Happy Diwali! Shubha Diwali!
Shantie Carroll & Joanna Dukkipati discuss how traditions change over time and also because of life circumstances.
Shanti & Jo have lived in Cork for over 10yrs. This conversation is to encourage you to have positive conversations about cultural diversity despite its complex nature.
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Background music by Yellow Tunes.
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Shantie Carroll is a yoga teacher - get in touch via Instagram @shantiyogacork
Joanna Dukkipati is steward of Good Day, Cork.
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Please visit www.gooddaycork.com for more uplifting #MediaDiet
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#CorkLike #Ireland #Diwali
Good Day Cork is a magazine and event space dedicated to building a kind world.
If you haven't yet, please follow Good Day Cork on socials.
If you live in Republic of Ireland, want to feel soft and uplifted then don't miss our print subscription plan. We'll send you quarterly issues ( once every three months) €40/annual.
All the links you need are here: https://linktr.ee/gooddaycork
Happy Diwali! Shubha Diwali!
Shantie Carroll & Joanna Dukkipati discuss how traditions change over time and also because of life circumstances.
Shanti & Jo have lived in Cork for over 10yrs. This conversation is to encourage you to have positive conversations about cultural diversity despite its complex nature.
--
Background music by Yellow Tunes.
--
Shantie Carroll is a yoga teacher - get in touch via Instagram @shantiyogacork
Joanna Dukkipati is steward of Good Day, Cork.
--
Please visit www.gooddaycork.com for more uplifting #MediaDiet
-
#CorkLike #Ireland #Diwali
Good Day Cork is a magazine and event space dedicated to building a kind world.
If you haven't yet, please follow Good Day Cork on socials.
If you live in Republic of Ireland, want to feel soft and uplifted then don't miss our print subscription plan. We'll send you quarterly issues ( once every three months) €40/annual.
All the links you need are here: https://linktr.ee/gooddaycork
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But what we did do is what you described, you know exchange of food,
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so we would always like that that would have been a big deal
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where my mother would pack up some ‘prasad’
[sweets made to offer the deity first and then offered to others without discrimination] .
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Maybe we call it ‘prasad’. Yeah,
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so my mother would pack up little packages and you know,
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her sisters would have lived nearby and it was like,
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you know, you get on your bike
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and cycle over there and bring it bring it
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to so and so when you bring it
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So and so so - “Make sure you bring back the bowl.”
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and for you end up with this smorgasbord of all these different things.
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And then some aunties start to try different things,
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you know things that they didn't grow up with
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and they started making things from other regions in India.
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So that was nice and I mean we were exposed to the different sweets and desserts,
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you know recipes really they know
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when you get to Google things like even now I'm Googling things I'm
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going like, “Oh I never had that. I don’t know what this. so I’ll make it - so kids eat
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it.” My kids won’t eat anything - like
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‘ jalebi’ or ‘ladoo’ [varieties of traditional Indian desert]
because it is so sweet, So they wont eat it.
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So I will always try to get a collection of few things you know.
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You know am a yoga teacher and in previous years, when I’ve done yoga classes
at Diwali, I have treated my students to Diwali sweets
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Now I do buy them because it’s just so much easier - and I chop them up
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so people can taste different little things
but again the first reaction people have like,
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“Oh my God is so sweet.”
There’s one important thing that I forgot to
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mention with Diwali is that you know,
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when I mentioned that you know,
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my mother starts doing the shopping
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and the cooking and the cleaning
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as well with that come comes vegetarian eating
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so not vegan because you know we’re allowed cream and milk
but vegetarian and no and no eggs.
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So for you know, maybe a week before we would have no meat
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or fish or eggs milk and cream with and cheese was also allowed and in the early days,
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you know when my parents had just moved from South America to Europe.
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In the early days, we wouldn't even have animal products in the house.
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That would be nothing in the fridge or the freezer even you know,
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so we were very strict but as we were in the Netherlands for longer and longer,
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you know, like turning on the lights at four o'clock because you know,
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we we need to see what we're doing.
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We did become a little bit more not relaxed
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but you know, we let go of certain traditions
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so even like hearing your story now it is
so different to mine and that I.. where we you know,
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we were growing up thinking that we weren't doing it the way it was supposed to be done
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because you know,
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we weren't doing it in India, you know,
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the people that left India to go to Surinam to work
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for the Dutch, they left their families behind they left everybody
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and everything behind...thinking that they
would go back after their working contract was finished.
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Yeah. Then and then you know, there was no way back for them.
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So they .. a lot of people chose to
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stay in Surinam. They always knew they were never going to go back
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but then there was also a community of Indians from India thinking that they were
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going to go back to India after they've made their fortune,
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you know in the in the new world and there was no boat back for them.
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So they stayed in Surinam, maybe not properly prepared
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for the life that they would have without the support of family.
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So I think some some people or some families that left
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maybe they did not bring a certain set of
knowledge with them because you know,
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it wasn't really necessary like. This is why you know,
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my real rituals regarding Diwali is the way it is because you know,
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three four five generations ago, they might have gone,
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“We're not really sure what we're doing here.”
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Because they didn't bring the knowledge with them.
How rituals
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change, how a culture changes. It changes.
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It evolves adopts assimilates, integrates.
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I totally understand what you're saying about knowledge about rituals
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because you bring in a person [like me]
who wants to raise her boy at least understanding
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and having the sensitivity for other festivals
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So… and now that he's four almost four and a half.
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He's got the, you know,
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the rationale the reasoning ability to ask questions and to to really experienced things.
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So I think it's the first time that I'm kind of invested in Diwali
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and it's not like I'm gonna go looking up stuff for how it should be done.
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I think we're gonna figure it out together.
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Yeah way we're going to read about stuff.
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We're going to look at pictures. I'm going to tell him stories
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of my, you know, just like how I'm sharing with you.
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I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it's going to be very interesting
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as the years come now of how Ethan and I and now daddy too,
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you know, we're gonna get involved
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and creating our own rituals creating our own way of celebrating Diwali
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And it's a pity because of the pandemic.
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He won't.. I think last year he got to see something happening in Cork - was it Diwali or Navratri?
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I think it was Navratri which is a whole other beautiful festival.
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And so hopefully next year
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when they have the small gatherings in Cork
we’ll go or not because he might be like, “No mom.
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…It's too loud mom. I can't I can't.” You know we dont know, I don't know.
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It's basically going to be led by him
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and me just trying to usher
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him and say this is what this
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is and this is how this is
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and I'd say would be unfair to just focus on one
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and it would be nice to focus on all
different festivals from all different faiths
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because I grew up that way. Out of my own curiosity
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I would go and ask questions and
find out and you learn at school even do you know,
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so I would like for him to have that.
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Tradition is that what I'm doing now with
my children and my husband in my house,
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is quite similar to what I was doing with my parents when I grew up in my in their household,
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but you know, we make little adjustments here
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and there like we don't eat vegetarian for a whole week before Diwali.
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We just have vegetarian food on the
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day and I don't clean out my freezer
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or my fridge if there is if there are animal products in there they stay in there,
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but we don't consume anything on the day.
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I won't but you know, maybe if my daughter is like.
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“I really feel like eating..” whatever she wants or like, “Sausage!”
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Yeah, then go with it, you know if you really wanted but then I would also like to say, “Well,
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it's just one day!” You know ask yourself
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“Why must you?” and I that is another
part of my guess is that you know,
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You turn inwards and as I go why am I doing this?
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It's still working for me, you know,
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and if you want to change it, why am I going to change it?
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What am I going to replace it with?
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And what purpose is that going to have I think traditions are great.
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I am not in favour of tradition -
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I have to say and I’ve broken most traditions that were thrown at me
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in my life but I do think traditions are great
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because it gives you a starting point. You can ask yourself,
“Is this something that is going to work
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for me?” And when I did Diwali on my own that was just the way I did it
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and then my husband came into the picture
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and we did it together and he was very happy to come on board
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because who's going to say no to ‘dal’ and ‘ladoo’ to all the yummy food was like, ‘Yeah,
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I'm there!” - you know all this lovely Indian food.
So he did Diwali with me but you know,
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I'm not doing any prayers. I'm not doing any prayers with him.
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I'm not blessing myself and I'm not blessing him either
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and then when kids came along I continue to do the same thing.
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So it is the traditional, you know, you’re tidying the house.. presenting the house
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little bit better like the way anybody would at Christmas
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or Easter,
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you know, cleanliness and all that.
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cleanliness of mind, cleanliness of body,
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you know, it's all the yoga principles
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and coming back when you look at the values all weave in the lifestyle.
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So when I study more about Indian festivals
and how various people celebrate the festival just the whole
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yoga principles come in there, as you know,
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part of the lifestyle. That in itself…
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I’d like to give … pass on to my children.
That they would have that for the rest of their lives.
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Even if they never set foot in a yoga studio.
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You know what I mean? Yes, they have that Indian heritage of you know,
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this is how we live and if they choose never to celebrate Diwali,
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that's fine by me and if they never choose to celebrate Christmas,
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that's also fine by me.
It's I think at the end of the day.
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We have to remember that we are people of the world - the world is
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so much smaller than it was before and it's important,
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I think the rationale has to be there as well.
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And the more we read the more knowledge
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we have the better equipped we are to
navigate everyday and navigate the week of Diwali.
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Um, you know, I just want to say I wish you a happy happy
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Happy Diwali to your family
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and to all your loved ones and even to your
students and everybody.
Thank you Jo
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And same to you. Yeah, and may the year be filled with light.
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May life always be filled with light even on a grey grey day,
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like today, may we always find the light inside us to help us,
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you know to live our best life I suppose isn’t it? Yes.
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Yeah so cliche, but so true you know very often
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it's the cheese cliches we go back to because they make so much sense,
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but simple words you hear them all the time.
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Yeah! - But in the end of the day it is what
we're all striving towards isnt it?
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Yeah. Yeah.
Inner Peace
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Thank you so much for the chat.
Thank you for your time.
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Yeah. Yes.
Really lovely to chat to you.
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Yes, you too. You too. Bye!
Bye Joanna.