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[[quoteright:288:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/indie_3757.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:288: [[CloudCuckoolander Marlon]], [[ThisLoserIsYou Indie]] and Abi]]

''How To Be Indie'' is a Canadian KidCom revolving around Indira 'Indie' Mehta and her two best friends Abigail 'Abi' Flores and Marlon Parks as they make it through junior high and Indie tries to get through life even with her strict Indo-Canadian parents. She also likes to [[BreakingTheFourthWall occasionally speak to the audience.]]

Has nothing to do with [[AlternativeRock indie rock]] or {{indie game}}s.

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!!Tropes:

%%* AbusiveParents: All of this is PlayedForLaughs
%%** Indie and Abi's mothers in "How To Strike A Balance".
%%** Indie's father to '''all three kids''' in "How To Make A Comeback".
* AcquiredErrorAtThePrinter: The Thanksgiving episode had the printers leave a decimal point out of the price on a poster, advertising a lunch that costs hundreds of dollars.
%%* AdultsAreUseless: Averted, most of the time.
* AlphaBitch: Evil Cousin Rubi: the daughter of Jyoti's sister who is very self-absorbed and loves to torment Indie by showing that she's better than her at everything.
%%* AscendedExtra: Carlos Martinelli
* AsianAndNerdy: Abi, who is Filipina, is highly intelligent - incidentally, the smartest student at Rexdale Junior High - and can usually predict a problem before it happens.
** BollywoodNerd: AJ is Indie's older brother. He is a geek in many ways, shown by such things as his knack for technology and few friends. He prefers to be referred to as a "geek" with "two 3s".
* AsianStoreOwner: Indie's best friend is Abi Flores: a Filipina whose parents have owned the Happy Breezy Food Hut since she was 5 years old.
%% * BadBadActing: A couple of times
%% --> '''Marlon and Abi''': Shame on you Indira Mehta, ''Shame!''
%%* BookDumb: Marlon and Carlos.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Indie would always talk to the audience in every episode.
* TheBully: Carlos Martinelli is a short-tempered student who loves to victimize other students who get in his way. He keeps a list of those he plans to humiliate.
%% * TheChessMaster: Indie tries to be this and 'Fails'
* ChildishPillowFight: According to "How To Keep Your Cool In A Heat Wave", Evil Cousin Rubi takes these very seriously. She even has a hand-tooled fighting pillow.
%%* ChildProdigy: Abi.
* ClashingCousins: Indie's SitcomArchNemesis is her 'evil cousin' Rubi, who is constantly one-upping her.
%%* CloudCuckoolander: Marlon. Indie, Occasionally.
%%* CoolBigSis: Chandra.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
--> '''Chandra''': Your funeral... of death.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In "How To Pass The Smell Test", Indie's joining of [[TheBully Carlos']] crew is treated like an alcohol addiction, complete with 'I can quit anytime I want!' from Indie.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Carlos failed a paper on protein based adhesives so the [[CoolTeacher science teacher]] '''glued him to the ceiling by his feet.'''
* DoubleMeaningTitle: How to be a girl nicknamed Indie, as well as how to be a girl that is Indian.
* EggSitting: The class gets an egg sitting assignment in "How to Get Gotten". Indie tries to dodge the assignment by volunteering to escort a seventh grader who is being trialled in the eighth grade for a week instead. Abi and Marlon have to parent an egg together - a disaster in the making.
* EstablishingShot: The show uses idiosyncratic establishing shots formed of what look like cardboard cutouts of the relevant buildings that rise up to show the transition to a new location.
%% * FireBreathingDiner: This is the result of eating one of the samosas made by Indie's grandfather in "How to Have Your Samosa and Eat It Too".
* TheGhost: Marlon is being raised by his single mother, who gets discussed frequently, but is the only one of the main characters' parents to never appear on screen.
%% * HalfIdenticalTwins: Chandra and AJ, who are female and male respectively.
* HasTwoThumbsAnd: Ram in episode "How to Have Your Samosa and Eat It Too":
-->Who has two thumbs and some of the best cooking in the world? This guy!
* HollywoodHacking: The Shadowkings, they can write computer code using their minds!
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: "How To (begin an episode title)."
* IHaveThisFriend: In "How to be Mehta", Indie gets an F in gym. She uses this phrase when she tries to ask her siblings how she should break the news to their parents. They are not fooled for a second.
* InsistentTerminology: Indie never refers to her cousin Rubi without calling her "Evil Cousin Rubi".
* InstructionalTitle: ''How to be Indie''. Additionally, the IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming means that every episode is titled "How To (do peculiar thing relevant to the episode)".
%% * {{Jerkass}}: Carlos, no [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk heart of gold here]].
* LineOfSightAlias: Gary Sugar-Thing, the president of a fake country. Yes, Marlon didn't even know the name of the object he was plucking his line-of-sight name from.
* LittleMissBadass: Indie can take out her brother who’s in the wrestling club.
%%* LoveInterest: Arguably the entire reason Marlon exists
%%* MadScientist: Bobba G
%%* MsImagination: Indie.
* NaughtyBirdwatching: In "How to Get on Carlos Martinelli's Capital 'L' List, and Live", Indie thinks AJ is doing this when she walks in on him using his telescope, but he is actually just trying to observe an eclipse of the moon. However, when his friend Chuck learns that AJ has a view of their HotTeacher's house (and that AJ has seen her in a ModestyTowel), Chuck plays it straight (and gets busted by the teacher).
%%* RedOniBlueOni: Indie and Abi
%%* RedOniBlueOni: Marlon and Abi, also qualifies as [[UptightLovesWild wild loves uptight.]]
%% * SecretDiary: Indie's family all read hers. At least by the end of the episode she's bought a lock.
* SickEpisode: Chandra and AJ both get ill in one episode. Their mother makes them eat (or bathe) in wacky antidotes.
%%* ShipTease: Abi and Marlon.
* ShoutOut
-->'''Carlos''': Curses! Foiled again!\\
'''Abbi''': [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo And you would have gotten away with it, too.]]\\
'''Marlon''': [[BeamMeUpScotty If it weren't for us meddling kids.]]
%% * SlumberParty: Evil Cousin Rubi hosts one in "How to Keep Your Cool in a Heat Wave". Marlon and John unwisely decide to crash it.
%%* StalkerWithACrush: Indie to Chad, and Ram to Indie.
* TokenWhite: Marlon is the token white in the TwoGirlsAndAGuy trio with Indie (Indian) and Abi (Filipina).
%%* {{Troperiffic}}: Amazingly so.
* XCalledTheyWantTheirYBack: In "How to Put Your Best Foot Forward", Indy is wearing her brother's AJ's hand-me-down shirt that is way too big for her. Marlon says "The Western hemisphere called. It wants its shirt back".
%% * YouJustToldMe: KarmaHoudini Chandra is tricked into confessing every bad thing she's ever gotten away with by Indie and her father.

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