With viral English lessons, ‘Dehati Madam’ from small UP village takes YouTube by storm

Yashoda studied up to class 12 in a Hindi-medium school, and is proud of the ‘dehati’ tag. She learned to speak English fluently, she said, by practising daily, reading books and listening to others speaking the language on YouTube through her smartphone.

“I did plenty of listening exercises before attaining fluency in speaking. I used earphones and put my phone in the almirah while doing household work. Listening carefully to others speak has been the key to success for me,” she told The Indian Express.

Her daily routine begins with waking up at 3 am, reading books (she just recently finished ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear), practising speaking English for an hour, and then shooting and editing videos for her YouTube channel. She juggles all this along with her household chores.

“I shoot, edit, and upload on my own and I have learned all these skills by watching YouTube videos,” she said.
Yashoda earns around Rs 15,000-20,000 a month from the channel. In 2021, before she got her smartphone, her village, like many others, had been suffering from the multiple impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Compounding the hardship for her family was the fact that her husband, Radhe Lodhi, got into a road accident at that time and was bedridden for six months.

“I wanted to help my husband, who was not able to earn a livelihood due to the accident. I also wanted to do something while being at home with him,” she said.

“Then I came across a video of influencer Sandeep Maheshwari, where he said anyone can make his or her identity on YouTube and also earn decently. From there on, I started watching other videos and exploring the nuts and bolts of this world,” Yashoda said, explaining how she became a YouTuber.

Once she started making videos, she sought feedback from her viewers to improve further.

“Since nobody speaks or understands English in my surroundings, it got tough to get into that environment (of speaking fluent English), so I decided to get feedback from those who watched my videos. People always encouraged me and I capitalised on this confidence to grow further,” she said.

In her channel description, she says her content is catered to students and others from rural backgrounds “who want to learn English in an easy way”.

“…women from our villages are in great need of this type of class that teaches them English in an easy way,” the description said.

Ever since she started the channel in December 2022, Yashoda has uploaded 368 videos with subjects ranging from ‘How to have a successful conversation with a stranger’ to ‘Why do you want to learn English’. She also has videos titled ’30-day challenge to speak on any topic’ and ‘How to overcome fear’, among many others that have gone viral.

Many of her videos have been viewed over a million times. “I wanted to earn a name and fame for myself, and once I broke the barrier of hesitation and overcame the fear of failure, I have not looked back,” she said.

While the money she makes from the channel is helpful, Yashoda said she would keep making videos even if she didn’t earn anything from it.

“I have realised the power of social media and the medium has given me a purpose. I want to make people aware and educate them through my videos,” she said.

On her dreams for the future, she said: “I want to open a school where everyone will get free education, and an old age home for those who have nobody to take care of them.”

Her advice to those wading into a new field: “We are all capable of doing one thing or the other in a better way, and confidence can always be mustered by doing it repeatedly. Never give up on failures, rather learn from them and try again. That works for everyone.”