Shadow Realm

In a matter of moments, Arya’s world is turned upside down. A car crash, where Arya was driving, leaves Ma severely injured and in a coma. Weeks pass without any improvement, Arya and his Pa grapple with the reality that she may be gone forever. Unwilling to say goodbye, Arya begins to search the ancient text of the Ramayana. There he finds meaning and hope, but will it be enough to heal Ma?    IN...

As Arya nears his 16th birthday, his parents decide it’s time to have his Thread ceremony, a sacred right of passage for boys in their culture. They also plan to invite his friends from school. Arya can’t believe this. It will ruin everything. He just recently stopped being bullied, but his parents just don’t understand. When Arya tries to convince them that other families don’t live like them and...

Desperate to earn the respect of the popular kids at school, Arya is willing to do whatever it takes to fit in – no matter how dangerous. He begins lying to his parents about his reckless behavior, convinced they wouldn’t understand why it’s so important to be popular. Ma tries to connect with him through the only common ground remaining: The Ramayana. Will its ancient lessons be powerful enough t...

Arya is fed up with his family’s South Asian traditions being the reason he is bullied at school. He just wants to fit in. His Ma tries to help by giving him their family’s copy of the Ramayana, India’s ancient history text. Arya begrudgingly opens it and finds himself enraptured by the stories filled with powerful gods, heroes, demons, and epic battles. He is also reminded of his recent dreams of...

Arya’s parents could have chosen any other school for him to attend but they chose the one place with no other South Asian kids. The bullies are relentless and anything to do with his ethnicity has become the building block of unpleasant school experiences. He knows better than to react with violence but today he just can’t take it anymore.   IN THIS EPISODE:  [00:01] Previously on Shadow Realm  [...

As a child, Arya’s dreams were haunted by Ravana, the demon king of the Ramayana, India’s ancient story of Rama’s battle against demons. It’s been years since he thought of Ravana. His dreams are now filled with monstrous interpretations of real-life bullies from school. Tonight’s dream, however, ends differently. Arya finds himself trapped in the dark lair of Ravana, with no hope of escape. Why h...

Shadow Realm is the magical, coming-of-age tale of Arya, a fifteen-year-old boy who is tormented by demons. Anything to do with his ethnicity, food, traditions or the fascinating mythological stories he has been raised with, has become the building block of unpleasant school experiences. In the wake of an accident that confines his once-vibrant mother to a hospital ward, kept alive by tubes and ma...