Southern Life, Indian Wife - Sheryl Parbhoo Podcast

This Sunday millions of people around the world will celebrate the Indian holiday of Diwali. The “Festival Of Lights” has fascinated me for the longest time but to be honest I never really understood what it was all about, we always treated it like an “Indian Christmas”. So today I invited author Anju Gattani onto the podcast to walk me through the Diwali celebration; how it compares to western holidays, the preparations that go into it, and what Diwali's origins are. Along the way we discuss her incredible experiences growing up in a multicultural community in Hong Kong (1:47), how Diwali compares to the American holiday season (4:28), exactly how Diwali is celebrated (5:30), the unique Diwali celebrations she experienced growing up (12:12)--including diverse Diwali Balls she attended (13:25). Anju and I spoke about the Indian culture's love of celebrations (15:48), how she integrates Indian and Western traditions in her household (18:44), why she labors to keep up with both Indian and American holidays (21:09), how exposure to other culture's celebrations is teaching her children respect (22:23), and how she portrayed Diwali in her novel Duty and Desire (29:09). Read Anju's blog and find more information about her books on her official website. Make sure to follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! 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! Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today previous podcast guest Heather Dobson joins me once again; in our last conversation we discussed life, chasing ghosts, and some of her more astonishing experiences with Paranormal Georgia Investigators. This time around, Heather and I examine our writing processes; she poured a lot of herself into her book, Memoirs of a Future Ghost, we talk at length about the therapeutic process of spilling your guts out onto the page for both non-fiction and fiction stories. Heather tells me how writing her memoir was therapeutic for her (2:05), we discuss how there's always some nugget of truth in every book--even fiction (4:37), why we both disguise some real life characters in our writing (11:49), how we're constantly learning--especially through bad experiences (17:05), why we both thrive on alone time as writers (19:55), how eating chocolate and watching 80s TV--especially TJ Hooker--helps Heather cope with writing about tough subjects (22:25), we discuss some of our favorite memoirs we read and why Heather is obsessed with British royals (23:20), and we offer up some advice for aspiring authors (31:54) including the reality that its perfectly ok to suck (34:33)! Learn all about Heather Dobson and get your signed copy of Memoirs of a Future Ghost, find her here: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and her website and Paranormal Georgia Investigators. 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! Support the show: https://sherylparbhoo.com/support/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine moving from the US to India in your late 20s for work, only to fall in love with the people and their culture; now imagine meeting and marrying an Indian man who spent his late 20s in the United States. That experience would likely give you and your husband a fairly unique worldview to say the least. This week I’m joined by Jessica Kumar who, along with husband Abhishek, co-hosts The Invisible India Podcast which highlights lesser known facts of Indian culture from the perspective of...

Can you imagine going to your dream college 7000 miles from home? My guest today is New York University sophomore Amin Ali and he did just that. I met Amin last year on dorm move in day, he had the privilege--or maybe the bad luck--to bunk right next to my son. I followed Amin's freshman year story, was fascinated by his journey, and--as a mama--I wanted to know more about him. Amin and I connected over love of authentic middle eastern food (4:38), he told me about growing up in his native...

An author's journey often begins with a simple love of reading and many of us embrace that love by spending some quality time with local book sellers. My life was forever changed after taking a creative writing class in Woodstock, GA at the wonderfully cozy FoxTale Book Shoppe; that one class led me down the path to finally completing my first novel The Unexpected Daughter. There are a plethora of reasons why independent book stores are important for communities across the country. In-store...

Today I'm joined by "momedian" Heather Tolley-Bauer. She's a drop-dead funny, stay-at-home mom, colon cancer survivor, stand-up comedian. Her comedy is for moms, women, and couples and covers everything from parenting to Pintrest, the PTA, and really anything else that keeps us awake at night. She's also the producer and host of the wildly popular, sold out show called 'Laugh Lines and Stretch Marks' and she's even appeared on season four of the Weather Channel's top-rated original program...

Fellow Atlanta-area author Beth Hermes joins the podcast this week. Beth has been a professional writer for over 30 years, she teaches creative and business writing workshops to children and adults, and is the author behind the spiritual/fantasy fiction series The Lightbearers. I wanted to speak with Beth about what it’s like being a writer, teaching writing, and learning about writing as an adult. We discuss Beth's early career as an author and how she got her start as a shadow artist...

Deborah Mantella is a Yankee-Italian transplant to the South and she is the author of a very Southern novel called My Sweet Vidalia. It's full of very Southern characters. Critics have compared it to books like The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Deborah has said before that writing fiction gives her a place where she can work out her own personal questions about things in life and the personal song and dance that lives...

I’m kind of obsessed with the concept of arranged marriage in Indian culture. Are arranged marriages better? And within Indian culture, are couples expected to find romantic love through arranged marriage? It’s a total enigma to me – my husband might have had one if I hadn’t bewitched him away when we met (that's what he says anyway). Today I'm chatting with my old friend Salil Maniktahla about Indian marriage culture, how his first marriage fell apart despite after being arranged by his...

Bren McClain is the author of the award-winning novel One Good Mama Bone. She and I met in 2018 in a project featuring our novels in a line-up of Southern fiction titles around the Southeastern United States. I hadn’t even read her book when we met, and I suspected she was someone special. Then I read her book. And her writing confirmed my suspicions. Bren’s writing talent is a force. She lives outside of Nashville, TN on a hundred-acre wood she calls “Peace of Soul Acres” and is currently...

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...

If you’re from Atlanta and ever tuned into The Bert Show in the morning, you’ll love this week’s guest. Brian Moote spent nearly three years in Atlanta on The Bert Show before leaving to co-host the Morning Show at 97.1 AMP in Los Angeles. He joins me (squee) for Episode Five of Southern Life Indian Wife. And y’all, I barely kept it together. Brian’s originally from Washington, but he’s spent enough time in the South to know what it’s all about. He divides his time between Los Angeles and...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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:...

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...