BY SONAM MIRPURI
LOS ANGELES, CA - Children have creative, expressive, and wild imaginations. They also have a love of stories. Utilizing both their skills and their appreciation is a different and interesting style to teach children something new and keep them captivated. With the desire to raise her 6-year-old son, Josh, Los Angeles-based bilingual,
LOS ANGELES, CA - Children have creative, expressive, and wild imaginations. They also have a love of stories. Utilizing both their skills and their appreciation is a different and interesting style to teach children something new and keep them captivated. With the desire to raise her 6-year-old son, Josh, Los Angeles-based bilingual,
actress and Audie nominated audiobook narrator and voiceover artist, Deepti Gupta, did exactly that. Gupta wanted her son to learn and benefit from the backgrounds and cultures of both his parents.
“When I became a mother, I decided I wanted my son to speak Hindi/Urdu as well. My husband speaks only English, so it was on me to make this happen. I don’t speak pure Hindi or pure Urdu. What I speak is Hindustani which is a mix of Hindi and Urdu words. I believe we all speak Hindustani but just call it Hindi,” said Gupta.
Striving to notice various aspects which interested Josh was an important part of figuring out how to teach her son something new in a unique and intriguing style.
“Last year, Josh, started listening to an English language story podcast, ‘What If World.’ The stories on this podcast are fun, creative and super imaginative. Josh could listen to episode after episode,” said Gupta.
Identifying a need for something similar in Hindi for her son to listen to so he could learn how to speak Hindi, Gupta searched online and on various applications but found nothing with a similar storytelling style which would keep her son entertained.
“What I found was a few podcasts in Hindi but with the same old Hindi stories and the language used didn’t sound like how we speak Hindi. Bookish Hindi doesn’t help a young child who is learning to express himself/herself in a language,” said Gupta.
Therefore instead of complaining about the lack of content, Gupta decided to do something about it.
“So I started wondering if I should start a podcast. What will it be about? … I wanted something that would capture the modern kids’ imagination and interest. How do you create new content that the kids today can relate to? Where robots and snakes can both be in the same story?,” said Gupta.
In December 2018, Gupta and her son went to the Los Angeles Central Public Library where a Makers Faire was taking place. The Makers Faire brings together different kinds of innovators and creators to display their inventions and creations. While in attendance Gupta and her son met with Mr. Eric (Eric O’Keeffe) of ‘What If World’ and Josh along with the other kids present at the Makers Faire were able to participate in an on the spot ‘What If World’ podcast episode.
Inspired from the experience, Gupta and her son went home and let their imaginations soar. One morning, utilizing her in-home studio and Josh’s previous experiences of sitting in Gupta’s studio narrating and creating his own stories brought to life ‘Josh Ke Saath.’ “I wondered what if he and I could create something together. One fine Saturday morning in January, on the spur of the moment we decided to take action. He was in good spirits and I was excited at the prospect. So, in half hour we recorded our first podcast. We felt exhilarated,” said Gupta.
‘Josh Ke Saath’ is in Hindi and it literally translates to ‘with Josh’ in English. Gupta and Josh invigorated and excited about how well and smooth the first episode to their new podcast went continued.
“Then Josh and I made the art that is our logo. It is him and me in the booth, recording. That same day I edited the audio, chose a platform and launched a podcast,” said Gupta.
Upon completion of the first episode of the podcast, enthusiastically Gupta shared the episode with others to get their opinions of the podcast and the concept.
“I shared it with other families who are also committed to passing their native languages to their children. And the initial response has been amazing,” said Gupta.
‘Josh Ke Saath’ is a podcast in which Josh and his mom start each episode with a specific who, where, and what then they continue and build the story with each sentence. Josh and Gupta work together to make up stories weekly which demonstrates their imaginative capabilities and their love of stories. The podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and any web-browser by going to http://joshkesaath.podbean.com.
“When I became a mother, I decided I wanted my son to speak Hindi/Urdu as well. My husband speaks only English, so it was on me to make this happen. I don’t speak pure Hindi or pure Urdu. What I speak is Hindustani which is a mix of Hindi and Urdu words. I believe we all speak Hindustani but just call it Hindi,” said Gupta.
Striving to notice various aspects which interested Josh was an important part of figuring out how to teach her son something new in a unique and intriguing style.
“Last year, Josh, started listening to an English language story podcast, ‘What If World.’ The stories on this podcast are fun, creative and super imaginative. Josh could listen to episode after episode,” said Gupta.
Identifying a need for something similar in Hindi for her son to listen to so he could learn how to speak Hindi, Gupta searched online and on various applications but found nothing with a similar storytelling style which would keep her son entertained.
“What I found was a few podcasts in Hindi but with the same old Hindi stories and the language used didn’t sound like how we speak Hindi. Bookish Hindi doesn’t help a young child who is learning to express himself/herself in a language,” said Gupta.
Therefore instead of complaining about the lack of content, Gupta decided to do something about it.
“So I started wondering if I should start a podcast. What will it be about? … I wanted something that would capture the modern kids’ imagination and interest. How do you create new content that the kids today can relate to? Where robots and snakes can both be in the same story?,” said Gupta.
In December 2018, Gupta and her son went to the Los Angeles Central Public Library where a Makers Faire was taking place. The Makers Faire brings together different kinds of innovators and creators to display their inventions and creations. While in attendance Gupta and her son met with Mr. Eric (Eric O’Keeffe) of ‘What If World’ and Josh along with the other kids present at the Makers Faire were able to participate in an on the spot ‘What If World’ podcast episode.
Inspired from the experience, Gupta and her son went home and let their imaginations soar. One morning, utilizing her in-home studio and Josh’s previous experiences of sitting in Gupta’s studio narrating and creating his own stories brought to life ‘Josh Ke Saath.’ “I wondered what if he and I could create something together. One fine Saturday morning in January, on the spur of the moment we decided to take action. He was in good spirits and I was excited at the prospect. So, in half hour we recorded our first podcast. We felt exhilarated,” said Gupta.
‘Josh Ke Saath’ is in Hindi and it literally translates to ‘with Josh’ in English. Gupta and Josh invigorated and excited about how well and smooth the first episode to their new podcast went continued.
“Then Josh and I made the art that is our logo. It is him and me in the booth, recording. That same day I edited the audio, chose a platform and launched a podcast,” said Gupta.
Upon completion of the first episode of the podcast, enthusiastically Gupta shared the episode with others to get their opinions of the podcast and the concept.
“I shared it with other families who are also committed to passing their native languages to their children. And the initial response has been amazing,” said Gupta.
‘Josh Ke Saath’ is a podcast in which Josh and his mom start each episode with a specific who, where, and what then they continue and build the story with each sentence. Josh and Gupta work together to make up stories weekly which demonstrates their imaginative capabilities and their love of stories. The podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and any web-browser by going to http://joshkesaath.podbean.com.
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