Mohua Chinappa is a highly popular podcaster known for amplifying unheard voices across the country. Her podcast, The Mohua Show, is available on all major platforms and has a whopping million+ downloads. In this show, she interviews people across the globe on issues pertaining to human interest and highlights the challenges that entrepreneurs face while starting their business and scaling it up.

The Mohua Show podcast has recently tied up with Rupa Publications to start an audio literature festival called The Literature Lounge that will bring in authors who will share their work and one specially-abled author per month on the show.

She is a columnist, voiceover artist, and author whose first book, Nautanki Saala, was well received and got rave reviews in the media. Her debut book went on to win the PVLF Award in 2023. The book’s Hindi translation rights have been bought by Prabhat Prakashan and are now available across India. Mohua has a natural flair for writing and regularly contributes articles to various media spaces.

Her latest book is a collection of her poetry, If Only It Were Spring. Every day arose out of the pain and hurt she felt when the world failed their women, the elderly, the prostitute, the poor, the stray, the invalid, and children.

Mohua Chinappa’s poems are like the rain falling into the belly of a parched earth. The pain is felt like shards of glass piercing into one’s heart. The stories that she collects while working with women pour into a rhythm of expression honouring the unheard voices, feeling them in the bone and under the skin and bleeding with them, in life’s unfairness and inequalities.

Mohua Chinappa’s poems are like the rain falling into the belly of a parched earth. The pain is felt like shards of glass piercing into one’s heart. The stories that she collects while working with women pour into a rhythm of expression honouring the unheard voices, feeling them in the bone and under the skin and bleeding with them, in life’s unfairness and inequalities.

Mohua is a rebooter who restarted her writing career after a decade-long gap of being at home, supporting her family. She also battled a deadly autoimmune disease that took many years of her life with heavy medication, bandages over her feet and neck, and glasses on her eyes to avoid light.
After overcoming these hurdles, she still believes that not a day must be wasted procrastinating on your dreams. TheGlitz has more…

Over to MOHUA CHINAPPA

Your journey has had many momentous milestones. Could you tell us about the life-changing milestones that have moulded you into what you are today?

The life-changing step for me was to muster my courage to start after a decade of being at home. The first hesitant step I took was to go into a cafe and begin my blogging journey, then go into a nondescript little studio tucked away in a lane in Bangalore—five flights of stairs in a terrace studio—to start my podcasting journey. The ability to take independent decisions, nurture the dream, remain consistent, and overcome mental and emotional hurdles was the game changer.

What are the setbacks you have faced? How did you tackle these setbacks or challenges? And what lesson have you learned from it?

The setbacks I faced were financial and emotional, as I was cheated by a person who I thought was a well-wisher when I started my reboot journey. Within the family, excluding my son, most didn’t take me seriously. They thought it was a whim and that I would very soon give up on the reboot.

I tackled the setbacks with a good cry, a good cup of coffee, and a rich chocolate cake, and the next day, I restarted all over again with more zeal.

When you look back, what are the three qualities in you that have helped you become what you are today?

It was the qualities of consistency, discipline, and not giving up on the dream that helped me reach here today.

Who are the people who have been the wind behind your wings?

My friend cum colleague Asif Jukaku, who stood by me in my early days of the reboot, and my office manager Shanti, who is extremely organised and dedicated. My social media manager is Gagandeep Bir. My readers who encourage me, my listeners, and above all, my son Neel Mandana, who takes delight in my work, egging me ahead.

Lastly, if there was a quote to define you, what would it be?

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it, possibly without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” Maya Angelou