Vincent Ebrahim, star of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning The Kumars at No. 42, explores his ancestral home visiting Mumbai, Gujarat, Delhi, Agra, West Bengal, Darjeeling, Kolkata and the Himalayas in this varied and vivid audio diary.
Stepping off the tourist trail as he travels across India, Vincent explores mountain roads by motorbike, visits the world’s largest outdoor laundry, meets the monks of the Dalai Lama’s monastery and searches for answers about his heritage at his grandfather’s birthplace.
As an Audio Show - free for members - when you add My Indian Odyssey to your library, you'll get all 8 episodes, each with a runtime of about 40 minutes.
A series of eight audio journeys through India by Vincent Ebrahim. Ebrahim is a South African actor and comedian of mixed ethnicity. He is probably best known for playing Ashwin Kumar, the finance-obsessed father on The Kumars at No. 42.
Each episode focuses on a separate parts of India. Ebrahim narrates tales of its people, sights, culture, food, beliefs and industries. At the end of his journey, he develops a more rounded appreciation of his roots. And a considerably deeper understanding for the land that his grandfather left. An easy and engrossing listen that would have been a great TV series too.
Hooter: A Third Culture Kid tries tracing his grandfather's journey experiencing his roots on the way
As a podcast, Vincent does a lovely job of capturing the sounds of India through the 8 episodes as he visits Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Agra, McLeodganj, Darjeeling, Kolkata and experiences different aspects of each of the cities and the multitude of cultures that India offers, all whilst he tries to figure what his grand dad went through back in 1899 when he sailed out to South Africa. Whilst it feels like another standard foreigner visiting India and meeting a very tiny sample set of Indian community and adding broad scopes based on the same, I liked how he did capture some aspects of India purely though an audio podcast. I could relive some of the places based on the descriptions he shared mingled with the background noises whether it is the train journey, walking through Chandni Chowk or dining at some fancy places especially the "dress code" which even colonial Britain no longer follows.
A man having lived his whole life in foreign lands decides to pay a visit to his Indian Heritage.
This constitutes the experiences of Vincent Ebrahim from his visits to different ends of the subcontinent we know as India. The 3 week, 7 cities long vacation during the monsoon months includes sight visits, interviews and interaction with localites from different professions accompanied with a local guide from the place.
1. Mumbai: Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Dhobi Ghat, Irani Café, Vikhroli, Railway Station (Dabba-wallas). 2. Ahmedabad: IIM-A, Sabarmati Ashram, Bollywood Dance Class, Navrangpura-Khadia (Ramadan Iftar). 3. McLeod Ganj (Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh): Dharamkot, Namgyal Monastery. 4. Delhi: Yellow line metro ride, Chandni chowk, Lutyens Delhi and Bungalow zone, Feroz Shah Kotla Fort, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah, stand-up comedy show at Hybrid, Janpath. 5. Agra: Taj Mahal, Basant Leather Products factory, Mehtab Bagh. 6. Night train: Indian train journey from Delhi to Darjeeling with son. 7. Darjeeling: Tiger hill, Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (in conversation with Dorjee Lhatoo who accompanied Bachendri Pal on her Mt. Everest climb to become the first Indian woman to conquer the peak in 1984), Happy Valley tea estate, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway or Toy train ride. 8. Kolkata: Anwar Shah Road, Tisa supposedly his grandfather’s village, James Prinsep Ghat.
In the end he says he learnt the art of negotiations with the local service providers which is a good skill to survive especially in India. Hope this encourages more people to visit India!
This is Vincent Ebrahim taking a journey across India in search of his roots and all the while narrating about his experiences. He weaves through iconic sights and sounds that makeup the nation with a perspective that comes with travelling to parts unknown. His describing the curious residents of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai or while trying to keep his balance while riding the Royal Enfield Bullet in the foot hills of Himalayas brings a delight to the listeners. This is an easy listen and engrossing podcast.
It was wonderful to revisit India with Vincent Ebrahim. He captured my imagination and reinvigorated my memories of this beautiful country with his easy-going narration. His humble and honest approach, the smile in his voice and the excellent descriptions of the scenes he witnessed carried me along as if I were by his side. He proved there is always something new and exciting to learn about this enchanting land.
Wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started this. I just new that it was about travel through India and that always appeals to me, so I decided to give it a go. I didn’t actually realise at the time that it was by Vincent Ebrahim, an actor/comedian that I have enjoyed watching over the years, so that was a bonus. My Indian Odyssey is broken down into 8 parts, each focussing on a different area of India. A lot of what Vincent discusses is either culture, places, interviews with local people and how it feels for him to visit the land that his grandfather left. I thoroughly enjoyed My Indian Odyssey, and I can see my working through it again one day. It’s quite short, I would have preferred more of it.
I very much enjoyed going walking with this in my earphones. It was an interesting format, and I enjoyed Vincent Ebrahim's easy style, the way he developed through the journey, and the emotional connection to his family history.
This was ok - it was a bit embarrassing the way Vincent Ebrahim kept going on about his grandfather and showing Indians his photo. India itself sounded very interesting.