Multicultural Indian Toys

I wanted to do a post about these specific plush toys and books from Modi Toys because I’m so excited about what they are creating! They are a small family business run by sibling entrepreneurs, a sister and brother duo that celebrate Indian and Hindu culture.

After becoming a mother, I really wanted to find creative ways to share my Indian roots with our daughter. Since we are a multicultural family with Veena being mixed race, Indian and Caucasian, I always want to make sure she is introduced to her Indian side. Growing up here in the US (born and raised) I saw the effects of assimilation and how they impacted me. There were times where I completely ignored my Indian heritage (hello, teenage years!) and other times where I completely embraced it. That was even with two Indian parents and a total Indian extended family. I realized, now that I’m a parent, I wanted to make sure Veena embraced that side of her because it’s very easy for it to get lost even being surrounded by it all the time. Obviously, American culture is such a melting pot (which I love) and not exclusively Indian. So, growing up here you have to make sure to keep your heritage alive.

When faced with this, I asked my family in Bangalore to send me some books. They were great and sent me lots of Indian comics for children that I even had when I was younger. These are childhood comics mostly rooted in Hinduism to introduce children to all the stories. My parents actually told me all these stories at bedtime without reading anything, just from memory. I remember looking forward to those moments so much when my mother would tell me the story of Ganesha or my father would tell me stories of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and several other Hindu deities. Ganesha in particular was my favorite and I absolutely loved hearing his creation story. I found these stories magical, beautiful and really enjoyed hearing them.

One day I was researching books about Ganesha for children since the childhood comics my cousins sent me were great, but I wanted more of a board book version and enter Modi Toys! Not only did they have the board book version I wanted but they also had created a plush Ganesh toy that sings the mantras from my childhood! I felt like I hit the jackpot! When I realized they also sold Hanuman and a board book of his adventures, I immediately had to have that too!

When they arrived in the mail, Veena was so intrigued. She was squeezing the plush and playing the mantras over and over again. I actually didn’t mind her playing the songs over and over again as I would other musical toys (the Baby Shark one kills me! Someone send help!) as they were comforting to hear because I had such nostalgia of hearing them either from my mother or from attending Temple. They are also really cute vocals of Indian children singing the mantras so they are very pleasant/joyful to the ear. The books are not exact retellings of Hindu stories, but inspired by Hindu theology. As pictured above and here, Veena loves to curl up at bedtime with all her Ganesh and Hanuman plushes (I splurged and got the bundled set that comes with the small versions too). She likes to “read” the stories to me.

When we called my parents, Veena’s Ajja and Ajji, they were delighted by these toys and even sang a bit of the mantras along with the toy Ganesha or Hanuman to Veena. It was so sweet. When my husband, James saw them, he thought they were so fun and also enjoyed reading the books to Veena. He was actually learning something new himself as it sparked conversation about these stories. Though he knew a little bit about Ganesha from our mixed marriage ceremony, it really gave us a chance to celebrate Indian culture together as a family.

So, if you know someone who is in a blended household with one half that is Indian this might be a great gift for them. It’s also a great gift for a baby shower or even if you aren’t Indian and you want to introduce your children to another culture, I can’t recommend these enough! In fact, even more so, if you aren’t Indian, I think it’s important to make sure to introduce your children to all kinds of cultures because as they grow up, they will see that is the way our world looks. It’s full of all different types of people, families, cultures and stories.

I’m so grateful to Modi Toys for making such beautiful plushes and writing fun, creative books that I wish I had growing up. I also love supporting family businesses and entrepreneurs so if this post peaked your interest, head over to their website and see what they have to offer. If you end up getting anything from there, I would love to hear what you are enjoying about them. They just announced that they are coming out with a Baby Krishna too soooo…I think we know all know what I’ll be getting shortly! :)