In this episode, Neha sits down with researcher and writer Manjima Bhattacharjya, partner to screenwriter-director Saurabh for 27 years, and mother to Tara (20) and Arjun (16). The conversation moves through the full arc of their partnership — from a Barsati apartment in Delhi with one stove and no money, through the decision to have children, the accidents and hospital visits, the delight of birthday parties and precocious kids, into the harder terrain of working motherhood, gendered financial dependence, separate finances as a form of freedom, and the ongoing negotiation of who does what and why. Manjima also reflects on writing two books while raising children in stolen hours, and closes with a meditation on nurturing everyone's inner life — including your own, as it changes with every passing year.

Why You Should Listen

This isn't a tidy how-to on co-parenting. It's an honest unpacking of how an "independent lives, closely shared parenting" model actually gets built — through circumstance, personality, money, trust, and a lot of ongoing self-reflection. If you've ever wondered whether sharing parenting is a value or a personality trait, whether separate finances signal distance or freedom, or how to protect a creative life while raising children, this conversation sits right in that tension without offering easy answers.

Notable Quotes

• On parenting styles: "You have to write the script in your own life."
• On domestic life: "Domestic life is its own beast. And it's very enmeshed."
• On writing amid caregiving: "It is a luxury to think that one can go away and write."
• On money and freedom: "Having finances of your own is more symbolic than it is real... that is where you concretely see freedom."
• On sharing responsibilities: "It is hard to force people to do something that they're not very good at."
• Her closing insight: "Nurturing everyone's inner life is very central to a happy household... don't forget you're also a new edition of yourself."

Resources and References

• Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy: referenced by Manjima while reflecting on motherhood and the mother-daughter relationship
• The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard: the book Manjima was reading, which shaped her reflection on parenting as a kind of house that fills, empties, and changes over time
• Mannequin: Manjima's book, substantially written during a two-week writing residency in Chamonix, France, and in the years around her PhD fieldwork
• Jagori: the feminist organization in Delhi where Manjima began her career

About the Guest

Manjima Bhattacharjya is a researcher, sociologist, and writer whose work sits at the intersection of ideas, storytelling, and social inquiry. She has spent decades in the philanthropy and development sector, alongside a long-running practice of academic writing and fieldwork. She lives in Bombay with her partner Saurabh, a screenwriter and director, and their two children, Tara and Arjun.

• Follow her on Instagram
• Connect with her on LinkedIn

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In this episode, Neha sits down with children's author Vaishali Shroff for a warm, honest conversation about what it really means to write — and why so much of that applies to how we raise kids too. Vaishali talks about stories that took over a decade to find their published form, the self-doubt that never fully goes away even after multiple books, and a moment at a book signing that changed how she thinks about her own work. It's a conversation about patience, trusting your own voice, and letting things unfold in their own time.

Why You Should Listen

If you've ever pushed your child (or yourself) toward an outcome instead of letting the process breathe, this episode offers a gentle reframe. Vaishali's insights on writing "for yourself first" mirror so much of parenting — the comparison trap, the self-doubt, the fear of how others will judge what you put out into the world. Parents raising young readers and writers will especially value her perspective on nurturing creativity without rushing it toward a finish line.

Notable Quotes from the Guest

• On writing to be published vs. writing for yourself: "You've got to discover yourself, you've got to discover the kind of stories you can write... that cannot happen if you just write to be published, because then you're writing for others, you're not writing for yourself."
• On timing: One of her stories, Remembering Amma, was written as an experiment over 14 years before it was published as a children's book.
• On self-doubt: "I still go through that every single day... that feeling of self-doubt. I'm so scared every time a book comes out."
• On being "chosen" to write: A stranger at a book signing told her, "I think God has chosen you to write these two books," a moment Vaishali still carries with her.

Practical Takeaways for Listeners

1. Let stories (and skills) develop on their own timeline. Vaishali's published work includes stories written over a decade earlier — there's no fixed schedule for creative growth.
2. Doubt doesn't disappear with experience — you learn to write alongside it. Reassuring for parents modelling resilience for their kids.
3. There's no single "right" process. Vaishali contrasts her own instinctive, unplotted writing style with a friend's structured plotting approach — both work.
4. Rejection is often about fit, not worth. Many of her stories were rejected multiple times before being accepted elsewhere.
5. Writing for yourself first is not selfish — it's essential. The same applies to encouraging kids to create without an audience in mind.

Resources and References

• Vaishali Shroff's website: vaishalishroff.in
• Instagram: @vaishaliwrites
• Reference to author Elif Shafak and her novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, discussed as an example of letting a story lead the writing process.

About the Guest

Vaishali Shroff is a children's book author with a growing body of published work, including picture books and short stories for young readers. Before writing for children, she published more than 15 short stories for adult readers. Her books include Remembering Amma, along with several forthcoming titles — one of which she wrote more than 11 years before its release. Her writing journey reflects both a deep instinct for storytelling and an honest relationship with the uncertainty that comes with putting creative work into the world.

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In this Parenthoot Spotlight, Neha sits down with Shobha Viswanath, co-founder of Karadi Tales — one of India's most beloved children's publishing houses, now 30 years old. Shobha traces the journey from a gap she spotted as a returning mother (no Indian audiobooks for children) to an institution that has shaped millions of childhoods. The conversation spans the founding of Karadi Tales with husband Viswanath and brother-in-law Narayan, getting Naseeruddin Shah to narrate the very first two stories, the pivot from audiobooks to picture books, and the birth of Karadi Path — a pan-India English language learning program now in thousands of schools. Plus: why Shobha wrote Indian nursery rhymes to replace Jack and Jill, and the accidental discovery that Karadi Tales is an anagram of "read as I talk."

Why You Should Listen

• Whether you grew up with Karadi Tales or are raising a child on them, this is the story behind the stories
• Shobha shares sharp, unsentimental wisdom on raising readers and building a child's aesthetic — without pressure or prescription
• There's an honest conversation about the economics of independent children's publishing and the real threat of AI-generated content
• You'll hear how a family of musicians — alongside Naseeruddin Shah, Gulzar, Girish Karnad, Usha Uthup, and Rahul Dravid — built a 30-year institution from a fax machine and two Panchatantra retellings

Notable Quotes

• "Roz roz you won't feed your child dal chawal, no? You expose them to so many kinds of cuisines, similar with books, similar with art."
• "Always test your story with a teenage kid or an older kid or with an enemy, not even with a friend."
• "What are we doing in an agricultural country like ours, singing rain, rain, go away?"

Resources & References

• Karadi Tales: www.karaditales.com
• Karadipath (English language learning program, pan-India): www.karadipath.com
• The Blue Jackal and The Foolish Lion: Karadi Tales' very first audiobooks, narrated by Naseeruddin Shah
• Run Ravi Run: one of Karadi's recent picture books
• Karadi Rhymes on YouTube: search "Karadi Tales rhymes" or "Karadi Tales mango song" to find Shobha's India-contextual nursery rhymes sung by Usha Uthup
• Shobha's online picture book writing workshop (limited to 20 participants): follow Karadi Tales on Instagram for upcoming dates

About the Guest

Shobha Viswanath is the co-founder of Karadi Tales, established in Chennai in 1996 alongside her husband Viswanath and brother-in-law Narayan — all classically trained Carnatic musicians. A journalist and writer by background, Shobha has spent three decades commissioning, writing, and publishing children's audiobooks and picture books rooted in Indian stories, languages, art, and music traditions. She is also the co-founder of Karadi Path, a structured English language learning methodology now active in government, tribal, and CSR-supported schools across India. She believes children should be trusted with stories — and left free to find their own way into them

• Follow Shobha on Instagram
• Connect with Shobha on LinkedIn

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