This “aunty” is not sorry about skateboarding in a saree

Brut India

“I created ‘Aunty Skates’ in response to the ‘toxic aunty’ in Indian culture.” Oorbee, a mom of two, told Brut how skateboarding “liberated” her.

Transcript

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

00:15is possible.

00:16And I'm here to tell you that.

00:18When I first met my husband, he had sprained his ankle from skateboarding.

00:22And I thought, an adult skateboarder?

00:25What is that?

00:26It wasn't until 10 years later, when my kids started skateboarding, and I was standing

00:31there videotaping all of them, that I said, you know what?

00:34I don't care if I'm not going to be very good at it.

00:36I don't care if I think I'm too old.

00:39All I know is I don't want to stand here watching my whole family have fun.

00:44And I'm going to get in there and join them.

00:57When I first started skateboarding, I immediately fell on my bum, and it hurt.

01:03But the feeling of liberation and freedom was addictive, and I immediately fell in love

01:10with it.

01:11The message that I'm really trying to spread is one of joy and positivity.

01:16It's never too late to go out there and live your best life.

01:26I created Auntie Skates in response to the toxic auntie in Indian culture.

01:41South Asian culture has this person, and I think all cultures has this person who puts

01:47you down.

01:48I saw a lot of people on Instagram still suffering from the toxic auntie syndrome.

01:53And I thought, you know what?

01:56I can be part of the change.

01:57I'm an auntie.

01:58I love my nieces and nephews.

02:00Why not be the auntie that builds you up and doesn't tear you down?

02:05I've had a few messages from people all over the world that have told me that I've inspired

02:10them to make a change in their life.

02:13I've had a lot of people tell me that because of me, they've started skating again.

02:17And that is amazing.

02:19But I've also had people tell me, Auntie, without you, I never would have had the courage

02:23to tell my parents I didn't want to go into engineering and I wanted to go into music.

02:28And there's so many messages like that that I get.

02:35One great thing about doing something later in life and going out there and doing the

02:40thing you always wanted to do is, you know, for me personally, I don't really care what

02:44people think about me anymore.

02:46I'm going to go out there and do what I want.

02:48And I have the means to do it.

02:51So if I want to have a midlife crisis and start skateboarding and build a skate ramp

02:55in my backyard, then 100 percent, I will do that.

02:59I think adults forget to play, and there's no reason why we shouldn't give ourselves

03:06time and permission to go out there and play.

03:13The beauty of skateboarding is that there's something for all levels there.

03:16Am I as good as my son?

03:18No, I'm not.

03:19But am I having fun?

03:20Yes.

03:21Are we having fun together, building each other up?

03:23Yes.

03:24It's so fun.

03:25It gets us off our screens.

03:26We're all addicted to our screens.

03:29And I think it's just something that we can do together.

03:32I hope that they'll want to continue to skateboard with me as they get older.

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