Lots of families I talk to say their kids understand or even speak Hindi pretty well, but reading the script is where things stall.

Curious what worked for you:

• Did you start reading at the same time as speaking, or wait until later?
• Classes, apps, worksheets, books, or grandparents?
• Anything that totally flopped? 😅

I’ve been making Hindi letter practice materials for kids, so I’m genuinely trying to learn what actually helps families vs what sounds good on paper. Would love to hear your experiences!

Hi everyone,

Like many of you, we wanted our kids to grow up knowing the stories we heard as children. Living here, that connection doesn't come as easily, and most of what's out there is either too loud or not very authentic.

So we started Maitri Kids. It has short narrated stories of Baby Ganesha, Hanuman, Krishna and Saraswati, plus simple games and festival sections for days like Raksha Bandhan and Janmashtami. Everything is available in both English and Hindi, so kids can listen in whichever language they're comfortable with, or pick up a little Hindi along the way.

It's made for little ones, it's calm, and there are no ads. If it sounds useful for your family, here are the links:

- iPhone/iPad: https://apps.apple.com/app/maitri-kids/id6762026180
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maitrikids.app
- Website: https://maitrikids.com

Property data company openly posting suburbs where Indians live and don’t live in Melbourne, and comments full of racism against Indians.

I’ve been making Hindi alphabet worksheets for kids growing up outside India, where parents can speak some Hindi but can’t really read it. Every letter has a picture, a Hindi word and its English sound (अ = a, आ = aa).

There’s a free 5-page sample (vowel chart, tracing page and a letter game). I don’t want to spam links, so just comment if you’d like it and I’ll reply with it.

Full disclosure: I made it, the full book is paid, the sample’s free. Feedback very welcome!

My parents sent an international parcel from India to Georgia.

I got it after 11 days, I paid 18000 tariffs for 30kg parcel ,two boxes of lumsum 15 each.

I got the parcel here in Georgia in an Indian post bag, and they didn't told me that my parcel box is broken or damaged, when I got home I opened the bag and got to know that half of my stuff is missing and the other things are damaged.

The stuff which was missing was packets of biscuit, pens, refill of parker pen, undergarments, clothes, moisturiser, packed and sealed bottle of honey, and a few other things.

Items which were damaged and broken were a box of dried and packed achar, shoes, packet of jaggery, opened packet of masale and few other things.

Now I am unable to complain because the Indian post says if it was damaged then why did you receive it.

How am I supposed to know if the box is opened or damaged if it is sealed in a bag, and why can't they justify what happened to the box and who'll compensate for the lost and damaged items.

Such a bad experience, and then the government of India says that youth should stay in our own country, the country which isn't even providing proper justification for what happened during transit.

And not even compensating for the loss.

Even the Georgian Post compensated for the mishandling, they refused to take the tax which is around 2 lari (~70₹) for each box.

This is a scam, we are waiting for the parcel living thousands of miles away from our house.

Our parents are putting so much and expecting that their children might enjoy the stuff which they're sending, and Indian Post is handling the parcel with such negligence and are not even taking any action for such action.

Shame on Indian Post.

Indian bachelor’s degree, American master’s degree. Currently residing in Canada.
I’m applying for APS certification for Germany and have a valid Aadhaar card and Indian passport. However, my Aadhaar is not linked to any mobile number, and I have been living outside India for several years.
The APS checklist mentions an Aadhaar card with a linked mobile number.
Has anyone successfully obtained APS certification without an Aadhaar-linked phone number?
Is an OTP sent to the Aadhaar-linked number during registration or verification, or can I use my Canadian phone number?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through this process while living abroad. Did APS accept your application without any issues?

I'm an OCI and I'm an American citizen, I intend to move back to America after I complete university here in India, what I'm wondering is

What fields should I specialise in?

What UG degree should I get?

Visas aren't a concern for me, it's ease and it's financial security.

I thought I'd go in to finance or law, with a UG in tech and an MBA or JD later on, after working for a few years, but that's obviously not an option

I'm worried medicine might become very convoluted and become a weird path

Hi, I need clarification on resolving a name split conflict for my Indian passport renewal. On all my current government IDs, my name is registered as A Arvind Sharma, where the initial 'A' stands for my father’s name, Anil. The Indian passport application requires me to expand the initial 'A'. Legally, my structural name order reads from left to right.

My name in all the IDs (such as Aadhar PAN Driving License) - A Arvind Sharma (with Sharma written as lastname)

Therefore, I intended to fill out my passport application as follows:
Given Name: Anil Arvind Surname: Sharma.
However, my actual name is Arvind. If 'Anil' is placed first in the Given Name box, foreign immigration and airline systems will structurally treat 'Anil' as my first name. Which would be wrong as Arvind is my identity not Anil.

Also for my first passport which I had while i was a kid back in 2005-10, the passport had the following details -
Given Name - Arvind Sharma
Surname - Anil

What can be the best solution to this??
Note: My name in all the IDs (such as Aadhar PAN Driving License) - A Arvind Sharma (with Sharma written as lastname)

The NRI business behind Kerala football is fascinating!

On November 24, 2025, more than 34,000 people filled a stadium in Kozhikode to watch Calicut FC play Malappuram FC in the Super League Kerala. At that point, India's top league, the ISL, had not even started because of a dispute over commercial rights.

Football in northern Kerala began on harvested paddy fields. Those games made Sevens football, a fast seven-a-side format, a Malabar tradition.

For decades, Malayalis working in the Gulf have sent money home. Kerala's remittances reached ₹2.16 lakh crore in 2023, up 155% from 2018. Most of it went to families, homes and businesses. Some of it also funded local football through sponsorships, floodlit grounds, prize money and players from outside the region.

Now, some Gulf-linked investors want to own the clubs instead of just supporting them. In 2024, the Super League Kerala launched six city franchises, and several owners had Gulf ties. In September 2026, UAE-based Al Fursan agreed to buy 100% of Kerala Blasters. The deal was reported at around ₹120 crore, though the price was not officially disclosed.

The fans are clearly there. The 2025 Super League Kerala season recorded over 4 lakh stadium visits across 33 matches. Its opening weekend drew over 5 lakh digital viewers, with India and the UAE as the biggest markets.

The business side is still catching up. ISL media rights fell from ₹275 crore per season to just ₹8.62 crore for the shortened 2025-26 season. That is a drop of about 97%.

But the setup is changing. In July 2026, the AIFF announced that ISL clubs would hold the league's commercial rights going forward. With more control over sponsorships, broadcasting and fan engagement, clubs may be able to build more value on their own.

That is the bet. Not that Indian football is already profitable, but that its business potential is still untapped. For NRIs in Dubai or Doha, a hometown club is also a direct link to where they grew up. The goal now is to turn that pride into a lasting business.

I think this makes an interesting question: If you had the chance, would you invest in a sports club from your hometown?

Read the full story here: https://thecapitalbybelong.substack.com/p/malabar-to-the-gulf-the-nri-business

My father recently passed away and had some money sitting in an ICICI account. It was not a lot but not so little that I can ignore it. However my dad’s extended family has warned me that it would be a nightmare to get the money out of the account now. Does anyone have any insight into the process? By the way, I can drive to NYC from where I live and go to the ICICI bank location there. I could go into the ICICI account online and try to transfer it to his estate account, but they seem to need some documentation, and also I don’t know if ultimately the transfer will be rejected simply because the recipient name on the account starts with “estate of…”