Pops in a Pod

Episode 82 – Father’s Month – The dad who defies all odds – Ankit Jindal

20th June is Father’s Day. Nadir Pop & Peter Pop decided to make this month Fathers’ month for the podcast.

They have curated 4 stories of dads from different walks of life. The second story is of a dad who defies the odds, Ankit Jindal.

At the age of 13, Ankit was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a disorder which causes progressive vision loss, however he did not let this hold him back in life.

Ankit works in marketing at a Fortune 500 company and is also a social entrepreneur. He has started many ventures for people with disability like Kick Start Cabs, Mera Mitra and is the founding member of Diversity & Equal opportunity Centre (DEOC).

On the episode Ankit opened up about growing up with a disability and the ups and downs. He continued and spoke about his early inspirations. What really moved us was his story of getting married to wife Kanika, the challenges, their conversation about their future and starting a family, an absolute inspirational story.

Ankit also spoke passionately about his parenting journey and the realities of raising a young and impressionable son coming to terms with his father’s condition.

2 more stories left in Fathers’ month. Stay Tuned!

Get it touch with the Pop duo popsinapod(at)gmail(dot)com. Follow them on social media below

Episode 81 – Father’s Month – Lahar Joshi – The Ad Dad Who Stayed Back

The 3rd episode of Father’s Month features the first guest of the series, a maverick advertising professional, Lahar Joshi. Some of you might have read about him and others might have not. The stories he shared, will hit home for any parent, especially those of twins.

Lahar Joshi is rarity in India, he decided to stay back home and care for his twin boys, while his wife resumed work. “Why?” you may ask, well, we urge you to ask “Why not?”. Lahar did not mince any words as far as his parenting style is concerned.

One takeaway from this episode is that, the current generation of dads don’t just believe in contributing equally in parenting responsibilities but also put it into action.

Highlights of the episode are :-
1. What’s it like to be a stay-at-home dad? What prompted Lahar to take this step?
2. Marriage leave
3. What society thought of his move?
4. Work from Home before it become a norm for all
5. Managing twins
6. Parental responsibilities

Pops in a Pod is part of #PodForChange, an initiative by the Indian podcasting community to raise funds for those affected by the pandemic in India, through the NGO, Give India. To make a positive impact in the lives of those affected by COVID19, we request you to donate here

Get it touch with the Pop duo popsinapod(at)gmail(dot)com. Follow them on social media below

Episode 80 – Fathers’ Month – Part 2

In the 2nd part of Fathers’ Month, Peter Pop is in the hot seat and Nadir Pop plays host. Why Fathers’ Month?

20th of this month is Father’s day and Nadir Pop & Peter Pop decided to keep it to just one day and make it an entire month. This month, they have curated some interesting stories of dads that you haven’t heard before. Stay tuned for more information.

Highlights from the chat are :-

Living and studying abroad
Being independent at an early age
Getting introduced to Facebook and Twitter in the early days
Hosting a metal podcast Horns Up

Pops in a Pod is part of #PodForChange, an initiative by the Indian podcasting community to raise funds for those affected by the pandemic in India, through the NGO, Give India. To make a positive impact in the lives of those affected by COVID19, we request you to donate here

Get it touch with the Pop duo popsinapod(at)gmail(dot)com. Follow them on social media below

Episode 79 – Fathers’ Month – Part 1

To start off the Fathers’ month, the Pop duo will be interviewing each other, get to know the Pops if you may. First up is Nadir Kanthawala aka Nadir Pop.

Highlights from the chat are :-

Nadir’s childhood and education
His foray into television production
Interaction with celebrities
Making a transition into digital marketing
Teaching at KC College

Get it touch with the Pop duo popsinapod(at)gmail(dot)com. Follow them on social media below

Episode 78 – Teaching kids finance with Sandeep Suri, BirdFin

A couple months ago, Nadir Pop & Peter Pop did an episode on Finance, it was for parents to save up for their children and their expenses. Do check it out if you haven’t already here

.On this episode, the Pop duo discuss teaching children finance from a younger age. They are joined by Sandeep Suri, Founder of Birdfin, an app that helps children understand the importance of money through experiential learning.

Sandeep Suri is the CEO & Co – Founder – MyDigitalCube. Previously he was the Country Head, Ireland-Fidelity Invst and has worked with brands like Dell, Mphasis, ANZ and Bajaj.

The earlier you start a child’s financial education process, the better. Lessons should begin before age seven, because research shows that money habits and attitudes are already formed by then.
Sam X Renick, co-creator of Sammy Rabbit,

Highlights from the chat are :-

The first time they received pocket money
Lessons in finance from their parents during their childhood
Sandeep’s younger son inspiring the idea for BirdFin
Using experiential learning to teach children about finance
BirdFin’s future plans

Get in touch with the Pops at popsinapod@gmail.com

Follow the Pops on our social media handles below for more updates.

Episode 77 – Demystifying the COVID-19 Vaccine

The vaccination fever (no pun intended) has gripped India over the past few months, more so since 1st May as Covid-19 vaccinations for those in the age group 18 – 44.
Nadir Pop was one of the lucky few who managed to get the vaccine last week and he shared his experience. Read more about it here.

On this episode, Nadir Pop & Peter Pop are joined by Dr. Dheeraj Mulchandani to bust some myths around the Covid-19 vaccine and get a better understanding about the 2nd wave of the pandemic and also the impending 3rd wave.

Dr. Dheeraj Mulchandani is a general and laparoscopic surgeon with an experience of over 18 years experience. An entrepreneur in the medical tourism business, he has conducted various training programs related to Covid-19 and the ongoing pandemic in the past year.

For the next few days and months as we ride out the 2nd wave, just think that it’s 2020 again and take those precautions.
Dr. Dheeraj Mulchandani

Highlights from the chat are:

Myths and facts around the Covid-19 vaccine and the Coronavirus.
Vaccination for pregnant women & lactating mothers
The rise in the number of cases among youth and children during the current 2nd wave in India.
The current status on vaccines for children.
VERY IMPORTANT: The reason that children between the ages of 2-12 will be major target during the the third wave.

As there is a lot of information and also misinformation currently spreading, listeners are encouraged to share this episode with their friends and family.

The views expressed on this episode are of an expert, it is not a substitute for medical advice. Listeners are encouraged to seek medical advice before taking up any new treatment. Please seek professional medical advice.

Get in touch with the Pops at popsinapod@gmail.com

Follow the Pops on our social media handles below for more updates.

Nadir Pop’s experience getting the vaccine

Nadir Pop recounts his COVID-19 vaccine experience

India right now is in the midst of the largest vaccination drive ever known in history. And everyone wants to get a shot. Unfortunately it wasn’t easy. The government has built a portal where people can go and book their slots. The drive for the age group 18-44 started on 1st May 2021 and I got my chance on the 11th of May. It might seem that “hey 10 days to get a shot, well that’s easy. You book, get in line and wait for your chance”. It wasn’t that simple.

If you wanted to get your shot you had to visit the website every single day during the allotted time frame, which was decided by the municipal body of the city you reside in via twitter. This was an exercise of how lucky once can be to get a vaccine slot. Since the centres had the capacity of between 500 to 1000 slots each day, contrast that with a population of 12.5 million people in the city of Mumbai. People started calling it a lottery because that is exactly how you felt like, the only difference being… you had work for it.

It was a game of pure determination, high alertness and fastest finger first. Why you might wonder because by the time you try and book yourself a slot, within 5-7 seconds the centre would be completely booked. And then you try it all over again the next evening. I am not getting into the mechanics of it, let’s leave that for another day. But I won the lottery on the 10th of May and got my shot on the 11th.

Both my wife and I were up by 7am, since we got the 9am to 11am slot. We were told to have a heavy breakfast, it was a mandate. Once again, fortunately we got a centre that was just 4kms away from our home so traveling was not an issue. We reached half an hour before and as per the stories and experiences we had read, it was very well organised.

We had to wait in line for 45 mins and after that it was just a breeze. By the time we registered at the counter, within 10 mins we got our shot. After that we had to be under observation for 30 mins, in case we had a reaction to the vaccine Thankfully we didn’t. The entire ordeal was completed within two hours and we were back in time for our daughter’s school and work.

Post getting the shot we did experience some uneasiness. Surprisingly, we didn’t break out into a fever like many others who reported it on social media, but in any case we were prepared for it. Be ready for your arm to hurt like hell because both the wife and I experienced that. I also got a severe headache and backache the next day. All in all it took a week for us to get back to normal (which is why I am writing this today, 17th May). Now I am looking forward to my second dose which will happen between 12th and 22nd June. Fingers Crossed.

Episode 76 – Entrepreneur Parent – Tammy Vinokur – Treatz Plz

This week the Pops duo continue with their focus on women entrepreneurs as part of Mother’s Day special.

In Part 1 last week, they spoke to Pooja Goyal, a serial entrepreneur and current COO of Avishkaar a platform for children where they are introduced to the concepts of robotics. Do check out that episode if you haven’t already.

One trend that came up in the chat with Pooja Goyal, was that of women starting businesses at home during the pandemic in the past year.

One such story Nadir Pop and Peter Pop came across in Forbes was of Tammy Vinokur, a high school teacher from Toronto, Canada. Sher along with her 2 daughters started Treatz Plz in September last year. Treatz plz sells candy boxes and candy platters with everyone’s favourite chocolates and candy.

At the end of the day, anyone can take candy and just throw it into a box, but we got two things right. One, this is hard to find candy that we got our hands on. The second thing is we marketed hard.

Some of the highlights from that chat are :-

Starting the business during the lockdown.
Their best selling product, the Tik Tok candy box and how her daughter Zoey came up with the idea for it.
Prioritizing school work, social life and the business in the lives of her daughters.
The lessons she has learnt from her daughters.
Some of the challenges they have faced running a business from home.
New products from Treatz Plz.

If you have an interesting story or know of someone with an interesting story then please reach out to us at popsinapod@gmail.com

Follow the Pops on our social media handles below for more updates.

Ep 75 – Women in Tech – Pooja Goyal

Come May every year like clockwork social media will be abuzz with posts about Mother’s Day. The typical communication ranging from glorifying mother’s as the “great life-giving beings in one’s lives” and guilting about how one cannot forget all the hardships that a mother has gone through to protect and provide.

This happens for one day every year and then everyone forgets about it and moves on with their life. Mothers, in fact, parents are there for their kids EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Nadir Pop and Peter Pop know this as they have spoken to mothers from all walks of life over the past year. Last year they shared lessons they learnt from their mothers. This year over two weeks, they feature with two mothers who also happen to successfully run their own businesses.

For the first part of this mini-series they have invited a serial entrepreneur Pooja Goyal.

Currently Pooja is the Co-founder and COO of Avishkaar, a robotics and coding education company. An engineer from IIT Delhi, during her studies she soon realised that her interest lies in the process of creating something from scratch rather than in machines, which led her to be a serial entrepreneur and an educator. Her last venture Intellitots Learning was acquired in Dec 2017. Pooja has worked in the USA, Europe and India.

Pooja spoke to the Pop duo about her innate desire to build things and how she got attracted to technology. A person who during her educational endeavours had never heard of the premier Indian institute – IIT and yet she found herself enrolled in IIT-Delhi. Very fascinating story which everyone must hear on the podcast

We spoke to Pooja about a number of interesting topics:
1. Women in tech
2. Building new technology
3. Dealing with failure
4. Challenges while starting up
5. Growing interest in tech among girls
6. Opportunities and support for women entrepreneurs
7. Insights gained in the past year from interacting with women entrepreneurs
8. Ways that women can build a tribe of like-minded people

The whole world is slowly and eventually embracing tech. Our children’s future is going to look wildly different from ours. And it behooves us, as parents, to introduce them to as many new possibilities as needed, so they can choose a path of their liking.

If you have an interesting story or know of someone with an interesting story then please reach out to us at popsinapod@gmail.com

Follow the Pops on our social media handles below for more updates.

Episode 74 – Mental Health during Lockdown Pt. 3

TW: This episode features anxiety and depression. Listener discretion is advised.

Nadir Pop and Peter Pop are currently in lockdown again in Mumbai with the recent rise in the number of Covid19 cases.

Last year they spoke to 2 mental health professionals about dealing with the lockdown as parents and also kids. It is different this time around as there are shortages of medicines and oxygen across the country, this is further amplified by social media.

On this episode, they are joined by another mental health professional to discuss dealing with the lockdown this time around.

Prachi Vaish is a Clinical Psychologist & Psychotherapist, Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist and Founder of Emotional Wellness Initiatives. She is also a mom to a 12 year old boy, love to bake as therapy, a voracious reader and a puzzle enthusiast!

Highlights from the chat are :-

The rise in interest and awareness in mental health in the past year.
Dealing with the fear and anxiety around Covid19
Managing emotions while friends and family contract Covid19
The impact of social media on mental health during the lockdown
Ways to deal with mental health during the lockdown

How are you and your family coping with the 2nd wave of Covid19 in India and also the lockdown? You can reach out to us at popsinapod@gmail.com

Follow the Pops on our social media handles below for more updates.