Indian stories abroad sit in a strange space. They aren't background. They don't seep in from a neighbour's TV or a grandfather's bedtime. But they aren't foreign either. Your child carries them by virtue of who you are. Most diaspora parents end up working harder, with less help, to keep the stories alive. This is a note on how to do it without breaking yourself, and without making the stories feel like homework.
Don't make every story a lesson
The strongest temptation, when you live abroad, is to turn every story into cultural maintenance. Don't. A story your child loved at four because Hanuman flew is more durable than a story they tolerated at four because it taught them about devotion.
If the only stories you share are the ones with civilisational weight, your child will start to feel weighed. Mix in the lighter ones. Tenali Rama is a story. Birbal is a story. Krishna stealing butter is a story. Not every door has to lead to a museum.
Three quiet rules that help
One: let them ask questions, including the awkward ones. (Why did Karna's mother put him in the river? Why does Krishna have so many wives? Why is Ravana ten-headed?) Whatever you answer is fine. Not answering is worse.
Two: have a few stories where India isn't the point. The point is the story, and the Indian-ness is the setting. A child who loves the squirrel-and-the-bridge story is a child who will be ready, later, for the Ramayana.
Three: let them have favourites that surprise you. The cousin you found unbearable might be your child's hero. Don't redirect.
What the diaspora actually struggles with
Pronunciation. Reference points that don't translate (jamun, neem, the dhobi). The grandparent who tells stories better than you ever will. The cousin in India who already knows all this. None of these are dealbreakers. All of them get easier when you stop pretending you're not aware of them.
It is okay for your child to learn that you mispronounce a name. It is okay for them to know that the version you tell is one of many. It is okay to not know an answer. The story survives the disclosure.
How we think about it
We don't simplify the names. We don't strip out the food, the trees, the wedding rituals. We assume your child will ask what they don't know, and we'd rather they remember a word they had to look up than forget one we removed.