Meet TikTok's coolest aunty who skateboards in a sari

Brut America

"Adults forget to play."  At 43, she picked up a new hobby: skateboarding. Meet "Aunty Skates," the coolest aunty on TikTok ...

Transcript

00:00If I, as a 40-something-year-old woman, can skateboard in a sari, in a bowl, then anything

00:07is possible, and I'm here to tell you that.

00:19When I first met my husband, he had sprained his ankle from skateboarding, and I thought,

00:25an adult skateboarder?

00:26What is that?

00:27I would go to the skate park, I'd watch him skate with envy.

00:31It was something I just thought I couldn't do.

00:34It wasn't until 10 years later, when my kids started skateboarding, and I was standing

00:39there videotaping all of them, that I said, you know what?

00:42I don't care if I'm not going to be very good at it.

00:44I don't care if I think I'm too old.

00:47All I know is I don't want to stand here watching my whole family have fun, and I'm going to

00:52get in there and join them.

01:07When I first started skateboarding, I immediately fell on my bum, and it hurt.

01:12But the feeling of liberation and freedom was addictive, and I immediately fell in love

01:19with it.

01:20I started going to the skate parks really early in the morning, when there aren't any

01:24heavy sessions going, and people there are very friendly.

01:28I think over the years, the culture at skate parks has become more welcoming.

01:33The message that I'm really trying to spread is one of joy and positivity.

01:38It's never too late to go out there and live your best life.

01:42Don't worry about what other people are doing.

01:44Don't compare yourself to others.

01:46Don't say, I wish I could have done this sooner.

01:48Just go out there now and do the thing you always wanted to do.

01:51It's never too late.

02:07I created Auntie Skates in response to the toxic auntie in Indian culture.

02:12South Asian culture has this person, and I think all cultures has this person who puts

02:18you down.

02:19I saw a lot of people on Instagram still suffering from the toxic auntie syndrome, and I thought,

02:26you know what?

02:27I can be part of the change.

02:29I'm an auntie.

02:30I love my nieces and nephews.

02:32Why not be the auntie that builds you up and doesn't tear you down?

02:36I've had a few messages from people all over the world that have told me that I've inspired

02:41them to make a change in their life.

02:44I've had a lot of people tell me that because of me, they've started skating again, and

02:48that is amazing, but I've also had people tell me, Auntie, without you, I never would

02:53have had the courage to tell my parents I didn't want to go into engineering and I wanted

02:57to go into music, and there's so many messages like that that I get, and immediately they

03:03bring tears to my eyes because I'm so, so happy that people are going out there and

03:07living their best lives.

03:17One great thing about doing something later in life and going out there and doing the

03:23thing you always wanted to do is, for me personally, I don't really care what people think about

03:28me anymore.

03:29I'm going to go out there and do what I want, and I have the means to do it, so if I want

03:34to have a midlife crisis and start skateboarding and build a skate ramp in my backyard, then

03:39100% I will do that.

03:41I think adults forget to play, and there's no reason why we shouldn't give ourselves

03:48time and permission to go out there and play.

03:52The beauty of skateboarding is that there's something for all levels there.

03:56Am I as good as my son?

03:57No, I'm not, but am I having fun?

03:59Yes.

04:00Are we having fun together, building each other up?

04:03Yes.

04:04It's so fun.

04:05Gets us off our screens.

04:06We're all addicted to our screens.

04:08I tell my kids all the time, get off your iPads, go outside and play.

04:12As soon as I tell them to go outside and play, they go outside and play.

04:16I tell my kids all the time, get off your iPads, go outside and play.

04:21As soon as I tell them that, I get on my iPhone and start looking at social media, so I'm

04:26guilty of it, right?

04:29I think it's just something that we can do together.

04:31I hope that they'll want to continue to skateboard with me as they get older.

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