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