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PODCAST

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma

Listen in to conversations that "swish" or shift your perspective! Journalist and Mindset Coach Anuradha Varma interviews a diverse cast of people who share their expertise and experiences on a range of themes, across spirituality, inclusivity, entrepreneurship, mythology, and popular culture. Follow and share to stay updated and grow the conversation.Anuradha is a journalist with nearly three decades of experience, having worked as head of Parenting for Indian Express Online, editor of interiors

education self-improvement

All Episodes

70:15

Ep 57: ‘Nautch Boy’ Manish Gaekwad: On growing up in...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/09/01

Life outside the kotha is really quite drab, remarks Manish Gaekwad, son of Rekha bai, the subject of his book “The Last Courtesan: Writing My Mother's Memoir”. Here, he chats about its sequel “Nautch Boy: A Memoir of My Life in the Kothas”, giving flashes of a life that sounds straight out of a Bollywood potboiler. The radio, according to the journalist-author-scriptwriter, never stopped playing at the kotha, with strains of Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi songs filling the air. As a child, he

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38:23

EP 56: Michael Bach: Creating safe, inclusive workplaces

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/08/27

Queer, trans or gender fabulous, there should be a safe space for everyone at the workplace, says Canadian Michael Bach, an internationally recognised thought leader in diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility. Here, he talks about his own journey of coming out as queer, and decodes the ever expanding “alphabet soup” of gender and orientation — “LGBTIQCAPGNGFNBA”, while advocating for using language mindfully. He gives recommendations for creating safe spaces, such as companies offering a

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47:23

Ep 55: Shalini Singh: 'Indians don't know how to date'

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/08/11

One can find their partner in six months if they’re doing it right, assures Shalini Singh, founder of andwemet, building a community for Indian singles over 28 to find serious relationships.First, however, Indians must learn how to date and not look for that elusive instant connection or finding that “perfect” partner. Instead, look for shared goals and compatibility, she says. And while marriage may still be the goal for many, those over 40 are open to other forms of commitment, such as live-ins or

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53:57

EP 54: The Blind Blogger Maxwell Ivey: Why...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/07/10

Maxwell Ivey, better known as The Blind Blogger, grew up in a large extended family, which managed carnival rides. Now a serial online entrepreneur, he is an American accessibility expert advocating for more inclusion of people with disabilities. Here, the 59-year-old talks about how a small button being relocated on a screen can throw off his screen-reader and send his day into chaos, the importance of “alt text” for images and why companies must make accessibility a priority. The aim, he says, is

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43:49

Ep 53: Maya Raichoora: Visualisation for mental fitness

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/07/03

At 27, Maya Raichoora is one of UK’s top mental fitness and visualisation experts and the author of VISUALISE: Think, Feel, Perform Like the Top 1%. When she was younger, a debilitating encounter with ulcerative colitis left her bed-ridden and with zero confidence. The turning point came when a nurse asked her what she would rather do if she wasn’t confined to a hospital bed. Despite finding the question insensitive at first, it set her mind to visualise taking her first steps and start walking,

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45:42

Ep 52: Leigh Branham: 'The best leaders had bad bosses'

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/06/19

“I’m on a mission to put pressure on companies to be better places to work,” says Leigh Branham, international bestselling author of four books including The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late and Re-Engage: How America’s Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times. Here, he talks about how the “burn and churn” philosophy is not helping companies and why they should focus on re-engaging burnt out and disengaged

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57:44

Ep 51: Neeraj Sagar, WisdomCircle: ‘Don’t retire,...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/06/03

We’re all living longer, but how do we constructively utilise these extra years? Neeraj Sagar, Founder & CEO of WisdomCircle, which is building a post-retirement work marketplace, talks about creating space for retirees in corporate systems, the value of intergenerational teams, and the “price per unit of wisdom”.Currently at over 100,000 registrations, with 2,500 white-collar jobs from nearly 300 companies on his portal, he believes it has barely scratched the surface. The idea for WisdomCircle

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49:06

Ep 50: Shobha Viswanath, Karadi Tales: The soundtrack...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/05/21

When Shobha Viswanath returned to India from the US in 1995, she couldn’t find audiobooks for her young daughter, something that her son had enjoyed growing up. That prompted her to start Karadi Tales and its signature audio cassettes that accompanied illustrated books. Children could read along as they listened to the story, encouraging "sight vocabulary" as Shobha calls it and, more importantly, have fun in the process!Married into a family of Carnatic classical musicians, Shoba tells us, the

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44:16

Ep 49: Leadership coach Dr Marcia Reynolds:...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/05/07

From being in jail at barely 20-years-old, facing prison time on a drug charge and feeling, “My whole life, one stupid mess after another,” international leadership coach Dr Marcia Reynolds has come a long way. Nearly 50 years later, she counts among the top voices in coaching.Here, she talks about the power of reflective inquiry and how it forces one to look deep within and take hard life decisions. She also debunks the “crazy belief” that the coach must ask only open-ended, not closed questions. A

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72:04

Ep 48: Polyamorist Arundhati Ghosh: All love is messy...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/04/21

For Arundhati Ghosh, polyamory means “the desire, the ability and the practice of loving more than one person simultaneously, with or without sexual intimacy, and with the consent of all.” A practising polyamorist, cultural practitioner and social activist, the 53-year-old is the author of All Our Loves: Journeys with Polyamory in India, published by Aleph.In her earlier years, she felt her feelings resonated with Ghalib’s couplet, Hazaron khwahishen aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle; Bahut nikle

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51:21

Ep 47: Sabita Radhakrishna, 82: Mismatched blouses &...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/04/08

At 82, Sabita Radhakrishna, founder chairperson of Udhavi, provides a networking platform to elderly people, with retro karaoke evenings, social visits at home, and more. She talks about facing loss, the importance of family, the joys of reconnecting with old friends, and pushing forward at all times. Sabita has several firsts to her credit, such as starting Chennai’s first boutique where she introduced the then “daring” trend of wearing mismatched blouses with saris, in the early Eighties. Her

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74:51

Ep 46: PS Srikumar: Why India’s seniors can’t be ignored

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/03/18

From travel to tourism, real estate and beyond, the silver economy is seeing a boom, says PS Srikumar, a senior care expert and the founder of Care Finder. Besides grappling with issues such as loneliness, senior citizens are a fun, vibrant community and want to live the good life, with products and services already recognising and catering to this demand.Srikumar has helped over 9,000 families navigate the complexities of elder care, creating personalised solutions that enhance their quality of

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42:16

Ep 45: Rhythm Malhotra: What is 'Heart Activation...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/03/07

Most of us lead lives where we feel stuck, not allowing ourselves to feel our emotions fully. Business and embodiment coach Rhythm Malhotra talks about the transformative Heart Activation Cacao Ceremony, which brings together ceremonial-grade cacao, breathwork, and sound therapy for an emotional catharsis.Cacao, which contains theobromine that increases blood flow to the heart, gently enhances mental clarity, presence and emotional agency, according to Rhythm. She talks about the role of conscious

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63:07

Ep 44: Sopan Joshi: ‘The mango is all that is India’

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/02/18

Sopan Joshi, in his book Mangifera Indica: A Biography of the Mango, which took eight years to write and research, accomplishes a historic, cultural, religious and economic exploration of India’s favourite fruit.Did you know that India is home to over 1,000 varieties of mangoes, besides the much loved Alphonso, Kesar and Dashehri? And whenever a major battle took place, such as the Battle of Plassey, it was usually near a mango grove, which was ubiquitous in ancient India. Once a place for social

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70:12

Ep 43: K. Hari Kumar: ‘Writing horror takes a piece...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/01/29

When K. Hari Kumar was young, an oracle or soothsayer in Kerala prophesied that his work would revolve around the “undead”. Now, known fittingly as “Horror Kumar”, he talks about his latest novel Dakini, published by HarperCollins India, born out of personal tragedy and drawing on news reports of witch-hunting. He touches upon his affinity for an all-pervading mother goddess, creating strong women characters as opposed to the “damsel-in-distress” Western trope. Through his story, he also explores

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68:03

Ep 42: Bhavana Nissima: What is mental space psychology?

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2025/01/13

Everything that exists in the physical universe is located in space. “We carry a village in our heads. All our people, our senses and feelings are literally directed and mapped out in the space around us,” says Bhavana Nissima, a Hyderabad-based mental spece psychologist. Or to put loosely, we live in a 3D world, inside our heads and outside of it. Mental Space Psychology “works with our individual constructs to overcome obstacles, stop limiting beliefs and achieve goals.” In this episode, Bhavana

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58:01

Ep 41: Moms Gopika Kapoor & Moneisha Gandhi: On Buddy...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2024/11/18

When Mumbai-based Gopika Kapoor and Moneisha Gandhi, moms of Vir Kapoor and Mihaan Dhall, witnessed how life-changing friendship proved to be for their neurodivergent young sons, they decided to launch Buddy Up – A Friendship App for People with Disabilities & their Caregivers. While Vir, who is on the autism spectrum, is quiet, Mihaan, who has Down Syndrome, loves to talk non-stop, the two clicked and now “buddy up” for concerts, sleepovers, board games and dance parties. Listen in as Gopika

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43:30

Ep 40: Shashank Mani, MP: Jagriti Yatra, building...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2024/11/05

(Audio mostly in Hindi)Wanderlust or the spirit of “ghumakkadi” bit Shashank Mani, a Lok Sabha MP, as a teen and turned into a lifelong passion, with him founding the Jagriti Yatra, a multi-city train journey across “middle India” with over 500 youth on board, transcending regional barriers. He is also the founder of the Jagriti Enterprise Centre Purvanchal, at Barpar in Deoria, UP, which acts as an incubation centre for startup ideas. Here, he talks about the 15-day Jagriti Yatra, the “world’s

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76:39

Ep 39: Chandan Pandey & Sayari Debnath: Stories of...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2024/10/23

(Audio in Hindi & English)In this interview, Chandan Pandey, the award-winning author of the The Keeper of Desolation, published by HarperCollins India, and translator Sayari Debnath, talk about the “surreal yet gritty, violent yet poetic” stories that form the book and the importance of translating from regional languages. He recalls breaking down, sitting in a boat in Varanasi, after writing the haunting short story “Forgetting”, an exploration of inner family dynamics where one member is

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61:07

Ep 38: Dr. Erika Rosenberg: Buddhist ‘Tonglen’...

Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma ·

2024/10/15

The Buddhist Tonglen meditation, a “warrior training” that reinforces altruistic resolve, allows us to take in the suffering of others, witness pain and stay without fleeing, building courage, opening us up to be of service. While it makes us kinder and more compassionate, it also makes us strong, says Dr. Erika Rosenberg, a US-based psychological scientist, who integrates traditional Buddhist practices with key concepts and techniques from Western Psychology. The Tonglen meditation practice (at

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