About
Amma Veedu is more than a venture—it is my way of giving back what I longed for. Encouraged by my amma and my husband, I created this space not just for my children but for everyone who has ever missed the freedom of walking into a market in Chennai and choosing what their heart desired.
This is for those of us abroad who know that traditions matter, who have struggled to source the simplest things, and who believe that culture should not feel like a luxury. Amma Veedu is here to make sure it doesn’t.
because traditions should always feel within reach
Amma Veedu was born from a very personal journey. I am Padmini, a girl from Chennai, who like many others moved to the USA after marriage. Life here gave me new experiences, but it also left a quiet ache—the traditions I grew up with felt far away. Festivals that were once simple and joyful suddenly became complicated, stressful, and sometimes incomplete.
The feeling grew stronger when my children were born. I wanted them to experience the same magic I did—the wonder of Navarathri golu, the warmth of podis from Amma’s kitchen, the beauty of festive rituals. But keeping these traditions alive abroad came with challenges that every overseas family knows too well:
- Premium prices for even the simplest essentials.
- Packing stress—wrapping dolls in clothes, weighing every suitcase, praying they make it safely.
- Constant worry about space—what to bring and what to leave behind.
- And even when we are ready to pay the price, the real struggle is availability—finding the right dolls, the exact spices, or the items that make our traditions feel complete.
Over the years, my own golu grew—step by step, doll by doll, from 2014 onwards. But every addition was a battle of effort, anxiety, and planning. That’s when Amma Veedu began to take root in my heart—a way to make these traditions truly accessible.
Amma Veedu exists to bridge this gap. To create a hub where nostalgia meets access, where the missing pieces of tradition can be found, and where families abroad no longer need to compromise in order to celebrate fully.