‘Dehati Madam’ is the new sensation online, as the self-taught, saree- and bindi-clad woman speaks fluent English, teaching thousands of subscribers on YouTube.Some words carry a sting. In India, “dehati” is often used for someone who is not perfect, belonging to a rural background. While most people hear it and make up their minds, a few hear it and decide to wear it with pride.Yashoda Lodhi stands in a field in Uttar Pradesh, with a saree, a bindi, and a smartphone, and speaks English as one of the women leading that change and doing what people would least expect out of someone with that background.Let’s know more abouther story of relentless grit and inspiration
Meet Yashodha Lodhi: The self taught, 12th pass ‘Dehati Madam’ who teaches English on Youtube
Yashoda Lodhi runs the YouTube channel “English with Dehati Madam.” According to The Logical Indian, she studied only up to Class 12 and belongs to Lodhan Ka Purwa village in the Sirathu Nagar panchayat of Kaushambi district, Uttar Pradesh. She taught herself English by listening to English-speaking videos and practising what she heard, and her fluency comes from practice rather than a coaching class.
Her life changed when a tragedy struck her husband
Life has not been easy for her. According to The New Indian Express report, her parents gave her away to relatives as a girl child, and later, after marriage, her husband, who worked as a daily-wage labourer earning about Rs 300 per day, was left unable to work after an accident; this led to many money problems for the family. Then she decided to try her hand at content creation and began making videos about cooking, but her channel failed twice until she found her true calling and decided to learn to speak English online by watching influencers’ and public speakers’ videos online.She started her channel on 26 December 2023, and it has since crossed 3 lakh subscribers. Some of her videos have done really well too. One on practising English while cooking has over 4 lakh views. Dressed in a simple saree and bindi, Yashoda films her lessons at home. She explains grammar and everyday spoken English in an easy way that feels helpful, not bookish.
She proudly owns her identity
Viewers love how confidently she owns her village roots. According to StoryPick, she believes being a villager is no reason to think she cannot speak English. She also admits, “I too fumble when I talk in my videos,” and says practice is what helped her improve; her honesty is a major reason her audience relates to her lessons.Today, her videos have earned close to three crore views in total, and most of her audience is young women and homemakers, and she often encourages many of them to become financially independent.
Where does her channel stand today?
Her audience has grown quickly, and her channel ‘‘English with Dehati Madam’ has around 429K subscribers, and her videos get around 2K to 38K views each.