Team Verve Salutes The Women Who’ve Stood By Them: Here’s To ‘The Aunt’ | Verve Magazine
India's premier luxury lifestyle women's magazine
June 26, 2018

Team Verve Salutes The Women Who’ve Stood By Them: Here’s To ‘The Aunt’

Junior Writer Tina Dastur gushes about her aunt’s ability to listen without judgement, unlike most elders, who are way too orthodox in their way of thinking

A revolution long in the making has been reignited in a new avatar only recently. A time when women are looking men squarely in the eyes as if to say ‘bring it on’. A year that saw #MeToo and #TimesUp morph from ordinary words to statements that will go down in history. Closer to home, live-in relationships have been legalised as of April and the triple talaq has been banned, emancipating women of these problematic societal shackles. The Chinese Zodiac might as well give up their twelve-year cyclical calendar and, going forward, call every year the Year of the Woman. In our (Em)Power Issue next month, we will be lauding women whose stories of breaking barriers are inspiring and empowering  — a former FBI agent-turned-teacher, a skier and a firefighter being a few — alongside recognising a new generation of fearless, driven women.

As relationships between women become even more important and necessary, Team Verve takes this opportunity to honour the #WomenWithVerve in their own lives who have impacted and encouraged them even if in the humblest of ways — a best friend that stayed by their side during their wedding, a yoga teacher who healed more than just their body, an aunt who goes beyond the call of duty for her niece.

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Tina Dastur, 27 – Junior Writer

Aside from my mum, a really strong female influence in my life has been my aunt, Pervin, who has been a second mother to me. Apart from being loving, caring and affectionate, she’s always been my shoulder to cry on (especially when my elder cousin Victor would give me a ‘noogie’) and someone who I can talk to about literally anything under the sun. And it’s amazing how she can listen without judgement, unlike most elders, who are way too orthodox in their way of thinking and love adding their two cents to everything regardless of whether it’s relevant or not. Her approach to life has always been positive and glass-half-full, and I admire how she’s able to laugh at herself and her many idiosyncrasies (which include, among other things, wearing her pants inside out and confidently going out to buy provisions). I can pull her leg and poke fun at her, but at the same time, I know I can share my deepest, darkest secrets with her and ask for her advice knowing that I won’t be preached to and told ‘I told you so’. Above all, I look up to her for the way she’s carried herself through life — through all the compromises and sacrifices and all the ups and downs — and still managed to maintain an aura of levity and fun about her, even at her grand not-so-old age of 55.

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