Invisible India | Navigating Indian Culture With Love

Is India safe for foreign travelers? I believe that in 95% of situations, having the right skills and language will help you get out of sketchy situations. 

But how?

With most Hindi travel guides out there, the book is going to teach "Namaste, Mera naam Jessica hai. Aap kaise hain? Aapka naam kya hai?" While these are not bad things to learn, but actually not that important if you’re just trying to survive in India.

But what are the things you need to know? How to book a taxi and how to give directions to an Uber coming to pick you up. How to get out of an uncomfortable situation, how to negotiate or count money. How to tell someone to leave you alone!

In this podcast, we talk about how to get out of situations:

-how to get around by taxi, auto, train and airplane -negotiation strategies and vocab

-how to get out of compromising/scary situations

-managing money, counting and smart ways to manage payments.

Asking questions in Hindi might be the most important thing you can learn.

In this episode, Jessica talks about the importance of asking questions and not just making declarative statements in Hindi.

In this episode, we talk about "kya - what." "Kya" is the most important word you need to know to be able to ask questions in Hindi. This video is a sample from the larger Hindi Grammar Foundations course by Jessica Kumar. Hindi Grammar Foundations is a 2.5 hour course including 30+ video lessons, downloadable homework, audio recordings and multiple perspectives from two teachers. Enroll in Hindi Grammar Foundations today.

If this is your first trip to India or eighth, this episode highlights the top 10 pro pointers you need to known to reduce the headaches, inconveniences and ripoffs that are likely to happen while visiting India.

Navigating the Indian medical system can be incredibly confusing, intimidating and even downright frustrating if you didn't grow up in South Asia. Knowing the ins and outs of how the medical field is run in India is crucial to being able to care for yourself and others in routine visits and especially emergencies.

If you are visiting India, living in India as a foreigner, or an NRI who is caring for someone, this is the episode for you.

A recent injury prompted me to record this episode while my mind was fresh with lots of doctor visits, medical tests, procedures, pharmacy experiences and even emergency room dramas. I cover it all in this episode and give practical tips of how to get through most situations.

I also summarized this information in a free PDF guide on my website www.invisibleindiapodcast.com. Save it on your phone or print it out for your next visit to India.

I've been following Indicast with Aditya Mhatre and Abhishek Kumar for 17 years. They are the hosts of India's longest running multi-person podcast. Covering major business tycoon stories, to media personalities, to the latest news, these guys are the dynamic duo of Indian podcasting. 

In Part 2, Jessica talks with them about predictions for future digital India and how they think tech has changed the ways people live.

Part 1 about their personal lives of being two of India’s first podcasters and how the show came into being.

Hear about some of their most popular episodes and high profile guests and most interested episodes that would have never otherwise gotten exposure in the mainstream media. 

In Episode 80, Jessica Kumar and Mallika Thoppay take on colorism in South Asian communities.  

Mallika shares about her activism and how colorism affects everyone and hurts us all. She works with children in helping them to accept others as they are and stand up for themselves if they are being discriminated against.  

She authored "Unfair and Lovely" to combat colorism in India. The book tackles colorism and is an effort to nip this social issue in the bud. It chronicles the journey of Sahana, who is a middle school girl. She and her sister, Surabhi, move to a new city and start attending school there. Both of them aspire to succeed at their new school, academically and socially, hoping to make new friends, participate in extracurricular activities etc.. Sahana happens to be darker skinned than Surabhi. The book delves into how the sisters' journeys are different, and how Sahana has to overcome the obstacles she faces. The author's hope is that the book teaches kids to accept everyone, regardless of physical appearance, and to stand up for themselves when the situation demands it.

You get get this book in the US & India. 

Join me for a wrap of 2022 with snippets of the best episodes from this year.

I'm very thankful for your support and encouragement through the past four years!

If you've ever wondered what the differences are between the educational system in Western countries, this episode is for you.  If you're an NRI wondering if you should move back to India, or if you are a Westerner thinking about making the shift to India, this is for you too. 

How do you build relationships in India? Part 2 of this 2 part episode deals with the relational dynamics of living in India as someone who didn't grow up there. Skip the outdated guide books and listen in to this advice from Jessica, who first started living in India in 2006.

Friendships, finding common ground, how to manage house help and language learning tips are all here. 

Whether you are visiting or planning on living in India, these tips will help you go beyond surviving to thriving in India with these tips!

Mentioned in this episode

What are the crucial elements you need to life life well in India? Part 1 of this 2 part episode deals with the practicalities of living in India as someone who didn't grow up there. Skip the outdated guide books and listen in to this advice from Jessica, who first started living in India in 2006. 

Negotiation, dealing with the complications of Indian currency, how to give and receive directions and of course tips on learning the local language(s) of the place you are visiting or living in.

Whether you are visiting or planning on living in India, these tips will help you go beyond surviving to thriving in India with these tips! 

Links mentioned in this episode

Jessica dives deeper about having Indian in-laws as a foreigner. In this 2 part episode, Jessica discusses listener questions about having Indian in-laws when you didn’t grow up in Indian culture.

We talk about how to address conflict, what happens when you're in a multi-generational home and how to address the different view of boundaries in East vs West.

Be sure to listen to Part 1 to hear about meeting the inlaws for the first time and other popular questions about marrying an Indian.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

Jessica tells all about having Indian in-laws as a foreigner. In this 2 part episode, Jessica discusses listener questions about having Indian in-laws when you didn’t grow up in Indian culture.

You probably know Indian families are close knit. That is why having a good relationship with our in-laws is so important.

We discuss questions like what to expect when meeting the in-laws for the first time, gender biases, handling boundaries, managing questions about children and more.

Listen in as a guide for your own masala desi relationship.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

Hearing others' perspectives always brings out new perspectives. I interviewed two other women who are married to Indians who bring various cultural and linguistic background to their stories. Sheida is from Iran living in Canada. Parneet is French, living in Belgium.

I asked the various questions to bring out these women's thoughts and experiences:

1) Things you enjoy about being married to an Indian.

2) Your favorite thing about Indian culture.

3) One challenge of being cross culturally married.

Hear their thoughts, opinions and be exposed to different cultural perspectives.

Find Parneet @paris_punjabexpress and Sheida on Instagram.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

Devika Cariapa is an award-winning children’s author who uses her background in history and archaeology to creatively communicate with a young audience.

Her first book, India Through Archaeology: Excavating History (Tulika Books) encourages children to explore Indian history through the lens of archaeology.

It was awarded the Hindu Young World-Goodbooks Award 2018 and the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2019. She is also the author of India Through People : 25 Game Changers (Tulika Books) about the courageous men and women who left an imprint on the course of modern India, The Adventures of the Kohinoor (Juggernaut), an adaptation of William Dalrymple and Anita Anand’s book, Kohinoor and Uncle Nehru, Please Send an Elephant, a picture book for younger readers on Nehru’s ‘elephant diplomacy’. The Adventures of the Kohinoor is on the Neev Book Awards 2021 short list.

Listen to this conversation about children's literature in India!

What are the top five verbs you need to now in Hindi to start most simple conversations? Jessica breaks down the basic verbs to listen for in Hindi conversation and how these verbs can be used for beginners and intermediate speakers of Hindi. 

This episode is a sneak preview of Jessica's upcoming Hindi course "Hindi Hacks You Didn't Know You Needed to Know." This course if different from other courses on the market.  If you've ever felt perfectionism stop you from trying to speak Hindi, this is a great place to start to overcome barriers and learn the most irrelevant. The first course will be released mid-March 2022 with many more to come! 

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Eliza Keyton (Eli Kutty) and Jessica Kumar are both language learners of Indian languages. In the years since learning Malayalam and Hindi, Eliza and Jessica have become increasingly convinced that there needs to be greater representation of Indians and proper credit given to those who have taught their indigenous languages to foreigners.

In this episode, Eliza and Jessica talk through the challenges of navigating leftover colonialism which makes learning a language responsibly tricky in today's climate. 

Jessica and Eliza both share their clear intentions of uplifting Desi voices and pointing the attention back to native speakers of their target languages. They both speak about their unique experiences as white Americans and how one needs to be aware of white privilege while learning a language.

Hear Episode 68 for more information about Eliza and Jessica's personal journey of learning Indian languages. 

Eliza Keyton (Eli Kutty) is an American Malayalam learner and dedicated to sharing her learnings with other learners. Jessica and Eliza dive into the complexities of learning Hindi vs Malayalam and the challenges of learning an Indian language.

Jessica and Eliza both share their clear intentions of uplifting Desi voices and pointing the attention back to native speakers of their target languages. They both speak about their unique experiences as white Americans and how one needs to be aware of white privilege while learning a language. 

Both women are married to Indian men, yet have very different paths that have led them to diving deep into learning Indian languages.

2021 was the year where I (Jessica) hosted only South Asian guests! Hear 2-4 min blurbs from 8 of our best episodes with powerful, empathetic and informational interviews! 

In this episode we highlight: 

Jessica takes a moment to reflect on some of the learnings about Indian culture she has observed in the last 15 years. 

The most common questions she gets asked as a foreigner married to an Indian living in India:

How do you celebrate festivals as a cross cultural couple?

Is it safe to eat street food in India?

How many languages have you learned? AND MORE...


Two Ethical Businesses Supporting Local Artisans:

Ziyada Handicrafts - beautiful hand made fabrics for the Holidays. Enjoy a 10% discount with code "Invisibleindia10"

Should I share pictures of my life on social media even if I fear being judged by conservative relatives? What are the no-nos of social media in more conservative Indian families? If you are in a desi/non-desi relationship, maybe you have some of the same questions we do.

How do you protect your relationship but also interact on social media with the ever watchful Indian aunties?

Jessica shares her top 5 tips for protecting family relationships online. 

Plus, bonus - Is our life really all it looks like on social media? What are we hiding as an Indian-American couple?

LINKS mentioned in this episode:

The dissonance caused by learning a new culture and language can be one of the most disorienting things that humans can go through.   

How can one respectfully and responsibly learn a new language without doing harm to those around them or losing themself in the process?   

Join Jessica Kumar, Invisible India Podcast host and lifelong Hindi learner as she guides us through being aware of our own motivations, practicing cultural humility and decolonizing the language learning process.   

#burningman #burningman2021 #sparkleverse #burner #virtualburn #virtualburn2021 #CampLanguages.    

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:  

What does it take to successfully learn Hindi?

Jessica breaks down tips and tricks and answers the most common questions about how to learn Hindi fluently.

-What is unique about learning Hindi?
-Why is it so hard to learn Indian languages from a book?
-Is language school worth it?
-Is it more important to focus on Hindi pronunciation or vocabulary?
-Does age matter in learning a language?
-How important is it to learn Devnagri script?

Also check out previous episode and YouTube video "Why I Learned Hindi" where Jessica breaks down the motivations and environment you can set yourself up to become fluent.

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"Maid in India" is a masterful work that not only uncovers some of the biggest challenges to India's informal labor sector, but some of the greatest opportunities it presents. Jessica rates it as one of the best books she has read on Indian culture as a whole, as it highlights the invisible aspects of hierarchy and classism through storytelling and hard data.

Tripti Lahiri, Author, joins Jessica for an enlightening conversation about the book and personal experiences of grappling with the patron/client relationship of employing domestic help in India.  This is Part 2 of a 2 Part Conversation.

"Maid in India" is a masterful work that not only uncovers some of the biggest challenges to India's informal labor sector, but some of the greatest opportunities it presents. Jessica rates it as one of the best books she has read on Indian culture as a whole, as it highlights the invisible aspects of hierarchy and classism through storytelling and hard data.

Tripti Lahiri, Author, joins Jessica for an enlightening conversation about the book and personal experiences of grappling with the patron/client relationship of employing domestic help in India.  This is Part 1 of a 2 Part Conversation. 

Jessica hosts Anita Sachariah to share on tidbits of how to teach Indian origin children heritage languages like Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Urdu, Tamil, Punjabi and many more.   Jessica and Anita speak about their experiences teaching their own children and creating resources for children and adults to bridge the gap in learning Indian languages wherever learners are in the world.  

This conversation was part of the Lingua Cultura Experience held on June 24-27, 2021 on Clubhouse. 

Rashmi Chadha is an entrepreneur, travel influencer and international speaker. Despite her ever smiling persona, there is depth and pain in her story. Overcoming sexism at many junctures, the tragic loss of her mother and obstacles from society, she continues to push forward to make the world a better place for women. She is the founder of wovoyage, a travel company making women’s travel experiences more safe and enjoyable. And with her media background now she is consulting companies like Yatra, Policy Bazar and small businesses in social media marketing.  

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Find Rashmi on Instagram @rashmichadha & @wovoyage 

What is really happening in India right now with the COVID Crisis?  

Jessica, an American living in India with her family tells a first hand account of what it feels like to be in the midst of India's huge COVID crisis. How did we get here and what was the progression like from lockdown #1 in 2020 to a life of normalcy in late 2020, to complete chaos now in April 2021.   

What does it feel like to be in a small city and how is the healthcare infrastructure holding up?   

Hear from her perspective.  

RESOURCES:  

• covidresource.glideapp.io - resource by city for Oxygen, Sanitation  
• Bit.ly/MutualAidIndia - Ongoing fundraisers  
• Register for your vaccine in India --- cowin.gov.in  
• Find Data on COVID Numbers Daily- https://covid19.healthdata.org/india 
• Follow my Instagram for regular update of ways to help.  https://www.instagram.com/invisibleindia​ 

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Patna, Bihar’s historical sites are in danger. Kunal Dutt shares about the top 5 historic sites in Patna, the capital of Bihar, India. Kunal founded the Save Historic Patna Collectorate campaign to raise awareness of how Patnaites are allowing their history to be cannibalized in the name of becoming a “smart city.”  He shares the tragic story of losing several iconic pieces of history and what you can do to get involved to stop further demolition of Indian history!  

In Jessica's 15 years in India, there have been countless interesting and exciting moments.   

Here in our 50th EPISODE she reflects on 2 dumb newbie mistakes, 1 religious experience, 1 natural disaster and 1 wild animal story.   

Hear about the crazy, dumb mistakes that Jessica made as a young intern in India and the other wild experiences that come with living off the beaten path.   

Learn more about Jessica and Abhishek's life in Bihar, whey they moved back to India after settling in the US and how Jessica learned fluent Hindi. Chalo!   

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:  

Direct vs indirect communication has been a painful point for Indians working with Westerners and vice versa. Craig Storti, author of “Speaking of India” draws on his decades of international consulting experience to share about the common pain points between Western and Eastern professionals.

Jessica and Craig dive in deeper to see how these differences in direct vs indirect communication impact personal relationships, marriage, parental relationships between 1st generation diaspora desis and their parents who grew up in South Asia.

In this bilingual episode, Jessica tells all the questions you may be wondering about what its like to be a foreigner in India, how she learned fluent Hindi and what it is like being married to an Indian while living in a conservative community in North India.

• do people treat her weird as a foreigner?
• how do people react to her speaking fluent Hindi?
• how did Abhishek's parents feel about their son marrying an American? 

Hear her answers and how she relates some of the off the wall things you may have never thought about being a foreigner in India, married to an Indian and living immersed in Indian culture!

Indian weddings are generally a multi-day affair, including a number of rituals and family get togethers. And lets not forget the food!
After 10 years of marriage, Jessica and Abhishek reflect on what they would change about their "Big Fat Indian Wedding." What are the important things to include and what doesn't matter years later?

• What do a bride and groom need to compromise?
• Is it better to have one ceremony or two?
• How do you convince your family to include what you want in your wedding?

From the outside, the Indian educational system is a confusing landscape that produces some of the world's top talent, CEOs and world leaders, yet is criticized for inequality and illiteracy. 

• What are the basic building blocks of Indian education?
• How did India move from the Guru/Shishya ancient system to a high tech, competitive enterprise?
• Does the Indian school system really start at age 3?

Shubhada Ranjan is the Head of Public Relations at a 3000 student school in Patna City, Bihar. A product of Indian education herself, college professor and community activist, she explores common questions and misconceptions about the Indian system from a unique global perspective.

Join us for an enlightening conversation with Jessica and Shubhada Ranjan explore many common questions and misconceptions about the Indian school systems. 

See the YouTube version of Shubhada and Jessica talking face to face here: