New Indian Woman

About this episode In the first three episodes of this series, Dhana talked about her sudden transition from a happy married wife and homemaker to a single mom with two kids and nothing else in hand facing the challenge of rebuilding her family and career from scratch. She took us through the different phases of her life during that period - her confusions during the initial phase of her separation, followed by her relocating to a new city with the kids and taking up a new job, dealing with her health issues, seeking help when needed especially with respect to the children’s education and so on.  In this episode which is the part 4 of this series, she shares her experience of parenting as a single mom, the joys and pains of it, the questions, confusions, and how she dealt with them. Can a single parent look at the situation as something that can have a positive impact? What does it take to bring up the children as independent thinkers who can take their own decisions? In a regular marriage, are both parents equally responsible for rearing the children? She stresses on the importance of having an open communication channel with the children, involving them in decision making, talking about issues openly etc.   Happy listening.   If you would love to read on this episode, click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/parenting-when-you-have-to-do-it-as-a-single-parent     About New Indian Woman Welcome to the New Indian Woman podcast relaunch in 2025, in a new format. In this new series, we will continue our discussions with successful and inspiring women and learn from their experiences in different areas of their life and work. We will discuss specific topics with each one of them to know about the challenges she faced, the approach she took to overcome them, and the learnings and insights derived from her experience. The conversations are structured as a series of short episodes grouped into different seasons.    About Season 1 In Season 1 of this new series, we talk to Dhanalaxmi (Dhana), who shares with us her journey as a single mom, who had to rebuild her family and career from scratch after separating from her husband many years into the marriage. She takes us through the experiences she had to go through in the most difficult phase of her life and shares the valuable lessons and insights she learnt from it. Each episode of this season will deal with a specific topic or part of her journey, and discuss in detail the various aspects of her experiences and learnings from there.    More about Dhana -  Ms. Dhana, in her own words, is a woman of many identities: a mother of two humans and a dog, a single mom, a Chartered accountant, professional, career woman, entrepreneur, homemaker, gardener, race-car driver, cardiac attack survivor and so on… ! Currently she is working in the sales division of a leading multinational software firm.

About New Indian Woman Welcome to the New Indian Woman podcast relaunch in 2025, in a new format. In this new series, we will continue our discussions with successful and inspiring women and learn from their experiences in different areas of their life and work. We will discuss specific topics with each one of them to know about the challenges she faced, the approach she took to overcome them, and the learnings and insights derived from her experience. The conversations are structured as a series of short episodes grouped into different seasons.  About Season 1 In Season 1 of this new series, we talk to Dhanalaxmi (Dhana), who shares with us her journey as a single mom, who had to rebuild her family and career from scratch after separating from her husband many years into the marriage. She takes us through the experiences she had to go through in the most difficult phase of her life and shares the valuable lessons and insights she learnt from it. Each episode of this season will deal with a specific topic or part of her journey, and discuss in detail the various aspects of her experiences and learnings from there.    More about Dhana -  Ms. Dhana, in her own words, is a woman of many identities: a mother of two humans and a dog, a single mom, a Chartered accountant, professional, career woman, entrepreneur, homemaker, gardener, race-car driver, cardiac attack survivor and so on… ! Currently she is working in the sales division of a leading multinational software firm. About this episode In the first episode of this series, Dhana talked about her sudden transition from a happy married wife and homemaker to a single mom with two kids and nothing else in hand facing the challenge of rebuilding her family and career from scratch. At the end of that episode, she said that she was confident about being able to raise her children despite the challenges in her career.  In the next episode - part 2 of this series, she took us through the next phase of her life in Pune where she took up a new job, and the challenges she faced there!  In this episode which is the part 3 of this series, Dhana shares her experience of rearing her children alone and dealing with her health. She also shares her feelings about how she has shaped her life, and how her spiritual guru guided her in that journey!    Happy listening.   If you would love to read more details on this episode, click here 

About New Indian Woman Welcome to the New Indian Woman podcast relaunch in 2025, in a new format. In this new series, we will continue our discussions with successful and inspiring women and learn from their experiences in different areas of their life and work. We will discuss specific topics with each one of them to know about the challenges she faced, the approach she took to overcome them, and the learnings and insights derived from her experience. The conversations are structured as a series of short episodes grouped into different seasons.    About Season 1 In Season 1 of this new series, we talk to Dhanalaxmi (Dhana), who shares with us her journey as a single mom, who had to rebuild her family and career from scratch after separating from her husband many years into the marriage. She takes us through the experiences she had to go through in the most difficult phase of her life and shares the valuable lessons and insights she learnt from it. Each episode of this season will deal with a specific topic or part of her journey, and discuss in detail the various aspects of her experiences and learnings from there.    More about Dhana -  Ms. Dhana, in her own words, is a woman of many identities: a mother of two humans and a dog, a single mom, a Chartered accountant, professional, career woman, entrepreneur, homemaker, gardener, race-car driver, cardiac attack survivor and so on… ! Currently she is working in the sales division of a leading multinational software firm.   About this episode In the previous episode which was the part 1 of this series, Dhana talked about her sudden transition from a happy married wife and homemaker to a single mom with two kids and nothing else in hand facing the challenge of rebuilding her family and career from scratch. At the end of that episode, she said that she was confident about being able to raise her children despite the challenges in her career.  In this episode which is the part 2 of this series, she continues her story by explaining how she had arrived at the decision to separate after deliberating for more than two years and talks about being alone, feeling insecure, scared, helpless and finally seeking help! She takes us through the next phase of her life in Pune where she takes up a new job, and the challenges that await her there!    Happy listening. If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here -    https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/journey-of-a-single-mom-a-conversation-with-dhana-continues

Welcome to the New Indian Woman podcast relaunch in 2025, in a new format. In this new series, we will continue our discussions with successful and inspiring women and learn from their experiences in different areas of their life and work. We will discuss specific topics with each one of them to know about the challenges she faced, the approach she took to overcome them, and the learnings and insights derived from her experience. The conversations are structured as a series of short episodes grouped into different seasons.  In Season 1 of this new series, we talk to Dhanalaxmi (Dhana), who shares with us her journey as a single mom, who had to rebuild her family and career from scratch after separating from her husband many years into the marriage. She takes us through the experiences she had to go through in the most difficult phase of her life and shares the valuable lessons and insights she learnt from it. Each episode of this season will deal with a specific topic or part of her journey, and discuss in detail the various aspects of her experiences and learnings from there.    More about Dhana -  Ms. Dhana, in her own words, is a woman of many identities: a mother of two humans and a dog, a single mom, a Chartered accountant, professional, career woman, entrepreneur, homemaker, gardener, race-car driver, cardiac attack survivor and so on… ! Currently she is working in the sales division of a leading multinational software firm. In this episode, Dhana talks about her sudden transition from a happy married wife and homemaker to a single mom with two kids and nothing else in hand facing the challenge of rebuilding her family and career from scratch.   Happy listening.   To read more click here

Welcome to the special episode as the New Indian Woman podcast enters its 5th year - and there is an announcement too! Happy listening.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here -   Click here to listen -  https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/entering-5th-year-with-an-announcement

We continue our conversation with Ms. Jis Sebastian, an ecologist based in Kerala. In this episode she talks about her experience working in the Kashmir Himalayas, Western Ghats etc. She shares about the period when she had self-doubts and considering quitting her research and how she came out of this phase and where she found the strength and inspiration. She also talks about her experiences with women across the country and how she focusses on fostering sisterhood.     More about Jis -  Ms. Jis Sebastian, PhD is an ecologist based in Kerala. She has worked extensively in plant and animal ecology in the Western Ghats, the Western and Eastern Himalayas of India. She has been involved in research and conservation of natural resources with communities for one decade now. Her interests lies in forest ecology, agroecology, sustainable community building, natural building and women and environment.   Happy listening.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here -   Click here to listen -  https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/working-in-the-forests-of-india-what-made-me-not-give-up

This episode has a chat with Ms. Jis Sebastian, PhD is an ecologist based in Kerala. She has worked extensively in plant and animal ecology in the Western Ghats, the Western and Eastern Himalayas of India. She has been involved in research and conservation of natural resources with communities for one decade now. Her interests lies in forest ecology, agroecology, sustainable community building, natural building and women and environment.   Listen to this episode about this New Indian Woman and the choices she made about her career option, that too from a small village in Kerala. What comes to your mind when you hear someone is a researcher ? Why is her story inspiring ?   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/orchids-and-a-woman-a-special-connection

This podcast episode features a conversation with Tamil writer, activist, and politician Salma. Her life story is in itself an inspiration. Her writings describe the hardships Salma and countless women like her suffer in their secluded lives. Against all odds, and in a direct challenge to the traditions of her village, Salma has gone on to become a renowned Tamil poet and influential human rights activist.    The conversation today focusses on women, what freedom is for women, how to create the foundation of education, qualities a woman should aspire for, about writers who inspire Salma, her achievements in writing , thoughts on famous Tamil writers, reading recommendations and messages to women across various age groups.   About Salma :   Salma, grew up as a young Muslim girl in a South Indian village, was 13 years old, when her family shut her away for eight years, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage at 19. After her wedding her husband insisted she stay indoors. Salma was unable to venture outside for nearly two and a half decades. During that time, words became her salvation. She began covertly composing poems on scraps of paper, and, through an intricate system, smuggled them to the outside world.   At the age of 22, Salma wrote her first poem, Oppandham, as an outlet for her frustration and anger with her situation. Forced to hide her passion from her family, she would write while sitting on the toilet, on pieces of paper ripped from calendars and notebooks.She was subjected to abuse because of her desire to write and her family members would often destroy her work if they found it. Her mother eventually helped her by smuggling out poems from her home and getting them published in a Tamil weekly.   Her writings describe the hardships Salma and countless women like her suffer in their secluded lives. Against all odds, and in a direct challenge to the traditions of her village, Salma has gone on to become a renowned Tamil poet and influential human rights activist.   She has two novels, three poetry collections, one short story collection and an anthology of essays to her credit. Her debut novel, Irandam Jamankalin Kathai (Hour Past Midnight), was longlisted for awards and I cannot forget my experience of reading that book.   There is a film Salma that tries to portray her life and a book on the challenges of capturing her life in a documentary film. The documentary, which was screened in 2013, received several awards and was seen in eleven countries.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/chat-with-tamil-writer-and-activist-salma-part-2

This podcast episode features a conversation with Tamil writer, activist, and politician Salma. Her life story is in itself an inspiration. Her writings describe the hardships Salma and countless women like her suffer in their secluded lives. Against all odds, and in a direct challenge to the traditions of her village, Salma has gone on to become a renowned Tamil poet and influential human rights activist.    The conversation today focusses on women, about women writers, about qualities a women should nurture and how she shaped her life, despite the negative factors surrounding her.   About Salma :   Salma, grew up as a young Muslim girl in a South Indian village, was 13 years old, when her family shut her away for eight years, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage at 19. After her wedding her husband insisted she stay indoors. Salma was unable to venture outside for nearly two and a half decades. During that time, words became her salvation. She began covertly composing poems on scraps of paper, and, through an intricate system, smuggled them to the outside world.   At the age of 22, Salma wrote her first poem, Oppandham, as an outlet for her frustration and anger with her situation. Forced to hide her passion from her family, she would write while sitting on the toilet, on pieces of paper ripped from calendars and notebooks.She was subjected to abuse because of her desire to write and her family members would often destroy her work if they found it. Her mother eventually helped her by smuggling out poems from her home and getting them published in a Tamil weekly.   Her writings describe the hardships Salma and countless women like her suffer in their secluded lives. Against all odds, and in a direct challenge to the traditions of her village, Salma has gone on to become a renowned Tamil poet and influential human rights activist.   She has two novels, three poetry collections, one short story collection and an anthology of essays to her credit. Her debut novel, Irandam Jamankalin Kathai (Hour Past Midnight), was longlisted for awards and I cannot forget my experience of reading that book.   There is a film Salma that tries to portray her life and a book on the challenges of capturing her life in a documentary film. The documentary, which was screened in 2013, received several awards and was seen in eleven countries.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/chat-with-tamil-writer-and-activist-salma

This podcast episode features Part 2 of the conversation with Tamil writer, activist, and politician Salma. Her life story is in itself an inspiration. Her writings describe the hardships Salma and countless women like her suffer in their secluded lives. Against all odds, and in a direct challenge to the traditions of her village, Salma has gone on to become a renowned Tamil poet and influential human rights activist.    The conversation today focusses on women, what freedom is for women, how to create the foundation of education, qualities a woman should aspire for, about writers who inspire Salma, her achievements in writing , thoughts on famous Tamil writers, reading recommendations and messages to women across various age groups.       If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/chat-with-tamil-writer-and-activist-salma-part-2

This podcast episode features a conversation with Tamil writer, activist, and politician Salma. Her life story is in itself an inspiration. Her writings describe the hardships Salma and countless women like her suffer in their secluded lives. Against all odds, and in a direct challenge to the traditions of her village, Salma has gone on to become a renowned Tamil poet and influential human rights activist.    The conversation today focusses on women, about women writers, about qualities a women should nurture and how she shaped her life, despite the negative factors surrounding her.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/chat-with-tamil-writer-and-activist-salma

We talk to Ms. Anuradha Sridharan, on why she has chosen to focus on helping more people, in unique ways.    She has focused on increasing awareness about packaged food initially and over a period of time, on holistic health. She does this despite her busy schedule as a software professional and as a mother.  In this episode we talk about her journey, insights and actionable tips that worked for her as we bring yet another discussion with an inspiring person, in our podcast.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/going-beyond-one-s-roles-to-help-others

We continue talking to Ms. Anuradha Sridharan, on packaged food in  Part 2 of this 2 part series .   She has focused on decoding the nutrition facts of packaged foods and her blog has 80+ posts on detailed analysis of popular packaged/junk foods. In the context of the modern nuclear setup and fast paced lives, she gives practical tips on how to minimize the use of packaged foods, shares alternative options and tips on where and how to start.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here -   https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/packaged-food-easy-alternatives

In  Part 1 of this 2 part series, we talk to Ms. Anuradha Sridharan, on packaged food.   She has focused on decoding the nutrition facts of packaged foods and her blog has 80+ posts on detailed analysis of popular packaged/junk foods. In this episode, Anuradha shares her story on how she started closely looking at packaged foods.  She talks about why each one of us should be aware about packaged food. She details out what exactly is packaged food(yes, there is a big element of surprise here)  and what is it that we should look for in the labels that will help us in taking decisions around what goes into our body.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here -   https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/do-you-know-your-packaged-food

We continue our 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 the image of super woman, importance of talking about our challenges and how being a woman writer has made a difference in her book and more..

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.   If you would love to read more details on this episode , click here - https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/finding-time-when-you-are-super-busy

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