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Friendly Addiction - Culture Is Not Tradition — It Means Showing Up

Don’t talk culture to me when you don’t have the emotional quotient that goes with it. When people speak about culture, they often point to traditions, religion, heritage, or social identity. But to me, culture is something far deeper than rituals or backgrounds. Culture is the act of showing up. It is the willingness to be present when no one else is there — when trauma is difficult to process, when loss creates an endless vacuum, when grief has the capacity to swallow the life out of someone. Culture reveals itself in the moments when life is at its most fragile. After death. After accidents. At funerals. During interventions. During rehabilitation. After emotional breakdowns. After panic attacks. After meltdowns. In such moments, human beings do not need lectures or explanations. They need presence. Souls need connection to face the unknown. Yet often people confuse culture with very different things. They measure culture by professional achievements, by the titles they hold ...

Aaee Lo ( Dearest Nana In Odiya Language)

Beautiful
Adventurous
You name it
And she had it
That's My nana, ( Aaee - in Odiya)
She taught me
To be rooted
To be well suited
To treat yourself
Not to beat yourself 
Talking to her all night
Listening to stories that felt so right 
Some took me back in time
A looking glass filled with memories
Her morning huddle
Chewing betel quid (paan ) and planning subtle
Her blanket cuddles
With her cheek filled with dimples
She did fishing
Loved diving
Like a mermaid she tossed her fins
While the fishes caught in the net were her win
Laughing was her strength 
Alongside humming to folk songs..
That made palm trees sway in the wind
With the evening sunset at the horizon
Where grandpa (Ajja) quietly watered the plants
The smell of wet earth amused her
As she was nature's daughter
And didn't mind any bit of wildlife clutter
From bravely chasing the baboons off the terrace
To dangling the snakes out of her farm
She never meant those creatures any harm
As calm was her charm while casually sitting milking the cows and caressing their calves
Onboard with everything with a mischievous scream
Specially her cravings for chocolate Ice Cream
Making her eyes chuckle
One would be surprised
To how well she had taught us without advising 
To always love the act of living 
*pic courtesy: captured in Bhawani Bhawan, the house that my grandpa (Ajja) build and named after my Aaee(Nana), Kandarpur,Odisha (Right to Left) My brother Joyke, Aaee in blue saree, sweety my cousin, me )

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