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