The Openhouse Podcast

Schooling will never be the same again. We can thank the pandemic for that. This final episode, we have a student host, Teesta Banerji, in conversation with Maria Hashmi and Roshan Agarwal. They talk about what they miss about school, what they would change and whether we really need 14 years of school.

Climate change is real and Gen Z understands this. This episode, we talk to Deeksha Madhu, an 11th grader from Bangalore, and Nathan Marcus, who completed school this year, about what they can do about the environment and the sense of hopelessness they feel. 

Skinny waist. Long hair. No body hair. There is immense pressure on women to look a certain way. This episode, we talk to two students, Mayurakshi Sarkar and Niharika Verma about body positivity and what it really means to be comfortable in your own skin. 

The last two years of school can be stressful. There are board exams to give and then the pressure of getting into college. Admission processes are long and tedious and there is the anxiety of board exams at school. In this episode, Openhouse is in conversation with Enakshi Chatterjee, currently studying at the Technical University of Munich and Indranil Basu, a 12th grader all set to go to college. They talk about how to deal with this pressure and anxiety from experience and also answer some of the questions students commonly have about the admissions process.

Reading the news can be stressful. Or confusing. Or annoying. Especially when the news is all about coronavirus, death and loss. This episode, we talk to Associate Editor at Newslaundry, Meghnad S, and two Openhouse students, Kanishk Agarwal and Zahra Javed, about how they feel about the news and how they consume it responsibly.

No, you're not "too distracted" or "too hyper". It's called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and you're not the only one with it. This episode, Openhouse is in conversation with Aranya Johar, an Indian poet, and Abhishek Kumar, from the Openhouse founding team on what it means to be a student with ADHD and how they navigate everyday life. 

A good sense of humour is almost like your mind's immune system. As hard as life is right now, a little laughter can do wonders. This episode, we talk to stand up comedian Atul Khatri and two Openhouse students, Ananya Naik and Carolyn Shreya Serrao, about how humour helps and the ability to laugh at yourself.

This last year, board exams have gotten cancelled and postponed. Exams aren't important in a pandemic. But do we need them otherwise? This episode, we talk to two Openhouse students, Vedant Singh and Navya Jain, about their perspective. Their answer? We need exams, but the way we think of them needs to change. 

The last year has made us all encounter death like never before. All of us respond to the death of a loved one differently. It could be grief, shock or no reaction at all. This episode, we talk to two Openhouse students, Dhriti and Dhyana, and therapist Nabonita Banerjee about their encounters with death and how they deal with it.

Memes play many roles in the world today. They can be a source of news, a tool for learning or simply a way for people to feel like they are not alone in feeling a certain way. Gen Z expresses themselves through memes. This episode, we talk to Kyle Fernandez, founder of MemeChat, an app for meme makers and Shrikrrit Bhatter, an Openhouse student who made memes to learn better.

What really counts as bullying? There is no easy answer to this question, which is why discussing bullying is interesting. Our tenth episode is a student special with Saswato Ray and Kanishka Verma where we talk about how to stand up to bullies, the link between popularity and bullying and why bullies aren't always bad.

Sex isn't wrong or yucky or scary. It's the most natural thing ever and that is why we need sex education in schools. This episode, we talk to Meenakshi Nathani, a 17-year-old from Kolkata and Ellnaaz and Saanjali from Shhhout, a non-profit organization working to remove the stigma around sex education.

Last year was year zero for education and learning. We paused and thought about what education was meant to do and what learning should really be like. In this episode, we speak to Anisha Lakhmani, an Openhouse student and her father Harish Lakhmani about what their experiences have been like in the last year. 

Eating disorders aren't just about losing weight. Eating disorders are intertwined with a person's mental health and emotional well being. This episode, we talk to Anushka Srivatsan, a 15-year-old who struggled with an eating disorder and Dr. Samyak Tiwari, a psychiatrist based in Lucknow.

It's good to be aware of social issues, or as they say it "to be woke". But there is a darker side too. Teenagers feel immense pressure to keep up, say the right things and know everything that's happening in the world. Openhouse talks to Urvi Priyadarshi, an 11th grader from Bangalore and Gurmehar Kaur, author of Small Acts of Freedom about how they deal with this pressure and what it means to be woke.

Society is not comfortable talking about periods openly. In this episode with Anjali Surana and Subhiksha Manoj, we discuss how periods are perceived in school, the need for boys and men to be educated about menstruation and why we still talk about them in hushed tones. Anjali is in Class 12 and runs Fullstopp Organization to end period poverty. Subhiksha is from Boondh, a social enterprise working at the intersection of menstrual literacy, policy and sustainable products.

Relationships with parents are complicated. Especially when you have a single parent. In this candid conversation with Sharvesh Ravikumar and Ketaki Varma, we talk about feeling like the odd one out, people's reactions to single parent families and the importance of being financially independent. Sharvesh is a 15-year-old, but wise beyond his years and Ketaki is an arts administrator based in Delhi.

This Valentine's day, we talk about body positivity for boys and what beauty means. Openhouse talks to Srijan Bhattarcharyya, a 17-year-old from Kolkata and Anwesh Sahoo, a visual designer with HDFC, about the conversations in locker rooms, taunts and jibes about looks and how to cut the noise out.

Sexuality is central to our identity. Coming out to your friends and family can be a daunting idea. Openhouse talks to Eesha Gorti, a student at Greenwood High School in Bengaluru and Alex Mathew, a queer cis man who has been performing drag for seven years. They talk about their personal experiences, intersectionality in the LGBTQIA community and what they hope to hear from friends and family.

2020 has been the year of mental health. Did you ask yourself how you should support your friends if they're depressed? Or did you think about how you'd like to be supported? Openhouse talks to Parikshit Roychowdhury, a student at St. Xavier's Collegiate School and Kriti Jalan, a licensed counsellor and founder of MindTheGap.