Episode 07 - The Mommy Mix Tape with Samina Mishra

The Mommy Mix Tape

Motherhood is an identity that transforms with every passing year. Raising children also means raising mothers and we all seem destined to have distinctly unique journeys based on our context.

On our show today we have a mom who’s raised a young man of 22 while staying true to her creative and adventurous spirit as she weaves stories and narratives that flow from a wealth of lived experiences as documentary filmmaker, author and fellow podcasting mum.

We chat about how one develops a sense of belonging for ourselves and our children, our chosen families and the realities of diversity and how she has touched upon all of these through her work.

Samina’s Recommendations:

• Timmi In Tangles
• Moin and The Monster
• Pratham Books
• Afo And I
• Hello Sun
• Dugga
• Beauty Is Missing
• Paper Chor
• Duniya Meri
• Ek Tara Books
• Pratham Books

Social Media:

• The Magic Key Centre
• Samina’s Instagram
• Happiness Class Film Instagram
• Samina’s BLOG and Writings

Samina’s Work:

Films

• Happiness Class
• I Am The Grass
• The Teacher And The World
• Two Lives
• The House On Gulmohar Avenue
• Stories Of Girlhood

Books

• Nida Finds A Way
• Jamlo Walks

• Shabana and the Baby Goat

• My Sweet Home: Childhood Stories From A Corner of The City

• 101 Indian Children’s Books We Love

• Madhav and the Magic Balloon

• Looking Through Glass, short story in Whispers in the Classroom, Voices on the Field, an anthology of school stories (Wisdom Tree / 2012)
• Magical Wishes: The Adventures of Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne, retold in English for a picture book (Scholastic India / 2012)
• The House At The Corner, short story in First Proof: The Penguin Book of New Indian Writing 7 (2011)
• The Goat Who Got Away, story in Eid Stories, republished by Scholastic in two other anthologies (Scholastic India / 2010)
• My Friends in the City, an illustrated book for early readers about animal inhabitants of the city. The book is a dual language text and is available in four Indian languages in combination with English. (Tulika, Chennai / 2007)
• The Magic Key, a collection of six children’s stories, written by Dr. Zakir Husain, which she translated from Urdu into English (Young Zubaan / 2004)
• Hina in the Old City, a non-fiction book with colour photographs on the Walled City of Delhi for children (Tulika Publishers, Chennai / 2000 and republished by Eklavya, 2019)

HYBRID MEDIA

• The Hum Hindustani Poetry Podcast (2023), a curated selection of poems written by children for the Hum Hindustani project, available on all major podcast platforms
• The Incredible Child (2022), an exhibition of children’s art and writing emerging from the Simurgh Children’s Art Workshop, a monthly art programme at Simurgh Centre, Khirkee, Delhi, set up by Max Mueller Bhavan to support the Afghan refugee community in Delhi
• Hum Hindustani (2022-23), an interdisciplinary research project on children and citizenship, TESF India
• We the Children of India (2020), children’s poetry on the idea of being Indian
• Torchlight (2017 onwards), Editorial team and core group member on this web journal on ‘libraries and bookish love’
• Home and Away (2004), a multi-media exhibition that uses photographs, text, sound and an html presentation to explore the lives and world of second and third generation British Asian children living in London. The exhibition was displayed at the British Council, New Delhi in July 2004 and in the International Symposium of Electronics Arts (ISEA) in August 2004 in Tallinn, Estonia.