc. She is also a certified Mindset & Executive Coach, NLP Coach Practitioner and Mindfulness Trainer.Follow her...
Ep 49: Leadership coach Dr Marcia Reynolds: Reflective inquiry & neuroplasticity
From being in jail at barely 20-years-old, facing prison time on a drug charge and feeling, âMy whole life, one stupid mess after another,â international leadership coach Dr Marcia Reynolds has come a long way. Nearly 50 years later, she counts among the top voices in coaching.
Here, she talks about the power of reflective inquiry and how it forces one to look deep within and take hard life decisions. She also debunks the âcrazy beliefâ that the coach must ask only open-ended, not closed questions. A coach or thinking partner, she says, gives people the courage...
Ep 48: Polyamorist Arundhati Ghosh: All love is messy & beautiful
For Arundhati Ghosh, polyamory means âthe desire, the ability and the practice of loving more than one person simultaneously, with or without sexual intimacy, and with the consent of all.â A practising polyamorist, cultural practitioner and social activist, the 53-year-old is the author of All Our Loves: Journeys with Polyamory in India, published by Aleph.
In her earlier years, she felt her feelings resonated with Ghalibâs couplet, Hazaron khwahishen aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle; Bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle.â Here, she talks about how polyamory is not shallow, but a de...
Ep 47: Sabita Radhakrishna, 82: Mismatched blouses & networking
At 82, Sabita Radhakrishna, founder chairperson of Udhavi, provides a networking platform to elderly people, with retro karaoke evenings, social visits at home, and more. She talks about facing loss, the importance of family, the joys of reconnecting with old friends, and pushing forward at all times.Â
Sabita has several firsts to her credit, such as starting Chennaiâs first boutique where she introduced the then âdaringâ trend of wearing mismatched blouses with saris, in the early Eighties. Her saris, with unique prints, were modelled by Hema Malini in womenâs magazines of the time, she...
Ep 46: PS Srikumar: Why Indiaâs seniors canât be ignored
From travel to tourism, real estate and beyond, the silver economy is seeing a boom, says PS Srikumar, a senior care expert and the founder of Care Finder. Besides grappling with issues such as loneliness, senior citizens are a fun, vibrant community and want to live the good life, with products and services already recognising and catering to this demand.
Srikumar has helped over 9,000 families navigate the complexities of elder care, creating personalised solutions that enhance their quality of life. He mentions trends in senior living â assisted living and managed residences, innovative home so...
Ep 45: Rhythm Malhotra: What is 'Heart Activation Cacao Ceremony'?
Most of us lead lives where we feel stuck, not allowing ourselves to feel our emotions fully. Business and embodiment coach Rhythm Malhotra talks about the transformative Heart Activation Cacao Ceremony, which brings together ceremonial-grade cacao, breathwork, and sound therapy for an emotional catharsis.
Cacao, which contains theobromine that increases blood flow to the heart, gently enhances mental clarity, presence and emotional agency, according to Rhythm. She talks about the role of conscious circular breathwork in preventive care to release trauma that is stored in our bodies.
...
Ep 44: Sopan Joshi: âThe mango is all that is Indiaâ
Sopan Joshi, in his book Mangifera Indica: A Biography of the Mango, which took eight years to write and research, accomplishes a historic, cultural, religious and economic exploration of Indiaâs favourite fruit.
Did you know that India is home to over 1,000 varieties of mangoes, besides the much loved Alphonso, Kesar and Dashehri? And whenever a major battle took place, such as the Battle of Plassey, it was usually near a mango grove, which was ubiquitous in ancient India. Once a place for social joy, âfree therapyâ, and the food of the poor, we now...
Ep 43: K. Hari Kumar: âWriting horror takes a piece of youâ
When K. Hari Kumar was young, an oracle or soothsayer in Kerala prophesied that his work would revolve around the âundeadâ. Now, known fittingly as âHorror Kumarâ, he talks about his latest novel Dakini, published by HarperCollins India, born out of personal tragedy and drawing on news reports of witch-hunting.Â
He touches upon his affinity for an all-pervading mother goddess, creating strong women characters as opposed to the âdamsel-in-distressâ Western trope. Through his story, he also explores deeper questions around the existence of a God and the concept of âShoonyataâ or a âprofound, eternal voidâ. He also mentions his p...
Ep 42: Bhavana Nissima: What is mental space psychology?
Everything that exists in the physical universe is located in space. âWe carry a village in our heads. All our people, our senses and feelings are literally directed and mapped out in the space around us,â says Bhavana Nissima, a Hyderabad-based mental spece psychologist.Â
Or to put loosely, we live in a 3D world, inside our heads and outside of it. Mental Space Psychology âworks with our individual constructs to overcome obstacles, stop limiting beliefs and achieve goals.âÂ
In this episode, Bhavana talks about using space as a therapeu...
Ep 41: Moms Gopika Kapoor & Moneisha Gandhi: On Buddy Up, a friendship app for people with disabilities
When Mumbai-based Gopika Kapoor and Moneisha Gandhi, moms of Vir Kapoor and Mihaan Dhall, witnessed how life-changing friendship proved to be for their neurodivergent young sons, they decided to launch Buddy Up â A Friendship App for People with Disabilities & their Caregivers. While Vir, who is on the autism spectrum, is quiet, Mihaan, who has Down Syndrome, loves to talk non-stop, the two clicked and now âbuddy upâ for concerts, sleepovers, board games and dance parties. Listen in as Gopika and Moneisha talk about their app and how friendship is the best therapy.
While Gopika is a neuro...
Ep 40: Shashank Mani, MP: Jagriti Yatra, building India through enterprise
(Audio mostly in Hindi)
Wanderlust or the spirit of âghumakkadiâ bit Shashank Mani, a Lok Sabha MP, as a teen and turned into a lifelong passion, with him founding the Jagriti Yatra, a multi-city train journey across âmiddle Indiaâ with over 500 youth on board, transcending regional barriers. He is also the founder of the Jagriti Enterprise Centre Purvanchal, at Barpar in Deoria, UP, which acts as an incubation centre for startup ideas.Â
Here, he talks about the 15-day Jagriti Yatra, the âworldâs largest entrepreneurial train journeyâ covering 8000 km, running since 2008 and i...
Ep 39: Chandan Pandey & Sayari Debnath: Stories of desolation & translation
(Audio in Hindi & English)
In this interview, Chandan Pandey, the award-winning author of the The Keeper of Desolation, published by HarperCollins India, and translator Sayari Debnath, talk about the âsurreal yet gritty, violent yet poeticâ stories that form the book and the importance of translating from regional languages.Â
He recalls breaking down, sitting in a boat in Varanasi, after writing the haunting short story âForgettingâ, an exploration of inner family dynamics where one member is forgotten by the rest of the household. Meanwhile, âThe Decisionâ was born of a desire to weave a story aroun...
Ep 38: Dr. Erika Rosenberg: Buddhist âTonglenâ meditationâcompassion in action
The Buddhist Tonglen meditation, a âwarrior trainingâ that reinforces altruistic resolve, allows us to take in the suffering of others, witness pain and stay without fleeing, building courage, opening us up to be of service. While it makes us kinder and more compassionate, it also makes us strong, says Dr. Erika Rosenberg, a US-based psychological scientist, who integrates traditional Buddhist practices with key concepts and techniques from Western Psychology. The Tonglen meditation practice (at 40:00) gives you something you can turn to in situations where you feel thereâs nothing else you can do.
Dr. Er...
Ep 37: Fernando Hettiyadura: âUsed responsibly, magic mushrooms can be more powerful than meditationâ
âThe one who needs to be loved is the one in the mirror. And if we can love ourselves so deeply, we can love even a stranger and see their suffering,â says Thailand-based Fernando Hettiyadura, a Multidisciplinary Therapist and ICF-designated Master Certified Coach, who leads unique interventions derived from integrative neuroscience, Vipassana and psychedelic plant medicine. He has also launched the worldâs first-ever Professional Coaching Qualification for Psychedelic Integration, accredited to the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
A part of the LGBTQI+ community, Fernando faced bullying as a child, along with other adversities. His fir...
Ep 36: Prof. Tracy Coleman: Krishna stands for women empowerment
As we celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna on Janmashtami, we should also honour him as a god who models positive masculinity, says Tracy Coleman, Professor, Department of Religion at Colorado College, US, She says, âBold, strong, outspoken or aggressive, women are not a threat to him. He loves them as they are. In the Gita Govinda, he even submits to Radha.â Krishna, she believes, can be potentially socially transformative in empowering women by shifting the male gaze, despite being seen as a divine, all-powerful hyper masculine figure.
In her research span...
Ep 35: Sachin Chitambaran on suicide prevention: Just listen, donât try to fix the problem
(Trigger warning: Mention of depression, suicide and suicidal ideation)
What makes India the suicide capital of the world? Did you know that a majority of suicide attempts are made by women, among which housewives figure in large numbers? Mumbai-based Sachin Chitambaran, who started as a volunteer on suicide prevention helplines over a decade ago and now works full-time in the field, talks to us about the importance of mental health, how suicidal ideation works as well as why we need to learn how to listen better and be ready to accept help from others.
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Ep 34: Mital Salia: Game therapist and unschooling mom
In this episode, Mital Salia, game therapist and founder of Khel Khel Mein talks about how she prescribes games to teach life skills and for mental wellbeing. A counselling psychologist and educator, she started by curating game nights at home, which were a huge hit. Certain games, whether solo or multiplayer, teach dexterity, stimulate brain function and raise EQ, she informs.Â
Playing also releases feel good hormones dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, while reducing cortisol, the stress hormone. Games, like physical sports, also teach children to deal with failure gracefully and bounce back for t...
Ep 33: Nidhu B. Kapoor: How to manifest money
We make money everyday and not just at our jobs, according to Nidhu B Kapoor. And we can create more of it using the power of her âWORDSâ (World of Retrograde Decrees Switchsentences), she assures. While the results, Nidhu promises, are instantaneous, attracting money has a lot to do with who we are. In this chat, she urges us to question our relationship and belief system regarding money. And yes, she also gives some powerful âswitch sentencesâ, such as âWhat Ifâ, to unleash the power of positive manifestation. Her decrees, says the WORD doctor, can be adapted to life issu...
Ep 32: Jerry Pinto: 'Murder in Mahim' â Mumbai is like an open-air casino
âMumbai is like a large open-air casino and we are all putting our stakes on something,â says author Jerry Pinto, whose 2018 novel Murder in Mahim has been made into a series, playing on Jio Cinema.
The action begins when a gay sex worker is found dead, his stomach ripped open, in a toilet at a Mumbai railway station. The plot thickens as good friends Peter Fernandes (played by Ashutosh Rana in the series), a retired journalist and Shiva Jende ((played by Vijay Raaz), a cop piece the clues together even as the body count keeps risi...
Ep 31: Womenâs motorbike coach Meghna Khanna: âI like the wind in my hairâ
Meghna Khanna, a Bengaluru-based womenâs motorcycle coach, is a Limca Book of Records holder for being the first Indian woman motorcyclist to reach Khardung La, the highest motorable pass in the world. You can have the biggest car in the world, but nothing beats the feeling of the wind in your hair when you ride a bike, she says. âWhen you ride a motorcycle, you know why a dog sticks their head out of the car,â she remarks.Â
For her 10-year-old daughter, itâs a surprise when she sees her father park the bike...
Ep 30: Mindful leader Nitesh Batra: The mind is clear & knowing
Living with a negative thought is like chasing a rodent in the house, according to Nitesh Batra, Mindfulness teacher and Certified Compassion Cultivation Trainer (CCT). He is founder of The Mindful Initiative and also runs the Ashtanga Yoga Program in Bengaluru.Â
Mindfulness, he explains, is focussing on the task at hand, cherishing what you are doing and practising non-judgement. âWhen you are washing the dishes, wash the dishes,â he remarks. The mind, he says, is clear and knowing. If you sit in stillness, itâll become calm and you can look through it.Â
For leaders...
Ep 29: Games2Win CEO Alok Kejriwal: Startups must ask âwhyâ
In this episode and a virtual masterclass on the entrepreneurial mindset, Games2Win co-founder and CEO Alok Kejriwal talks about his latest book âGetting Dressed and Parking Cars: The Magical Story of Building a Gaming Companyâ, published by Penguin Random House India. Alok describes himself as a hands-on serial entrepreneur and someone who loves to help entrepreneurs, especially through his immensely popular #DhandeKiBaat. His last two books were âWhy I Stopped Wearing My Socks and âThe Cave: An Internet Entrepreneurâs Spiritual Journeyâ.
He talks about growing up in south Mumbai apartments, surrounded by entrepreneurs and âjust wa...
Ep 28: Aparna Sanyal: Twisted tales of love & torture
TRIGGER WARNING: The interview contains mentions of mental illness, anxiety, clinical depression and suicide.
In this episode, Aparna Sanyal talks about her new book Instruments of Torture, a collection of short stories published by HarperCollins India and how she has always been drawn to the âdark sideâ. She talks candidly about battling depression and anxiety, despite growing up as a seemingly happy, âjollyâ child. She shares a delightful anecdote about her friendship with an old man on the street, who kept a monkey for company. Her signature style, she remarks, is telling stories with a twist...
Ep 27: Disability activist Nidhi Goyal: Reclaiming fairytales
âIâm blind, but so is loveâŚget over it!â This is how disability activist and stand-up comic Nidhi Ashok Goyal disarms her audience during her performances. In this episode, the Founder-Executive Director of award-winning non-profit organisation Rising Flame talks about their anthology And They LivedâŚEver After: Disabled Women Retell Fairy Tales, published by HarperCollins India and shifting mindsets around disability.
The idea was sparked during the pandemic, with the heartwarming stories talking about an anxious Ugly Duckling, a deaf Snow White who finds her tribe, a wheelchair-bound Rapunzel, among others. In...
Ep 26: Arundhuti Dasgupta: Desire, love & Radha on Holi
Arundhuti Dasgupta, journalist and co-founder of The Mythology Project returns on the podcast to talk of the mystique of Radha, Krishnaâs favourite gopi and consort on the occasion of Holi.
Radha humanises Krishna, making him approachable and acceptable to everyone. Their playful companionship transcended gender roles as they dissolved into each other. Desire in ancient India, she says, was not distinct from love.
A married woman by all accounts, the relationship between Radha and Krishna has been immortalised by 12th century poet Jayadevâs erotic poem Gita Govinda. An unlikely godd...
Ep 25: Anand Neelakantan: Win at life The Asura Way
In a freewheeling chat, Anand Neelakantan, who is out with his new book The Asura Way: The Contrarian Path to Success, talks about how our ancient heritage taught us to believe in action and not just look inward for solutions. He busts the myths of the so-called six enemies of the mind â anger, passion, greed, infatuation, pride and competitive spirit.
The author is clear â those who seek moksha and contentment can go to the Himalayas and contemplate. This is the Kali Yuga and we need the Asura Way to succeed at life...
Ep 24: Dr Wallace J Nichols: How to get our Blue Mind on
Listen in to Dr Wallace J Nichols, marine biologist and author of Blue Mind - The Surprising Science that Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected and Better at What You Do.
Blue Mind, explains Dr Nichols, is a simple phrase for something that is familiar, intuitive and about our emotional connection with water or nature. Science, he says, is finally catching up with its therapeutic benefits. While the Red Mind is the new normal, where we live at a frenetic pace, competing to...
Ep 23: Leap Day Lady Raenell Dawn: Turning 16 at 64
In this special podcast with âLeap Day Ladyâ Raenell Dawn, we connect on our common birthday â February 29. Based in Oregon, USA, Raenell, who turns 16 in leap years, started the The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies in 1988, doing it how it was done then, through newspaper ads. The group has since metamorphosed into a lively Facebook group with many members coming across fellow âleapersâ for the first time ever through the platform.
In this enlightening chat, she talks about petitioning calendar companies â in vain â to highlight Leap Day on the date, the joys and frustrations o...
Ep 22: Niranjan Kaushik: How to âKick Smoking With Ninjaâ
Niranjan Kaushik, who went from puffing 35 cigarettes a day to zero, likes to call himself a non-smoker rather than an ex-smoker. His book Kick Smoking with Ninja takes those trying to kick or âovercomeâ the habit through a journey to rewiring the brain. In this candid chat, he talks about how the brain of an addict works, strategising during flights, car rides or dining out (even, heartbreakingly, his fatherâs funeral), to get the next smoke of the day.
His epiphany to kick the addiction came during demonetisation, when he stocked up on...
Ep 21: Romance novelist Ruchita Misra: True love is like coming home
A self-confessed die hard romantic, London-based Ruchita Misraâs latest novel Her One True Love, published by Harper Collins India, took her five years to write. The plot is complicated, with both protagonists in committed relationships when they meet â Ekadashi is married and has a son and Fredrick, a handsome billionaire, is dating a celebrity. It doesnât shy away from the hard questions, as Ekadashiâs mother (who chose duty over love some decades ago), stands by her daughter as she navigates a toxic marriage and constant put-downs by her partner, while feeling a âcosmic, electric pullâ towa...
Ep 20: Noel Parent: Writing for kids, Auroville & cellular yoga
Noel Parentâs latest children's book Legend of the Flute Player was recently published by Harper Collins India. Originally from the US, Noel has lived in the international township of Auroville for the last 16 years, working as a landscaper and gardener. He is also doing research in the areas of Cellular Consciousness and Peace.
In this episode, he speaks about his deep connection to the spiritual philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, navigating the microcosm that is Auroville and shedding old identities to make way for the new. He also talks about the fascinating fi...
Ep 19: Minakshi Dewan: The Final Farewell across India's faiths
Last rites can be wonderfully life-affirming as they guide a family through the ultimate sendoff and bring a community together. A lot of common themes run across Indiaâs various belief systems, explains Minakshi Dewan, author of The Final Farewell, Understanding the Last Rites and Rituals of Indiaâs Major Faiths, published by HarperCollins.
Listen in as she talks about her experience of visiting Haridwar where the family âtirth purohitâ showed her records from 1941, handwritten by her great-grandfather. She mentions a conversation with an outspoken Parsi priest who offered cremation services over sky...
Ep 18: Olivia Fraser: Finding the sacred in meditative art
Artist Olivia Fraser crash-landed in India in 1989, still in her 20s, following her then boyfriend and now husband, the celebrated author William Dalrymple, losing her luggage on her maiden trip with only her kinsman James Bailey Fraserâs Company School artworks for company. She began by painting scenes on the streets of the Capital, till she found her calling in Rajasthani miniatures, which she made all her own.
As an artist, youâre a little bit like a chemist, remarks Olivia, as she describes moving Harry Potter-like through Jaipurâs alleys scouring for pigments and gemsto...
Ep 17: Life coach Ajith Anirudhan: How to set goals this New Year
Nothing changes unless you do, says Ajith Anirudhan, Bengaluru-based ICF-accredited wellness and personal empowerment coach. He recommends taking small steps towards oneâs goal, so that the body registers a win each time, gradually becoming more embracing towards change. Ultimately, even in failure, youâre better than when you first started. The art of manifestation, he believes, is about mindfully giving yourself that nudge, saying âYouâve got this!â As for New Year resolutions, make a resolve to start today, he says!
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Ep 16: Jonas Olsson: Christmas carols with The Bangalore Men
Itâs a merry Christmas with Jonas Olsson, originally from Sweden, who has been a resident of Bengaluru for over a decade and is founder of the all-male choir The Bangalore Men and the all-female Cappella Bangalore. He also heads the vocal department at The Bangalore School of Music. All this besides working at his corporate day job as Head of India Tech Hub at Volvo Cars.
Olsson talks about the strong tradition of choir singing in Sweden and why we must grow the culture beyond Christmas to the rest of the year. He emphasises th...
Ep 15: Shweta Singh Kirti: Sushant Singh Rajputâs sister on 'Pain'
âEarlier, we were separated, now he has become me, there is no division,â says Shweta Singh Kirti of her brother, the actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who passed away allegedly by suicide in 2020 at the age of 34 in the public eye. California-based Shweta, who has written the book âPain: A Portal to Enlightenmentâ, published by Penguin Ebury Press as a part of her âuniversal responsibilityâ to those grappling with grief, believes that while pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
This was, however, not her first brush with death, which she encountered on the passing of her older sister...
Ep 14: Pooja Sharma: Rooting for an 'Inclusive Duniya'
Pooja Sharma spent over 15 years in the corporate world before setting up The Sarvodya Collective, a non-profit working to weave inclusive communities around persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, especially through their programme Inclusive Duniya. Here, she talks about how society at large can show up for the neurodivergent community, which accounts for 0.2 percent of the population, according to official estimates. Pooja, as part of India's first all-women team, also drove through 30 countries covering 30,000 km as part of the Mongol Rally to raise awareness around intellectual disabilities. Inclusive Duniya has introduced comics, freely available through their Instagram handle, to...
Ep 13: Grief Coach Shiv Shukla: âDeath is not the endâ
We are born grieving when we enter the world screaming from the warmth of the womb, says Shiv Shukla, US-based Grief Recovery Specialist. In this fascinating conversation, he shares his experience of overcoming feelings of anger and loss at his motherâs passing, the importance of a structured approach to grieving and how the physical relationship may end, but the emotional and spiritual bond continues beyond lifetimes. He reveals how a medium made him aware of his late grandmotherâs presence around him and being almost miraculously cured of vertigo through a past life regression session. He also speaks abou...
Ep 12: Dr Rajiv Kovil & Dr Ami Shah on Diabetes: Acceptance is key
As Indians, we need to shift our mindsets about how we see food and manage diabetes. For starters, we need to stop counting rotis and start with a plate of salad, moving away from carb-focussed meals. In this conversation, diabetologist Dr Rajiv Kovil along with marketer and entrepreneur Dr Ami Shah, co-founders of Zandra Healthcare, talk about changing the narrative around creating healthier lifestyles. Their initiative Rang De Neela, using showbiz puppets such as Singham and Sholay to dispense medical knowledge through a network of highly motivated doctors across urban and rural areas, is one step in...
Ep 11: Anand Neelakantan: Ravana as 'Sitaâs father'
Did Ravana abduct his âdaughterâ Sita to save her from a life of struggle with Ram? In this chat, Anand Neelakantan, author of âAsura: Tale of the Vanquishedâ talks of the many tellings of the Ramayana that follow this narrative. He speaks of Ravana as the âcomplete manâ, full of flaws as well as goodness, which acts as a foil to âmaryada Purushottamâ Ram. Ravana is also believed to be an incarnation of Jaya, Lord Vishnuâs loyal gatekeeper, who awaits liberation from a curse. Neelakantan, through his writing, pays tribute to the classical Indian way of storytelling with all its complex la...
Ep 10: Arundhuti Dasgupta: Many Sitas â 'Feminist' Ramayanas
Arundhuti Dasgupta, journalist and co-founder of The Mythology Project, takes us on a delightful ride through the many versions of the Ramayana, including folk songs where Sita has been truly understood as a woman with a mind of her own. She talks about the eternal nature of the epic, the various tellings through Valmiki, Tulsidas and Kamban, the rationality of the Jain version as well as Sarala Dasâ Odia Ramayana and Chandrabatiâs âfeministâ Ramayana, which all âcome from a place of loveâ. Through all this, Sita has been a voice for her âsisters of sorrowâ, while unleashing her âBhayankar Rasâ as...
